A NEW PRESCHOOL MINISTRY BEGINNING

Starting Monday, August 25, James Island Baptist will begin a new Weekday Preschool Ministry. Some of you may know or remember Shelly Cannon who helped us during our preschool building renovation years ago. We hired her as a temporary worker to assist us during the construction and reconstruction time. We loved her so much, we tried to hire her on the spot to start a ministry way back then. The timing has finally worked out.

Shelly and her entire team will be coming to join the JIBC Mission and Ministry. This will be a Monday through Friday, 9-12, Weekday Preschool Program. It is open to the community as well as our church family. We believe we will probably max out at around 40 to 45 children. We will use the Bible centered WEE curriculum that we used years ago in our Mothers Morning Out Ministry. It is a Bible based curriculum that helps prepare preschoolers for school as well as teaching Biblical values.

Shelly will be the director of the Weekday Preschool and will also serve as our staff preschool director. So she will be providing leadership to our excellent preschool Sunday School and Extended Session workers. At a recent introduction dinner, all the JIBC preschool workers were thrilled to have Shelly coming as a resource person. Her job is not to be “in the nursery” each week. Her job is to help coordinate and train our workers. She will be a leader of leaders. I really believe it will be a good fit.

So what can you do? One, let’s begin to pray. Pray for Shelly and her team. They love the JIBC preschool facilities and rooms. Pray for the children and families that will come to our campus. We will pray that these children will get for the first time, or to reinforce, the wonderful message of the love of God and His people. Spread the word. If you know of families with preschool children looking for a morning preschool ministry, tell them about Shelly and the JIBC Weekday Preschool Ministry. Nothing beats word of mouth advertisement.

I am looking forward to this exciting new ministry. Add this to the Discipleship Counseling Center, and you can see quite an effort to help families come to Christ and to get healthy.

See you Sunday,

Pastor Tom

MEET SHELLEY CANNON

Shelley was born and raised on James Island. She and her husband, Bryan, have been together since high school. They have two children: Ann-Marie who is 14 and will be attending James Island High in the Fall and Bryan who graduated this year from James Island High and will be doing the bridge program starting at Tech in the Fall. Shelley has been working in Preschool Ministry for over 10 years and will bring a wealth of experience to our team

  

A Word from Pastor Sean

Special Guest Post from Pastor Sean, Pastor of Family Ministries at JIBC

A year ago I stepped into our Children’s worship service we call All Stars. It was fun, but lacked vision. It had energy, but lacked control. I spent the first few months tweaking the program. I had a vision for a children’s worship service that was truly a worship experience. All Stars would be a place where children were engaged with God’s word and worship. I am so pleased to say after a year that vision is accomplished. I sat in on the All Stars program last week and instead of video games and dodge ball, the students got a team building game, a great lesson on friendship and the children led in worship. Let me say that again…some of our kids are leading in worship. I have to admit I was a little overcome to see what God has put together. We have a great team. Martha Miller, Candy Oliver, Erin Wilkins, Marie Smith and Katyrina Russell. Each week they pour into these young children and watch them develop into the future of the church. I am writing this as I get ready to take 20 children to camp. This camp will immerse them in the gospel of Christ. They will come back changed and challenged. Awana begins in just a few weeks. Marie Smith and her Awana army lead this program for K4 - 5th grade that encourages children to memorize and apply scripture in their lives. We at JIBC believe in Reaching young people before we have to Rescue them. I am proud of our Children’s Ministry team and I ask that you join me in this great endeavor. How? 1) Pray…pray for our children and pray for our leaders. 2) Join…be an Awana volunteer, get on an All Stars rotation or volunteer for Celebration Station the children ministry of Celebrate Recovery that meets on Sunday nights. God is up to great things…let’s join him!



In His Grip



Sean

What's Happening at JIBC

A Million Thanks

I tried to say it all Sunday, but let me repeat myself. Thank you to everyone who made the 67th Anniversary Celebration a wonderful day. I start with the Kitchen Krew and all their volunteers. They took the storming weather problems and handled it like professionals. At the last minute, moving the event from outside to the inside and doing it seamlessly. You guys did an amazing job. The staff made the right call and worked in high gear to “get ‘er done” before anyone showed up for Sunday Connection Groups. Marty and the Worship team led an excellent worship service. Remember, he had quite a change in the worship lineup when the Chinese Fellowship could not join us. (They had a tragedy in their church family and did not feel it was appropriate to celebrate in their time of loss. Our prayers continue to be with them all.) The fellowship hall was packed for our inside picnic with very few spaces to spare. Great job everyone…glory to God.

The property purchase did not work out

There is an old saying: “The devil is in the details”. We have tried to say that the purchase of the adjacent property was not a “done deal”. We needed the church’s approval, as we have on all projects that would put the church in debt, to be able to proceed. For those who did not understand how JIBC works, it may have seemed like it was just a formality to have the church vote to proceed. Really, there would be no reason to move forward without the agreement of the church family. And originally, we were working with just over a three week deadline.

As it stands, as of today, Monday, July14, the deal is off and at this time we are no longer pursuing the purchase of the property. We hit a snag in the process that gave us cause to pause. Marvin and Julie Sineath were very gracious in even giving us the opportunity to purchase the property. The timing of the sale and working out the details made it difficult for both sides to reach an agreement. The decision was agreeable by both parties. Our thanks to Marvin and Julie for thinking about us.

