11.19.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:55 pm by Pastor Bill
According to the latest newspapers, the American humanist Association is trying to take God out of Christmas. They are running a $40,000 holiday ad campaign which places advertisements on Washington area buses. The ads proclaim, “Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness sake.”
They are simply copying the techniques of the British Humanist Association who placed their ads on London buses with the message: “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
We’ve seen over the past several years how our secular society is trying to remove the name of Jesus or “Christ” from Christmas celebrations. Many organizations and retail chains have instructed their clerks to wish people a “happy holiday” instead of a “Merry Christmas.” Many Christian organizations are fighting back against the dechristianization of this religious holiday by organizing boycotts against retail chains that promote Christmas as simply another holiday.
Should believers be worried that Christmas is being stolen from us by an increasingly secular society? Is this possible?
Not to worry! First of all, our faith and worship is not controlled by societies approval or disapproval. According to Jesus himself, the whole world is in darkness and will not come to the light, unless they are drawn to Christ by God Himself. So should believers be surprised by opposition or resistance to the Christian faith?
Secondly, as much positive influence as Christianity has had on our world, we cannot truly expect non-believers to understand the incarnation, and what it brought to mankind. So we should not be confused or disappointed when the world turns Christmas into a celebration that conforms more to their nature and desires.
Third, although we take this time of year as an opportunity to give thanks to God for His indescribable gift to us, we don’t need a holiday to do it. We should celebrate God’s mercy And his gift of love to us every single day.
Remember, we Christians aren’t defined by Christmas, we are Christians even without a holiday.
So this year, use this holiday to tell someone about the birth of our Savior — while we still have it.
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10.14.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:55 pm by Pastor Bill
For all you Christian hip-hop fans, I hope you will check out the latest release from Reach Records, a new CD titled ‘REBEL’ by Lecrae. This album follows his previous works, presenting the gospel and the Christian life from a passionate Biblical perspective. There is no let-down in the lyrics or quality of recording, and you will be challenged to follow Christ wholeheartedly in a world of compromise. The insert in the CD perhaps says it best…”This is more than music. It is a cry to the world to passionately pursue Christ above all things.”
There are 15 gripping tracks on this CD, and you might have heard a couple of them on previous albums. If you want to be challenged to be faithful and keep Christ first in life, I encourage you to get a copy for yourself. You can even hear sample cuts from this CD at Reach Records.
Listen, enjoy, repent, grow. I’m out.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:47 pm by Pastor Bill
We just concluded our 2nd annual Bible Conference with Dr. James Hamilton and it was awesome! The glories of this last book of the Bible were presented in a God glorifying, Christ exalting and encouraging manner. We are going to try to get the 5 sessions posted on our website for free listening or downloading to your computer or mp3 player.
We hope you will be able to join us for our next Bible conference, scheduled to be held in January of 2010.
Stay tuned for details!
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09.30.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:06 pm by Pastor Bill
Welcome! We are excited about our upcoming Bible Conference on October 11-12, 2008. We are pleased to have Dr. James Hamilton as our conference speaker, and the subject is “What The Spirit Says To The Church.” These sessions begin at 12 noon on Saturday the 11th, and each session will cover a passage from Revelation chapters 2 & 3 addressed to the churches in the first century a.d.
Parking for this event will be located at the Hyde Park Elementary school, located on the corner of Observatory and Edwards avenues, with the parking lot entrance on Edwards avenue. This is a short 1 1/2 block walk to our church, located on the corner of Erie and Michigan avenue, on the Hyde Park square. The church address is… 3460 michigan ave, cincinnati, oh 45208 if you want to look it up on mapquest.
There is no cost for this event, although we will take up a love offering to help cover the cost of hosting and providing our speaker. The Saturday sessions will run from noon till 7 pm, and our Sunday session will be during our morning worship service at 11 am.
Please contact us if you have any questions about this event! We know you will be blessed and challenged as you come and participate. Our phone number is 513-321-5856 and you can email us at hpbcrillo@yahoo.com
Come hear what the Spirit says to Christ’s church today!
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09.03.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:10 pm by Pastor Bill
Details will be forthcoming but mark your calendar now! October 11-12, 2008 at Hyde Park Baptist Church. Our speaker is Dr. James Hamilton, and the sessions will be taken from The book of Revelation in the New Testament, Chapters 2-3. Make plans now to attend this awesome conference and be blessed. More information is on the way!
Pastor Bill ><>
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Posted in Uncategorized at 2:25 pm by Pastor Bill
Perhaps I should say that not all of us are back from Nicaragua. While we didn’t leave any person behind on our recent mission trip, some of our hearts are still there. God did an incredible work through us, with us and on us while ministering in the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua a couple weeks ago. 
We were blessed to spend 10 days there with our mission family, the Woughters…see them here. We were encouraged to see and participate in their ministry, and we were challenged by the extreme poverty and spiritual need among the people. 
We also got to share in a couple different ministries, one to the people who live in the city dump, and make their living digging through the trash and waste every day, and another ministry that helps women break out of the oppression of prostitution. 
Both of these ministries are working to make a real difference in the lives of Nicaraguans, both spiritually and physically. All of us who went on the trip were reminded of how blessed and wealthy we are compared to the people we met. There were many opportunities to praise God for His mercy and grace given to us.
Some of our time was spent doing construction work at a camp and ministry facilities, we got to help with a day of sports evangelism, we went into a local village to pass out hygiene, medical and school supply kits along with gospel presentations, 
and we took a weekend to travel a few hours away to assist a local national church with evangelism and special meetings.
God blessed us with spiritual fruit, seeing several individuals pray to receive Christ as Savior, and several others recommiting their lives to live faithfully for Christ.
