The Lamplighter
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 9 S E P T E M B E R
INSIDE THIS
The Muffled Groan
ISSUE:
For I consider that the sufferings of
From Pastor 2 this present time are not worth
Brian’s Desk comparing with the glory that is to
be revealed to us. [19] For the
Wednesday 3 creation waits with eager longing for
Prayer Meeting the revealing of the sons of God.
[20] For the creation was subjected
Letters to 4 to futility, not willingly, but because
Katie Wells of him who subjected it, in hope
[21] that the creation itself will be
From the Church 4 set free from its bondage to decay
Library and obtain the freedom
of the glory of the chil-
Quizzing 5 dren of God. [22] For
News we know that the whole
creation has been
AWM 5 groaning together in the
Fall Refocus pains of childbirth until
now. [23] And not only
Birthdays/ 5 the creation, but we
Anniversaries ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit,
Church Lockup 5 groan inwardly as we
Schedule wait eagerly for adop-
tion as sons, the re-
VBS 6
demption of our bodies.
The Egypt File (Romans 8:18-23 – ESV)
Annual Fall 6 not refine it" and "War at best is
Recently, I have had the opportu-
Church Picnic nity to watch Ken Burns’ out-
standing documentaries on both
Bulletin Board 7 the Civil War and World War
Two. If you have not seen either
of these, it would be well-worth
the time investment to do so.
Ken Burns has mastered the art
of making documentaries by not
only distilling all of the pertinent
facts for his audience, but in also
putting a human face on each of
these terrible wars. After all,
these wars were not just about
places, battles, strategies, dates,
and etc. They were about PEO-
PLE—people very much like you
and me!
The thing that has especially
stood out to me in viewing these
documentaries is the incredible
amount of suffering that inevita-
bly results from war. Civilians
die. Children are left orphans.
Men writhe in agony on the
battlefield as limbs are blown
away. Brains are scrambled for
years to come by war experi-
ences that refuse to fade from
memory. It was Civil War Gen-
eral William T. Sherman who
memorably stated: “War is Hell!”
On another occasion Sherman
stated: "War is cruel and you can-
barbarism." I’ll take his word for
it!
One scene sticks in my mind. It
took place during one of the
many battles at Anzio, Italy. The
Germans were relentlessly
pounding the Allied Forces with
heavy artillery. One man, so
shaken with fear jumped out of
his trench and began to pray. He
screamed for God to come down
from heaven into this vicious
battle. He then added these
words: “God come down here
yourself. Don’t send us Jesus. This
is no place for children!” Obvi-
ously this man’s understanding of
Jesus Christ was greatly skewed!
2 0 1 0
War has a way of bringing out
the greatest concentrations of
human suffering. It also has a
way of polarizing people’s view of
God. There are some people
who witness the horrors of war
and walk away insisting that such
atrocities prove there is no God.
Others have come to very oppo-
site conclusions (e.g. Alexander
Solzhenitsyn). Solzhenitsyn
knew that the evil
that so characterized
wicked people and
their wars also ran in
his own veins to
some degree. He
wrote: “If only there
were evil people some-
where insidiously com-
mitting evil deeds and
it were necessary only
to separate them from
the rest of us and
destroy them. But the
line dividing good and
evil cuts through the heart of every
human being. And who is willing to
destroy a piece of his own heart?”
The Bible reminds us that all of
the suffering that takes place in
this world is NOT arbitrary. The
Bible takes suffering seriously
because it takes sin seriously.
Suffering exists because sin ex-
ists. Don’t let that fact escape
you when you see or experience
great suffering. All of creation is
groaning under the weight of sin.
War and its resulting suffering is
a manifest evidence of that
groaning.
Christians are not called to
“muffle the groan”! We do no
one any good to either downplay
(Continued on back page)
 PAGE 2
From Pastor Brian’s Desk
The Lord Unity of the church
“I therefore, a prisoner for the
desires that Lord, urge you to walk in a man-
ner worthy of the calling to which
we as a you have been called, 2with all
humility and gentleness, with
church patience, bearing with one
another in love, 3eager to
become maintain the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.
unified as we 4There is one body and one
Spirit—just as you were called to
worship and the one hope that belongs to your
call— 5one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, 6one God and Father of
serve Him.
all, who is over all and through all
and in all.” Ephesians 4:1-6
One of the
ways to The Lord desires that we as a
church become unified as we
obtain unity is worship and serve Him. One
of the ways to obtain unity is
to put aside to put aside our personal
“preferences” for the sake of
our personal the body of Christ. A specific
example that we can all relate
“preferences” to is in the area of worship
music. Some churches have
for the sake of “shot themselves in the foot”
by programming separate wor-
the body of ship services based on music
styles or “preferences.” We
Christ. (the pastoral staff) believe that
this is counter-productive to
the scriptural mandate to
“maintain the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace.” It seg-
regates the body of Christ and
diminishes the best of what
God offers to us as His people.
Coral Ridge Presbyterian
Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Flor-
ida is a case in point. I have
included an excellent article
this month about how this
church dealt with this crucial
issue, showing us how the
grace of God impacted their
THE LAMPLIGHTER - SEPTEMBER
decision to change their ap-
proach to worship music.
We Are One
Today was a monumental,
historic day at Coral Ridge.
For many years Coral Ridge
had two very distinct worship
services–one contemporary
and one traditional. The result
was the unintentional develop-
ment of two different churches
under one roof. It wasn’t
healthy. So back at the end of
Spring we started talking about
what we could do to unify our
one large church.
Given our desire to re-plant
Coral Ridge around a holistic
and comprehensive under-
standing of the gospel we con-
cluded that we needed to
make a change. After all, since
the gospel is the good news
that God reconciles us not
only to himself but also to one
another, the church should be
breaking down walls, not
erecting them. God intends the
church to be demonstrating
what community looks like
when God’s reconciling power
is at work.
Most churches would agree
that any segregation arising
from racial or economic big-
otry runs contrary to the na-
ture of the gospel and should
not be tolerated. But there’s
another kind of segregation,
perhaps more subtle, that
many churches today have
unapologetically embraced.
Following the lead of the ad-
vertising world, many churches
2010
and worship services target
specific age groups to the ex-
clusion of others. They forget
that, according to the Bible,
the church is an all-age com-
munity, and instead they or-
ganize themselves around dis-
tinctives dividing the genera-
tions: Busters, Boomers, Mil-
lennials, Generations X, Y, and
Z. Many churches offer a tradi-
tional service for the tribe who
prefer older music and a con-
temporary service for the tribe
who prefer newer music. The
truth is, however, that if the
only type of music you employ
in a worship service is old, you
inadvertently communicate
that God was more active in
the past than he is in the pre-
sent. On the other hand, if the
only type of music you employ
in a worship service is new,
you inadvertently communi-
cate that God is more active in
the present than he was in the
past.
The only way to musically
communicate God’s timeless
activity in the life of the church
is to blend the best of the past
with the best of the present. In
other words, we must remem-
ber in our worship that while
“contemporary only” people
operate with their heads fixed
frontwards, never looking over
their shoulder at the stock
from which they have come,
and “traditional only” people
operate with their heads on
backwards, romanticizing
about the past and always
wanting to go back, the
Church, in contrast from both
extremes, is called upon to be
(Continued on page 3)
 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 9 PAGE 3

