Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Family Portraits

Family Portraits is the name we gave to our current teaching series. Two Sundays ago we began with a message to help us build healthy marriages, healthy families and healthy relationships. It should not be surprising that God’s Word has so much to say about families and relationships. Last week I taught about one of the leading problems facing so many families today…DEBT!

‘Till Debt Do Us Part is not just a clever title it is an ever present threat to American families. Just last week I heard a report that American families carry over $12 Trillion in personal debt. Presidential elections often include National Debt as a fighting point. It seems like they learned it from our families.

It seems like the Purpose Driven Life has given way to the Purchase Driven Life and the American Dream has become a nightmare for too many. God’s Word is a light unto our financial path. Biblical strategies and principles can help create families that are blessed financially instead of being stressed financially. If you missed this week’s message on busting debt and building financial security, you can hear it on online at our church website www.jibcfamily.com

We are blessed to be a blessing. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to live graciously and give generously if we are captive to financial debt. There is help and you can get out of debt. Remember the blessing of our Lord Jesus who said “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15. Debt is not so much a matter of having possessions as it is being possessed by your possessions. Finances are a matter of discipleship and spiritual maturity. Proverbs 11:24-25 says “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be blessed.” Be blessed!

Pastor Tom


Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Big Thank You!

Each Sunday night JIBC is able to provide a meal for the families that attend Celebrate Recovery. We have been having around 45 adults, plus the youth group (Surge), the children (Celebration Station) and preschoolers. We also have a faithful group that gathers every Sunday night for prayer (By the way, they would welcome anyone to join them). All in all, that can be around 100 people who gather at JIBC on Sunday nights. I can tell you the group from the Charleston Center, usually around a dozen, gets their best meal of the week at JIBC. Our servers sometimes arrange for them to take a “to-go box” back to the Charleston Center with them.

You may not be aware of who provides the meals for Celebrate Recovery. Let me give them a sincere thanks and a shout out of gratitude. Once a month the following groups provide for our recovery ministry: Kickin’ Chicken (David Miller), The Charleston Crab House (John Keener), Stono Catering ( Barry Waldrop) and then Celebrate Recovery buys pizza once a month. Our JIBC Kitchen Crew, CR volunteers and Barry stand by every ready to make additions and take care of emergencies. Every 5th Sunday they are treated by Jan Cooper’s Sunday Connection Group who always add a touch of creativity to their delicious food. Our faithful volunteers serve the meals and do the clean up, but these generous and faithful friends provide the food. Our sincere thanks to all who make this a wonderful experience of eating and fellowship.

Celebrate Recovery, as a support group, addresses a variety of hurts, habits and hang-ups including, but not limited to, the following: broken relationships, co-dependency, PTSD, mental health issues, alcohol-drugs-chemical dependencies, sexual addictions, etc.

Thank you for your faithful tithes and offerings that help support this mission.

Pastor Tom



Wednesday, May 10, 2017

This Sunday we will start a new teaching series focused at strengthening families. No one doubts the hardships faced by the average family, even Christian families. There are many factors that can work against you to take your family to the brink of despair: financial debt, severe illness, loss of a job, addiction, unfaithfulness, mental health issues, etc. There are also many factors that can strengthen and add joy to your marriage and family: a growing relationship with our Father and our Lord, Jesus; a committed relationship to a local church family; the practice of the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible Study and worship.

Here are some heart breaking snapshots of American families. We have more babies born into single parent homes than ever before. If raising children is difficult…imagine doing it alone. One report suggested that 40% of all homes are single parent homes. In some parts of our society as many as 70% of all babies are born to single parent homes. Single parents need our prayers and in many cases our praise for doing a great job under very difficult circumstances.

We often hear that 50% of all marriages end in divorce and the rate of divorce in the church is the same as that outside the church. Often, a reporter reads statistical information and draws very incorrect conclusions. The research I have found suggests that around one third of all first time marriages end in divorce. Sometimes the inflated number of 50% is due to second, third, fourth or fifth marriages. That tends to skew the numbers a bit. It has long been a favorite statistic to say Christians divorce at the same rate as non-Christians. That deserves a closer look. Researchers tend to lump anyone who attends church ever and identifies as a Christian as…well, a Christian. Not many of us would agree with that assessment. Example: five objects in a mechanics shop might be mechanics…not cars. Being in a garage does not make one a car or a mechanic any more than occasionally attending church makes one a Christian. The better research says that those who nominally attend church (possible because they are not Christian or certainly not very committed) actually divorce at a much higher rate than even non-believers. Yikes. Just attending church occasionally or just checking you are Christian actually puts you in a statistically dangerous place in regards to marriage.

The good news that we have always known: faithful followers of Christ who take seriously their commitment to God divorce as a far lower rate than non-believers and nominal believers. That does not mean we don’t have problems. It means we have values and resources greater than our problems. It does not mean devotion to Christ insures you will never divorce…but it is a close as one can get for a guarantee. I suspect that less than 10% of what we would identify as faithful followers of Christ end their first marriage in divorce. The closer a couple grows to Jesus, the closer they grow to each other.

We are aware that we live in a fallen and broken world. The beautiful dreams of happily ever after often are shattered by the brutal hits we take in life. There is but one Shelter, one Fortress, and one Hope: The Good and Beautiful God shown to us by our Good and Beautiful Lord Jesus.

Pastor Tom


Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Taste of James Island

The James Island Outreach sponsors this wonderful event, A Taste of James Island. It really is everything the name suggests. We had close to a dozen churches and 4 or 5 businesses that brought their finest food to be sampled. There was Mac and cheese, pulled pork sliders, nutter butter banana pudding, chocolate everythings, paella that would make you yella, and on and on. It was a gastronomical gathering of the best of the best! I tried to make it all the way around to every booth but just could not do it. It was fabulous.

Now, the other taste of James Island. The entertainment was incredible. There was live music, jump castles, vendor booths (that was new), Gospel music, old timey music, kid’s music and lots of giveaways. Again, you heard the best of James Island.

On top of all that, since January, 28 James Island Churches and organizations have given 8,508 pounds of food. Over 4 tons of food! James Island Baptist has given 1078 pounds of jelly. Really, a half of ton of jelly! The real taste of James Island is not all the wonderful food we enjoyed last Saturday. The real taste of James Island is the commitment that no one on James Island goes hungry unless we don’t know about it. Thank you for being so generous in your giving to your church and the community. That is the real taste of James Island.

By the way, the James Island Outreach is growing and moving to a new location. James Island Christian donated two very large mobile classrooms that will now house James Island Outreach. The new location will be at St. James Church on Camp Road. This will allow the Outreach to grow and better serve our community. The move has not happened yet but is close on the horizon. God bless all who are making this happen. Hey, if you would like to volunteer, we have JIBC members that volunteer on a regular basis. It is a great place to make a difference.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom