Gateway Baptist Church

Where do you find your Gateway updates?

2011-01-04T11:38:00.002-07:00

As you may have read in previous posts, I have been using Facebook to post the most current information about our church. I have been making minor posts to this blog but may discontinue if there is no need.

If you read this blog and would like to see me continue to post here would you send me a quick note to let me know? pastor@gateway-baptist.org

I have posted our first sermon of 2011 at our main page! http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Christmas time is here!

2010-12-14T10:36:00.002-07:00

What a great week to celebrate Christmas! The Alamogordo High School Choir Christmas concert was great fun and included a good number of traditional Christmas carols that gave honor to our Lord Jesus Christ!

The Awana float turned out wonderfully and we had about 30 kids and adults show up to make it a great night and a wonderful testimony for Christ!

The GLAD ladies put together Christmas baskets at their monthly meeting last night and they look wonderful. I am sure they will be a blessing to the families who receive them!

Tonight is the Christmas program for Imago Dei Academy at 1st Baptist Church! Laura and I would like to extend a personal invitation to anyone who wants to hear young people praise the Savior! The program starts at 6:30 pm!

Make sure to plan for the Christmas party this Saturday at the Golden Palace! We will begin at 6:00 pm!

Have a great time as we look forward to Christmas!

Ready for Christmas?

2010-12-07T13:06:00.002-07:00

Looking for something uplifting and exciting to do this week?

Thursday, December 9 at 7 pm - Alamogordo High School Choir Christmas concert at the Flickenger Center!

Saturday, December 11 at 5:00 pm - City Christmas Parade featuring our Awana Clubs float!

Monday, December 13 at 6:00 pm - GLAD Ladies Meeting at Gateway!

Tuesday, December 14 at 6:30 pm - Imago Dei Christmas program at 1st Baptist Church!

If that is not enough to keep you busy I have posted Sunday's semon on the main site!

Thanksgiving was great, Christmas is coming!

2010-11-30T09:37:00.003-07:00

We had a busy Thanksgiving week at Gateway! Our Thanksgiving dinner on 11/21 was wonderful and we had a great showing. Pictures are on our facebook page. We had a break-in at the church on Friday night, some damage was done but nothing critical. Pray for the hearts of the person or persons involved - there were 5 or 6 churches in the community who also had break-ins. Christmas is just around the corner! I have posted last Sunday's sermon on our main site entitled "He Gives Us Hope" - we need to remember the hope that is found only in Christ and share it with those who are in need! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-23T10:02:00.002-07:00

We had a fantastic time at our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the church last Sunday! We are so thankful for all those who God has allowed us to minister to and with! Have a blessed week and if you missed Sunday's semon "Truly Thankful" we talked about what Jesus was thankful for and why we should follow His example! Find it on the main site! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Thanksgiving Dinner this Sunday!

2010-11-16T13:52:00.003-07:00

We will be having our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the church this Sunday, November 21 at 5:00 PM! The church is providing the turkey and ham, our folks are going to take care of the rest! Hope to see you there! Sunday's sermon has been posted at the main site! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

It's beginning to look alot like...

2010-11-02T11:21:00.002-06:00

October has come and gone! Did you hear this is the first time in 823 years that we had five Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in a month? Well, that is not accurate - it has happened 4 times in the last 30 years with May of 2009 being the most recent - but it is still rare!

November is here! Today is Election Day! Get out and Vote!

December is just around the corner! How will you celebrate the Savior?

The New Year is not far off! Just imagine the blessings God has in store for you!

I have posted our sermon from last Sunday morning. http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

A New Ministry Model

2010-10-26T09:58:00.002-06:00

We are adopting a new ministry model for our Sunday service times. Beginning November 7th we will no longer have our weekly Sunday evening services. It is our prayer that this will allow us to focus more intently on what we learn in our Sunday school and morning services and then be refreshed and ready to live those principles out during the week! We will continue our Wednesday evening Bible study and prayer meeting as well as our Family Fellowship Night on the last Sunday of every month.

I have posted this weeks sermons on our main site. http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Sermons Posted

2010-10-20T13:44:00.001-06:00

Last week's sermons have been posted to the main website. http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Be sure to visit our facebook page for the latest happenings at Gateway!

Still testing!

2010-10-12T14:43:00.002-06:00

I have established the Facebook page for the church and have had a very positive response so far. I will continue posting here until we decide the best way to manage our communications. This Sunday's sermon "The Valley of Sickness" is posted on our main site!

Find us on facebook?