(Continued from page 2)
a people with swiveling heads: learning
from the past, living in the present, and
looking to the future. That’s the only
way to avoid in worship what C.S.
Lewis called “chronological snobbery.”
You see, when we separate people
according to something as trivial as
musical preferences, we evidence a
fundamental failure to comprehend the
heart of the gospel. We’re not only
feeding toxic tribalism; we’re also say-
ing the gospel can’t successfully bring
these two different groups together.
It’s a declaration of doubt about the
unifying power of God’s gospel. Gen-
erational appeal in worship is an admis-
sion that the gospel is powerless to
join together what man has separated.
Building the church on stylistic prefer- years. Because of our firm commitment
ences or age appeal (whether old or to and love for the gospel, we wor-
young) is just as contrary to the reconcil- shiped together as one body around one
ing effect of the gospel as building it on table united to one Christ by one Spirit–
class, race, or gender distinctions. In a and we felt God’s infinite approval!
recent interview J. I. Packer said, “If wor-
ship services are so fixed that what’s The gospel revolution at Coral
being offered fits the expectations, the Ridge continues!
hopes, even the prejudices, of any one of
these groups as opposed to the others, I
don’t believe the worship style glorifies
God.” One of the leading ways the
church can testify to God’s unifying
power before our segregated world is to
establish and maintain congregations and
worship services that transcend cultural
barriers, including age and musical styles.
So, I am thrilled that as of this morning
Coral Ridge broke down a thick wall that
had been separating this church family for

