News and Views

• Life and Death – The Terry Schiavo case is in the news a lot right now. Should her feeding tube be removed or not? Who should make the decision: Congress, the courts, or her family? I will not make a full call here. But we need to consider the case on biblical precepts and not on human opinion. One precept that must be considered has to do with God’s part in life and death issues. God states, “I kill, and I make alive” (Deuteronomy 32:39See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
  See All...). Except in cases where he gives permission to take the lives of others (self-defense, war, and capital punishment), these decisions are ultimately left to Him. We do what we can to restore health and protect the innocent, but God has to make the final decision
• Fruit of Steadfastness – Recent news has reported battles in which Iraqi terrorists have lost significant numbers of soldiers in clashes with American forces. It seems that Iraqi citizens are finding more and more courage to report on the whereabouts and activities of the terrorists. Evidently, the recent elections and the fact that the Americans have stayed the course have started turning the momentum. I do not know where this will go, but I know that God blesses faithfulness.

Announcements

• Building Offering – We are running out of room at Antioch Baptist Church. This is a wonderful and blessed problem. This last Wednesday evening, Pastor Reagan presented the possibility of a small addition to the church that would help us with several of our needs at this time. The goal is to increase our facilities without going into debt. The Lord through prayer has already provided about 70% of the funds needed for this project without taking up the first offering. We will now be receiving an offering through the end of April. If the Lord provides the remainder of the needed funds, we will look at going ahead with the addition. If He does not, we will take it as His leadership that we are to wait for now. We only ask that our friends pray that the Lord will provide the funds if this is His will.
• At our annual business meeting, the church voted to give a part-time salary to Drew Ray so that he can help Pastor Reagan with the ministries of the church. Brother Ray has scheduled to cut back on his secular work hours the first full week in April so that he can give about half of each day to church work. Pastor Reagan is in dire need of this additional help. The ministries of Antioch Baptist Church have grown to the point where such help is needed to continue. Praise the Lord for His goodness in this!
• Writers’ Conference and History Tour – We are still scheduled to have a King James Bible Believers Writers’ Conference on Friday, June 17th, and a local Baptist History Tour on June 18th this summer. Work overload has kept us from getting material out about the conference. We plan to do so in the next 2 or 3 weeks. The staffing change mentioned above should help. However, we have some wonderful people scheduled to come in and we encourage you to mark your calendars for this event.

Church Ministries

• Prison Ministry – With the help of Paul Grady, we have started a new prison ministry in the Knox County Prison System. We have several men presently going through the process of getting approval for this work. Pray that the Lord will give souls and other fruit for our labors here.
• New Members’ Class – For the last three weeks, we have had a new members class for the adults who have recently joined or are interested in joining the church. This class will probably last a couple of more weeks. We are presently surveying the different ministries of the church. We have already looked at the history of the church, Pastor Reagan’s personal background, and the particular approach and goals of Antioch Baptist Church. The class will also deal with the government, finances, and policies of the church.
• Sunnybrook Ministry – Sunnybrook Home is a local retirement home. We have held special services there on Sunday afternoons for several years. The ministry was maintained by Randy Williams and then by Andy Soon. Recently, Mike and Cathy Kuethman have taken this ministry on and they are already doing a great job with the folks at Sunnybrook. Jonathan Judy continues to help them as he formerly helped Brother Soon. We thank them for the work they are doing.
• Church Choir – The choir has recently gained a number of new members. We are having to change our seating arrangements to accommodate the crowd. Thanks to all who are ministering in song.
• New Singing Groups – We are also establishing some new singing groups for the church. Some of the Barnt family members are making one group. We are also beginning work on a new men’s group. There should be some other surprises as well.

Missions

• Pastor Reagan is planning to take a special trip to Israel from May 23rd to June 3rd. This trip is open to others who are interested. If you would be interested in seeing the land of Israel, let us know and we will get you some material.
• Jeffrey Hensley is the pastor of Faith Independent Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee. He works a fulltime job, takes care of his large family, and pastors a growing church. Antioch Baptist Church is Brother Hensley’s sending church. We have ordained him and he is a graduate of our Bible College. Because the church is an inner city church, it is not likely to be able to fully support him for quite some time, even though he already has a good sized congregation and is reaching many in the black community. To make ends meet, Brother Hensley works on the side on one of his off days. I would like to see him get enough support so that he does not need to work that extra day. Antioch Baptist Church recently took him on for $100 a month. I pray that others will do the same. If anyone is interesting in supporting him, please let me know. If you are near Knoxville, I encourage you to have Pastor Hensley in for some Sunday evening service. I know that he will be a blessing to your congregation.
• China Girl Home – For security reasons, I will not give her name. However, the single girl out of our church who has been teaching in China has come home on furlough. She had to come back a couple of months early because of an injured foot. She also had to apply a temporary filling in one of her teeth while in China. Both the dentist and the foot doctor have told her that coming home early probably avoided serious problems. Those working with her have given testimony of her doing a great job and she is already making future plans to return. We thank the Lord for His goodness.

