It is our pleasure and privilege to welcome Kent and Karen Williams to our Church Family and Staff. Kent will be with us in a new position as a Part-Time Family Pastor. Many of you already know his wife, Karen. Karen grew up here at JIBC and served faithfully in our youth ministry for years. She is the granddaughter of Ashton and Ruby Eadie, both have graduated to heaven now! Kent and Karen have 4 grown children and are adding son-in-laws and daughter-in-laws to the Williams Family Tree.
Kent has served in many churches over the years. He has served as Student Pastor and Mission Pastor. His involvement in missions has been extensive. While serving as our Family Pastor, Kent will leverage his years of experience as a Student Pastor by supervising a part-time Student Pastor Intern. He is actually in the process of interviewing a prospective Student Pastor Intern now.
To me, this is kind of like bringing a family member home. We have been connected with Kent and Karen over our entire 35 years at JIBC. Kent has worked with us on different mission projects and has preached for me when I needed a supply preacher. They are building a home off of Sol Legare Road so we anticipate them staying around for quite a while!
Our staff has been in conversation with Kent and Karen over the past months. We hosted a meet and greet for Kent and Karen at our last Ministry Management/Quarterly Ministry Meeting on March 10. The final “gauntlet” for Kent was to interview with my pastor buddies that I meet with every Friday morning. These two guys, Marshall Blalock and Curt Bradford have one goal: to do everything they can to make sure God is glorified in my life and ministry. He was approved!
We anticipate Kent’s first Staff meeting to be Monday, March 22 and his first Sunday to be Palm Sunday, March 28. I know he and Karen would covet and welcome your prayers as they begin this new journey with our church family.
“Behold, I am doing a new thing. Don’t you see it? I will provide water in the desert and a way in the wilderness.” Isaiah 43:19. As we have memorized and prayed this prayer, we are seeing our Father bring it into reality for JIBC. To God be the glory.
See you Sunday, Good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
Friday, March 26, 2021
Friday, March 19, 2021
WANT TO HEAR SOME GOOD NEWS?
I love our church family and I love how our Father is blessing in so many ways. Let me tell you about one area. Everyone is aware that 2020 was a tough year for so many families and businesses. Many churches have also experienced very difficult times with attendance and finances. JIBC has been blessed with faithful and generous givers. Our 2019 Pre-Covid Budget was $743,085. Not knowing Covid was coming, our 2020 Year of Covid budget increased to $765,168. That is the amount of funds we anticipated needed to carry out our mission and ministry for 2020. Here comes the good news. In 2019 our church family and friends gave $710,815. During the horrid Covid year of 2020 our church family and friends actually gave $733,693. You gave $23,000 more during a pandemic! That almost seems impossible!
In addition to the largest offering in our church history, you gave 11,000 pounds of groceries to help the underserved in our community. You gave 5 ½ tons of groceries to help feed families in our community. In addition to that you gave a $3,075 offering to James Island Outreach. That does not include the over 500 hot meals you delivered to local families, neighbors, fire stations, Emergency Rooms, etc. I am not near finished but can you see why I love our church family so much? At Christmas time, you gave $9,140 to the Lottie Moon International Missions Offering. That was almost $1,500 more that our Pre-Covid mission offering. During that time you also collected diapers, food for back pack buddies and jelly for area missions. Then, in addition to all that, on Christmas Eve our church family and friends gave another $4,000 to Missions. With that we sponsored building a house, buying a farm, sponsoring a dental clinic and ESL and purchasing mosquito nets. Possible the best spending spree I have even been on!