2010-10-05T13:10:00.001-06:00

I am considering switching this blog entry over to facebook. Many of our members are already online there and the information is much more likely to get into their hands. If you have any comments or concerns please e-mail me! pastor@gateway-baptist.org

Wonderful Awana Night

2010-09-30T11:16:00.003-06:00

We have had a great start to our Awana Clubs. The local Fall Conference was last Saturday and five of our leaders attended. It was wonderfully motivating and we are excited to see what God is going to do this year! We had a great group of clubbers last night and look forward to seeing more as the weeks go by! Here is a picture of the Sparkies hard at work!

It is Finished!

2010-09-21T12:09:00.003-06:00

In John 19:30 our Lord declared "it is finished" as He paid the price for our sins on the cruel cross. We thank God daily for His gift and count it a priviledge to share it with the world!

In a far less important declaration, I am glad to say "it is finished"! Our project to relocate the sound booth is complete and so far everything is working like a charm! Our sermon audio seems to be as good if not better than ever. Last Sunday's sermons are posted on our main site. Please e-mail me if you find any problems with the audio or have any questions about the sermons!

http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

The end of sound system issues?

2010-09-07T10:30:00.001-06:00

We had (prayerfully) our last Sunday with our old sound setup and had a couple of glitches. Our morning sermon did not record and our evening sermon has a lower-than-normal volume (but it is still worth a listen!) . The audio can be found here: http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Moving Forward!

2010-09-01T10:13:00.003-06:00

Summer was wonderful, but Fall is almost here! We are excited to get our Awana year started next week! The Awana Clubs have always been a blessing to our church and we expect more of the same this year! Be there Wednesday, September 8 at 6:30 PM!

We have completed construction on the sound booth! It took a bit more effort than expected but turned out great! The sound installer will be here on September 9th to finish the wiring and we can't wait to see it in operation!

I have also posted the sermon audio from last Sunday. It is part of a 3-message series on waiting in vain and well worth downloading! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

No Sermon Audio this week!

2010-08-24T12:31:00.003-06:00

We had the priviledge of having Sam Keller, Missionary to Central Asia with us in our Sunday services this week. Because of the sensitive nature of ministering in Central Asia we are not able to post the sermon audio from his messages. We will have next Sunday's sermons posted soon!

Summer is almost gone!

2010-08-17T10:11:00.003-06:00

It is hard to believe we are almost officially done with summer! The private and public schools in our area are back in session and Labor Day is just around the corner!

We are excited to enter into the Fall season. Our Awana Clubs will resume on Wednesday, September 8th at 6:30 PM and we are looking forward to "Reaching Boys and Girls with the Gospel of Christ and training them to serve Him"!

I have posted the sermons from the last two weeks at our main site.

http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

I also thought I would post a "in the middle" picture of the construction of our new sound booth. I deeply appreciate all those who gave to provide for this project and the efforts of Dr. Love and Dr. May in it's construction! We should have the completed pictures next week!

A wonderful (and busy) beginning of July!

2010-07-13T11:01:00.002-06:00

We have had a great couple of weekends at and around our church! On Saturday, July 3rd we celebrated the independence of our Great Nation with a church picnic and had a great time. On Saturday, July 11th we were BLESSED beyond our expectations by the ministry of the Young at Heart Choir from Albuquerque, NM! http://www.yahchoir.com/

We did not get acceptable audio from our July 4th sermon but I have posted the sermon from last Sunday at our main web page! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Young At Heart Choir

2010-06-29T12:02:00.002-06:00

We are delighted to be hosting the Albuquerque, NM "Young at Heart" Choir on Saturday, July 10th at 6:30 PM! The concert is free and everyone is invited!

Independence Day Weekend Activities!

2010-06-29T12:00:00.002-06:00

We will be having our annual Indepencence Day Picnic at Alameda Park from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM! The Church will provide hamburgers and hotdogs - bring the rest and have a great day with us!

Audio Sermon Issues

2010-06-29T11:56:00.002-06:00

I was just notified by the host of our sermon audio files that there was a problem with their servers and some of the sermons posted over the last six weeks were lost. Looking at our website I noticed there are a number of sermons that are not posted. Our provider said they are working to restore these files and I will try to update whatever they do not recover. I have posted this week's sermon on the main site. http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

A special thanks to Shiloh!

2010-06-29T11:44:00.003-06:00

Last Friday Alamogordo had the pleasure of sharing in the ministry of the singing group Shiloh for the fourth year in a row. They were here to perform a benefit concert for Imago Dei Christian Academy http://imagodeiacademy.weebly.com/index.html and did a wonderful job! They are some of the most down-to-earth and God-honoring musicians I have had the pleasure to meet! Learn more about them on their website! http://www.shilohnet.com/

Remember Righteousness

2010-06-01T10:45:00.003-06:00

We thank God for all those who have given their lives for our freedoms. In this week's sermon we look back to the words of President Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg Address and are reminded that the best way to remember those who have fallen is to take up the mantle and bring our Country to where God wants Her! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Awana Awards Night 2010

2010-05-28T10:29:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday night we recognized the outstanding efforts of our Awana Clubbers, Parents and Leaders. We thank God for the opportunity to "Reach Boys and Girls with the Gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him"!