Wednesday Prayer Meeting

"May Your way be known on earth, Your
saving power among all nations. Let the
peoples praise You, O God; let all the peo-
ples praise You!" Psalm 67:2, 3
The month of September has quite a
number of notable days to remember
with our prayers:
And September 23rd is the start of Suk-
kot or the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)
(see Lev. 23:34 - 43), a reminder of the
40 years of wandering in the desert after
the Exodus from Egypt. So pray, as Paul
did in Romans 9 and 10 for the salvation
of the Jewish people, that they would
know God's righteousness.
God, may my children always be strong
and courageous in their character and in
their actions (Deut. 31:6).
Lord, teach my children perseverance in
all they do, and help them especially to
run with perseverance the race marked
out for them (Heb. 12:1).

September 9th marks the end of Islam's
holiest month, Ramadan. In the final
week of the month, the "Night of
Power" is a strategic night of prayer for
Muslims. Pray that they will have
dreams and visions of Jesus and will
trust in Him. Ask God to inspire believ-
ers to become more intentional in
reaching out to Muslim neighbors and
coworkers. Pray that God would raise
up people with various spiritual gifts to
help the believers, and to help Muslims
to discover the Good News.
September 9th is also Rosh Hashanah, a
holy day of judgment of sin and repen-
tance, and the first day of the Jewish
New Year. September 18th is Judaism's
holiest day, Yom Kippur - the Day of
Atonement (see Lev. 16:29 - 34). It was
a symbol and a foreshadowing of the
effect of Jesus' suffering, death and res-
urrection in bringing about the recon-
ciliation of God to man (Heb. 9:7 - 12).
In another line of thought, September 12
is Grandparents' Day (and the church
picnic!). Praise God for praying grandpar-
ents - continue to be faithful in praying
for your grandchildren: for those who are
following the Lord and for those who do
not yet know Him.
And that brings us to September 22nd -
See You at the Pole, when Christian stu-
dents annually around the US and the
world will gather before school to pray
together for one another, their class-
mates and their teachers.
As young people are back in school, col-
lege or university, we all need to pray for
God to guide and protect them. Here are
some Scripture prayer suggestions to
pray for them:
Father, may integrity and honesty be their
virtue and their protection (Ps 25:21).
Father, please instill in my chil-
So pray, as
dren a soul that 'follows hard
after Thee' (Ps 63:8), one that Paul did in
clings passionately to You.
Romans 9
God, please help my children to
develop a desire to see Your and 10 for
glory declared among the na-
tions, Your marvelous deeds the salvation
among all peoples (Ps 96:3).
of the Jewish
And, as always, you are invited
to join us Wednesdays at 7 pm people, that
in the Butternut Room as we
pray for the church, its minis-
they would
tries, members and missionaries. know God's
Prayerfully Yours, righteous-
ness.
Larry Petry
 PAGE 4
Letters to Katie Wells
If God calls you to serve Him in a remote area
of the world, you PRAY, and then you GO.
It is a lonely life when your only contact with
people who speak your language is a daily
radio conversation with a mechanic or pilot.
Katie will receive mail only once a month
The deadline for when the SAMAIR pilot brings in supplies.
the October issue
Katie’s “Encouragement and Accountability”
of the Lamplighter group would like to SEND her many letters,
cards, and notes of encouragement each
is Sunday,
month so she can feel the support she has
from people who are PRAYing. Her mail will
September 19th.
go to the post office box in Santa Cruz, just as
Please submit your it always has. The pilot will bring her mail to
her.
articles to the
church office. If the Lord is nudging you to GIVE Katie
some encouragement, you can find envelopes
already addressed to her on the table near the
door to the sound booth. We don’t know
the date on which the pilot will be flying to
San Fernando, so if you could send your first
card/note to her ASAP, that would be
great! It takes about ten days for a letter to
get to Bolivia. Post offices carry 98-cent
stamps, which is what your letter will need. If,
for any reason, you would like the EA group
to send your letter for you, just bring it back
in the envelope and put it back on that ta-
ble. Be sure to write your return address on
your envelope. We will take care of the post-
age and send it on its way to brighten Katie’s
day!
Please call or email Becky Mintz if you have
any questions.
Katie’s Encouragement & Accountabil-
ity group has a monthly time of prayer
for her. The next one will be Thursday,
September 16th from 7:30—8:00 pm in
the Butternut Room. We will begin and
end promptly at these times. ALL ARE
WELCOME!!!!
THE LAMPLIGHTER - SEPTEMBER
From the Church Library
Some of the books Jody blogged
