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Office Hours
Mon-Thurs: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Friday: Closed
Holiday Schedule (Office Closed)
July 3-4, 2017 (Independence Day)
Sept. 4, 2017 (Labor Day)
 VBS LINK-UP
Churches working together to share Jesus!
Once your church has finished VBS, please consider donating your leftover or unused materials and decorations back to the association for use by other churches.
If your church is in need of donated VBS materials, check with our office to see what might be available.
Please complete your 2017 VBS Report and return it to the associational office.
 Youth Reach 2017
July 14-15
Pigeon Forge, TN
Registrations are Due: June 1, 2017
Click here for more information
1 John 4:15
 Old Fashioned Prayer Meeting
August 7, 2017, 7:00 pm
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Vonore
*Everyone Welcome to Attend*
 Church Growth & Development Conference
August 28, 2017, 6:30 pm
Madisonville, First Baptist Church
*Breakout Classes for Sunday School Workers, Church Clerks, Treasurers, Pastors*
 Seminary Extension Classes Begin
September 5, 2017, 6:30 pm
Study: New Testament Survey, Part 1
Instructor: Tony Rutherford
Contact the office for registration information and pricing.
 An Easter Message from the Director of Missions:People refer to this week as “Holy Week.” On the first day of the week Jesus rode into Jerusalem at the head of a procession of cheering, singing people who waved palm branches and threw their garments into the path of the colt on which He was riding.
Monday and Tuesday were days filled with many activities. Jesus taught in the Temple, drove out the moneychangers, and openly faced the chief priests and scribes on several occasions. On Tuesday, as He sat by the treasury, He called the disciples’ attention to the poor widow’s offering of two small copper coins.
Wednesday was given to teaching the disciples. There were judgment parables given about the Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Sheep and Goats, and the prophecy of His own second coming.
Thursday was given to the preparation for the Passover feast in the Upper Room. At the feast, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, instituted the Lord’s Supper, and gave His great farewell discourse to the disciples.
After the supper, the group made their way out of the city, across the brook Kidron, and into a garden called Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olivet. There Jesus prayed until his sweat became as drops of blood. “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt “(Matt. 26:39 KJV).
Following three fitful hours of prayer, a mob led by Judas, and temple guards placed Jesus under arrest. False charges and misunderstood teaching would bring about trials before Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod Antipas, and Pilate again. Jesus is brought to the cross by the sins of humanity and the will of God.
After much torture (my word) Jesus is led like a lamb to the slaughter. He is Crucified between two thieves on a place called “Golgotha” in the Hebrew, meaning “place of a skull.” It is called “Calvary” in Latin. It is there that Jesus died for the sins of the world. My sin!
I am glad the story does not end there. Jesus literally rose again. Yes, Bodily Resurrection! Nothing was left but the grave clothes; an empty tomb; and the fulfillment of God’s promise.
He rose on the first day of the week. Two thousand years later, we worship on the first day of the week honoring the Resurrection of Christ. We celebrate the birth of Jesus only at Christmas; but His resurrection is recognized fifty-two Sundays a year as Christians meet on the Lord’s day, in celebration because our faith is justified in His Bodily Resurrection!
The scripture teaches of many encounters of the believers with the risen Lord: Mary sees Jesus, thinking he is the garden caretaker. Only realizing it is Him when He calls her name. The Emmaus disciples, in their despair, walk with Him unaware of His identity. Not until they break bread together do they recognize Jesus has been with them all this time. Jesus appears to the disciples without Thomas, and then again later with Thomas present. Jesus appears to the disciples after a night of fishing and restores Peter’s hope. Paul tells of over 500 people seeing Jesus after his Resurrection.
Still today Jesus assures us that the Scriptures are true. He is alive! Fully human, fully Divine He died on the cross. Bodily He arose, making THAT first day of the week, our first Easter.
I HOPE YOU BELIEVE IN THIS RISEN SAVIOR, AS I DO, AND SHARE THE GOOD NEWS!
Tony Rutherford
 Current Mission Opportunities through the Sweetwater Baptist Association
Contact the associational office for more information about any of these projects
*Guatemala (Student and Adult Evangelism Projects)
2017 Project Dates: June 20-27 and Sept. 19-26
Available for Viewing or Downloading
Guatemala 2017 Devotional
Guatemala 2017 Manual
Guatemala SEPTEMBER 2017 Mission Application/Forms
Pastor's Conference The Pastor's Conference is held each Monday morning at 10:00 a.m., at the SBA Office Building. Pastor's Conference does not meet from Memorial Day through the 4th of July; and meets intermittently during the Fall and Holiday season. Click here for Upcoming Guest Speakers
For more information or to register for any of the above listed events, please call the associational office at 423-442-6604 or email us at becky.jones@bellsouth.net or sweetwaterassoci@bellsouth.net
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