I have been asking for our church family to memorize one verse and one passage of Scripture. The first one is Mark 10:45. If Jesus had a “life verse” I think this would be it. Find a 3x5 card, copy the verse and carry it with you for a week. The second is a passage, Philippians 2:5-11. It is perhaps my favorite passage about Jesus. One of the most neglected spiritual disciplines is memorizing Bible verses. There are lots of great reasons to give it a try. I hope you will. Remember the three keys to memorizing Bible verses is to review, review and review!
Thank you for serving the underserved. We partner with James Island Outreach, led by Scott Graule and a wonderful host of volunteers. We have been designated as the Jelly Church. You do a great job of keeping the Outreach supplied. As I type this article, we have exactly 150 jars of jelly waiting to fly from our stage to the shelves of JIO and into the homes of our fellow James Island Residents. We will now resume our collecting jelly each week and putting the jars in the collection bins outside the church office. Thank you for serving in your generosity.
One more celebration: Joanne Brown has been leading a group of JIBC volunteers to help with Back Pack Buddies. Again, we partner with JI Outreach and local schools to help provide meals for underserved kids in our community. About every other week, our volunteers go to pack the snacks and food. If I am remembering correctly, Joanne said our volunteers pack 174 bags each week. When you add up all the backpacks, I think she said the number was 6,000 total backpacks packed! How many backpacks could backpackers pack if backpackers would pack backpacks? Apparently the number is somewhere around 6,000. Unto the least of them says Matthew s25. Well done, well done.
The Charleston County Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services (The Charleston Center) has started allowing their patients to come to Celebrate Recovery. We had 9 from the Center this past Sunday Night. Our CR family, including our Kitchen Krew, was so excited to see them. These patients are struggling between life and death, bondage or freedom, hope or despair. Thank you JIBC for being willing to take on the giants. By the way, Celebrate Recovery is not just for substance abuse. We deal with food issues, codependency, gambling, sexual addictions, anger, mental health issues, etc. In a few weeks, I will advertise a course I will be teaching on codependency. Everyone and anyone is welcome to sit in. it will most likely be a 4 week study offered on Sunday Nights. The schedule: Free meal at 5:30; Celebration Worship at 6:30; Small Groups/Codependency from 7 to 8.
I love our church! See you Sunday, good Lord willing!
Pastor Tom
BTW, we will observe the Lord’s Supper on this Memorial Day Weekend. Hope you can be there to join us in remembering the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus and the men and women who paid the ultimate price.
Friday, May 27, 2022
Thursday, May 19, 2022
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?
Perhaps you have had the experience of being in a new place and not knowing exactly where you were going. Now days with a variety of GPS devices, it is a little harder, but not impossible, to get lost. On those rare occasions when I am “momentarily not sure of where I am (lost), I will stop and ask for clarification. The worst answer we can ever receive is such circumstance is “You can’t get there from here!” Really, there is no way? Of course there is a way. It might just be a little complicated.
Where do you go from here when it comes to life at James Island Baptist? We don’t want anyone to feel lost on the way to becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ. So we start you out with a welcome to JIBC. We love guest and are thankful that someone would come by to check us out. We love it even more when they like us enough to stay. But eventually, we want to offer you the opportunity to find a church home. We offer Class 101: Discovering Membership at JIBC. It is the way to join the church. Basically, it is a seminar I teach about who we are, our mission and purpose. It is the best way I know to find out about the church family and to hear your Pastor’s heart beat. We offer Class 101 four or five times a year.
The next directions we give relate to Maturity and Discipleship. We invite you to take the next Class, Class 201: Discovering Maturity at JIBC. Here we will teach you the four spiritual disciplines every believer needs to know in order to grow and become more like Jesus. Many of our new members are already well on their way to maturity and so this will seem like a review for them.
The next turn in the driving directions is called Class 301: Discovering Ministry at JIBC. Our goal here is to help you look at things you are passionate about, help you discover how God gifted you and how your personality style fits into ministry opportunities.