When teaching about prayer we say God always answers prayer: sometimes He says “yes”; sometimes He says “no”; and sometimes He says “not now”. We have faith and confidence in those who are leading us and claim Romans 8:28 as a guiding principle. Job 1:21 says “He gives and takes away, blessed be the Name of the LORD.” Our prayer is that this is the absolute best decision for the Sineaths as well as for JIBC. Perhaps this is the Lord saying “Not now”.

Children’s Camp Next Week

I don’t know how many years I have been going to Children’s Camps. It is measured by decades, not years. On Monday, July 21, I will log in another wonderful week with 20 of our church kids. We have 20 kids and 5 chaperones going. This year’s camp is at Anderson University. I will drive the bus and be able to spend some quality time with our kids. They get to see me in another role besides the one in “big church”. Join us in prayer for decisions that will be made and discipleship that will be deepened. Ok, and pray that we will have lots of fun and the old guy won’t get hurt.

See you Sunday, Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

THE GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE

This past Sunday I started a series of messages entitled “Soul Training: The Good and Beautiful Life”. The messages will come from the Gospel of Matthew, particularly the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. James Bryan Smith has written a strong series of books: The Good and Beautiful God; The Good and Beautiful Life: and The Good and Beautiful Community. As I read these books a few years ago, I took note and made plans to teach a series of lessons from them. Jesus invites his followers to “re-think” their current view of life. Jesus was and is the ultimate example of how to live a life free of lust, anger, worry, greed. He found a way to live in the Kingdom of God every moment of every day. The rest of this summer we will examine the teachings of Jesus. I hope we will accept his invitation to follow him and to experience the Good and Beautiful Life.

THE CHURCH ANNIVERSARY

We have celebrated 67 years on this corner as James Island Baptist, the Church at Riverland Terrace. What a joy to be a part of the family. This week we have a celebration planned. We are celebrating the Lord’s Supper…remembering what He did for us on Calvary. We celebrate baptism remembering what He is still doing in us…changing lives. We will worship Him in gladness…because He is worthy. We will remember the past and give thanks for those who worked with Him to pave the way for us. We will eat and laugh because the joy of the Lord is upon us. We will welcome again our Chinese brothers and sisters and rejoice at the goodness of God to bless them so greatly. We will break bread with the Hispanic church, Luz Y Verdad, thanking God for Pastor Claudio and his wife Claudia and their wonderful team. What a day of joy and celebration. Now…if only the rain will hold off until 3!

By the way, no 8:30 service this Sunday. Sunday Morning Connection Groups as usual, combined service at 11, and, then celebration of a good old fashion cookout afterwards. Please, dress casual and comfortable. We will have music, melons and mountains of food!

UPDATE ON THE PROPERTYThe process was delayed just a little. Details are still being worked out. As of Monday morning, we still do not consider this a “done deal”. What we can say is the deal is still being worked out. The deadline of closing by July 1 was moved to July 11 and now moved to next week sometime.

We were moving quickly because of a closing date of July 1. So we rushed the process while still trying to give you all the information we could. As we said from the get go…if we can answer any questions for you concerning the process or the property, please feel free to ask. Until then, we pray for His wisdom and have no worries. His will be done.

See you Sunday in celebration mode!

Pastor Tom

Rejoice about this: if all goes well, this summer we will have JIBC family serving internationally in China, Romania, Ukraine and Burma.

Unanimous Support

This past Sunday we voted on the recommendation from our staff, our finance team and leadership team that we pursue purchasing the property across the street. The vote in both services was unanimous. This is not a “done deal” but we are on the way. We will very shortly be meeting with attorneys working out the details.

I am very pleased and believe this will be a smart move for future mission and ministry. I really love how our church family has grown over the years. There was a time when the first question that would be asked is “Can we afford this?” Now, the first question that was consistently asked was “What will we do with it?” In other words, how does it fit into our purpose and mission? I have been very open to say that at this point I do not know. I believe the plan will include some sort of multi-purpose activity building. Based on how God has blessed such actions in the past, I suspect and believe we will have a mission or two that meets there. It might surprise you to know there is really no church on the island with any type of significant youth mission and outreach going on. Many churches are offering something, but no church has yet found the “key” to reach the youth in the area. I believe this will be part of the answer…but I do not know.

Our Father has helped our church family to become more and more outward focused. Look for the greatest needs in the community and then see what resources He has given us. Think about the things God has already done here at JIBC: grew the largest Chinese church in Charleston; has the most active Hispanic church (not the largest, but surely one of the most active); we consistently have over 100 at Celebrate Recovery (the average Baptist church in S.C. has under 100); the only Transition House for women and infants in Charleston; outreach ministries to Florence Crittenton Home for unwed girls from 10 years of age to 24; just began an outreach to Lowcountry Orphan Relief; active partners with James Island Outreach; Youth Ministry Rock the Block to area neighborhoods; support Low Country Pregnancy Center; taking on illiteracy through “Reading Buddies” at Murray LaSaine Elementary; plans to start a Mother’s Morning Out in September; etc.

Look at that list. That does not mention the dozens of “in house” ministries to our own church family. On Wednesday nights we feed people who are homeless, under-employed, large families who are stretched…at no cost. We have volunteers who take Wednesday meals to the homebound and sick. We have a growing “Connections Ministry” led by Susan Warren helping to connect people to God, each other and the community. That is not to mention the things we do not know…members who just quietly, routinely act as salt and light in volunteer positions on their own. I love JIBC and I love what I see God doing in our church family. To God be the glory.

NEW TEACHING SERIES: I begin this Sunday teaching a series based on The Sermon on the Mount called “The Good and Beautiful Life”. I read a series of books by James Bryan Smith that will greatly influence this series. I am praying our Father will use it for our soul training!

Happy July 4th,

Pastor Tom