Did I mention that on September 13, 2020 in celebration of my 35th Anniversary as your pastor, you paid off the church debt of $35, 459.89! To God be the glory great things He has done. Thank you for being so faithful with your tithes and then on top of that your generous offerings. There is really much, much more we could talk about. Take a moment and express prayers of praise and thanks to our Father in heaven. May we always be found faithful in using the beautiful resources our Father entrust to us.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Tom
In addition to the largest offering in our church history, you gave 11,000 pounds of groceries to help the underserved in our community. You gave 5 ½ tons of groceries to help feed families in our community. In addition to that you gave a $3,075 offering to James Island Outreach. That does not include the over 500 hot meals you delivered to local families, neighbors, fire stations, Emergency Rooms, etc. I am not near finished but can you see why I love our church family so much? At Christmas time, you gave $9,140 to the Lottie Moon International Missions Offering. That was almost $1,500 more that our Pre-Covid mission offering. During that time you also collected diapers, food for back pack buddies and jelly for area missions. Then, in addition to all that, on Christmas Eve our church family and friends gave another $4,000 to Missions. With that we sponsored building a house, buying a farm, sponsoring a dental clinic and ESL and purchasing mosquito nets. Possible the best spending spree I have even been on!
Did I mention that on September 13, 2020 in celebration of my 35th Anniversary as your pastor, you paid off the church debt of $35, 459.89! To God be the glory great things He has done. Thank you for being so faithful with your tithes and then on top of that your generous offerings. There is really much, much more we could talk about. Take a moment and express prayers of praise and thanks to our Father in heaven. May we always be found faithful in using the beautiful resources our Father entrust to us.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Tom
Thursday, March 11, 2021
DON’T FORGET!
This Sunday is the beginning of the dreaded Day Light Savings Time! That means we spring forward one hour. Oh my. I do love be able to go home after work and then have time to work in the yard or go walking. Around May I will be used to the time change all over again. Don’t forget…set your clocks forward and join us for in-person Worship and Bible Study.
Celebrate Recovery Is Coming Back
We have started adding parts of Celebrate Recovery back a little at a time. Like so much of life, the pandemic limited what we were able to do in person. When we were able, we added the large meeting first. Then we added the group meetings after the large meeting. This coming week we will be adding worship to the mix. That can really change the dynamic. Then on March 21 we will add the Fellowship Meal back…and we will be back to a full Celebrate Recovery schedule. God answered our prayers and has provided the necessary preschool and children’ workers. Pastor David will start building the CR band back! We have a volunteer to cook and a volunteer to serve. This is the area where we still need help…cooking, serving and cleaning up. If you would be willing to help in a meaningful ministry, please let us know
By the way, did you know that John Baker, the founder of Celebrate Recovery died recently? His impact is literally world-wide. Celebrate Recovery Inside is the most often used recovery ministry in America. It is found world-wide. John Baker was loved and greatly admired. He will be missed but his influence will continue on for generations. To God be the glory…well done John Baker, well done.
Missions Prayer Guide
If you did not get an Annie Armstrong Easter Offering Prayer Guide Sunday, please pick one up this week of the next. The prayer guide will introduce you to 7 of our North American Missionaries and their work it will also give you some very specific things to pray for each of the 7 days.
See you Sunday, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
Celebrate Recovery Is Coming Back
We have started adding parts of Celebrate Recovery back a little at a time. Like so much of life, the pandemic limited what we were able to do in person. When we were able, we added the large meeting first. Then we added the group meetings after the large meeting. This coming week we will be adding worship to the mix. That can really change the dynamic. Then on March 21 we will add the Fellowship Meal back…and we will be back to a full Celebrate Recovery schedule. God answered our prayers and has provided the necessary preschool and children’ workers. Pastor David will start building the CR band back! We have a volunteer to cook and a volunteer to serve. This is the area where we still need help…cooking, serving and cleaning up. If you would be willing to help in a meaningful ministry, please let us know
By the way, did you know that John Baker, the founder of Celebrate Recovery died recently? His impact is literally world-wide. Celebrate Recovery Inside is the most often used recovery ministry in America. It is found world-wide. John Baker was loved and greatly admired. He will be missed but his influence will continue on for generations. To God be the glory…well done John Baker, well done.
Missions Prayer Guide
If you did not get an Annie Armstrong Easter Offering Prayer Guide Sunday, please pick one up this week of the next. The prayer guide will introduce you to 7 of our North American Missionaries and their work it will also give you some very specific things to pray for each of the 7 days.