Summer is approaching!

2010-05-18T12:52:00.002-06:00

It is hard to believe that another school year is almost gone! Our Awana clubs only have one more Wednesday meeting left and their Awana Awards Night is this Sunday evening! We look forward to recognizing all their efforts!

This Sunday we continued with our "Practical Principles from Proverbs" series with a challenging message about sitting in the seat of the Simple, the Scorner or the Fool. In our Evening message we tackled the popular question "Why does God allow Evil to exist"! Both messages can be found on our main website!

http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-11T10:22:00.002-06:00

Did you take the time to thank Mom for all she means to you last week? If you didn't you need to - and if you did you need to keep it up! Solomon commanded us to Praise Her - I elaborate on his command in this weeks sermon!

http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

He is Risen!

2010-04-13T11:57:00.003-06:00

We had a great time focusing on the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ over the past few weeks. In truth, we celebrate the Resurrection every time we meet because it is our only hope and the foundation of our faith! I have posted the sermons from the last two weeks on our main site - enjoy!

http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

The Revelation of the Resurrection!

2010-03-30T11:17:00.002-06:00

There are only a few more days until we celebrate Resurrection Sunday and all that it means to us as the Body of Christ! We are thrilled by all that God has revealed through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but many are not. Listen to our most recent sermon "The Revelation of the Resurrection" to find out why! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Is it March already?

2010-03-09T10:23:00.002-07:00

It is hard to believe another month has come and gone but March is here and Resurrection Sunday is just a few weeks away! Time change is next Sunday so be sure to set your clocks forward one hour!

In the times we live in we need to depend on the timeless truth of God's Word nore than ever. Last Sunday's sermon reminds us of this need. It is posted on our main church website at http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html !

Forward Thinking

2010-03-03T09:33:00.002-07:00

We have finished our Missions month and I want to personally thank the faithful Missionaries who presented their burden for the World.

Miguel Lopez, Missionary to Honduras
Stephen Kennedy, Missionary to Ireland
Henry Powell, Outreach to Asia Nationals
Terry Ingram, Global Church Planters

Each Missionary had a particualr focus, but each had the same burden - to bring the Gospel message to those who have not heard! That mission begins with us. In this weeks message we examine our need to speak the Truth in our own lives. The sermon entitled "Forward Thinking" is posted on our main site: http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Missions Month

2010-02-09T10:05:00.003-07:00

We had a great start to our missions month as we hosted the Lopez family, Missionaries to Honduras. They displayed an incredible passion for their calling and we are excited to see what God is going to do through them for the people of Honduras!

We are still working on our soundroom transition and will get our sermon audio back on line as soon as possible!

We are still here!

2010-01-29T10:14:00.003-07:00

We have had a great start to 2010. The Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University classes are going strong and we have a great group of people involved. We have had the priviledge of seeing a number of first time attenders in January and look forward to ministering to them.

February is our annual Missions Month -we will begin with Migul Lopez, Missionary to Hoduras and are excited to see what God has in store for us and our Missions outreach in 2010!

We are transitioning our sound room personel and have had some problems with recordings. We should get back to regular postings soon!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T09:41:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe we have started a new year and a new decade! God has been so good to us and I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store! Don't forget that we will be starting the Dave Ramey's Financial Peace University this Friday at 6:30 PM!

Focused on the Future

2009-12-29T09:52:00.002-07:00

We had a great Christmas Eve service and Morning Worship on Sunday. I preached the final message in our "Finding Our Focus" series entitled "Focused on the Future". It is posted on the main church website. As we finish out 2009 and look forward to a new year and a new decade, I am excited to see what our God has in store for us! See you in 2010!

Have a Wonderful Christmas!

2009-12-22T09:44:00.002-07:00

We had a great time at our annual Christmas party last Saturday. We filled the room to overflowing and truly enjoyed celebrating God's Wonderful Gift! Our sermons on Sunday focused on reaching out to those around us with the incredible news of God's provision through Jesus Christ!

We will be having a Candlelight service on Christmas Eve at 6:00 PM and our annual Watchnight service on New Year's Eve begining at 7:00 PM! Hope to see you there!

It's not too late to sign up for FPU!

2009-12-15T10:42:00.002-07:00

We have had a very good response to our upcoming Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University classes beginning on January 8, 2010 at 6:30 PM. Although the preview classes are over you can still register and attend! Visit www.daveramsey.com and click on the "classes" option in the menu bar, e-mail me at pastor@gateway-baptist.org or call!

Technology is wonderful!

