“ Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person… For fromwithin,outoftheheart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-15, 21-13) Did you know the federal government has over 300,000 laws on the books and 80 different enforcement agencies? That list doesn’t include state and local government, or the many rules that children must follow in school.

Friendship Baptist Church will kick off its youth and children’s ministry Wednesday, Sept. 11 with pizza and ice cream.

On Tuesday, September 10, a “Prayer Meeting for America” will be held at MyrtleWilkesCommunity Center in Cisco. The event will begin at 7:00 p.m.

The Community Bible Study, sponsored by Albany Ministerial Alliance, will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 11:00 a.m.

First Christian Church invites anyone interested to come to the Fellowship Hall for a craft day on Saturday, Aug. 31.

Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church welcomed Michael Atmar as its new pastor earlier this month. Formerly of Houston, Atmar, along with his wife Erin and children Case Daniel, Declan James, Tate Stephen, and Ellis Jane, recently made the move to Albany, where he assumed the role of pastor for the church.

Vote your faith! Separation of Church (religion) from state (politics) came from the twisting of Thomas Jefferson’s words for political deception and control of our country! Our Founding Fathers of the United States of America ALWAYS said Christianity is the foundation on which our nation is built! But corruption of our founding principles has been a battle from our beginning. As we look at the two political parties of our nation, clearly we need more strong Christians in politics.

Albany churches and organizations haveafullslate of youth and children’s programs getting underway with the start of the new school year, most of which will begin in September. Some youth groups remained activeoverthesummer, but organized study groupswillbegininearnest in the next few weeks.

Neil Bennett has assumed the duties of pastor of First Baptist Church, taking over for interim pastor Stan Allcorn. Bennett, who has spent over 30 years in the ministry, comes to Albany from San Antonio where he has served as senior pastor at Churchill Baptist Church for the past 20 years.

Jesus refers to Himself by this significant title, “ the Son of Man,” because He is the fulfillment of Daniel 7:1314. He is the Son of God – theWordwhobecameflesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He is fully God and fully man which means that He alone can save us from our sins.