News

We invite you to join us and several other churches from the Grand Crossings Baptist Association at the campus of Union Hill Baptist Church in Holts Summit for our association’s annual meeting this Friday and Saturday, September 22-23. Like last year, this year’s meeting will be a two-day event that includes preaching, teaching, worship through song and reports pertaining to the churches in Callaway and Audrain counties. The conference portion of the meeting will be led by Dr. Don Whitney, who will be discussing how Christians can grow in their faith through the practice of spiritual disciplines. Focusing especially on prayer and Bible interaction, Don will preach messages on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Here is a general schedule for the weekend:

 
Don Whitney has been Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Associate Dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, since 2005. Before that, he held a similar position (the first such position in the six Southern Baptist seminaries) at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, for ten years. He is the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality.

Don grew up in Osceola, Arkansas, where he came to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He was active in sports throughout high school and college, and worked in the radio station his dad managed.

After graduating from Arkansas State University, Don planned to finish law school and pursue a career in sportscasting. While at the University of Arkansas School of Law, he sensed God’s call to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He then enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, graduating with a Master of Divinity degree in 1979. In 1987, Don completed a Doctor of Ministry degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and later a Ph.D. in theology at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

Prior to his ministry as a seminary professor, Don was pastor of Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), for almost fifteen years. He has served local churches in pastoral ministry for twenty-four years.

Don is the author of several books, which can be purchased HERE or at the conference this weekend. His hobby is restoring and using old fountain pens.

Don lives with his wife Caffy in their home near Louisville. She regularly teaches a class for seminary wives, works from their home as an artist, muralist and illustrator and enjoys gardening and beekeeping. The Whitneys are parents of Laurelen Christiana.

We hope to see you Friday and Saturday!

Tomorrow evening (Friday, September 15th) is a very special event for our Richland family. Nehemiah Bertram is getting baptized in the pool behind his family’s home in New Bloomfield. This is going to be a great event, and you are invited to join us! Following the 6 p.m. baptism, we will have a great time of fellowship over roasted hot dogs, S’mores and more. Hope you can join us! If you have any questions and/or want directions to the Bertram home, please contact us.

Also, as a reminder, here is our weekly lineup for regular activities…

Sundays:

9:30 a.m. – Family Groups 
–Family groups are Bible study fellowships for all ages – children, youth and adults. Nursery is included for infants and toddlers, too. We consider family groups to be an essential ministry for discipleship and relationships.

10:40 a.m. – Morning Worship Service
–Morning worship is an essential time of growing in God’s Word together. It’s that time of the week when most of our church family is all together for the purpose of worshiping our Lord and building up His body. Currently, Pastor Nick is preaching through James, teaching us how genuine followers of Jesus Christ are “Marked.” For those who are interested, we also provide nursery (toddlers and infants) and children’s ministry (kindergarten and below) during our morning worship services.

6:00 p.m. – Life on Mission
–Life on Mission is our Sunday evening worship service with discussion on how we can apply what we’re learning on Sundays to our daily lives and understand how to better live our lives on mission for God.

Wednesdays:

5:45 p.m. – Evening Meal
–Our Wednesday evening meal is FREE and is a great time of fellowship and encouragement. Everyone is invited to join us for great food and fun together.

6:30 p.m. – Prayer and Bible Study / TeamKID / Youth Group
–With ministries for all ages (both children and adults), Wednesday evenings provide a great recharge for the middle of the week.

NOTE: To get more information on specific ministries, please click HERE or contact us. For updates, special events and cancellation notices, please check out our NEWS page or download the free MyRichland app (right).

This coming Sunday, September 10th, Pastor Nick will be starting Marked, a new sermon series through the book of James. Teaching and applying James’s plea to the Christian community to prove their genuine faith, Nick will challenge you to “be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22) as he discusses how followers of Jesus Christ are marked by God.

As always, we invite you to join us each Sunday morning for family groups (9:30) and worship (10:40). To see our complete weekly schedule, please click HERE.

Here is the tentative breakdown of the messages Nick will be preaching during the upcoming Sunday morning worship services:

Sunday, September 10 – “Endurance & Maturity” (James 1:1-18)

Sunday, September 17 – “WORDly Living” (James 1:19-27)

Sunday, September 24 – “Love for Others” (James 2:1-13)

Sunday, October 1 – “Faith that Works” (James 2:14-26)

Sunday, October 8 – “A Controlled Tongue” (James 3:1-12)

Sunday, October 15 – “Wisdom from Above” (James 3:13-18)

Sunday, October 22 – “Humility & Submission” (James 4:1-17)

Sunday, November 5 – “Generosity” (James 5:1-6)

Sunday, November 12 – “Patience” (James 5:7-12)

Sunday, November 19 – “Prayerfulness” (James 5:13-20)

If you miss any Sundays, you can always listen to our messages online through our sermons’ page.