2009-12-08T10:53:00.003-07:00

Technology is wonderful... when it works! We are progressing with our new sound person and have sermons ready to post but the host for our sermon player is down. I will get the sermons for this week posted as soon as possible.

Problems fixed - sermons are posted at the main website!

A White December!

2009-12-01T10:45:00.002-07:00

We had a great Sunday with Jerry Abbott of Manna Ministries. Jerry shared his burden for the millions around the world who go without the basic necessities of life while we live in plently. We are still working with our new sound man so the audio for Sunday's sermons is not available.

December started off white! We had a few inches of snow last night (and it is still coming down as I type). Schools are closed and children are delighted!

Wonderful Worship!

2009-11-24T10:52:00.002-07:00

We had a great Sunday! In the morning service we "Focused on Worship" and were reminded how wonderful our God is and how worthy He is of our worship! In the evening we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner and the food and fellowship was great! Thanks to all who made it possible and thanks to our God!

The morning sermon is posted on the main website. Please excuse the echo in the recording - we are training a new sound man. While I am on the subject, I want to thank Robert Egan for his faithful service in the sound room. We will be praying for you as you head for Korea!

Focused on Fishing

2009-11-17T10:24:00.003-07:00

When Jesus called His Disciples they had many important responsiblities, but none greater than becoming Fishers of Men! This priviledge is now ours! Listen to our Sunday Sermon on our main webpage!

Thanking our Veterans and Focused on Fellowship

2009-11-10T09:36:00.002-07:00

We had a great day of services on Sunday as we recognized the sacrifice our Service Men and Women have made for our Country. We are constantly mindful of the brave people who have served and continue to serve to secure our freedom.

We also continued our "Finding our Focus" series with a focus on Fellowship. Fellowship is much more than sharing social time together, it is about partnering together as the Body of Christ. The sermon can be heard on the main website sermon page.

Financial Peace University

2009-11-04T16:14:00.003-07:00

We will be hosting a Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. Classes will begin on Friday, January 8th! We will have preview sessions after our Sunday services on December 6 and 13.

Are You Completely Committed?

2009-11-03T11:07:00.002-07:00

This is our third week of our "Finding Our Focus" series and the messages from this week may be the most penetrating. Please listen to the AM and PM sermons from this week as they work together to point out our need for committment as well as some instruction on how to keep committed to God. Our sermons are on the main site at: http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

In the morning sermon I challenged our people to read six passages of Scipture every day for the remainder of our series. They show the level of commitment Jesus Christ expected of His followers in different areas. The passages on the handout are: Matthew 22:37-39, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 15:8-9, Matthew 21:28-31, Luke 18:21-23 and Luke 14:25-35.

Focused on The Word

2009-10-27T09:19:00.003-06:00

We had a great second Sunday in our "Finding our Focus" series as we looked at the importance of God's Word in our lives. The sermon from Sunday is now posted on our main site: http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

We also did a test run of our "Focus on Fellowship Night" on Sunday. We dedicated the evening service time to strengthening our bonds through fellowship and everyone had a great time!

Moving Forward

2009-10-20T10:53:00.003-06:00

We have begun our Fall sermon series entitled "Finding Our Focus". The first message, "Focused on Our Foundation", is available at our main website sermon page. http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html I belive this is the most important series of sermons I have ever preached and strongly encourage all of our members (and certianly anyone else interested) to not miss a single installment!

Finding Our Focus

2009-10-06T09:43:00.002-06:00

The Fall is here and things are busy! Our sound man had weekend duty the last two weeks and as a result we were not able to get all the sermons recorded. I did post last Sunday's sermon entitled "Seeing Nothing" on our main web site today.

I will be in New Jersey to attend a family wedding this weekend (October 11) and Pastor Love will be filling in for me. When I return we will begin a series of messages entitled "Finding Our Focus". I am excited to see how God is going to use His Word to transform our Church!

Where has the time gone?

2009-09-15T12:12:00.003-06:00

It has been a few weeks since I last updated the blog. School is back in session which means our Awana Clubs have resumed for a new year!

I am looking forward to a series of messages entitled "Finding Our Focus" which will begin on October 18th. We are going to evaluate the Biblical form and function of the Church and begin to make some changes to allow us to better meet those goals! It is going to be an exciting time!

The sermon page has been updated. You can listen online or download the messages on our sermon page! http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Summer is over - looking forward to the Fall!

2009-08-12T13:12:00.002-06:00

Our family was on vacation for the last couple of weeks and we had a wonderful time. I want to thank Dr. Love for filling in for me in my absence.

My oldest son and his wife (Ryan and Amanda King) were with us last Sunday. Ryan in working on his Masters degrees at Baptist Bible College. We were delighted to hear his first sermon on Sunday night.

You can hear all of these messages on our main website. http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

What a Wonderful 4th!

