Three Special Church Friends

Page Kittle holding her two little buddies, Lottie Shartzer with our granddaughter, Miley Burns. I snapped this photo just before the strike of midnight at our Church's New Year's Eve Party at 501 E. Third Street in Van Wert, Ohio. What a trio.

I'm Jim C. Burns, Sr. Pastor at the Liberty Baptist Church in Van Wert, Ohio, and this is something else.

jimmycburns@aol.com

SO LONG SON, THANKS FOR COMING!

Jan. 7, 2009 - For the 5th time, I put my youngest son on a plane for him to return to the other side of the world. Aaron Burns has served in Southern China now for 5 years. It never gets easier, but, God gives Coletta and I special peace in the midst of our sadness. We know this is where God wants Aaron, and where Aaron wants to be. He loves the people and the culture of China. He flew today from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Denver, then L. A. then Tokyo, and will land in Hong Kong. As I write this, Aaron Burns is 30,000 plus feet somewhere over the Pacific. Some might ask, "How can he have the strength to do this and how do his parents give him up?" First let me say that with Email, free phone calls and an occasional "web cam" that certainly makes it better! Secondly, God's will is always the very best place to be, and yes, even though it's always hard to say "good bye," it is a joy knowing that Aaron is right where HE KNOWS God wants him to be. He has tons of Chinese and American friends in Dongguan City, and also in Hong Kong. Being single, he is free to travel more than if he were married, and Aaron has been places that most people would only dream of going. He has friends around the world, literally, and is as happy as any married man with a dozen kids could ever think of being! You can click on Aaron's blog (upper right corner of the screen) and keep up with his work in China. Please pray for him as he travels and ministers in a city of 7 million people. "Aaron, it was so good having you home for the Holidays. Thanks for coming. Great to have your Brother, Matt and his family home also. Love ya man!"

As painful as going to the Indy airport was for me this morning at 4:45, I can honestly say by the grace of God, "It's all going to be O.K."


I'm Jim Burns, Pastor of the Liberty Baptist Church in Van Wert, Ohio, and that's "Something to Think About!"

2009 A GREAT NEW YEAR

2009 is going to be a GREAT NEW YEAR! I just sense that God is really going to be good to us this year. Of course, God is GOOD all the time! Above are three special guests that blessed our church and home for our New Year's Celebration. From left to right, our youngest son, Aaron flew in from China, and two of his special friends Eric and Laura Arnason from Lake Orion, Michigan drove down for the Holiday. Yesterday, the Arnason's treated the Burns' family to a special lunch at the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor here in Van Wert. Aaron has been busy helping us design a "coffee shop" in part of our new church lobby for fellowship in between services, and Eric played his guitar and led our songs and testimonies at our Watch night service here at Liberty Baptist on New Year's Eve.

I'm horrible with New Year's resolutions. I start out running the "sprint" with them and fizzle out before the end of January! So, why not make some New Year's Goals this year? See it big and keep it simple. As a Christian and a Pastor, my New Year's prayer and some goals are for me to: a. Have a greater passion for Christ, b. A renewed boldness to share Christ with needy people every week, and c. Honor my wife, family, and church with a renewed dedication. Put your goals on paper and pray over them regularly. Let's bind together to do this, and ask God to give us the strength and endurance to follow through with whatever His will and plan is for each of our lives. Please pray for me as I desire to fulfill my three goals for 2009.

I'm Jim Burns and that's Something to Think About!

Happy New Year!

jimmycburns@aol.com

Tonight is Christmas, 08!

One could not ask for a better Christmas. For our family, we had Christmas at our house on Main Street in Van Wert, Ohio. Our son, Aaron flew home from China, and our other son and his family, Matt, Jenny and our granddaughter, Miley were all with us for Christmas Eve and all day Christmas. We opened a lot of presents Christmas Eve, opened our stuffed stockings Christmas morning, and watched our 16 month old granddaughter open up her "big ones" under the tree this morning. In a time of recession and economic lows, God was faithful to us as He always is!