Now that is a pretty good start in giving spiritual directional help. The Good News is I believe you can get there from here…or wherever you are. I believe with all my heart it is God’s will for all of us to belong to a church family, to grow daily in becoming more like Jesus and to find our place to serve in the Body of Christ known as James Island Baptist. Let’s go on this trip together.
Pastor Tom
Where do you go from here when it comes to life at James Island Baptist? We don’t want anyone to feel lost on the way to becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ. So we start you out with a welcome to JIBC. We love guest and are thankful that someone would come by to check us out. We love it even more when they like us enough to stay. But eventually, we want to offer you the opportunity to find a church home. We offer Class 101: Discovering Membership at JIBC. It is the way to join the church. Basically, it is a seminar I teach about who we are, our mission and purpose. It is the best way I know to find out about the church family and to hear your Pastor’s heart beat. We offer Class 101 four or five times a year.
The next directions we give relate to Maturity and Discipleship. We invite you to take the next Class, Class 201: Discovering Maturity at JIBC. Here we will teach you the four spiritual disciplines every believer needs to know in order to grow and become more like Jesus. Many of our new members are already well on their way to maturity and so this will seem like a review for them.
The next turn in the driving directions is called Class 301: Discovering Ministry at JIBC. Our goal here is to help you look at things you are passionate about, help you discover how God gifted you and how your personality style fits into ministry opportunities.
Now that is a pretty good start in giving spiritual directional help. The Good News is I believe you can get there from here…or wherever you are. I believe with all my heart it is God’s will for all of us to belong to a church family, to grow daily in becoming more like Jesus and to find our place to serve in the Body of Christ known as James Island Baptist. Let’s go on this trip together.
Pastor Tom
Friday, May 13, 2022
SERVE
Start with some sad news.
Our Office Manager, Neale Young, lost her father this week. John went home to be with His Lord on Monday, May 9. Some of the old timers, like me, will remember when Neale’s mom and dad were members of JIBC. John served faithfully as our Sunday School Secretary for years. Their membership and service go all the way back to when Pastor Oscar Holland served here at JIBC. John was faithful to his Lord, his family, his church, and his country. He now enjoys the rewards of a faithful life. Our prayers and love to Neale, her mother and her family. Rest in peace.
Another Note for Prayer.
One of our Church Elders, Frank O Hunt, had an accident that landed him in the ICU in Augusta. I know they would appreciate your prayers and love. We are hoping he will soon be able to be transferred back home or back to Charleston. Frank O is about as tough as they come. Praying for his best in this recovery.
SERVE
This past Sunday, I started a new series I am calling “Serve”. It is based on the verse from our Lord that almost sounds like it could be Jesus’ “life verse”. “For even the son of Man did not come to the served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 See the word? Serve. That is the title of this month’s teaching series. It is from the mouth and the heart of our Lord Jesus. It is what he did, it is who he is, and it is what he taught…serve! If you missed Sunday’s service, I would encourage you to take a moment…or two…and listen to it. It sets the pace for the rest of the messages we will hear this month. By the way, could I challenge you to memorize Mark 10:45? It is really a good verse to know.
Now for those of you who are eager beavers, this week’s passage is another one to try to memorize. Yep, the whole passage, not just one verse. Take a look at Philippians 2:5-11. It is a premier passage to about our Lord Jesus Christ. Your time will not be wasted in trying to memorize and become familiar with this grand passage.
Do you like Bob Dylan? Check out his song… “You got to serve somebody”. It is not related to what we are talking about…it is just a cool song. See you Sunday, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
Our Office Manager, Neale Young, lost her father this week. John went home to be with His Lord on Monday, May 9. Some of the old timers, like me, will remember when Neale’s mom and dad were members of JIBC. John served faithfully as our Sunday School Secretary for years. Their membership and service go all the way back to when Pastor Oscar Holland served here at JIBC. John was faithful to his Lord, his family, his church, and his country. He now enjoys the rewards of a faithful life. Our prayers and love to Neale, her mother and her family. Rest in peace.
