Parents of Tweens and Teens Book Study
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Men’s Retreat
OCTOBER 17-18 // THE REFUGE
All Westmeade men, 10th grade and older, are invited to attend the 2025 Westmeade Men’s Retreat. This year’s retreat will be held right here on the campus of Westmeade. We’ll set up the gym like barracks (BYOBed). We’ll have times of worship in the Refuge with leaders Rick Hagans, Kenny Young, and Corey Bonds. We’ll enjoy meals together in the Fellowship Hall. And we’ll have an outing together on Friday night. The cost of the retreat is $50 per person.
RETREAT LEADERS
Rick Hagans
Harvest Evangelism was founded in 1985 by Rick Hagans after returning to Alabama after working for David Wilkerson and his ministry World Challenge. In the beginning, Rick’s vision was to create a Christian ‘Coffee House’ which could be a safe place for the community’s residents to find a safe space, hear the gospel be presented, and be discipled. But after a while, it was found that many people who heard and accepted the gospel here had nowhere to go. Some even took the back off the stand-alone arcade games in the coffee house to sleep inside at night. It was also at this time that Rick was taking men home to live with him, his wife, and then, one child in their small trailer. This gave birth to His Place, the ministry of Harvest Evangelism which offers men a one-year Christian recovery center where men are offered gospel-centered discipleship along with various other things that aid them in not only defeating their life-controlling addictions but helping them turn into contributing members of society and the Church.
During the 90s Rick became disheartened by the seemingly emotional manipulation and short-lasting effect of summer church camps where he had been regularly preaching. So one year instead of preaching a summer camp at the beach he took a team to Mexico to work with the poor and destitute in the U.S.-Mexico border town of Reynosa. Since then Harvest Evangelism has taken over 10,000 people down to Mexico for short-term mission trips to work with local missionaries and an orphanage that was started by Rick Hagans and a partner in Mexico in 1998. Harvest Evangelism Missions has also been able to take mission teams to other countries in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
After a few years of having His Place in operation Rick, and his wife Kim, once again began welcoming people in need into their homes. This time around they opened their home to women in need of a safe place to be and grow. This was the start of Hosanna Home. Hosanna Home, like His Place, is a one-year Christian recovery home that allows women, and their children up to age 12, to overcome their addictions while being immersed in gospel-centered discipleship.
With all these ministries, Harvest Evangelism began Harvest Thrift Store in 2000 to help with the financial cost of caring for all the people involved in the ministries. Through the years the store has grown to be able to provide a portion of the annual budget of Harvest Evangelism.
Kenny Young
Kenny is a product of the ministry of His Place where he now serves as Director. Kenny has witnessed over and over again the power of the gospel and the grace of God.
Corey Bonds
Corey is the Minister of Music at Westmeade Baptist Church in Decatur, AL. Corey’s gifting in music, combined with a pastoral calling and the heart of a discipler, make him unique in the area of ministry through music. Before coming to Westmeade, Corey was Director of Bands at Campbellsville University in Kentucky, while also serving a local church as Minister of Music. Corey and his wife, Katherine, have three sons – Paxton, Parker, and Price.
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Acts 1:8 Missions Conference
On October 5, Westmeade will host its first ever missions conference. This conference will introduce our church family to Westmeade’s ministry partners from our city, our country and even our continent. There will be multiple opportunities to learn more about missions at Westmeade and how to get involved in the work of the Great Commission!
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Student Worship Music Training Courses
- 4-Weeks of Individual or Small Group Lessons in areas of instrumental, vocal music and technology
- Areas would include: Acoustic Guitar; Electric Guitar; Bass Guitar; Keys; Drums; Female Vocals and Male Vocals, and Worship Technology
- Content: a focus will be given to 4-5 songs, hymns, or spiritual songs, curated and selected for the student worship ministry each semester. Students will study the pragmatics of playing the selected songs as an individual, and will eventually be trained over the course of a few semesters in playing together as a worship ensemble over the course of multiple 5-week training sessions.
- Who can attend?: 5th graders through 12th graders.
- 1-hour, Weekly music lessons on practical matters of playing in worship will be taught along with some doctrinal points of why we do what we do when we gather to worship as a church family.
- Students are expected to commit to the entire 5-week program
- Some instruments may be available for temporary use, but students should plan to provide their own instrument for each type of class, especially to have it available for at-home practice.
DESIRED OUTCOME
- Hearts and Minds shaped by theologically, doctrinally, & biblically rich songs
- Promotion of multi-generational unity and fellowship in the church
- An increased understanding as to why we serve the local church with musical talents
- To continue nurturing biblically-modeled worship for the future generations of Westmeade members
- To grow participation in the weekly student worship gatherings
- To help assimilate more student participation into the weekly Sunday AM gathering (choir, band, etc.)
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First Steps Class
WHAT IS FIRST STEPS?
First Steps meets the first Wednesday of each month between February and November from 6:00pm to 7:15pm. Participants can jump in on any month and then continue until they’ve completed all ten basics.
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Missions Golf Tournament
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In The Word Women’s Conference
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CORE Discipleship Groups
CORE seminars are an invaluable and indispensable part of disciple-making at Westmeade. These in-depth seminars cover topics like: Systematic Theology, Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, Apologetics, Missions, Evangelism, Meeting with God, Fear of Man, and many more. Over time, the material taught in CORE will teach every basic and foundational truth that a Christian should know, live and share. CORE seminars are every Wednesday from 6:15-7:15pm and are for all ages.
- Current Series: “Apologetics (Defending The Faith)”
- Location: Sanctuary
- Teachers: David Burdeshaw, Corey Bonds and Andrew Campbell
- Current Series: “Basics Of Christianity”
- Location: The Refuge
- Teachers: Justin McAlpin
- Current Series: “Ephesians”
- Location: Upper Room
- Teacher: Ben Tinley
If you have any questions, please contact David Burdeshaw at david@westmeadebaptist.org or 256-353-8239.
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