Church Christmas Letter # 2

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Matthew 2:10

Dear Church Family,

When the wise men saw the star, they rejoiced. Christmas is a time of great rejoicing. It is a time when we rejoice in time spent with family and friends. It is a time when we rejoice with the songs of the season and the things that remind us of yesteryear. Most importantly, Christmas should be a time when we rejoice in the birth of the Savior.

This year has been an exciting and difficult year here at Fellowship Baptist Church. We have had the excitement of the salvation of Lila, followed a week later by the sadness of the stroke to Nancy. We have had the excitement of being given one van only to discover we couldn't get it through Maryland's inspection. We have had the excitement of the Lord's provision of another wheelchair accessible van and the excitement of a good turn-out for our summer Vacation Bible School. We have had the difficulties of many of our church family facing times of physical, financial, and even spiritual trials.

In November, I preached a message in which I referenced a quote from Winston Churchill regarding "insurmountable opportunities." The phrase was meant to convey the idea that the task ahead was a task of difficulty, but was also a task that could reap great benefit and great fruit. As I look ahead to the coming year, I believe that we, as a church, are facing some "insurmountable opportunities" from a human perspective, but I rejoice that even as the Christmas story reminds us, "with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)

In the coming days, we, as a church, need to be more diligent than ever in our attempt to reach out for Christ and to stand for Him in the midst of a lost and dying world. May I ask you to seriously pray about your involvement here at Fellowship Baptist Church during the days ahead? I am excited about some of the things that we have planned for the days ahead, but I recognize that for many of them to have the impact that they can and should have, we, as a church family, need to show ourselves faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2 tells us that "it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." The requirement isn't exceptional abilities or great wealth - it is faithfulness. As we look forward to another year of ministry, may we be faithful in our attendance, faithful in our witnessing, faithful in our Christian walk, living for and depending on Christ in every area of our life.

May God give you a blessed Christmas season and may the New Year be a year in which we all grow closer to Christ and see Him work in us and through us in an even greater way.

In Christ,



Pastor Frank Sansone and family

2008 Church Christmas Letter 1

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Matthew 2:10

When the wise men saw the star, they rejoiced. Christmas is a time of great rejoicing. It is a time when we rejoice in time spent with family and friends. It is a time when we rejoice with the songs of the season and the things that remind us of yesteryear. Most importantly, Christmas should be a time when we rejoice in the birth of the Savior.

God is a giving God and has given unto us His Son, Jesus Christ, to born in a lowly manger, to live a sinless and spotless life, to die on the cross for our sins, and to rise again in power and glory.

As the Christmas season is upon us, may our minds not only be filled with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, but may our minds and hearts be filled with a love for the One who gave everything for us. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Bible relates to us the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ came to save us from our sin and that he lived a perfect, sinless life and died a cruel death on the cross of Calvary to be our Substitute and our Savior.

December is a special time for at Fellowship Baptist Church, and we would like to invite you to join us for our Special Christmas Sunday Service this coming Sunday, December 21. As part of our service that morning, the children will be performing a program called "There's A Song in the Air." We will also have a great time of singing, special music, a special Christmas-themed message and a Fellowship Lunch with plenty of great food and good fellowship after the service.

Whether you are a regular attender or whether you have not been out for awhile, wouldn't this Christmas Sunday be a great Sunday to come back out and join us at Fellowship Baptist Church?

May God give you a Blessed Christmas in which the Gift of Christmas remains foremost in your mind.


In Christ,



Pastor Frank Sansone

Join us for our 10th Anniversary Service

Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, Maryland would love to invite you to join us as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary on Sunday, October 12, 2008.

Ten years ago a small group of believers began to meet in a home and eventually formed what became Messiah Baptist Fellowship. Pastor Steve Wagner served as Pastor of this small group of believers and they were soon able to secure a meeting place next to the Red Door Sub Shop on South Salisbury Boulevard. Over the next five-plus years, this little church remained faithful to the Word of God under Pastor Wagner's leadership and was privileged to see some folks come to Christ for salvation and some other believers who were looking for a good church come and join Messiah Baptist Fellowship.

Sensing the Lord's leading into full-time Jewish missions, Pastor Wagner and his wife relocated to South Carolina where he continues to serve with Messiah Ministries. Dr. William Woodhall, who had faithfully served as Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lewes, Delaware for 33 years served as the Interim Pastor of Messiah Baptist Fellowship for most of 2004 and provided needed stability to this small flock during this time without a full-time Pastor.

In October 2004, Messiah Baptist Fellowship called Frank Sansone to serve as Pastor and Pastor Sansone and his family officially started on December 5, 2004. The last few years we have rejoiced in God's continued working in our church. Over these last few years, we have seen the Lord add to His church and we have seen growth in the people of God. In the Spring of 2006, the Lord provided us with a building at 1308 Robins Avenue and we changed our name to Fellowship Baptist Church. Since then, we have also rejoiced as this new building has allowed us to have the addition of Sunday School for all ages, some youth activities, and the excitement of Vacation Bible School in the summer. We have also rejoiced in Baptisms in the Nanticoke River and at a neighboring church, and the recent provision of a handicap-accessible van in specific answer to prayer.

