Homeland Park Baptist Church

WORSHIP PRAYER TEAM God has made it clear to me and our church leadership that we need to place a renewed emphasis on prayer.  While we have a few that are attending our various Sunday morning and Monday evening prayer times, we need more!  We need more people praying, seeking God’s face, asking for His Spirit to move and intercession for others.  We need prayer warriors! Sunday, January 15th we will begin our Worship Prayer Team! We need people to sign up to pray during our Sunday morning and evening services.  The Worship Prayer Team will pray for the worship team, pastor, deacons, and the hearts of those who listen to the sermon.  We need to pray protection over our church.  We need people to lift up the names on our prayer list. How Will It Work? We will have a signup sheet on the hallway bulletin board for those wanting to participate or you can email Pastor James [ pastorjames@homelandparkbc.org ].  When the worship servic...

What is Friend Day? One of the greatest gifts we can give to someone is an invitation to church. Did you know that more than 9 out of 10 of the unchurched said they would come to church if they were invited? Friend Day is an opportunity for you to invite someone to church. Where Do I Invite Them? 1. Invite someone to Sunday Morning Bible Study at 9:30 am. These small groups provide support, friendship, prayer and encouragement for all ages. These classes give a personal touch and an opportunity for people to plug into the life of the church. 2. Invite someone to our worship services. Visitors will experience the warmth of a loving congregation, Christ centered worship and biblical preaching. Who Do I Invite? You can invite friends, family, co-workers, casual acquaintances like the wait staff at your favorite restaurant, clerks at your favorite store, or anyone you have a connection with. What if they already go to another church? Tell them that you are grateful to ...

We could easily talk for hours about the way things have progressed in the world over the years. Through technology we are more connected to our world than ever before. Before the “cable” generation, we watched three or four channels on the television, received our news from the daily paper, 6 or 11 o'clock news. If we wanted to hear what other people thought about an issue we would read the editorial section of the newspaper. Fast forward to today where we have more channels than anyone could possibly watch on our television. We get our news whenever we want it from 24/7 news channels, our computers, social media,and even our phones. If there is ANYTHING our world does NOT lack, it is the availability of information. Our challenge today is to sort through all the noise and listen to the news that is important, to base our life on CREDIBLE GODLY Instruction. How do we cut through the noise? How do we tune our ears to the frequency where God is broadcasting His life g...

This past Saturday, the Homeland Park youth attended the Clemson-Wake Forest basketball game. We were able to do some tailgating before the game. Once in the game, the students had an awesome time enjoying the sights and sounds and hanging out with one another. What’s amazing about an event like this is how God uses something as a basketball game to deepen relationships between students and between the leaders and the students! Below are some highlight pictures, including a picture with some of the students with the Tiger and a group photo from after the game. This upcoming week features our weekly Wednesday night Bible study from 6:30-7:30 in the Family Life Center. The gym doors will open at 6:00 for anyone wanting to hang out before we move up to the Loft at 6:30. We will be continuing our study through the Parables of Jesus and we hope that you invite family and friends to join for an amazing time together! If you have any questions, please email me at...

This Wednesday night, we are continuing our study through the parables of Jesus! Bible study is from 6:30-7:30 in the loft of the Family Life Center. The gym opens at 6:00 for anyone wanting to hang out! Invite your family and friends! This Saturday, the youth will be attending the Clemson-Wake Forest basketball game at Littlejohn Coliseum. Tip-off is at noon and we will meet to leave from the church at 9:45am. Lunch is provided and the tickets are $5. We have several tickets already reserved and we are taking a total of 10 students. In order to reserve a ticket, please submit the signed permission and medical forms from the student-parent packet by Wednesday night, January 21. The first 10 to submit the form will have a ticket reserved and those who turn in the packet after will be put on a waiting list. If you have any questions, let me know by emailing me at jason@homelandparkbc.org ! Jason

I received this letter the other day from the local soup kitchen/food bank that recognized two of our members for their continued service there.  I believe in handing out roses to the living, so I wanted recognize Pauline Tate and Margaret Brickman for their service. Also, thank you to the many others in our church that help the homeless and needy in our community. Thank you Pauline and Margaret for representing God and our church so well. In Him, Pastor Jmes

On behalf of our church I would like to thank Odell Williams, Gary Bryant and Larry McLees for putting our painting of Jesus by Kerry Jackson in a more prominent place. These men spent several days wiring lights, switches, dimmers and more to make it possible to place emphasis on this painting.  Now with our glass doors, the painting can be seen from the road.  It is amazing how the light makes the red blood stand out, because Jesus' blood is what made the difference in our lives.  He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. [1 John 2:2] But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. [1 John 1:7] I love knowing that the first thing someone will see in our church when they enter the front door is the emphasis we place on our Savior.  Even more importantly, I know peo...

