END OF THE YEAR, REALLY?

It is hard to believe the end of the year is just around the corner. Time flies when you’re dealing with Covid! Lol. The staff wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a Spirit filled New Year. There are so many ways I am happy to turn the page on this year. But there are also so many ways I want to rejoice and thank our Father in Heaven. Even as I write this article, I am aware that we have a worship center stage full of kindness. I am guessing we have a thousand diapers, over 200 jars of jelly and backpack snacks enough to fill 50 back packs for under-served kids. Thank you for your generous giving. You might remember that the 2020 Christmas Eve Offering helped provide a farm for a family in an impoverished area around the world. We were able, through the Southern Baptist SEND RELIEF mission provide fish for a pond, goats and cows, literacy classes and more. How fun it is to support missions around the world and here at home.

You may also remember that in August, we designated one week’s offering as Kingdom Sunday Offering. Every tithe and offering given that day and week, went to help others. We sent $5,000 to help with the Afgan refugees; $5,000 for Haiti earthquake victims and $5,000 for the Hurricane relief efforts in Louisiana through our friend at Carpenter’s House International, Charles Dillon. That does not include the mission work we are carrying on every week here in the Charleston area. Again, thank you for your generous giving.

As we speak, we have a team of volunteers working to completely renovate the Children’s Worship Area. It will look amazing. We will have an open House once they are up and running. Our Student Ministry Director, Logan Duvall had his highest attendance in student ministry last Sunday Night. In a time where we can be so distracted by bad news, we want to make sure we praise God for his blessings. I think he said he had 30 Students for their Big Event! Way to go Logan and Student Ministry Team. Well done.

My thanks to Scott for filling in for me this past Sunday. I woke up with a case of vertigo and was not able to make it. He only had an hour notice. Scott, thanks brother, you are amazing. It is Monday afternoon when I am writing this article. So far, so good…no spinning! Looking forward to seeing you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

PS Mark Livengood is collecting Christmas Cards this year for His ministry in Ukraine. Save your cards and bring them to the church office. They will be double blessed!

Celebrate Jesus

A Unique Feature in the Christmas Eve Services

I know we all hate to be teased. I am going to do it anyway. You know our Christmas Eve Worship Services have always been wonderful. We focus on Carols, Candles and Communion. We generally pack the Worship Center as we sing beautiful songs, enjoy a festive mood and worship our Lord. Ok, same this year with a wonderful, surprising little bonus feature. Remember, we have two services: one at 4 pm and the second one at 6 pm. By the way, don’t forget that a Christmas Eve service is the easiest service of the year to invite family and friends to join you. Use the invite cards. You will be glad you invited them. Oh yeah…come a little early to get a seat and to hear the “pre-worship” songs!

I Love The Way We Celebrate Advent

I have heard people ask with a note of cynicism “Why can’t we be this generous all year long?”  My typical response…you need to come and hang around James Island Baptist. From January through October, you gave an additional $3,325 to James Island Outreach; you gave 5,627 pounds of groceries; and we have a group of members who volunteer at JIO. This is how we live! It is not just at Christmas. At Christmas we turn on the afterburners and reach super-sonic giving levels. I love that I do not even know all the ways our church family and connection groups are serving our community. You can still bring jelly, diapers, baby wipes, healthy snacks, and make an offering to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We will continue to do that through the end of the year…and then we will start all over! I love the way we Celebrate Jesus!

Will They Ever Come Back?

A recent article in the Baptist Courier said that 98% of all churches are back to having in person meetings. The article also suggested that most churches are not near their pre-pandemic attendance levels. Worship attendance is improving but not back to full attendance. The average church has about 73% of their members back in attendance. About 35% say their attendance levels are between 50% to 70% of pre-pandemic numbers. Only 13% had 90% to 100 % of their previous attendance levels. Here is a Word that might be helpful: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…” Hebrews 10:25. Our prayers and love to all who are still “hunkered down” trying to avoid getting Covid-19. I hope you can stay connected through the JIBC livestream. We are in the process of purchasing some equipment that will make our livestream efforts even better. We are better together. I pray for those who are away that they will not be away from the Lord, from the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible Study, or away from continuing to be outward focused.

See you Sunday, Good Lord willing and the Elves don’t rise!

Pastor Tom

What do you want for Christmas?

It is a fun question and can result in some very heartfelt answers. What do you want for Christmas? Let’s start with one thing that is always on the list…world peace. Right? How in the world the human race has survived for so long is a testimony to the grace of God. Sin, greed and self-centeredness seem to always be behind the callous call for attack and war, whether it is personal, political, racial, national or international. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” By God’s grace we can have peace with God, know the peace of God in our lives and be agents of peace in our community and world.

Another thing I always want for Christmas is for family to be together. When my grown kids ask me what I want for Christmas the answer is always the same: I want all my kids sitting at my table talking with no cell phones. It is my favorite gift. If they get me socks of handkerchiefs, that is ok, too.

Wouldn’t it be a great Christmas if we could find a way to give gifts to those who really are under served? That is one of the reasons I love the way JIBC celebrates the Advent season. We keep the emphasis on Jesus, worship and giving. During the entire month of December we will be collecting jelly for James Island Outreach (jioutreach.org) diapers and wipes for The Low Country Pregnancy Center (LPCfriends.com); snacks for the Backpack Buddies ministry helping underserved students; and a love offering for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that helps support almost 4,000 missionaries around the world (IMB.org).

Yep, that is a big part of what I want for Christmas: a church family that continually focuses outward. I love you all and hope you get what you want for Christmas. BTW, don’t forget to invite someone to one of the Christmas Eve Services. This year’s service will have something very new!

Pastor Tom

Celebrate Jesus

I love the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. It was on a Thanksgiving weekend that Janie and I were married 46 years ago, November 29, 1975. I was still in college and I had to ask off of my job as a grader for Dr. Carpenter. He thought a weekend honeymoon was long enough and suggested I not be gone for the week. And so ended my career as a Garrett Fellow grading for Dr. Carpenter! LOL. I think the trade off was so worth it. Can you guess where we went for our honeymoon? Yep, Disney World. We might not have been back every year for our anniversary, but we have been back for most of them. We feel kind of obligated to make sure Mickey has enough money to stay open for the next generations.

The day we came back from our honeymoon was the very day I was supposed to start my first staff position as Student Pastor at Edgewood Baptist Church in Walterboro. That was a great group of people who took Janie and me under their wings and helped us to succeed in mission and ministry. I finished my last two years at Baptist College, now Charleston Southern University, and then moved on to seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

So, when I think of this time of the year, I have wonderful fond memories of how our little family got started. I have a lot to be thankful for and even more that causes me to praise God. I know not everyone is in a festive mood during the holidays. My prayer is that you will be comforted and strengthened; that you will find moments of rest and peace that allow you to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. The birth of Christ was far less than a picture perfect fairy tale. He was born in a barn, sought by King Herod to be assassinated, had to flee as a refugee to a nearby country, etc. Yet, he carried on in obedience to His Father and for the love of broken people.

Our advent theme this year is “Celebrate Jesus”. Pure, simple, to the point…celebrate Jesus in worship, in daily living, in gifts to the poor and under-served…Celebrate Jesus. He has been tempted in all things as we have yet he was without sin and, by God’s grace, pushed on through the horrible start to find meaning and purpose. I pray we can all do the same. Knowing this is a hard time for some, I still say to you from the bottom of my heart…Merry Christmas. May His presence be so real to you it overshadows and overpowers the hurt and heartaches of life.

Celebrate Jesus,

Pastor Tom