Things for which I praise Him and give thanks!

I try to have a time alone with God every day. It includes reading the Bible, taking notes in my journal and then a time of prayer. My prayer time starts with a time of adoration and praise, then confession and then thanksgiving. It concludes with a time of intercession. So, let me share some of the things for which I am currently praising and thanking God.

First, I am so thankful that after a long and involved process, our Father has led us to Scott and Lori Blasingame as our new Associate Pastor. I am so looking forward to his mission and ministry with our JIBC family. He will continue strengthening our Small Group missions and ministry, the delivery system for Bible Study, fellowship, care, nurturing and mobilization to mission as well as the ministries in the church family.

It is possible that they will be with us on July 28 or at least by August 4. They still have a contract pending on their home in Rock Hill and the closing process on their home here. We are trusting those details will be blessed like this entire process has been blessed. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

Second, I praise Him and thank Him for the recent professions of faith. It is my wonderful privilege to present the Gospel at VBS every year. This year, as in many years, we had several children take the next step toward accepting Christ as their Savior. How wonderfully precious! We also had 31 children load up on the bus this week to attend CentriKid camp. I am praying for those who will have an opportunity to say yes to the Holy Spirit’s calling. This past Monday in our weekly staff meeting, Frankie told me we have 5 teenagers who have accepted Christ and are ready for Baptism. That is in addition to others we have waiting for baptism. We could have a pretty full pool! Praise the Lord.

Third, in Celebrate Recovery, we use a “chip” system to celebrate days, weeks, months and years of being sober or free from a hurt, habit or hang-up. Over the past 8 weeks, we average 33 adults at CR. That does not count the band, the prayer group and students who join us for the worship celebration and leave when the worship time is over and the lesson begins. They go to their own areas for their meetings. Over the last 8 weeks, we have had 25 first timers (blue chips). Many of them come from the Charleston Center. We send a bus weekly to bring them to CR. We also had 16 who picked up their 30 day chip. That, my friend, is pretty exciting. They have started a journey following Christ, one day at a time and JIBC is leading them to become disciples. We also had individuals who picked up their 2 year chip, 6 year chip, 8 year chip and 18 year chip. Please come visit one Sunday and celebrate with those who are finding eternal life and abundant life. I praise Him and give Him thanks for the opportunity to be a part of CR, the largest Christian recovery ministry in the world. Every church would be blessed by having CR as one of their many ministries.

Fourth, I thank our Lord Jesus for leading the JIBC family to reach out around the world. This year, we will have members going to Ukraine, China, Romania and Rwanda. We think “glocally” around the world and across the street. It fills me with joy when we hear of how God is using a small church like JIBC to reach such a large world.

These and many, many more are among the things for which I give our Father praise and thanks. I am honored to say this is who we are as JIBC.

Pastor Tom

WHAT KIND OF CHURCH ARE WE?

Recently I have had a few conversations about what kind of church James Island Baptist is. I think it is a great question. I would love to have an open discussion to hear the thoughts of those who are inside the church family and those who are in the community. Our newest staff member, Pastor Scott Blasingame asked it this way: What would the people in our community say about JIBC?

Not to get to philosophical about it but here is one way to consider our answers. There is who we think we are, who we say we are and who we actually are. Boy, there is enough to keep you busy for a while. The closer we can get those three together the closer we are to having what some might call “institutional integrity”.

The feedback we get on a consistent basis says we are a friendly church. I believe that. You have gone out of your way to make people feel like they are welcomed here. The clothes we wear, the honesty we share, the Good News we declare all say “You are welcomed here”. Someone could rightly say we’re a “fellowship-centric” church. We are one of the only churches on James Island that has a full time, fully funded Student Pastor. Hard to believe, but that is the truth. We do not have anywhere near the largest student ministry because we are nowhere near the largest church. We could be known as a church that cares enough to invest in a full time missionary/youth pastor to reach “Generation Z”. The Student Pastor’s salary is listed among the other salaries. It could rightly be listed under missions. For a small church, JIBC is about as outward focused as any church you will find. One prospective staff member said that is what he looked forward to the most, finding out how JIBC became so outward focused. It would be correct to say we are a “mission-centric” church.

We have significant ministries in the Transition House, Celebrate Recovery, and feeding people for free, caring for the homebound, offering showers, free food and fellowship to the homeless, helping support the underserved through James Island Outreach, etc. How could we not be known as a “compassionate-centric” church?

All these descriptions are accurate and I would be proud to be known and associated with any of them. You know the description I have aimed for my entire ministry, right? I would be proud to be known as a church driven by the purposes of God as revealed in His Holy Word. All churches are driven by something or someone. I have sought to lead JIBC to be driven by the purposes clearly taught by our Lord Jesus: reach people for membership in His family; help them mature to be like Christ; involve them in ministry to build up His church; send them into the community and world to make a difference; and to worship Him in all we do. Yep, Purpose Driven: biblically sound, theologically grounded, compassion motivated, taking on the spiritual giants as we join God’s mission to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world.

JIBC is not a perfect church and I am far from a perfect pastor. I do believe it would be hard to find a pastor who loves his church more than I do. I absolutely love who we are and who God has called us to be.

Pastor Tom