See Dr. Fanning’s Pastor Message at the bottom of this page.
We are blessed and pleased to welcome our Interim Pastor Dr. Harold Fanning and his wife Debbie. They come to us from Hartselle, AL, where Dr. Harold is Hospice Chaplain for Alacare of Alabama - Decatur branch. Dr. Harold has been Senior Pastor at several churches and served in several Associational positions. He has authored many articles for various news media. He is also the author of 3 books and authored additions to 2 Chicken Soup for the Soul books. His 3 books are:
“Lessons Learned in the Skillet”
“Life Along a Dirt Road”
“Reflections from the Front Porch”
His books offer a humorous view of life and past times that will carry you back to your childhood, while at the same time presenting great moral lessons and connection with God’s word. Several of us are reading his books now and would recommend them. See Dr. Harold if you would like to have any of these. You will be blessed and entertained by them.
Welcome Harold and Debbie
We look forward to working with them and his new ideas to progress our church and God’s mission for us.
From Dr. Fanning:
Thank you for visiting our website. Our desire is that it will be more than merely an advertisement for Springdale Baptist Church. Of course, we want you to take a look at us as well as what God is doing in and through the Springdale Baptist Church family. There are a variety of opportunities for worship, spiritual growth, ministry, and fellowship here and we sincerely invite you to participate with us in any or all of them. However, the purpose of our website goes beyond that. We want this site to be a helpful resource. If you are visiting our site seeking a church home we encourage you to come visit us. It is our desire to meet your needs and assist in any way we can.
So come and join us this coming Sunday morning and experience the excitement of our Sunday School as well as our traditional worship style. You may just discover that Springdale Baptist Church is the extended family of faith that you have been seeking all along.
In His Name,
Dr. Harold Fanning, Interim Pastor
Devotional from Dr. Fanning:
Lately I’ve been giving some serious thought about the church in general. I’m not sure, but to me the devil seems to be working overtime in his attempts to disrupt and destroy the fellowship and hinder our forward progression. And maybe I’m imagining things but it looks like he is doing a good job at accomplishing his goals.
As I contemplated this situation it occurred to me that I may have been looking at this thing all wrong. Think about this….if you were Satan how would you attack the church? As I thought about this I came up with some really devious stuff. Let me give you a few suggestions as to how I personally would do it if I were in Satan’s position.
First, I would disrupt the ministry by whispering innuendos in people’s ears. I wouldn’t tell them a bald-face lie – I would just ‘shade’ the truth a bit by insinuating some things and simply allow people’s minds to take it from there. It is amazing what the human mind can invent when you give it a little jumpstart with some juicy tidbits.
Second, if I were Satan I think I would hinder the ministry by tempting church members to major on worldly things. If I could get them to finance new cars, boats, bigger houses and max out their credit cards, that would automatically kill the financial support of the local church, thus eliminating any chance of starting ministries that could bring others to Christ.
Third, if I could just get the congregation to become absorbed in activities outside the church. If only I could get their kids so involved in sports and recreational events they would either be too tired or too busy to become involved in the church. I would probably also convince them that all this activity is ‘family time’ and tell them that this is a good thing and that God was pleased. I would gloat with glee as I watched all those good “church member” kids play sports with their lost friends as they never say a word to them about the Lord or their church. I might even point out to the lost neighbor friend the fact that their ‘church-going-friends’ are on the ball field instead of at church.
Fourth, I would do all I could to discourage the faithful. I would tell the Sunday School teachers that their classes are not growing because they are not doing their job. I would convince the children’s ministry leaders that they need to do some other ministry because this position takes too much time and all these little ‘hooligans’ aren’t worth the trouble. I would do all I could to discourage the ministerial staff by convincing them that all this is their fault. I would gain an advantage over the church leaders by convincing them that the ministerial staff is the reason why the church isn’t growing and revival doesn’t come.
But wait a minute….just hold it right there a moment!! Isn’t that what he is doing already? It is unbelievable how many Christians in whom Satan has such a stronghold. And the result is that we have begun living self-centered lives that are ineffective and spiritually impotent. Satan has moved into our lives and church and the result is this settled, self-centered kind of living that is having devastating consequences on the ministry.
Please let me remind all of us of what the apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 2:11, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
In Him,
Harold Fanning