Georgia Right to Life

The Georgia Right to Life organization will be holding their annual Memorial for the Unborn this Monday, January 23 on the capital steps in downtown Atlanta. This important event begins at 11:30 AM. The Memorial service is an opportunity to visibly demonstrate your support of life and to corporately provide a voice for those who have no voice of their own. Please consider participating. For more information talk to Ricardo Davis today or visit the website www.grtl.org .

Book Highlight: The Next Story

This week's book highlight is from Tim Challies entitled The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion.

Living in the Digital World
In the past thirty to forty years the development of digital technology has radically altered the way we as humans both perceive and engage our world. Once a premium device reserved exclusively for high powered business men mobile phones have become ubiquitous. The personal computer has replaced the television as a gathering point for families. No need to find space for 40 volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica on your shelves, just open your laptop and go to Wikipedia with your questions. Technology has made voluminous amounts of information accessible to us and allowed us to never be inaccessible to anyone…as long as we can get a good signal. Is all of this good or bad? Yes. Some of it’s good and some of it’s bad. You’ll have to decide for yourself which is which. As Christians living in today’s world we all need to give thought to our theology of technology.

Tim Challies’ The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion is a resource that will help us think through the topic of technology and social media and it’s affect on the world in which we live. Challies is no stranger to the digital world having been a part of the blogosphere since the early days. Nor is he categorically opposed to new technology. He recognizes that “God has gifted human beings with remarkable ability to dream, create, and invent technologies that serve us as we serve him, technologies that enable us to better serve him.”

His concern, however, is the powerful and shaping influence technology can have when we blindly introduce it into our lives and the lives of our families. Paul exhorts us to “look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise making the best use of time because the days are evil. (Eph 5:15,16). To live in a circumspect manner is to give consideration to understanding the purpose for a particular technology and it’s effect on our lives before we adopt it. Challies poses this penetrating question; “What is it that draws me to the device, and when I look beneath the surface, why do I really want it?” This is not to assume our motives are sinister. They may very well be virtuous. In light of the amount of space the Scriptures give to addressing the heart; however, one would be naïve to think that are hearts aren’t regularly tempted to wander from God. (I know mine is).

Challies spends the first half of the book laying a foundation. He does this by covering thematic elements found in all technology. In his historical overview Challies traces the ever increasing pace of life beginning in the 1800s, when nothing moved faster than the speed of a horse, through the invention of the steam locomotive, that eventually made it possible to travel coast to coast, to the invention of the telegraph which connected individual communities and finally to the advent of the Internet which has made instant and worldwide communication an every day experience for most people. With the introduction of each of these technologies the human experience has changed dramatically.

In the second half of the book Challies gets specific and practical. This is where I found The Next Story most helpful. The author addresses topics such as understanding the biblical purpose of communication, the differences between mediated relationships and face-to-face relationships, the impact living in a distracted world makes on deep thinking, perspectives on the inexhaustible information that is available via the Internet and the dangers of moving between “second lives” in cyberspace and our actual lives in the real world.

Challies poses the question “are you the slave of your digital devices or are they your servants?” He reveals much of his purpose in this book when he says, “We are looking for that sweet spot where our use of technology is not just thoughtful and informed, but it is informed by the Bible, by an understanding of God’s purpose for technology.“

Digital devices aren’t going away anytime soon and this can be a good thing, depending on how we interact with them. Whether you’ve just purchased your first smart phone or you’ve been functioning in the digital world for years, The Next Story will challenge you to think biblically about your use of technology.

Alive Youth Camp

Hello Church Family,


Sovereign Grace Ministries invites our youth to participate in the first ever regional Youth Camp! You can find additional details on the website, www.alivecamp.com. Registration opens up in early February.

Here are a few details to get you started:
Dates: June 25-28 (Monday through Thursday); arrive between 1:00pm and 5:00pm; depart after lunch on Thursday

Location: Lake Swan Camp

Ages: 13 and up (Parents invited too!)

Cost: $165 per person; includes lodging, food, t-shirt, and camp activities

The Samstags are Moving!

Hello Church Family,

The Samstags are moving! Here are the details from Janell:

We are moving this Saturday "finally"! We will get the truck Friday afternoon and will start loading the truck with whatever we can. On Saturday morning we will start again @ 8am. If anyone is willing and able we would be so blessed with any help. We are hoping to get it all in one trip:)

Our address in Waleska is 556 Rock House RD, 30183 & we are moving to 2366 E. Cherokee Dr

Woodstock, Ga 30188. We will be two doors down from the Roberts if anyone is familiar with their house location. 

If anyone is available Friday night or Saturday morning just let us know...Janell cell 770-362-3741 email janellsamstag6@gmail.com.

Friday Dan will start loading the truck by 6pm.

Any women who are blessed with the gift of organization are welcome to come on over and help unpack anytime.

Thank You for serving us physically or in prayer for our busy day!! We appreciate both:)

Love in our Sweet Savior,

The Samstags

Items Needed at The Garden

Hello Church Family,

Here is a list of things needed at The Garden shelter:


-Bibles, journals/notebooks, pens, and highlighters


-2012 Calendars


-Kitchen needs: olive oil, ranch dressing, peeled garlic, minced garlic, chicken/beef/vegetable stock, Pam, paper plates/bowls, cooking oil, sugar, butter, shredded cheese


-Clothing closet needs: panties for women sizes 6-8, uniforms for middle school students sizes 10-18 (they need blue/khaki pants and collared shirts in navy blue/white/dark green/yellow)


-Cold/Fever medicines for adults and children


-Beth Moore DVD series for "A Woman's Heart" (maybe we can borrow this from another women's group and return it when finished!)


-15 passenger van and 28 foot box truck with lift gate


-We have a new mom with four kids that will be moving into their own place soon and we would love to bless them with a vehicle. If you have a vehicle you would like to donate, please let us know!


-Plungers, blender, coffee grinder, mops, brooms


-Monetary gifts and gas cards (You can make donations online at
www.7bridgestorecovery.org through PayPal or send checks to 7 Bridges to Recovery at 2840 Plant Atkinson Road Smyrna, GA 30080. All donations are tax-exempt!)

Ladies' Retreat

Hello Church Family, 
Save the date for a road trip to attend the Legacy Women’s Conference at Cornerstone Church in Knoxville, February 17-18. The featured speaker will be Elyse Fitzpatrick of Counsel from the Cross Ministries, who will cover material from her book, Because He Loves Me. Additional details are forthcoming. Please e-mail Anita Padgett at mrspadgett@gmail.com for an informal count of those interested in taking part. Knowing a ballpark number will help us as we move forward to develop the overall cost per person. So far, we have a great deal on lodging and are hoping to charter a bus!

Haiti Informational Meeting

Hello Church Family,

There is going to be an informational meeting for any couples interested in a church mission trip to Haiti. The details are as follows: 


-January 15th at 11:30, right after church at TKA
-Childcare provided
-Please see Josiah Battaglia for any questions.