Bible College

• New Term – The second term of the Spring Semester at Scripture Baptist College (a ministry of Antioch Baptist Church) begins on Monday, March 28th. The college is so designed that new students can begin school at this time. If you are in the Knoxville area, there is no need to wait until this fall. You can begin school now. The Monday night classes are Zechariah and John, both taught by Pastor Reagan. The Tuesday night classes are Return From Captivity taught by Karl Lohman and Colossians taught by Drew Ray. We look forward to a great finish to the school year.
• Four Pastors – Though our enrollment is not large, we thank the Lord that we have four area pastors attending Scripture Baptist College. We want to honor them. Their names are Larry Teaster, Claude West, Jeffrey Hensley, and David McGinnis. Thank you men for your determination to grow as you serve.
• Internet Courses – We only have one internet course up and people are asking for more. Getting more of these set up will be one of the duties of Drew Ray as he has more time to apply to such projects. Please pray for him and for this ministry. We have already had students sign up from many states in the USA and a number of other countries.

Preaching/Teaching

• Sunday School on the Web – We received a call from a pastor in Texas the other day. Several months ago, his church building was destroyed by a tornado. Since they did not have insurance on the building and the church is a small one, they have had to repair the damage as the money has come in. They are now meeting in a community center and are not able to have Sunday School classes. He said that his family and some other families in his church listen to our Sunday School lessons online. What a blessing! Our adult teacher, Karl Lohman, is teaching Sunday School in Texas. By the way, Antioch Baptist Church sent a small offering to this church in order to help them. They now have their roof back on, but still need heating/air and other inside repairs. Please pray for them. I could direct anyone to them if they wanted to help financially. We just took up one Sunday evening offering for them. Perhaps others could do the same.
• Ecclesiastes – Pastor Reagan continues to teach through Ecclesiastes on Sunday nights. We are now in chapter eight. There is so much practical help in this book.
• Cassette Tape Ministry – Each month, Rich and Jean Clark send out two preaching tapes to people who have shown an interest in receiving them. They pick out two sermons from the preceding month and make audio cassette copies of them. Then they send them with a letter of introduction. We do not charge for this ministry. We only ask that those who receive the tapes confirm every six months that they want to continue receiving them. Of course, we appreciate offerings to help defray the costs when they are given. If you would like to receive these tapes, please let us know.

Web Site

1. Website Traffic – Although we have not been able to put the effort into this ministry lately that we desire, we have still been averaging over 4700 hits a day. Recently, we have started adding much more to the site and more will come later.
2. Pilgrim’s Progress – One of the new items going up on the website is a simplified version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. However, this simplified version is no modernized baby talk edition. It is a young people’s edition from the 1920s. It leaves the flavor and the language of the original while making it a bit more accessible to the modern reader. We thank Jeff and Robyn Newman for getting this book typed for use on the site.
3. Future Change Over – Over the next year or so, we are going to have to change the supporting structure of the site. Our site is becoming so large that it is beginning to strain our present infrastructure. If all works well, you may not notice anything different, but this project will take many, many hours of labor. Yet, if we continue to build the site and reach out to more of our goals, this is one of the things that must be done. We just ask for your prayers concerning this matter.
4. Introduction to Christianity – Pastor Reagan is praying and planning for a series of studies for the purpose of introducing Christ and true Christianity to people who have no knowledge or background in Christianity. This would be a serious missionary tool. Please pray for direction and time for this project.

Special Prayer Requests

• Building – Just pray for God’s will to be done concerning the Antioch Baptist Church building. We want God to be honored.
• Bible Believing Pastors and Churches – Satan is attacking true Bible-believing pastors and churches all over the world. Please lift the men and churches you know up in prayer.

Quote

• We think of joy as the absence of trouble. Paul saw tribulations as the beginning of true joy (Romans 5:3-5 [3] And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; [4] And patience, experience; and experience, hope: [5] And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
  See All...). We think of trials as a deviation which must be corrected in order to bring happiness. The early Christians accepted afflictions as the rule of life that brought them ever closer to Christ—the source of eternal joy. Happiness is the absence of pain. Joy is the presence of Christ. – David F. Reagan