St. John's Global Methodist Church-Batesburg, South Carolina

09/15/2026

Amen

The house grows still, but your mind refuses to shut down as every unanswered prayer and unresolved fear begins to echo in the dark. Elijah sat under a broom bush, completely exhausted and ready to give up, until divine comfort met him right in his weakness. God didn't lecture him in his exhaustion; He provided rest and sent heavenly strength for the journey ahead. When the weight of the world feels too heavy to carry to bed, remember that your fatigue is not a failure of faith. True peace isn't the absence of trouble, but the presence of the God who guards you while you sleep.

09/14/2026

Today’s Good Word
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. James 2:24 NIV

This morning I read a post that said Protestants will never use the above verse or read it. Well, you know I like a religious discussion, especially one where someone is challenging my beliefs. There has long been a belief that James contradicts Paul's principle that we are saved by faith and faith alone. Catholics believe that we are saved by both faith and works, while all Protestant denominations hold that salvation is by faith and faith alone.

What Catholic's mean by works, seems to have morphed over the years. In Martin Luther's time, works meant giving money to the church, which they used to build the cathedrals in Europe. If you gave you were either saved or you could even buy a dead relative out of purgatory. Luther tried as hard as he could to work and confess his way into salvation, but realized he could never do enough and felt he was doomed to hell. It wasn't until he studied Romans to teach a class on it that he realized we are saved by faith and can never work our way to heaven. Works for Catholics have changed. When I was a child on my way to school, we made a stop at St Pius X catholic school and let off about a third of the kids from my neighborhood. They would talk about going to confession and having Father Murphy assign them works of contrition, usually the rosary, in various amounts, depending on their confessed sins.

On the other end of the spectrum are the reformed or Calvinist denominations that believe we are strictly saved by faith, and only people selected by God are predestined to have faith and if God doesn't select you, you're going to hell. Somewhere in the middle of these beliefs lie the Wesleyan/Methodist denominations. Wesley too, tried to work his way into heaven, and found he never felt assurance. Again it was a study of Romans that led Wesley to understand that through God's grace we are saved by faith and faith alone.

Wesley understood that we are saved by faith alone, but he also understood that works were a visible sign of our salvation, and that if you love God, you would be willing to work for him in some manner. How could you not want to serve the Lord if you truly love him, and spread his gospel.That is the resolution of the conflict between Paul and James, and in reality there is no conflict. If you read the entire passage that the above scripture comes from, James is not claiming that you can work your way into heaven, but that if you have no works, your faith is dead, which is a nice way of saying you have a false faith and are not a true follower of Jesus at all.

This is also a warning not to take an individual verse out of context. You can find a verse here and a verse there to justify almost any action, but we need to be careful to understand the scriptures in context and in the setting they were written.

09/14/2026

These precious babies enjoyed pizza and cookies before watching Hoppers. They are always a joy to have in my home. Looking forward to Craft Night next month. Thanks to Laurie Boozer for helping me tonight.