See you Sunday, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
WANT TO HAVE FUN?
Ok, really it is too late to have the fun I am talking about. But would you allow me to share with you about some fun I recently had? So here is the set up question for the fun. If you had an extra $4000 and you had to spend it on International Missions, how would you do it? This past Christmas Eve our church family and friends gave an offering of just under $4,000. Because we are so blessed with generous giving, we were able to announce that all of that night’s offering would go to International Missions. Southern Baptist has a mission division called “SEND: Relief”. It is a way to respond to those who have devastating needs caused by natural disasters or man-made disasters. You can learn more about them at SendRelief.org. So here is where the fun comes in.
What could you buy with $4000? We went shopping in their catalog and with thankful hearts chose 4 major projects to sponsor. The first one fits the old saying “He bought the farm!” We were able to sponsor a family with all they need to get a farm up and running in order to feed their family and provide an ongoing source of income. The farm included things like fish for a fish pond, a cow, goats, ducks and chickens. How I wish we could know the finished product of this gift!
Second, we bought a house. Don’t you wish you could be a home in Charleston for $2,000? We can’t do it here, but we can in many parts of the world. A family who lost their home during earthquakes will now have a concrete home sent with love from people they will never know from a place they have never heard of.
Third, we were able to sponsor a two day dental clinic. What we do routinely is a luxury in many parts of the world. I have been on mission trips were we had dentist as part of the team. Those teams work non-stop providing emergency relief to people that are willing to stand in lines for hours. They don’t ask them to open their mouths and say “ahhhh”. They ask them to open their mouths and say “ahhhalujah!”
The last major purchase was to sponsor an ESL (English Second Language) course for refugees. I read an estimate that there are 40 Million refugees and that 40% of them are children. I pray for God’s almighty hand to use this mission to change lives that will change more lives that will change the world.
We had a little money left over so we purchased some mosquito nets. I had a friend who contracted Dengue fever from a mission trip. He can tell you how important a mosquito net is in some areas of the world.
It really was fun to shop this way. It is like you cannot miss. Anything we would send would help provide relief one way or another. Thank you for being generous givers. Your tithes are supporting the local missions and ministry through James Island Baptist. But your offerings allow us to do so many things outside our own areas of mission and ministry.
Looking forward to see you real soon!
Pastor Tom
What could you buy with $4000? We went shopping in their catalog and with thankful hearts chose 4 major projects to sponsor. The first one fits the old saying “He bought the farm!” We were able to sponsor a family with all they need to get a farm up and running in order to feed their family and provide an ongoing source of income. The farm included things like fish for a fish pond, a cow, goats, ducks and chickens. How I wish we could know the finished product of this gift!
Second, we bought a house. Don’t you wish you could be a home in Charleston for $2,000? We can’t do it here, but we can in many parts of the world. A family who lost their home during earthquakes will now have a concrete home sent with love from people they will never know from a place they have never heard of.
Third, we were able to sponsor a two day dental clinic. What we do routinely is a luxury in many parts of the world. I have been on mission trips were we had dentist as part of the team. Those teams work non-stop providing emergency relief to people that are willing to stand in lines for hours. They don’t ask them to open their mouths and say “ahhhh”. They ask them to open their mouths and say “ahhhalujah!”
The last major purchase was to sponsor an ESL (English Second Language) course for refugees. I read an estimate that there are 40 Million refugees and that 40% of them are children. I pray for God’s almighty hand to use this mission to change lives that will change more lives that will change the world.
We had a little money left over so we purchased some mosquito nets. I had a friend who contracted Dengue fever from a mission trip. He can tell you how important a mosquito net is in some areas of the world.
It really was fun to shop this way. It is like you cannot miss. Anything we would send would help provide relief one way or another. Thank you for being generous givers. Your tithes are supporting the local missions and ministry through James Island Baptist. But your offerings allow us to do so many things outside our own areas of mission and ministry.
Looking forward to see you real soon!
Pastor Tom
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