about this summer have been
Another book we own by Fitz-
patrick is Because He Loves Me:
added. We snitched from her How Christ Transforms Our
blogs to whet your appetite, but Daily Life (248.7 Fit). Also new
you can see her complete blogs are Hudson Taylor's Spiritual
on our church website by scroll- Secret (B Tay) and R.C.
ing down to Links. Sproul's The Righteous Shall
Live by Faith: Romans, a Com-
mentary (227.1 Spr)
Comforts from the Cross: Cele-
brating the Gospel One Day at a
Time, by Elyse Fitzpatrick (242 Please take the time to
Fit). Jody said "Do I celebrate sign out your books: in-
everyday God gives me? or am I structions and a box with
just running? ...This book is a
cards to fill out is on a
month's worth of daily celebra-
tions. Reminding us to take com-
shelf behind the Butter-
fort in the cross of Jesus Christ. nut Room door.
How the facts of Jesus' birth,
death and resurrection should
Good reading!
'free, gladden and enliven our
soul every day - when you're Jean Palmer
struggling to balance the check-
book, stuck in traffic or in a hos-
pital bed, or just bored with the
same-old-same-old."
Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by Elyse
Fitzpatrick (616 Fit) About this
book, Jody says that Elyse thinks
God would have us think about
food and our eating habits. She
makes suggestions for a new way
to think about food, including
these: Will eating this food dem-
onstrate a heart of idolatry? Can I
eat this food with thanks and
gratitude?
2010
 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 9 PAGE
Quizzing
Bible quizzing is under way for this year. We will be
studying the Gospel of John. At our team orienta-
tion we had 13 Senior quizzers and 8 Junior quiz-
zers. Two senior quizzers couldn’t make it. The
kids are so excited about the start of a new
year. We will be practicing on Friday’s at 3:30 p.m.
This year we’ve changed how quizzers make it to
Districts where the International team is decided. In
the past, quizzers just needed to have a 40 average
at our Zone quizzes. This year quizzers who want
to make Districts will be given a list of 300 verses
that they will need to memorize in order to make
the team. This is really great since it’s in their own
hands whether they make it or not. Theoretically all
Senior quizzers could make it to Districts. Already
quizzers are busy memorizing and studying God’s
word.
This year our District will be sending ten quizzers to
Internationals. More of our quizzers will have a
chance at making the International team.
Many quizzers purchased a Study Guide which has
daily devotions from the material they are study-
ing. They all want to understand and implement His
word in their lives, not just repeat back what they
have memorized.
We look forward to working with these young peo-
ple again this year. Please pray for all our quizzers,
helpers, and coaches.
Marie Murgia, Junior coach
Georgia Phipps, Senior coach
Church Lock Up
Schedule
This is a reminder for church officers who are on
the lock up schedule for the month of September:
September 5 Mike Maloney
September 12 Clayt Roberts Sr.
September 19 Matt Coulter
September 26 Jim Phillips
If you are unable to be at church on the day you are
scheduled for lock up, please arrange to change with
someone on the schedule.
5
Fall Refocus
If you missed our Alliance Women's Spring Refresh back in April and were
disappointed, don't feel too bad. An exciting opportunity is coming your way
on the weekend of September 24-26, 2010.
Our annual Fall Refocus retreat, held at Delta Lake Bible Conference Center
is just around the corner. In addition to that, this year we will also be extend-
ing our stay at Delta by one night in order to increase our time of spiritually
encouraging one another, along with our fellowship. Special guest speaker will
be Mrs. Elaine Miller, wife of our District Superintendent Rev. Dan Miller. All
women and teens are encouraged to attend.
Becky Mintz has graciously offered
our group the use of her cottage
again this year. For more information,
see the poster and sign-up on the
Butternut room door, or speak to
Diane Smith, or Shaun Standford.
Birthdays & Anniversaries
September 2010
1 – Seth Woodford
3 – Andrew Sharp
4 – Dave Trexler, (Jon & Becky Rogers)
5 – Pat Andrews, Maggie Dunsford
7 – Rachel Johnson, Cody Elmer
11 – Sue Maloney
12 – Jane Taylor
13 – (Carl & Barbara Olcott), (Randy & Beth Ortlieb)
16 – Jerry McNeill, Becky Rogers
17 – Joe Murgia, Martha Trout
18 – Bob Trout, (Patrick & Chris Buff)
19 – Nick Benedetto, Kirk Kolceski
20 – William Bitler, Donna McClain
22 – RJ Shaver , Enoch Bastian, (Gary & Betty Lauzon)
23 – Benjamin Smid
24 – Carolyn Kolceski, (Jeremy & Tina Culver)
25 – Joyce Phillips, Gerrit Vanderwerff III, Karen Reahr, (John & Aline Coye)
27 – Jessie Mondore
28 – Lauren Gates, Pastor Rob Gates
29 – Carl Olcott, Jon Rogers
30 – Stephen Bitler, Dylan Reahr
PAGE 6