09/13/2026

https://youtube.com/live/KioKYV9IMuQ?feature=share

Worship 9-13-26

09/11/2026

September 13th, 2026
Prelude: “Sinfonia” J.S.Bach
Organist: Clark Matthews
Welcome and Announcements
Opening Prayer: Gracious Father in Heaven, who has provided us
with everything we need in our lives, who provided for our eternal
future, by sending his Son Jesus to die for our sins, who opened the
doors to heaven, who helps us in this life, through the power and
presence of the Holy Spirit; may we on this sabbath day, always
demonstrate our love for you by supporting you and your church with
our presence, our prayers, and our sacrifices, following the example of
our Savior, Jesus Christ, sparing not his own life, who sacrificed
everything for us. Amen.
*Opening Hymn 1: El Shaddai MH #123
*Opening Hymn 2: Rejoice,Ye Pure in Heart, verses 1&5 MH #160
*Opening Hymn 3: In the Garden, verses 1&2 MH #314
Sharing our Testimonies, Joys and Concerns
Children Moments Melanie Lorick
Offering Ourselves and Our Gifts to God
Offering Anthem: “Blessed Be the Lord, Who Doeth arr.Whitford
Wondrous Things”
*The Doxology MH #94
*Offering Prayer
Sermon: “Priorities” Pastor Scott
*Closing Hymn: Because He Lives MH #364
*Dismissal with Blessing
*Recessional: Shout to the Lord TFWS #2074
Postlude: “Because He Lives” Gaither
*Please Stand If You Are Able”
MH-Methodist Hymnal TFWS-The Faith We Sing
From the Pastor’ Desk: What are our priorities? Jesus claims that where our money is, so is our heart. I think that is a pretty fair assessment of how people are. We all have priorities in our
lives, but the real question is, where does Christ fit in ourpriorities. God’s Got This, Pastor Scott
Upcoming Events:
Bible Study meets every Wednesday at 6PM (6:30 on the first Wednesday of the month). Currently we are studying the book of John. All are welcome and a light meal will be served.
September 22nd: Women’s Bible Study in the fellowship hall, 6PM.
It’s vacation time for the Nurses: I will be leaving for vacation on Friday
September 18th and will not be returning until Monday September 28th.
While I am gone, Carroll Hoover will be covering the service on September the 20th and Charles Adams will be covering the service on
September the 27th.
Baked Sale for Community Family Fun Day
A huge thank you to everyone that baked items to sell or made donations
to the Bake Sale and to those that helped at the Bake Sale table! All
the hard work by everyone paid off. We made $509 on baked goods and
were given $500 in donations!!! We now have seed money for the next
event. Thanks again to everyone that came and participated in the awful
heat. This event would not have been the wonderful success it was
without you!!!
OUR PRAYER CONCERNS
Judy Adamick Mary Adams JR Barnes
Sara Kate Bryant Joy Cleland Susie Cullum David Cullum Jackie Dorn
Jackie Hall Libby Taylor Hipp Mike Hipp
Michelle Metts Frances Nurse Susan Nurse Trevor Nurse Shelby Rikard Fran Wallace St. John’s Methodist People of Israel People of Ukraine Our First Responders Members of the Military
RECORD OF OUR FAITHFULNESS-September 6th, 2026
Weekly Need Budget-$2,835.00
Sunday School-29 Worship-44
Budget Offering-$1,405.00
Youth-$25.00
Memorial-$100.00 Building Fund-$44.00
SERVING TODAY-September 13th, 2026
Ushers Keith Bordeaux, D.J. Carmean
Greeter Frances Nurse
Acolyte Noah Coleman
Counters Kimberly Burton, Terri Owen
Nursery Laurie Boozer, Jenny Hallman
CALENDAR
September 2026 Kitchen Team #1
Daphyne Ridgell
October 2026 Kitchen Team #2
Becky Jones
Sunday School 9:30AM
Worship 10:30AM
Pastor: Rev. Scott D. Nurse, Sr.
Secretary: Janet Smith
Church Office: Pastor’s Cell:
803-532-6968 803-580-8989
Email:[email protected]
Pastor’s Email: [email protected]
Face Book: St, John’s Global Methodist Church-Batesburg,
South Carolina
WELCOME GUESTS!
We are honored that you have chosen to worship with us today. We invite you to worship with us again whenever you are able. Please fill out a visitor card from the pew rack and place it in the offering plate.

09/10/2026

Ladies, we would love for you to join us! 💕📖

We’re starting The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer on Tuesday, September 15th at 6 PM in the Fellowship Hall.

And please hear this part — there are no expectations. ❤️

You don’t have to know your Bible inside and out. You don’t have to be comfortable praying out loud. You don’t have to have all the answers, and you certainly don’t have to have everything figured out.

Just come as you are.

We’ll learn together, laugh together, encourage one another, and grow closer to God as we learn how to put on the full armor He has given us. 🛡️

Whether this is your first Bible study or your fiftieth, there’s a place for you at the table.

Come join us — and bring a friend! 💕

Send a message to learn more

09/09/2026

Today’s Good Word
I pray that with his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power, Ephesians 3:16-18a NIV

Most TV commercials are simply annoying and I do everything I can to avoid them, but some are humorous and I will watch them. One of my all time favorites was the camel that walked around an office asking what day it was, until finally someone said it was "hump day", at which point the camel would exclaim "it's hump day" very loudly. I can't remember what product they were selling but lately the camel and hump day are back! In case you're not familiar with the term, hump day, it means it's wednesday and you're halfway through the week. After wednesday some people seem to perk up as it is closer to the weekend.