For our 10th Anniversary, we invite you to join us for a very special Sunday. We would like to extend a special invitation to any of our friends who have been part of the ministry here over the years to "come home" for this Sunday. We also invite our neighbors and friends from the Salisbury area to join us for this Special Anniversary Sunday. All of the men who have served as Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church will be preaching. Dr. Woodhall will be preaching during the Sunday School hour at 10:00 a.m., Pastor Sansone will preach the morning service at 11:00 a.m. and Pastor Wagner will preach the afternoon service at 2:00 p.m. We will also be have a special lunch at the church between the morning and afternoon service, complete with good food prepared by the folks at Fellowship.

If you would like more information or have any questions, please feel free to call the church at 410-341-7100.

2008 Vacation Bible School

Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury would like to invite you to our 2008 Vacation Bible School - Dino Detectives - Digging for God's Truth.

Vacation Bible School is for children ages 4 years old through 6th grade and is a great time to get together and learn the truth of God's Word. Each day will feature Bible Stories, Crafts, Singing, Games, and more as together we dig for God's truth regarding creation, the fall, and what happened to the dinosaurs.

VBS is Monday, July 28 through Friday, August 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Noon) and is free.

For more information or to register, please call 410-341-7100.

A Great Week at The Wilds

Last week, we had the privilege of taking a group of teens and juniors down to camp at The Wilds Christian Camp in Rosman, North Carolina.

The Wilds is a great camp that focuses on doing all things excellent for Jesus Christ. The camp verse is 1 Corinthians 10:31 and is not just a verse put on a sign and forgotten about, but serves as a driving force behind all that is done at the camp - "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

To the parents, thank you for giving us the opportunity to take your young person to camp. Pray for and with your children. Talk to them not only about the fun adventures at camp, but also about what God taught them through His Word.

To the teens and juniors, thank you for a great week. You were a joy to take down to The Wilds. Don't allow the distractions of the world to draw your focus away from Christ and "continue thou in the things thou hast learned." (2 Timothy 3:14)

To the others in the church. Thank you for praying for the young people and praying for our safety. Thank you, as well, for giving generously to help offset some of the expenses.

In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone

Join us for Special Meetings with Evangelist Mark Kittrell

Fellowship Baptist Church is pleased to have Evangelist Mark Kittrell for Special Meetings from Sunday, May 4, 2008 through Wednesday, May 7, 2008. (Please ignore the banner that says the meetings have been postponed - that is from earlier and I can't seem to get it changed.)

We will be kicking off the Special Meetings with a Cola Clash Youth Rally on Saturday from 4 pm to 8 pm. This activity will feature Tube Tug, Spoke Tackle and Speedball, as well as some indoor activities before a message from Evangelist Kittrell. Please come out and join us for this activity.

On Sunday, we will be having a special day, with Mr. Kittrell teaching a combined adult and teen Sunday School and preaching in the morning service. Following the morning service, we will be having a Fellowship Lunch together followed by an early afternoon service at 2:00 p.m. with Mr. Kittrell preaching again.

If you live in the area, we would love to have you join us for the meetings.

In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone

Kittrell Meetings on Hold - Pray for his mom

I realize that this information has been well-publicized to our church folks, but I wanted to make sure that I mentioned it here, as well.

As I mentioned in this post, we at Fellowship Baptist Church have been looking forward to having special meetings this week with Evangelist Mark Kittrell and his family.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kittrell's mom having some very serious medical issues at a hospital in Florida and the Kittrells needed to be there. Please pray for Mrs. Kittrell as the next few days will be critical for her.

Also, we are going to try to reschedule these Special Meetings with Mark Kittrell later on this spring, so, keep your ears open for an update.

In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone

Special Meetings with Evangelist Mark Kittrell

Fellowship Baptist Church is excited to be welcoming back Evangelist Mark Kittrell and his family for some Special Meetings from Sunday, March 9, 2008 through Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

I have set up a page on the Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury website with some additional details about the meetings. That page can be found here, although the better way to reach it is probably through the main site (www.fellowshipbaptist-salsibury.org) and then clicking on the banner near the top.

Mark and Tammisue are long-time friends of Pastor and Missy Sansone and we had a great time with meetings the last time they visited us. In fact, I blogged about the meetings we had with them soon after I began this blog. You can check out some of those posts here, here and here.

If you live in the area, I greatly encourage you to come out and join us for these special meetings. You will be challenged, blessed, and encouraged.

In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone

Search with Goodsearch and help support our church

This spring, I set up Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury as an approved charity under Goodsearch.

Goodsearch is a search engine powered by Yahoo! that donates 1 cent ($.01) to your favorite charity for every search you make on the internet using Goodsearch. Like many of you, I tend to be a little skeptical of things like this, but I rejoice to be able to tell you that it actually works!

Recently Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury received our first check from Goodsearch in the amount of $49.71. You may think this is nothing to write home about (or blog about), but this can help us to be able to purchase Sunday School materials for about one quarter - for people doing nothing different that what they already do.

SO, here is my comment and my plea. If you are part of our church or a friend of our church, would you please consider using Goodserch to do your internet searching. If your church does not use Goodsearch, would you consider using Goodsearch as your search engine and designating Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury (Salisbury, MD) as your charity. (There is a pre-populated link on the right hand column of this blog to make it easy - or you can click here.)

If 10 people searched 10 times a day using Goodsearch, that would be $365 at the end of the year - not a huge amount to a lot of churches, but this additional money could easily be used for ministry.

In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone