CALL TO ME: CHURCH WIDE PRAYER EXPERIENCE

I have so enjoyed the daily devotional “CALL TO ME: A SEASON OF PRAYER AND CONNECTION”. It has been good to read devotionals written by our church members. To see their thoughts and feel the passion of their hearts has been encouraging. I have used the list of ministries in the front of the devotional book as a prayer guide. I am on my third time praying through all of these missions and ministries. I hope you are having a similar experience of joy and refreshing.

The finale to this event is coming up on Saturday, May 14. Pastor Marty and his team have put together an interactive prayer experience for the church family. On Saturday, May 14, from 6 PM to 8:00 PM you are invited to drop by the church for your reserved time of prayer. There will be four prayer stations in the worship center/sanctuary for us to experience. Each one will take approximately 15 minutes to experience. Then you will move t the next prayer station. The four stations will be Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (praying for others).

Just a thought: why not do this as a Connection Group, as a family or with a friend. Make a night of it. Experience this together; then go out to eat and talk about the experience. It is after all, a season of prayer and connection. What a great way to connect. It certainly would be our prayer and hope that the family that prays together stays together. The same would hold true for Connection Groups and friends. Pray together and strengthen your bonds!

“Call to me and I will answer and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”   Jeremiah 33:3

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

TWO FOR ONE

Don’t you love it when you get a great two for one deal? Buy one meal and get the second free. Buy one jar of jelly and get a second one free. Really, who does not love to get two for one? Here is my point: How about two blessings for one? Saturday, April 30 is the Taste of James Island. The best church cooks from around the island will be putting their best dish forward. You can come and enjoy some of the most delicious food anywhere around AND support one of our favorite ministries…James Island Outreach. If you can, bring a jar of jelly or any canned good item to donate. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness of the ministry and to collect food. The cost of admission is one non-perishable item…like a jar of jelly! Remember James Island Baptist is the church family in charge of collecting jelly. You can bring absolutely anything though.

FAMILY FRIENDLY The event starts at 11:30 am and goes until 3:00 pm. In addition to the best food around, there will be raffles, good music and children’s activities. This would be a great opportunity to involve your children in giving back to the community. You will see old friends and can make some new ones if you want to. We will have many churches from a variety of backgrounds participating. What a testimony to the love and grace of God that can bring us all together for fellowship and mission.

Two for one…how can you beat a deal like that? Think of the wonderful irony…by eating and enjoying great food we are helping the hungry. Only God can do that kind of wonderful work.

All kidding aside, think of the mission of James Island Outreach: No one on James Island goes to bed hungry unless we don’t know about it. Your ongoing gifts and support make this ministry a success. We have several members from our church family that volunteer regularly. We collect tons of jelly every year and we support JIO financially as well. Way to go JIBC. Job well done…jam up and jelly tight!

Pastor Tom

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great 

and unsearchable things you do not know.” 

 Jeremiah 33:3

TRANSITION HOUSE UPDATE

I cannot and do not always give updates on the Transition House or our residents. That sometimes is difficult because some may think they are entitled to know everything about everything. It is usually not that way. Residents can come and go quickly. Our primary objective is to give them the opportunity to transition. They may “keep their bed”, their place in the house, as long as they live up to the contract agreement they turn in every week. It should never be a surprise to a resident if they are asked to leave the house. They turn in a weekly agreement. Either they kept it or they did not. You certainly understand when we do not make public announcements about the house, who is out and for what reason. And, by the way, not everyone leaves because of a relapse. Some leave for more personal reasons. Thanks for understanding this and for helping others understand as well. 

I love the way our church family loves and receives the House residents. Just remember, many of them, like many of us, have lived for years as cons. To stop using your drug of choice is hard. Those addictive thinking patterns can be harder to change. One of the things we will be asking the church family and our recovery ministry is to not give money to our current or former Transition House residents. That is so hard because we love them and their babies. You can give money for them through Celebrate Recovery. Then their sponsor or CR leaders and/or group can make sure it is the healthy thing to do. That even includes things like diapers, milk, etc. Wow, I know, that is so hard. We want to make sure helping does not hurt. This may relieve a lot of pressure should someone ask for help. You can agree to help…but only through Celebrate Recovery. The new residents will sign an agreement that they will not ask.

Right now, the Transition House is going through some changes. I am calling it a reboot. We are having some major construction issues. Some of them are structural in nature. Others are more cosmetic. Think about it. We originally bought the house for the purpose of tearing it down for parking. It went with no attention for over 6 years before we started the Transition House. We have had the Transition House Ministry for close to 4 years; housed over 20 women and almost that many children. It is time for the four R’s…repair, repaint, refresh and refurnish. While the house is temporarily closed, we will also be “rebooting” our policies and procedures and developing a Ministry Team to help lead the Transition House Ministry. Just FYI, the last residents had over a month’s notice that the house was closing down. We did not want anyone, especially babies and children, living there with major construction happening. So, all in all, announcing in February that the house would be closed was good timing. It gave everyone 4 to 6 weeks to make plans.

Let’s pray together Jeremiah 33:3…call to me and I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know…

Pastor Tom