Christians have a religious hump day too. The high point of our religious life is Sunday and we seem to drift further from Christ through the week until we hit a low near the weekend. Most of us could stand a mid-week, religious pick me up! That is the reason why Wednesday night services and Bible Studies were started and why they are a benefit to those that attend. We now have multiple ways to recharge during the week including the Wednesday night Bible study and the new Tuesday night Women's study. If your religious life feels distant during the week and you want more Spiritual strength as Paul described to the Ephesians, it would serve you well to attend one of these events, or spend some extra time with the Lord in a personal manner. After all, today is hump day!

09/06/2026

Join us on our YouTube channel

Worship Service 9-6-2026

09/04/2026

September 6th, 2026
Communion Sunday
Postlude: “Thanks Be To God” Dickson
Organist: Clark Matthews
Welcome and Announcements
Opening Prayer: Blessed Lord Jesus, who spared not his own life, but
gave it for our sins and not his own, we come today to your holy table,
seeking your presence and standing in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
May we be filled with your love and grace as we worship you today,
such that our hearts and souls may be prepared for the days to come.
Amen.
*Opening Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy MH #64
*Affirmation of Faith: The Apostles Creed MH #881
Sharing our Testimonies, Joys, and Concerns
Children’s Moments Melanie Lorick
Offering Ourselves and Our Gifts to God
Offertory Anthem: “Gentle Spirit, Dwell With Me” Althouse
*The Doxology MH #94
*Offertory Prayer
*Hymn of Preparation: Nothing But the Blood MH #362
Sermon: “Laboring With Jesus”
Pastor Scott
Service of Word and Table II MH #12
*Closing Hymn: “Pass It On” MH #572
*Dismissal With Blessing
*Recessional: Shout to the Lord TFWS #2074
Postlude: “Come and Dine” Bolton
“Please Stand If You Are Able”
MH-Methodist Hymnal TFWS-The Faith We Sing
From the Pastor’s Desk: Did Jesus work for us, and how should we work for Jesus? That is today’s question.
Bible Study meets every Wednesday at 6PM (6:30 on the first Wednesday of the month). Currently we are studying the book of John. All are welcome and a light meal will be served.
Children’s Ministry: The Children will meet at Becky Jones house for a movie night on Sunday September 13th from 5 to 7. Pizza will be served.
Youth Ministry: The youth (grades 6-12) will meet on Sunday September 13th at the Altman House for pizza, treats and a
movie. All youth and friends are welcome.
Women’s Ministry: Ladies Bible Study; September 15th at 6PM in the fellowship hall. This will initially be a seven week Bible study on the Armor of God, by Priscilla Shirer. Please contactChristen,McConnaughay 803-603-0317 for information and how to order the study guide.
OUR PRAYER CONCERNS
Judy Adamick Mary Adams JR Barnes
Sara Kate Bryant Joy Cleland Susie Cullum David Cullum Jackie Dorn Augustine Frye Jackie Hall Libby Taylor Hipp Mike Hipp Michelle Metts Frances Nurse Susan Nurse Trevor Nurse Shelby Rikard Fran Wallace Ken Lorick
St. John’s Methodist People of Israel People of Ukraine

RECORD OF OUR FAITHFULNESS-August 30 2026
Weekly Budget Need-$2,835.00
Sunday School-21 Worship-57
FaceBook-1 Budget Offering-$3,507.00
Building Fund-$400.00 Church Windows-$25.00
Community Events-$933.00
SERVING TODAY-September 6th, 2026
Ushers: Carroll Hoover, Ken Lorick
Greeter: Sherrie Bordeaux
Acolyte: Noah Coleman
Counters: Ginger Clark, Daphyne Ridgell
Nursery: Laurie Boozer, Jenny Hallman
Communion Steward: Janet Smith
Communion Assistant: Melanie Lorick
CALENDAR
September 2026 Kitchen Team 1
Daphyne Ridgell
October 2026 Kitchen Team #2
Becky Jones
Sunday School 9:30AM
Worship 10:30AM
Pastor: Rev. Scott D. Nurse, Sr.
Secretary: Janet Smith
Church Office: Pastor’s Cell:
803-532-6968 803-580-8989
Email:[email protected]
Pastor’s Email: [email protected]
Face Book: St. John’s Global Methodist Church-Batesburg,
South Carolina
WELCOME GUESTS!
We are honored that you have chosen to worship with us today. We invite you to worship with us again whenever you are able. Please fill out a visitor Card from the pew rack and place in the offering plate.