Another Note for Prayer.
One of our Church Elders, Frank O Hunt, had an accident that landed him in the ICU in Augusta. I know they would appreciate your prayers and love. We are hoping he will soon be able to be transferred back home or back to Charleston. Frank O is about as tough as they come. Praying for his best in this recovery.
SERVE
This past Sunday, I started a new series I am calling “Serve”. It is based on the verse from our Lord that almost sounds like it could be Jesus’ “life verse”. “For even the son of Man did not come to the served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 See the word? Serve. That is the title of this month’s teaching series. It is from the mouth and the heart of our Lord Jesus. It is what he did, it is who he is, and it is what he taught…serve! If you missed Sunday’s service, I would encourage you to take a moment…or two…and listen to it. It sets the pace for the rest of the messages we will hear this month. By the way, could I challenge you to memorize Mark 10:45? It is really a good verse to know.
Now for those of you who are eager beavers, this week’s passage is another one to try to memorize. Yep, the whole passage, not just one verse. Take a look at Philippians 2:5-11. It is a premier passage to about our Lord Jesus Christ. Your time will not be wasted in trying to memorize and become familiar with this grand passage.
Do you like Bob Dylan? Check out his song… “You got to serve somebody”. It is not related to what we are talking about…it is just a cool song. See you Sunday, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
Thursday, May 5, 2022
We’re Back!
Janie and I were able to get away for a vacay this past week. But we are back and looking forward to being with our church family again. We love getting away but we love it twice as much coming home. This trip, we spent time in a part of Georgia we had not previously visited. We stayed in a little town called Cartersville. It is about 15 miles from Helen, Georgia. Our goal when we go to the mountains is to chase waterfalls. We were able to visit 8 or 9 waterfalls. We pack our lunch; plenty of water, first aid kit and binoculars and off we go! Janie and I love to sit near the falls, listen to the waterfall sounds and feel the spray of water.
On this trip we were able to visit with some former JIBC members. Pat and Sue Warren live in Hayesville, N.C. We had a lovely visit with them. God has blessed them so with a picturesque home on a quiet little creek. We also had a visit with a former Worship Leader, Teddy Baker. He was playing at a nearby vineyard. Janie and I were able to visit with him and enjoy him and his music again. Teddy had Covid last year and was hospitalized. That rascal wrote a song about being in the hospital and it was a great song! It was good to see Teddy again.
We took one day to visit Toccoa, Georgia. Our friend, Eric Luh, had highly recommended visiting the Currahee Military Museum. If you have seen the series “Band of Brothers” you are familiar with this inspiring story. We have not seen the mini series, so now watching it is on our to do list.
On this trip we were able to visit with some former JIBC members. Pat and Sue Warren live in Hayesville, N.C. We had a lovely visit with them. God has blessed them so with a picturesque home on a quiet little creek. We also had a visit with a former Worship Leader, Teddy Baker. He was playing at a nearby vineyard. Janie and I were able to visit with him and enjoy him and his music again. Teddy had Covid last year and was hospitalized. That rascal wrote a song about being in the hospital and it was a great song! It was good to see Teddy again.
We took one day to visit Toccoa, Georgia. Our friend, Eric Luh, had highly recommended visiting the Currahee Military Museum. If you have seen the series “Band of Brothers” you are familiar with this inspiring story. We have not seen the mini series, so now watching it is on our to do list.
While we were away on vacation, we joined JIBC in worship on both Sundays. If you have not visited the livestream of our worship service lately, you will be pleasantly surprised. Our teams have done a great job of greatly improving the quality of the livestream Worship. They cleaned up the sound, music, picture….wow, job well done. We heard both sermons that Logan preached. What a gifted young man. Good job, Logan.
Good Lord willing, I will see you this Sunday. I am looking forward to being with my forever family again!
Pastor Tom
Good Lord willing, I will see you this Sunday. I am looking forward to being with my forever family again!
Pastor Tom
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