VBS - The Egypt File

Our visit to Egypt was a success. Each evening we had an average of 80 children that
attended. It was exciting to see each one learning more about God and having such a great time.
Here is a quick review of our week.
One of the highlights of each evening was Design Time. Throughout the week we had a
time where kids learned about their incredible, God-designed bodies. One night they examined how
all the parts of our bodies work together. Did you know that there are 10 billion cells just on your thumb?
Showing these facts helped instill that we have an amazing God that has created us special. In addition to Design
time the kids sang praise songs that got them up and moving.
There were four stations that the kids rotated through. At the Craft Market, the children made items
that they could take home to remind them of what they learned that evening in VBS. Sunsational Games en-
couraged them to apply what they learned while having lots of fun. It was warm that
week so of course the kids loved the water games. Each night they had great snacks at
the Snack Oasis prepared by the kitchen staff. Kids enjoyed digging into God’s Word at
the Dig Site lesson time. The first night the children learned that the world teaches we
evolved from ape-like creatures, but the Bible shows we were created by God, in His
image. They looked at some of the myths such as Lucy and Java Man.
As our missions project this year we selected a missionary from our own
church, Katie Wells. Becky Mintz was able to share a little about Katie and her work in
Bolivia with the children. Our goal was to raise $200 to help with the cost of building
some furniture for her home. We went over our goal and raised about $210!
It sounds like it was a great week doesn’t it? VBS wouldn’t have happened though without all the sup-
port and prayers from our church. There were so many people involved, many of them behind the scenes.
Thank you to all those that helped make The Egypt File happen. I can’t list them all but I really appreciate your
dedication to serve God by reaching out to the children of our community.
Our adventure in God’s Word at this year’s Vacation Bible School has ended but we pray that this
journey in Christ is just beginning with the children that attended The Egypt File.
In Christ,
Sherry Negley