We thank you for your prayers and support, and count ourselves privileged to be able to share the gospel in Nicaragua. Please continue to pray that our hearts would be tender and open to what God may be calling us to do in His kingdom, for His glory. God bless you, Pastor Bill ><>
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06.18.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:20 pm by Pastor Bill
As a pastor, one of my great pleasures is to introduce believers to material which will help them to grow in their faith, grow in their knowledge and appreciation of God, and to share with them the resources which God has used to encourage and equip me for the Christian race. I’m pleased to recommend to you a new CD from reach records, entitled 20/20. This is Trip Lee’s new release, presented in the form of Christian Hip-Hop music. I want to give my impressions of the CD and point you to a few of the tracks which might challenge and edify you in your walk with Christ.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS AND OVERVIEW…When I first began listening to the CD in my car, I noticed a few marked differences from Trip’s first CD (If They Only Knew). His initial CD I believe was perhaps a once in a lifetime accomplishment. It is marked by such clarity, forcefulness and awesome lyrics and themes that knocked my socks off. I was stunned, inspired and hooked from the very first track. His current CD, (20/20) hits me a little differently. Yes the quality is there, yes the lyrics are challenging and biblical, but it is a different kind of listening experience from his first CD in my opinion. One thing that makes or breaks a CD or song for me is its ‘listenability’ (yes I made up that word)…how easy it is to listen to, how clearly it’s message comes across.
I noticed on 20/20 that the music track (instruments) often overshadow the lyrical track (the words, the message). In my opinion this makes the initial impression of any song less impacting, because it takes greater concentration and effort to pull the theme and message out of the song, it requires more focus and concentrated attention. This problem goes away after several listenings, or by reading the lyrics provided on the lyric sheet. One kudo to reach records is that they provide the lyrics to every song on the CD on their website, which is a great benefit to my old ears, which sometimes miss an important word or phrase.
My appreciation for the lyrics and message of 20/20 overshadows the unbalanced mixing of instrumental levels. By taking the time to read and listen closely to each song, I have a great admiration for this CD, and the help it can provide to believers in every walk of life. Here are a few titles and my overview of them.
1) 20/20 INTRO…This track gives us an idea where the CD will take us, namely to a better focused view of our great God and Savior. Anything that raises our perspective and appreciation of God will benefit us, and Trip and his fellow musicians have graced us by urging us to look upward with them, see the greatness of God, and worship Him for who He truly is. Several of the tracks caution us against false views of God which are always unhelpful and dangerous. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:37 pm by Pastor Bill
Well, it might not be that far away in comparison to some places on our planet, but the Central American country of Nicaragua is a long way from Hyde Park, Cincinnati Ohio. We will be taking a mission trip as a church to support our missionaries in Managua, Nicaragua. We are diligently practicing our Spanish language studies, raising support, and praying that God will use us in a great way during our time there.
We will be ministering with our mission family, Rich and Cari Woughter and their 4 children. You can read more about them on our missionary page of this website. We will be involved in children’s ministry, camp work, door to door evangelism and whatever else will help the Woughters.
We ask for your prayers as we continue with our preparations for this trip. Please lift up the matters of finances, preparation, and spiritual growth. We expect to see our God work in mighty ways during this time, just as we saw in Mexico last year.
I will try to keep you updated with more details as the trip progresses, but here are the starters. We will be in Managua, Nicaragua from August 7th to the 16th. The cost of the trip is about $1000.00 per person, with about $760.00 of that going towards airfare. Our goals are to be a help to our missionaries, to be used of God with our spiritual gifts, and to grow in Christ through service and sacrifice. Thank you for your prayers!
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05.21.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:56 pm by Pastor Bill
…Since I last posted on our website? I guess so. Someone mentioned that there has been a lack of activity on our website, but there has been a flurry of great activity among our church family. So much has gone on during the past few months, so I’ll try to catch you up on what’s going on at Hyde Park Baptist Church, in Hyde Park (Cincinnati) Ohio.
First off, God has blessed us with great attendance. We have set several new attendance records in many of our various services. We are blessed with many new couples and young families becoming part of our church family. Some of our ’snowbirds’ have returned from warmer climates and we’re excited to have them back with us for the summer. We’ve been challenged by several missionary speakers and their families, sharing what God is doing across this wide world.
We’ve begun a few ministries of sharing mercy, to various agencies and people who are in need of care and love. We are seeing the fruit of sharing our relationship with God through Jesus to the people that God has brought into our lives. We’ve had several baptisms and new members lately.
We’ve shared great fellowship through many outlets, bible studies, flying pig running races, shared meals and activities (picnic season is in full swing!) We are getting ready for our summer mission trip to Nicaragua to assist our mission family living there, in Managua Nicaragua. We’re practicing our Spanish also! Hola!
One thing that hasn’t changed is our emphasis on the truth and authority of God’s word, and our responsibility as believers to live out daily our faith in Christ Jesus. I’m thankful for the spiritual growth and hunger of our people, and seeing them put their faith into action in the world we live in.
If you’re ever in Cincinnati, stop in and worship with us. Details are on our home page.
God bless you!
Pastor Bill ><>
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01.30.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:39 pm by Pastor Bill
…a tremendous success, praise God! We were so blessed by our speaker, Dr. Bruce Ware of Southern Seminary, also with good attendance and participation. Our hearts were uplifted and our minds were enlightened by the great presentations of the Glorious Trinitarian Revelation of our great God and Savior. We were challenged to think and live biblically as we meditate upon what God has revealed to us in His word.
I invite you to join us next year for another awesome conference, or if you can’t wait that long, worship with us any Sunday for great teaching, preaching and Christian fellowship.
God bless you!
Pastor Bill ><>
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