2009-07-07T09:50:00.006-06:00

Thank God for His goodness! We had a great 4th of July weekend with our picnic on Saturday and services on Sunday. God allowed the waters to part! We had heavy rains on Friday and Sunday, but Saturday was beautiful.

Our annual picnic at Alameda park was a hit thanks to God's blessings! We had a good turnout of our people and were thrilled to have the Southern Gospel group Shiloh and their wonderful families with us! You can see the guys playing volleyball below! I want to extend a special thanks to Jim Kennedy for working countless hours to prepare most of the food.

We are eternally grateful to our God for the freedoms we have in this great Country! We also thank our military men and women and their families for fighting to keep those freedoms alive!

Busy Weekend!

2009-06-30T10:06:00.003-06:00

We had an interesting but certainly entertaining weekend here at Gateway.

Jim Kennedy, one of our members, hosted the 3rd annual Alamogordo Music Festival at the Teys Special Events Center. The opening acts ranged from our own Randy Flowers to a German choir from Holloman AFB and all of them did a great job.

The acappella group Legacy made their first appearance in Alamogordo and were very impressive. They have an incredible gift and seem determined to use it for the glory of our Lord and Savior! You can find more about them at: http://www.legacymusic.net/legacy/Home.html

Southern Gospel group Shiloh made their third appearance in Alamogordo and were a real blessing. We are looking forward to spending the 4th of July with them at our annual picnic. You can find more about them at: http://www.shilohnet.com/about/

The weekend ended with a flash-flood warning in the area. There was lots of rain and we lost power twice during the evening service! My preaching was focused on God's presence through the storm in the AM and PM Services - I guess God wanted to make things a little more real to us!

The sermons are posted at our main site: http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next weekend!

Chris Kurth: Aug 9 1985 - June 4 2009

2009-06-09T10:07:00.005-06:00

Chris Kurth was an outstanding young man. We had the priviledge of having him as a church member during his high school years. Chris was always willing to help where he could and had a passion to serve his Country. He was involved in the Air Force Jr. ROTC program at his school and entered the U.S. Army after graduation.

Chris went to be with the Lord last Thursday. Here is the Associated Press article:

The Pentagon has identified a U.S. soldier killed in a grenade attack near Kirkuk, Iraq, as from Fort Hood. A Defense Department statement says 23-year-old Army Spc. Christopher M. Kurth of Alamogordo, N.M., died Thursday in Kirkuk of wounds suffered when an anti-tank grenade hit his vehicle.

He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood.

I want to thank Chris and his family for his service and sacrifice. Please pray for the family during this difficult time.

Thank you!

2009-05-26T11:56:00.002-06:00

It is an incredible priviledge to live in our great Nation. This weekend we were reminded of those who have sacrificed so much to allow us that priviledge. You have our deepest gratitude.

Awana Awards Night!

2009-05-19T11:59:00.005-06:00

We had a fantastic time celebrating the achievements of our Awana Clubbers Sunday night! Here are a couple of pictures from the event!

Awana Year-End Celebration!

2009-05-14T11:26:00.003-06:00

It has been a while since I have posted on the blog. Mother's day went wonderfully - thanks Moms! We also had our final Awana Club for the year. I will post pictures from our Awards Night (this Sunday) next week, but here are a few shots of last night's club!

Praise the Lord He is Risen!

2009-04-14T10:38:00.002-06:00

It was a wonderful priviledge to be able to spend the last week remembering the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I want to thank Randy Flowers and my wife Laura King for sharing their voices to praise our Lord!

You can listen to our Resurrection Sunday Messages at our sermon page!

http://www.gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

On that note, I think we have finally nailed down the sound quality of our sermons. Please e-mail me if you have any problems with the quality of the sermons!

pastor@gateway-baptist.org

Thanks for being so patient!

2009-03-25T09:58:00.001-06:00

I thought we had our sound issues fixed until our camera decided to die on us. We are working on recording our audio directly to the computer and have sermons from last Sunday posted. The audio quality is not perfect - please forgive us as we get things tweaked!

Comments on "The Shack"

2009-03-07T21:40:00.002-07:00

I have not used this blog for general comments before, but after someone recommending "The Shack" by Wm Paul Young I felt compelled to comment.

First let me make some positive observations about the book:

- God's love is seen throughout the pages and is movingly portrayed.
- Jesus is seen as the central figure in redemption and rightfully so.
- Our need to respond to God's love in a personal way is mentioned.
- The way that God's love can be seen in tragedy is moving.
- The concept of evil being the absence of good is interesting if incomplete.

Now a some issues I had listed more by the order I remember them from the book than importance:

- God the Father is displayed as a woman until the end of the book. While God is spirit and beyond our understanding He has always portrayed Himself as Father, not mother. It seems rather presumptuous to think that He would change His appearance to a specific individual for the reasons given in the book. If God presents Himself as Father shouldn't we recognize and worship Him as such?
- "Institutional Religion" is strongly rejected by Jesus Himself in the book. That is a HUGE issue with me, not because I pastor a church but because of what God has revealed about His love for the church. God worked through the Nation of Israel as a people. He organized them, wrote whole books of the Old Testament to give them direction for their religious and social associations, and organized their worship in a very particular way. Jesus organized the Disciples and gave them specific commandments and commissions. The majority of the New Testament aside from the Gospels are written to and for the church. Ephesians 5:25 tells us that Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it. The church is not a meeting place, it is the people who are called to meet together to worship God. There are many admonitions in Scripture to gather in corporate worship.
- In my estimation, the book does a terrible job of expressing the need for us to come to Christ personally. If you read the last chapters the author points out the fact that God had done His part in restoring our relationships and that man need to do his, but how? The author has Jesus Himself declare that peoples of all faith systems are His, but how does someone come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ without being told of our sin and the need for a Savior? Again, the Bible speaks very clearly on this, but the author overlooks it.
- The book seems to completely overlook the consequence of our sin and the righteousness of God. It seems as if God smiles and completely understands when we willfully sin against Him. Young needs to take another look at the Old Testament as well as the cross to see how our sin impacts God.
- Satan is a non-factor in the book. Evil is only the absence of good and there is no adversary to be seen.
- Hell is never mentioned. When He was on the earth Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven.

I could mention quite a few other things but I will quit here for now.

I was moved on several occasions and reminded again of God's love for me. I thought it necessary to be honest with my concerns about the book because I do believe they matter and dishonor God.

The link below has a 17 page review of the book that expounds on some other areas of concern if you are interested.
http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/a-review-of-the-shack-download-it-here.php

Back on Sound Ground!

2009-03-03T10:59:00.004-07:00

After some trial and error we have our sound back where it needs to be. Listening to our new sermon compared to our previous ones it sounds like we have a much better recording level now then in the past. Listen for yourself at: http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Praise God for a great Missions Month!

2009-02-24T09:46:00.002-07:00

God blessed us richly in February with four wonderful missionary visits. This past Sunday it was our pleasure to have Beau and Valerie Moore, Missionaries to Portugal in our services. They displayed a great burden for the people of Portugal and a willingness to follow God's call on their lives. Valerie sang and played piano for us and did a great job. Thanks!

I thought we had our sound issues addressed but we have another blank recording from last Sunday. We will get to the bottom of it and have our sermons posted as soon as possible!

The Napper Family to Burkina Faso!

2009-02-17T10:50:00.004-07:00

We had a wonderful Sunday (February 15) with the Napper family, Missionaries to Burkina Faso, Africa. They conveyed the incredible spiritual and physical needs of the people of Africa and their vision to bring them the answer to those needs!

Pray for the Napper family as they continue their deputation ministry on the way to the field!

In other news... We had problems with our recording on Sunday and will not be able to post our sermons from this week.

Bob Hines - iMap Ministries

2009-02-09T12:41:00.002-07:00

We had a wonderful Sunday with Bob Hines of iMap ministries! It is amazing to see what God is doing through the efforts of iMap. Take a look at http://www.i-map.org to see for yourself!

We had a little audio difficulty with Bro. Hines' sermon but it was so good that I posted it on our church website anyway. The audio is a little muffled but well worth a listen!

Missions Month Begins!

2009-02-03T10:46:00.009-07:00

We began our annual Missions Month on Sunday with Ernie and Hilda Harman, Missionaries to Mexico. Bro. Harman presented a powerful message on our need to love God fully as we attempt to reach out to the World for Him! You can hear his message on our sermon page! http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

We are excited to hear from Bob Hines with iMap ministries http://i-map.org/ next week!

Sorry for the down time!

2009-01-20T13:10:00.002-07:00

I had some health problems that landed me in the hospital for a few days and in bed for a week or so. I will be moving slower for a while and appreciate your patience!

I was also informed that two of our sermons (Better beginnings and Going Gray) did not upload correctly and had no audio. I will restore them and upload last Sunday's sermons soon!

Christmas Rush!

2008-12-30T11:25:00.002-07:00

It has been a few weeks since my last post. The Christmas season is always a bit busy and this year was no exception! The Christmas party went wonderfully, as did our Christmas Eve Candlelight services. We are looking forward to having a great time ringing in the New Year on the 31st. We will be having an evening service at 7 PM and then move over to the fellowship hall for food and fun until midnight!

Our cameraman has been on vacation (and I didn't appoint a replacement) so our sermons from December 21st will not be posted. I am editing the sermon from December 28th as I type this and it will be posted on our sermon page within the hour. http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2009. Our annual Missions Month will start on February 1st with Ernie Harman, Missionary to Mexico in all services! Bob Hines from I-Map ministries, Mike Napper, Missionary to Burkina Faso and Beau Moore, Missionary to Portugal will also be with us on the following Sundays!

Many Blessings!

2008-12-02T13:06:00.002-07:00

We had a wonderful time at our annual Thanksgiving dinner. I want to personally thank all those who worked so hard to provide a great meal! A special thanks goes to all who invited their friends and families to share in this time of thanksgiving to all God has given to us!

We are now looking forward to the Christmas season starting with our Church Christmas party on Saturday, December 13th at Peppers! Hope to see you there!

Thank You!

2008-11-11T11:47:00.002-07:00

Today is Veteran's Day in the US and it was our priviledge to honor all of our Veterans and their families last Sunday. We owe them a debt we can never repay and in our current climate our military members and their families are sacrificing more than many imagine. Thank you for doing all you can to allow us to continue to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities we cherish so dearly!

Fantastic Fall Festival!

2008-11-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful time at our annual Fall Festival on October 31st. I want to personally thank the many people who shared the love of Jesus with our children and the visitors who came to be with us! Great job!

Join us for our Fall Festival and Veteran's Sunday!

2008-10-28T11:35:00.000-06:00

Our annual Fall Festival is Friday, Oct 31st from 6:30-8:30 PM! There will be plenty of pizza, candy and fun for all!

We will have a special Veteran’s Sunday on November 9th. We appreciate the sacrifices made for the freedoms we enjoy. Join us as we honor those who have given so much!

Sermon Player Back on Line!

2008-10-14T09:48:00.002-06:00

Our sermon player is back on line. I have posted the sermons from the last two weeks and the archive sermons should be online any day. You can hear them at http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html !

We are excited to see God bless our efforts as we focus on our community through the Jerusalem Priority. The preparations for our Fall Festival and Veteran's Sunday are going well and I want to thank everyone who is helping make these days honoring to our Lord!

Looking forward to God's Blessing!

2008-10-07T12:58:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful start to our local community focus! We are joining churches around the country in the Jerusalem Priority outreach effort. For the entire month we will be opening our hearts to the leading of God in order to reach our community!

Our sermon player host is having some server issues due to rapid growth. Praise the Lord that there are so many looking to share God's Word with the world! We will post this week's sermons as soon as the servers are back online!

In Full Swing for the Fall!

2008-09-23T12:29:00.002-06:00

The month of October will be dedicated to renewing our vision for our community! We will be joining churches around the globe as we rekindle our "Jerusalem Priority"!

Will will be having our Fall Festival on Friday, October 31st and a very special Veteran's Sunday on November 9th! Hope to see you there!

Happy Grandparent's Day!

2008-09-16T10:51:00.003-06:00

Many view Grandparent's Day as a greeting company ploy, but if the church is going to accomplish all God has for us we need to give special honor to those who have remained faithful to Him!

A Couple of quick notes!

2008-09-02T12:42:00.004-06:00

Edit: The sermon player is back online! Listen to last week's sermons on our main site at http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html !

Our sermon player is temporarily down as of 9/2/08 due to problems on sermonplayer.com. Last Sunday's sermons will be posted when the service is back up!

Also, Awana Clubs start tomorrow, Wednesday, September 3rd! We are looking forward to a wonderful year!

Micah Dorr - Missionary to Mexico!

2008-08-27T13:14:00.001-06:00

It was our pleasure to have Micah Dorr, Misisonary to Mexico, in our morning services. He challenged our teens in Sunday School and the entire church in our morning services! Make sure to listen to his message on our sermon page!

http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

It's that time of year again!

2008-08-12T10:20:00.003-06:00

Alamogordo Public Schools resumed on Monday, August 11th and we are looking forward to a wonderful Fall! We will be resuming our Awana Children's Clubs on Wednesday, September 3rd and are looking forward to God's blessing as we reach out to the children of our community!

An article worth reading...

2008-07-22T10:47:00.002-06:00

Many of you are familiar with former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow's recent passing. Over the last few weeks we have had a number of our Church members impacted by life threatening diseases. Mr. Snow published an article in Christianity Today a while back after finding out he had cancer. Although I quoted a portion of the article in Sunday morning's sermon, I wanted to link to the complete article here. The article shows a tremendous amount of spiritual insight and was a real encouragement to me. The article can be read online at:http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/25.30.html

Elizabeth Proctor - Missionary to Chile

2008-07-18T14:00:00.004-06:00

It was our pleasure to have Elizabeth Proctor, Missionary to chile in our services Sunday. Her burden for carring the Gospel to the World presented an excellent example for all of us!

We had a wonderful 4th of July Weekend!