Sunday evening was our annual Back-to-School Worship Service & Ice Cream Social. We had a great time with our church family and guests. After the children performed one of their favorite songs from Vacation Bible School, we had a time of worship with singing, praying and the preaching of God’s Word. Then, we recognized students, teachers and staff in attendance with gifts for each of them and prayer for the 2017-2018 school year.

To top it all off, we had a fun time of fellowship over ice cream sundaes and several cakes and desserts. What a great evening!

You can see several pictures from our time of recognition and prayer for students and staff by clicking HERE.

Our annual back-to-school ice cream social is this coming Sunday evening (August 27th). We’ll start with a special worship service at 6:00, followed by ice cream and fellowship.

If you are a teacher, coach, school staff member or student (at any age level – elementary school, middle school, high school, college or beyond), we would love the opportunity to recognize and pray for you at the end of the service, which will also include a special gift for students.

Everyone is invited to join us, so please spread the word to your family, friends, classmates, teachers, coaches, school staff, neighbors and the community.

For our regular schedule, please click HERE. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact us. Hope to see you Sunday!

We’re less than a week away from our regular Wednesday evening activities resuming. While 412 Group and our adults’ prayer and Bible study meet year-round, some of our other Wednesday evening activities break for the summer months. Our free weekly meal and age-graded activities resume on August 23rd.

Do you ever find yourself struggling with discouragement, exhaustion and/or stress in the midst of a busy week? Or, do you simply find yourself struggling spiritually, regardless of how your week is going? Joining Richland for our Wednesday evening activities is a great way to get encouraged, challenged, sharpened and equipped to continue your daily journey in the faith.

And, if you are already doing well, Wednesday evenings are a great time to be a blessing and encouragement others who might be struggling. Please make plans to join us.

Here’s the basic rundown:

5:45 – 6:15 p.m. – Evening Meal
–Our Wednesday evening meal is a great time of fellowship and encouragement. Everyone is invited to join us for great food and fun together.

6:15 – 7:30 p.m. – TeamKID & Youth Group
–TeamKID (separate groups for nursery, preschool/kindergarten, and elementary (1st – 5th grade)) has a great time each week with games, missions and Bible study. Also, 412 Group (students in grades 6-12) meets for games, fellowship and Bible study.

6:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Adults’ Prayer and Bible Study
–Our weekly adults’ gathering focuses on praying for needs both inside and outside our church family, followed by a group Bible study. Currently, we are studying what God’s Word says about what a healthy church is.

If you have any questions, want more information or want to learn more about serving in one of our Wednesday evening ministries, please contact us.

During our Sunday morning worship service (10:40) this coming Sunday, Pastor Nick will be starting a new 3-week sermon series through Haggai on our need to “Hope in God.” If you are a part of the Richland family or if you live in the Kingdom City area and do not have a church family, please join us for family groups (9:30) and worship Sunday morning. If you miss any Sundays, you can always listen to our messages online through our sermons’ page.

Here is the schedule of messages:

Sunday, August 13 = “Hopeful Priorities” (Haggai 1)

Sunday, August 20 = “Hopeful Promises” (Haggai 2:1-9)

Sunday, August 27 = “Hopeful Warnings” (Haggai 2:10-23)

Sunday was our big family celebration for Vacation Bible School. It was a great day of family groups, worship, lunch, games and fellowship. In fact, some people stayed until after 5 p.m. because so much fun was being had. Below are the videos from the VBS program before our morning worship service, followed by several pictures from VBS and the Sunday afternoon celebration.

Sunday Morning Videos

Pictures from VBS and the Sunday Celebration

To see all the pictures, please click HERE.

Our annual Vacation Bible School family celebration and lunch will be this coming Sunday, July 30. The program will take place during our morning worship service (10:40), and the lunch will follow the service. After lunch we’ll also have plenty of fun and games for children and their families, including snow cones, water games, the famous bounce house, popcorn, and more. Everyone is invited to join us, so please spread the word. As always, we will kick off our Sunday morning at 9:30 with Family Groups for all ages, so we hope you’ll join us during that time, too.

In the meantime, please join us now for Vacation Bible School. We started Sunday evening and will continue each evening (5-8 p.m.) through Thursday. If you have any questions or want more information, please contact us.