Bus Update

Update on the buses. Sorry, there is not much of an update. Both buses were involved in a horrific crash on April 18 at 2 a.m. The police estimated the driver was going 112 mph and not wearing a seat belt. He did not survive the crash. Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family and friends. We do not have an estimate on the time when we will receive the buses back. The new bus may be back by July but that is just a guess. As soon as we know we will publish more information.

In the meanwhile, we are working hard to cover the areas as needed. Here is a great news and sad news report. The Charleston Center has been working with us to pick up the patients and bring them to Celebrate Recovery. With the big bus, we never worried about how many would come since the bus held 40. We are now borrowing the van owned by our Hispanic Church, Luz Y Verdad! Thank goodness they have a 12 passenger bus. Since we can only bring 12 patients at a time, those who sign up to come have their names put in a hat. The first 12 picked are the ones who get to attend Celebrate Recovery. I know, mixed feelings right? So happy 12 can come, so sad anyone is left behind. Thank you Pastor Claudio for letting us use one of your vans! Thank you Randi for helping pick up and drop off.

Then there is Pastor Sean. Sean has been hustling as fast as he could go to work out the youth and children’s camps. Both of them are basically dependent on transportation. Just to rent a bus, a basic no air conditioning bus, to take the children to Kids Camp was $2,000. And the Youth camp Mission Fuge requires that you have transportation present to do the mission side of camp. Sean gets an A+ for his hustle. He tried pricing vans, buses, camels…ok, not the camels. My thanks to Sean for wrestling with scheduling, deposits, and everything else that goes with a last minute change. Romans 8:28…it’s all good and it is all working out.

Blessings and peace,

Pastor Tom

Yep, It Has Been An Interesting Week

Holy Week is usually a wonderful week of reflection and devotion. The staff works to plan Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. So we found a way to make this Holy Week a very interesting time. We still saw God’s hand moving and felt His presence…just in a little different way.

A week before Good Friday, Janie and I felt moved to keep a one year old for a mom who had relapsed. I know…my codependent, rescuer nature. Here is what that looks like in my feeble mind. I just know, somewhere, deep in my heart, that my job is to storm the castle. I always have faith that someone behind me will do the next step: build a ladder to scale the castle wall. I just knew in my heart it was right to go get that baby. I believed with everything in me that JIBC would have the family willing to “foster” this child once the dust settled. So, Janie and I welcomed this little baby into our home for 6 days. Mary Braxton and Amanda Holseberg and their kids graciously helped babysit during the day. The Lord laid it on the hearts of one of our church families to do the heavy lifting of keeping this baby for up to 6 months. I believed God could do it but I never imagined He would do it in such a wonder filled way with the absolute perfect family. Janie and I still retain grandparent rights to babysit this little girl (lol). To God be the glory.

The next Monday at 2:30 a.m. is when I received the call that there had been a horrific accident at the church involving the new bus and the old bus. I thought this was a bad joke since I knew Ed Mullis and I, after returning the patients to the Charleston Center, had parked the buses over 200 feet from each other. A young man from Mt Pleasant, according to the police report, was travelling at 112 mph and did not make it around the curve in front of the church. Tragically, he lost his life. Our prayers and thoughts continue to go out to his parents, family and friends. I was saddened and grieved by the horrible devastation of this fatal car crash. It was, by the way, the second crash in less than 2 weeks, at that curve on Maybank Highway.

Then, the Thursday of Holy Week, we passed the little baby off to her new home and her new family. The little baby was fine but I cried like a baby! She was such a little love.

Then, just in time for my burdened heart, came Good Friday’s moving worship service. I was so thankful for a powerful experience service to feed my soul. Then Saturday I had a beautiful outdoor wedding for a wonderful young couple.

It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming. I thank our Heavenly Father for our Resurrection Sunday celebration. We put out all the extra chairs we could find and fit in the worship center and still had people standing upstairs and down. We worshiped in Spirit and truth, baptized 5 and heard the Word of the conquering power of Jesus. The day ended with driving Luz Y Verdad’s van to pick up the patients from the Charleston Center for Celebrate Recovery.

Yep…it has been an interesting week. I am hoping for a chance for us all to catch our breath and then carry on. See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

Christmas Offering Update

On Sunday, April 2, I got my seasons mixed up and said Christmas instead of Easter.  I am getting old and suspect that will happen more and more.  But, since I mentioned  Christmas, let me give you an update on our Sunday, Christmas Day offering. Remember The Christmas Day Offering?  This past Christmas our leadership, including our Finance Team, agreed to give away our Christmas Sunday offering to mission causes instead of putting it into the ongoing church budget.  It was a Kingdom celebration giving thanks for God’s goodness.  JIBC has been so blessed and we were in a great position to give even more.  So here is what that looked like.

