Are you looking for a place to worship in a non judgmental atmosphere? Have you felt out of place in a church setting because of your past or current failures. New Beginnings is a place where you can experience the love of God regardless of your past failures, mistakes or bad choices. We know that Christ can give you a new beginning, a new birth in a positive abundant life. It doesn’t matter if you are single, married, single again, young, middle age 
or retirement age, whatever your status in life and regardless of how young, or young at heart you are… You can experience a new beginning.
Just like in Ecclesiastes 1:9, the crowd you hang around may tell you “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” So, it may seem you are stuck in a rut, that life has dealt you too many setbacks or you have made so many wrong choices you feel hopeless. You may ask “Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’?” (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Thes rest of that verse says “It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” That something new is found in Christ, whose mercies are new every single day. How can we boldly make such claims? It is because the Bible tells us that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23). You can experience that in your life.
You may already be one who knows that abundant life in Christ and have experienced it in a powerful way and want to share it with others. If you have, you may want to get involved at New Beginnings and use your God given talents in ministry. We have many places to serve now and many more as the church grows.
The location of our Worship Center is 146 Woodrow Street, Pickens SC 29671. Click the links to get directions.
Written by Pastor Mark Driskill
December 21, 2011
Read Luke 2:8-20
“You will find the baby..in a manger…”
A brisk middle eastern breeze shrouded in a dark cape galloped across the landscape leaving chilling hoof prints across the backs of a handful of sleepy shepherds working the night shift. It had been a long night of rock throwing and crude nervous joking while the moon crept along at a snail’s pace. Shepherds took turns squinting in the moonlight trying to keep a count of sheep jostling each other and whining nervously at every unfamiliar sound. Then without warning the universe ignited into an explosion of celestial doxology at the announcement of the birth of eternal hope. What a night that must have been. Suddenly the commonplace collided with the unbelievable. The natural was invaded by the supernatural. The course of the universe was changed forever.
When I read this part of the Christmas story I am struck by the words of the angel to these poor shepherds. While they are still picking themselves up from the ground and wringing out their robes, the angel tells them how to find this newborn king. I find the following words very interesting: “This shall be a sign to you….” Okay at this point the angel is about to give them a sign to look for. I kind of expect the sign to be something awesome, like a bright star hovering over a cozy manger, kind of like we see on all our Christmas cards, but they don’t get that. The star comes later with the arrival of the Magi, days, possibly months later according to scholars. The only sign the shepherds get is this, “You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
Now here is the part where I really mess up your Hallmark delusions of the nativity. Not only was there no bright star with talking animals and a cozy couple cooing over a baby in a diaper. Not only were there no halos around Mary, Joseph, or Baby Jesus, but the town was crowded and it is likely that Mary and Joseph weren’t the only ones sleeping in a barn. Probably lots of people were finding the Inns full and needing to use makeshift beds made of hay to spend the night. It was dark and cold and aside from the light of a torch it was quite a job to find the right manger with a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths. I wonder how many barns, and mangers the shepherds had to check out before coming to the right one. I wonder how many times they poked their heads in the wrong stall; “Hey is there a couple with a ba… oh sorry sir, didn’t mean to wake you…”
Finally after much searching and no doubt a few unkind remarks and awkward moments, they found what they were looking for. I think it is an understatement when it says in verse 20, “The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard.” They were thrilled to finally get the right stall! Even though they had been given a sign they still had to search until they found the fulfillment of the promise. It’s the same with us isn’t it. We have the promise but we still have to search.
We spend our whole season searching for the little baby Jesus amidst all the rushing and running. Like the Shepherds going from barn to barn, stall to stall until they finally found him, we run frantically after the promise of the season looking for a small glimpse of the savior. We spend a great deal of time knocking on the wrong doors hoping we will finally experience Jesus. The search can be quite frustrating can’t it?
Maybe today you feel like a lost shepherd looking for the right stall. With just a few days left you are coming down to the wire just hoping that by the time you get through knocking on all the wrong doors you will finally find some real meaning in this season. You have run and knocked and bought and given. You have attended parties, pageants and programs in search of just a glimpse of the holy one. But all the activity has left you exhausted instead. Maybe like the shepherds you feel like you don’t have much to go on in your search. But the good news is it really isn’t that complicated a thing to experience Jesus.
You have a promise from God that if you seek him with all your heart, you may have to knock on a few empty stalls, but you will eventually find him. So take a moment today to slow down and refocus your thoughts on the simple beauty of Christ and his love for you. Stop knocking on the empty stalls of this world and just love Jesus. Come to him by faith and just ask him for his presence in your life. Look for him in the eyes of your loved ones or in the faces of those in need around you. Then when you least expect it you will surely stumble onto the greatest discovery of your life. A savior wrapped in the love of God waiting for you. Be blessed this Christmas season.
Pastor Mark Driskill
Web Minister of Begotten By the Word web ministry
See our website at http://ourchurch.com/member/b/bbtw
and
www.facebook.com (to group “begotten by the word”)
Begotten By the Word is a ministry of Helping Hands Christian resources-Evangelism Outreach
www.hhcr05.org
(Feel free to copy in any way that will bring glory to God and further his kingdom.)
By Dr. Tony Beam.
You can hear Dr. Tony Beam live on 
Were the days much different in ancient Bethlehem in the days of Jesus’ birth? A nation occupied by the ever expanding Roman empire was clamoring to answer the Caesar’s call to register for an worldwide tax. The streets of Bethlehem were occupied with anxious citizens and oppressive soldiers. The hearts and minds of the masses must have been occupied with anxieties not too different from the ones we face today. And yet behind the scenes, in a small stable, a quiet, more subtle occupation was stirring. While this occupation was barely noticeable midst all the rush it would soon prove to be the most profound occupation in history, one that continues today. This was an occupation of hope and life and peace when God Himself would occupy human hearts. At first, only noticed by a handful of shepherds and a young couple, it wasn’t long before it spread.