This Sunday we recognize as a nation the “Sanctity of Human Life” Day.  Many may think this is a Southern Baptist thing or church thing. Actually, it began by President Ronald Reagan designating on  January 16, 1984 that January 22, 1984 would be known as “National Sanctity of Human Life Day”. He did this in response to the Supreme Court’s decision eleven years previously to allow abortions to be legal in the Roe vs Wade case.  Since then some presidents have recognized this proclamation and others have not.  However, other institutions like the Southern Baptist Convention and churches like ours continue to recognize this proclamation. The “Sanctity of Life” extends from the womb to the grave.  If we do not see life as precious then it affects the way we treat our unborn, children, adults and elderly.  We must hold to the fact that life began from the moment God created us and breathed life into us.. Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dus...

Last week was a busy and exciting week in the life of Homeland Park Baptist Church and for the youth. We started our Bible study through the parables of Jesus this past Wednesday night and they learned of the immeasurable value of God’s kingdom from Matthew 13:45-46. On Sunday night, the church hosted a reception for my seminary graduation (which was incredible!). This provided an awesome time for the youth to hang out with the church body and to grow deeper in our relationships with one another. Thank you to all who organized, served, attended, and gave for this occasion! I have truly been blessed by your unconditional and sacrificial love, which is a great reminder of God’s immense love towards us all through Jesus. I’m so thankful God allowed me to finish seminary at Homeland Park. This church is a precious gift of encouragement and love and is a great example of the beauty of the body of Christ. Thank you so much for a great evening and for all that you have done for Eliza...

This Wednesday night, the Homeland Park youth are kicking off the new semester together with Bible study at 6:30 in the Family Life Center! Bible study lasts until 7:30 and we invite the youth to hang out with one another beforehand at 6:00. During the first half of the semester, we will be going through the parables of Jesus. This will be a great opportunity to engage with the truths of God’s Word in a thought-provoking and life changing way! The other event to keep on your radar is our trip to see the Clemson-Wake Forest basketball game on Saturday, January 24. The game tips-off at noon and we will meet to leave from the church at 9:45. Lunch will be provided and the cost for the trip is $5. In order to reserve a ticket, you must pick up a permission packet from me, fill it out completely, and return it to me as soon as possible. We have 10 student tickets and tickets will be reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis. In the event of more than 10 students reserving tic...

I Just turned on the heat for our first Monday night Prayer Meeting of 2015. We begin at 6:00pm in the Choir room. Come prayer for our church, community, country and world. We would love to have you. Pastor James

The Homeland Park youth have had a wonderful fall semester. From Bible studies, to fellowship dinners, to our ENGAGE retreat, we really got to know each other on a deeper level, and more importantly, learn more about God, His Son Jesus, and the nature of our relationships to Him. Over the course of the semester, our main study topic during Bible study was relationships. We began with an individual’s relationship to God. God is our creator and judge. He created us in His own image, but we rebelled against God in sin. Though we all deserved God’s judgment for sin, He sent His Son, Jesus, to be born as a man to live a perfect life to fulfill God’s law. He died in our place to take away the punishment we deserve and was raised from the grave to give new life. By turning from sin and trusting in Jesus and His work alone for salvation, an individual becomes a child of God, saved from sin into a new relationship with God as His child. We learned how God’s salvation and a relation...

THANK YOU Thank you so much for the support and love you continually bestow upon Donna and I. Your cards, gifts and encouragement during this season mean the world to us. We thank God for Him sending us to this wonderful congregation.  Please know that you all are appreciated and loved. Love in Christ,  Pastor James Thank you so much to Pastor James and each one of you for all of your concern, visits, cards, calls and most of all your prayers during my recent surgery and hospital stay. It means so much to be a part of such a wonderful and caring church. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I recover. Merry Christmas and God’s Blessings on each one of you! Sincerely,  Harold Sanders   We would like to thank the church family for everything you did in the loss of our loved one. We want to thank Pastor James for his visits and prayers, also Dr. Wayne. Thanks for all the food that was furnished. Most of all thanks for your prayers. ...