The offering for that particular Sunday was $7,440.  These gifts were in addition to any budgeted gifts we planned to give to these missions.  These were blessings above our regular budgeted accounts because we were so blessed.

· Romanian Church we partner with—$1,000

· The Romanian Pastor—$200 personal gift

· James Island Outreach—an extra $1,000

· Remember Orphan Sponsorship—$365.00

· A Pastor in South Africa—$200

· The Church in Ukraine Mark Livengood works with—$500.00

· The Ukraine Pastor—$200

· Annie Armstrong North American Missions—$1,000

· Living Hope (A discipleship ministry to those with broken sexuality issues) - $1,000

· Janie Chapman SC State Missions—$500.00

· Missionary friends Hector and Shannon in Honduras—$200

· Missionaries John and YiLing in Asia—$200

*In addition we received $7,094 for Lottie Moon International Missions.

We still have some of the funds left for other mission causes.

Wow…What a great day of blessing.  We thank God for your generous giving and the attitude of our church family to be generous. 

Thank you for your generous giving, your faithful praying and your love for our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Tom

Easter Sunday Morning Requests

As you may anticipate, Easter Sunday should be a full house.  We will be bringing down 100 extra chairs in anticipation of an overflow crowd.  May I ask our church family to do two things this Sunday in particular.  First, as you arrive, could you fill in all seats between you and the next person.  Could we save the outside seats for our guests?  Our greeters will be looking to help people find seating for two, three and four at a time.  Second, gentlemen, could we have you ready to give up your seat for someone else.  Not our Senior adult men, just us younger, healthier men.  If it is needed, would you be willing to give up your seat?  Thanks, you are the best!  Let’s make our guests feel as welcome as possible. 

Palm Sunday

This Sunday, April 9 is Palm Sunday. We begin our Holy Week emphasis we are calling “ALL”: Palm Sunday—He Gave It All; Good Friday—He Paid It All; and Easter Sunday—He Conquered It All! This Sunday, Palm Sunday, Janie and I have a gift for our JIBC family and friends. We purchased and want to give each of you a copy of Lee Strobel’s book, A Case For Easter. You will be touched by the historic detail given here about the death and resurrection of Christ. I hope you will enjoy the read. It is a faith builder. Here is my prayer: I hope you will read this great little book and then pass it on to someone you know. Let it be a double blessing. Janie and I are praying for you to have a wonderful and inspirational Holy Week. 

Then, there is the Good Friday service. This is often one of the most moving services of the year. It is reflective and more reserved and not so much the celebration, upbeat worship we experience every Sunday. The focus, as you know, is on the suffering of our Lord Jesus and the great sacrifice of our Heavenly Father. We will observe Lord’s Supper together in remembrance of Him. May it draw you ever closer to Him.

Then there is Resurrection Sunday: He is risen, He is risen indeed! Hallelujah, what a Savior. We will have the flowering of the cross…even if it is mostly green this year! Look around closely and bring your flowers for the cross on Easter Sunday. What a reminder that God can work all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose in Christ Jesus. For those scheduled to be baptized Easter Sunday, what a day that will be!

A sincere word of thanks: JIBC has been the recipient of another unbelievable gift. A family has donated a 14 passenger bus to our church mission and ministry. There are so many times and places that the full 40 seat bus is a little too much. The big bus still drives great and we are addressing the one major issue that it has with a soft spot in the floor. We still drive it every week. The 14 passenger bus gives us amazing flexibility. Now here is the surprise. Some may mistakenly think that because a CDL is not required for a 14 passenger bus, anyone can drive it. Not really. Our insurance still has requirements like you must be between 25 and 65; you must have a CDL physical and you still must do a full pre-trip inspection before each trip. Our insurance does not allow us to loan the bus out for liability reasons. We can use it for missions and ministry with one of our drivers behind the wheel. The only difference is you don’t have to have a Commercial Drives License( CDL). So, we are asking for volunteers that might be willing to get their CDL to help drive the bus. Currently we only have 3 drivers: Tom and Janie Brown and Randi Benton. We could use 3 more right away. At any rate, what a tremendous blessing and resource. Joining me in saying a prayer of thanks for the generosity of this family. May the bus be used for His glory.

Pastor Tom