Sunday, September 12th at 12:00 pm

You won’t want to miss this special day in the life of our church!! We are planning an
exciting day of fun and fellowship following the morning worship service.
Featuring:
Chicken Barbeque
Please bring an EXTRA LARGE side dish or dessert. This event is designed as an out-
reach, so we will need plenty of food! We are basically inviting our neighbors over for
dinner and we want to show them our LAC hospitality! (We also will gladly accept dona-
tions to help cover the cost of the chicken and rental items.)
Moonwalk Jumper House for the kids
Games & Prizes
There will be 10 Game Stations this year. There is a sign-up sheet on the Butternut Room door for volun-
teers to help facilitate these games.
Prayer
This is an amazing opportunity to truly minister to our community. We need to pray that the Lord will bless
this event and we will be able to reach many families.

Please sign-up on the Butternut Room door for food and game helpers.

THE LAMPLIGHTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 9 PAGE
Battalion
Battalion will be starting back up on Sep-
tember 20th at 6:30 pm. All boys are wel-
come who are at least 12 years of age or
starting 7th grade. Come and join us. Dads
are welcome to come and see what it is all
about.
Awana Returns!
Awana is
about to
begin again!
Come out on
Wednesday, September 22nd at
6:30 pm as we begin another fun
year of Awana!
Missions Conference 2010
October 3rd—10th
We have two International Workers who will
be with us this week from South East Asia and
West Africa. There will be many church events
where people can get to
know the missionaries, in-
cluding a covered dish din-
ner, cottage meetings, ques-
tion and answer session, and
a men's breakfast. More in-
formation and sign-up sheets
will be coming soon!
7
Senior Ministry Luncheon
Our first luncheon is scheduled for
Thursday, October 7th. Keep
watching for additional details…
The luncheons typically occur on
the FIRST Thursday of the month,
except during the summer.
LIFE 2010 Presentation
On Sunday, August 8th, the teens who attended
LIFE 2010 in Louisville, KY shared with the con-
gregation about their trip:
Tom Hennigan Presentation
Our home school
families invite our
congregation to hear
Tom Hennigan pre-
sent an hour long
program about his
trip to the Galopogas
Islands on Friday September 17th at 7:00
pm. Be looking for more details around the
church.
 LaFayette Christian & Missionary
Alliance Church

P.O. Box 150

6069 Cherry Valley Turnpike
LaFayette, New York 13084
Phone: (315) 677-9810

Rev. Robert Gates, Senior Pastor

rfgates@twcny.rr.com

Brian Mandigo, Associate Pastor

blmandigo@twcny.rr.com

Ellen Coulter, Office Administrator

ecoulter@twcny.rr.com

Our mission is to know Jesus Christ; exalt Him as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, Coming King,
and complete His Great Commission.

We’re on the web!

www.lafayettealliance.org

The Muffled Groan

(Continued from page 1)
suffering or to remove God from suffering
(i.e. “God had nothing to do with such-and-
such!”). Rather, we recognize—with
GREAT hope—that God is going to deal
with suffering BECAUSE God is going to
ultimately deal with sin. However, until
that day comes (and it will!), our confi-
dence does not spring from some escapist
view that because we are Christians we will
never face suffering. No! Our confidence
as believers is “that for those who love God “But according to His promise we are waiting
all things work together for good, for those for new heavens and a new earth in which
who are called according to His pur- righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13 – ESV)
pose.” (Romans 8:28 – ESV)
Pastor Rob
Suffering is real. God is real. For those
who are committed to a Biblical world-
view, those two statements are NOT
contradictory. They make perfect sense
in the world as it now exists. But thanks
be to God! It will not always be this way!