We slept in today, drank a lot of coffee after we got up, and ate turkey and the trimmings in our family room about 12:45. After a tour of our new church building, Matt and Jenny went home, leaving Miley with Uncle Aaron and Grandma and Grandpa Burns for the night. After eating left overs tonight, Uncle Aaron and I treated the girls (including Scotty Dog, Cabbie) to a tour of Christmas lights at the Van Wert Co. Fair Ground sponsored by our local 4 H Club. It was real pretty. If you click on the address below, you can see our son, Aaron's Face Book page of even more Christmas Pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=196331&l=0bc74&id=610120649

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is Jim C. Burns, Pastor of the Liberty Baptist Church in Van Wert, Ohio

FIRST SUNDAY SUCCESS!

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9).

God did it!

Yesterday was one of the most victorious days I've ever experienced in 33 years of ministry. Our church people and even a couple of guest volunteers worked tirelessly last week to move "stuff" from our old church building into the new building. Many took vacation days to help, and others worked some nights till midnight to make things ready. I was so excited, I got up at 5:45 Sunday morning, drove "up" to our new building and called Travis Kittle at 6:28 am to see if he could clear the snow off the parking lot. (Sorry Travis). I then walked into our new building and broke down. With nearly a year from the purchase date and seven months of hard work from our wonderful church family, we are now "in!"

On our first Sunday in our new building, we saw our Sunday School record broke with 102 in Sunday School, and we were blessed with 162 total for our morning worship hour. It was so "awesome" having all the extra space! I could stand at my new pulpit from our big blue adult classroom we are using for our make shift sanctuary and see kids walking to their new classrooms with big smiles on their faces. And, the teachers were smiling too! For the first time in 15 years, our children's Sun. School Teachers got to use a classroom with real walls and real doors! We had ample parking space on both sides of the building, and a new lobby about three times the size of our old one!


God has been so good to us, and we are just praising His name for how He gave us such a tremendous first day in our new church building!

That's Something to Think About!

CHURCH MOVE ON DEC. 7, 2008

Pictured above: Church Member, Jerry Miller with granddaughter, Cheyenne, and daughter, June Clutter in front of a handicap hallway installed west of the future worship center.

After over seven months of hard work from over 40 different volunteers who have given over $60,000.00 worth of donated labor, Liberty Baptist Church of Van Wert will be moving into the former Horace Mann School Building at 501 E. Third Street. Dec. 7th will be our first Sunday with Sunday School starting at 9:30 am and the Morning Worship time being changed to 10:45 am. Our biggest challenge after purchasing the school last December at the auction was to meet the new state codes for fire protection. Securcom from Minster, Ohio won our bid for our fire and burglar alarm system, and Armor Fire Protection in Lima has successfully installed our new fire/water sprinkler system.

I am also very happy to announce that as of Thursday, Nov. 20th, the State of Ohio electrical and structural building inspectors along with Van Wert City Fire Marshall, Bill Green have approved our entrance for worship and ministry into our new facility. Most all of the classrooms are already finished and ready to go, and we are now putting finishing touches on floor waxing, and finish carpentry work. The new Liberty Baptist Church is also now completely handicap accessible according to the Ohio State codes. For this winter, we will be meeting in the educational part of the building. We still have much work to do on the gym, which will be worked on this winter and open in the spring of 2009. We will then have our open house and building dedication after the gym has been remodeled as our worship center.

Pictured below: Church Member, Mike Ramser installing our final Exit light!


This sure is something GREAT to Praise God about!!

jimmycburns@aol.com

NEW PASTOR'S STUDY FINISHED!

Tonight, we put my books in the pastor's study in our school building that we are converting into a church. Add a couple of chairs for visitors or counselees, some pictures, heat, a door, and state approval for entrance, and we will be open for business! Pretty exciting for Pastor Jim! My hat goes off to my lovely wife, Coletta for designing and doing most of the remodelling work. Thanks also to all the church men and women who helped with the drywall finishing, painting, ceiling tile and insulation, electrical work, wood trim, and carpeting. also, a big thanks to the men and teen boys who helped me move my bookshelves and all my ministry books from our house to my new study. It looks great! Come see it for yourself! Granddaughter Miley was with us tonight for my first "desk sitting!" (See pictures below).