2008-07-08T11:28:00.005-06:00

We had an event-filled time but all seemed to enjoy themselves! Friday we had our annual picnic at Alameda park. God provided perfect weather and we had a good group of people come out. Saturday the Southern Gospel group Shiloh came to Alamogordo for a free concert and they were a true blessing to everyone there. We concluded with week with our Patriotic Sunday - recognizing the many blessing we have in this great Nation! Praise God for His faithfulness!

Looking forward to a great 4th of July weekend!

2008-07-02T12:35:00.002-06:00

We have a busy week ahead of us! We will be meeting at Alameda Park on Friday for our annual picnic. Saturday brings the 2nd Annual Alamogordo Music Festival at the Tay's center beginning at 4PM. We will have pictures and reports on all the events posted next week! God Bless this great Country!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-17T13:11:00.002-06:00

Sunday we joined many others in honoring the signficance of fathers in the family. Praise the Lord that we have a perfect heavenly Father to look to as we gain "Strength for the Journey".

If you are going to be in the area on July 4th make sure to join us at Alameda Park (Next to the Zoo on Highway 70) starting at 8 AM for our annual picnic!

Holloman AFB weclomes the first F-22s!

2008-06-11T13:24:00.004-06:00

On Friday, June 6 2008 the first two F-22's arrived at Holloman AFB ushering in a new era in the proud tradition of the base. Thanks to the Dickey family for the patch and coin from the events held on Friday!

We had some issues with the audio in our sermons from this Sunday. I posted the AM sermon but the PM sermon had too much static to be useable. I think we have the problem iorned out so it should not present future problems.

Where is that in the Bible?

2008-06-03T23:07:00.002-06:00

Sunday we began a new series in our AM Worship services entitled "Where is that in the Bible?". The first sermon is "Cleanliness is next to godliness" which emphasizes our need to come to Jesus Christ for the only cleansing that truly matters. Stop by http://www.gateway-baptist.org to listen in!

Remembering Matters!

2008-05-27T10:22:00.005-06:00

Our greatest need as a people is not lower gas prices or an answer to global warming. Our greatest need is to remember. Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for you and I to be able to know Him. Our men and women have given their lives for the freedoms that we often take for granted!

We live in the most blessed Country in the world and serve the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe! Let's commit together to remember that and live like it matters!

Our evening message (So Much to Remember) is available on our sermon page! http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

The morning message is not available due to technical issues.

Awana Awards Night!

2008-05-19T00:53:00.003-06:00

We had a fantastic time Sunday Night as we celebrated our 2008 Awana Awards Night!

I would like to personally thank Ed Davidson, Mike & Stephani Christenot, Laura King, and Ben & Katherine Peterson for working with the children this year!

The children and their parents were wonderful and we look forward to seeing most of them again next year!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-13T11:29:00.006-06:00

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:" - Psalm 127:3-5a

God has blessed our church with some of the most wonderful women I have ever met. It was our priviledge to honor them on Sunday for Mother's Day! Thanks so much for all you do!

Our Mother's Day gifts from Christian Tool of Affirmation (http://ctainc.com/) and Sunday morning message challenged our mothers to Live in Grace! you can listen to the sermon audio on our sermon page! http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

Congratulations Graduates!

2008-05-09T21:16:00.004-06:00

Two of our members received degrees in commencement ceremonies at NMSUA tonight! New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson delivered the commencement address.

Our Graduates were:

Elycia Foley - Associate in Social Services

Samantha Graham - Associate of Graphic Design

Great job ladies!

A Wonderful Weekend!

2008-05-06T13:03:00.002-06:00

Our Ladies had a day out on Saturday, May 3rd in preparation for Mother's Day. They were able to meet up with Danielle Contrares, our Missionary to Spain for the morning. I hear a good time was had by all!

We had several visitors in our services on Sunday. The audio for our sermons has been posted on our main website. http://gateway-baptist.org/listen.html

I appologize for last week's sermons not being posted due to equipment issues!

Welcome to Our Blog!

2008-04-30T11:56:00.004-06:00

We are looking for ways to better communicate with everyone who visits our website. This blog is inteded to keep people informed about the activities of our church! I will make periodic updates as appropriate to reflect significant events in our church and community.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments you have! Due to some problems we had on our forums all comments left on articles will be reviewed prior to posting.

If you have not visited our main site yet make sure to stop by!
http://www.gateway-baptist.org/

The end of an era...

2008-04-22T20:54:00.008-06:00

The F-117 was officially retired from active service at Holloman AFB this past Saturday, April 20. I was stationed at Holloman when the F-117 arrived in 1991 and still remember how amazing it was to see the new addition to our community.

The first F-22s will be arriving at Holloman in June but the wing will not be operational until sometime next year.