“My heart is moved with a good theme” Psalm 45:1

Monday morning during my quiet time, this verse is from the Psalms I read that day: “My heart is moved with a good theme”. I stopped a moment to think about two things. One, I want my heart to be moved with good themes, not bad themes. It is easy to let my heart feel discouraged, negative, mad or sad. Watching the evening news can make me feel all four of those at one time. Discouragement and negativity are enemies of our spiritual good health. The enemy flourishes when God’s people feel defeated and live in an atmosphere of negative thoughts and actions. So, I asked the good Lord to help me remember the good, to rejoice and give thanks, to be aware of His blessings that my heart would be moved with a good theme.

This past Sunday was one of the days it was easy for my heart to be “moved with a good theme”. We had a packed house for worship and observance of the Lord’s Supper. The 75th Anniversary Party was a wonderful success. The list of people who helped is too long to mention. We are, none the less, so very grateful. The set up team was finished in 30 minutes. The decoration team moved in and lifted the atmosphere to the next level. The beautiful chatter of fellowship was heard inside the Edisto Hall as well as outside under the oaks. Our Father provided a most excellent day of weather. Wildflower Station performed at a new level! We had so much fun listening to them play. We were blessed by so many guests, former members and members attending. Home Team BBQ served 279 people at the park!

Keep on praying about how you will bless the community in the “75 Ways in 75 Days” Mission. So far, the stories turned in have been fantastic. Some, extremely simple and humble while others are next level creative and productive. By the way, the goal of 75 jars of jelly during September was met and exceeded! Our Mission/Ministry partners at James Island Outreach will be pleased to restock their shelves with jelly. Remember, we will be colleting during October, November and December. The same results about diapers! Wow, we have a small mountain of diapers for our Mission/Ministry Partners at the Lowcountry Pregnancy Center.

Have I told you lately that I love you? I really do. I love our Church Family!

This Sunday I plan to conclude the teaching series “Blessed To Be A Blessing”. We will look at blessing others with the little things of life. Hope you will be present. Let’s try to praise more, give thanks more and do something kind more. It is kingdom living.

Pastor Tom

READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!

 

I can hardly believe the 75th JIBC Anniversary Sunday is here. As I have said often, this is not the actual church anniversary date. We have in the past celebrated the church anniversary on the second Sunday of July. When you see how beautiful this Sunday is you will fully understand why we changed to September! Let me go over a few important items about this Sunday’s Celebration.

WORSHIP. We will have only one worship service this Sunday. The 9:00 Worship Service will join us at the 11:00. We will have Connection Groups at 10:00 as usual. We are planning to observe the Lord’s Supper this Sunday. Depending on how long our preacher goes, we will try to dismiss at 12:00.

JAMES ISLAND COUNTY PARK/EDISTO HALL: Sunday, September 25 at 12:30. We are planning to meet at JIC Park at 12:30 for the celebration. We will have park passes at the 11:00 service. You may pick them up, at no charge to you, at the same tables where we are giving out the Blessing Envelopes. We have purchased enough tickets for 250 people. There will be seating inside and out. We plan to eat and fellowship from 12:30 till 1:45. Then, we will enjoy a concert by Wildflower Station. We have paid for a photo booth to be available for 2 hours. Make sure you stop by for a mug shot! Just a little reminder of our Anniversary fun day. Our meal will be catered by Home Team BBQ. We have had 250 sign up so far. We could not have put 250 in the Fellowship Hall, so renting a place off campus was a great idea. You and your family may stay and enjoy the park all day long. We will wrap up our festivities around 3:30. Come on out and enjoy. Please wear your name tag!

BLESSING ENVELOPES. Our finance team has made it possible for us to distribute $75 to up to 200 people. As of this past Sunday, we have given out 120. We have 80 left for this Sunday. Hallelujah! We have set aside $15,000 for our church family and friends to use to bless our community. This is a part of the larger plan to find 75 ways to bless our community in 75 days. I thought blessing our community would be a great way to honor our Father in Heaven; keep faith with all those who went before us at JIBC; and be in keeping with who we are as a church family. The stories I have heard so far are creative, wonderful and heartfelt. I can hardly wait to share them with you!

Well, there you have it. That is about as short and brief as I could make it and still cover all the details.

If you need other info, please feel free to call the office at 843.762.0244. Ready or not, here it comes, Sunday, September 25!

Pastor Tom

75 YEARS AND COUNTING

 

By God’s good grace, for the last 75 years, James Island Baptist Church has been joining in God’s Mission to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. Our goal is to make disciples who make disciples that change the world and make our community a better place to live. We do this using the Purpose Driven Church model. First, we work with God to bring people into his family through Church Membership. Second, our goal is to help them grow to become more like Jesus through implementing these spiritual disciplines in their lives: daily Bible study and prayer; connecting to a small group; and generously using their resources to bless others. Our third objective is to equip every member to be better able to help build up the church body. Fourth, we deploy members with an outward focus to bless our community, our state, our nation and the world through missions and outreach. And at the heart of it all is our desire to make disciples that worship God is spirit and in truth daily as we live and weekly as we gather.


Right now we are in a season of blessing. We believe we have been blessed to be a blessing. It is my dream and goal for JIBC to celebrate our 75th Anniversary by finding 75 ways to bless the community in the next 75 days (September 1-November 14). I have already heard of some fantastic plans! To help you accomplish this mission, our Finance Team wants to give every adult member and friend of JIBC $75 to use toward blessing others. We have set aside up to $15,000 toward this mission. I know, crazy right? When some churches are trying to raise money, we are in the blessed position to find ways to give it away! Pray about how you might use $75 to bless the community. No strings attached. Help a single mom, bless a Veteran, pay a bill for a struggling family; buy some children’s books for underserved families; involve your team, club or class; on and on and on the ways to bless can go! If you would not mind, I would love to have just a small note on how you felt led to bless the community. It can be anonymous if you like; no problem. I think this would be a great way to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of a Church Family. May our Father lead and bless as we join Him in His work to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken community!

By the way…starting this past Sunday and continuing the next two Sundays, we will have name tags for everyone to wear. This is an often requested idea. This will so help to put names and faces together. Our Welcome Team will be at the doors to assist. Of course it is voluntary…no one has to wear a name tag. But you will not be eligible for the drawing to an exotic island where they speak a foreign language without wearing one! Lol.

Last idea for the day: would you join me in the goal to have 75 Jars of Jelly and 75 packs of diapers for each month, September, October and November? Let’s bless James Island Outreach with 225 Jars of Jelly and The Low Country Pregnancy Center with 225 packs of diapers.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

75 Ways in 75 Days

On Sunday, September 25 we are celebrating our church anniversary. It has been 75 years that our Lord has allowed us to be on this little triangle piece of property to be salt and light to the world around us. A while back, I felt led to suggest a new way to celebrate our anniversary.

FIRST: Let’s have a big old church fellowship party! We love to eat and we love to be together, so why not combine the two. On Sunday, September 25 we will have our 10:00 Bible Study/Connection Groups as usual. We will have a combined worship service at 11:00. There will be NO 9:00 service that day. We will gather at the James Island County Park at 12:30 for a delicious meal provided by Home Team BBQ! There will be kid’s games, inflatables and a photo booth for memories! After we eat, we will enjoy music provided by Wildflower Station. A special guest singer is scheduled to appear. Please RSVP so we will know how much BBQ to have prepared.

SECOND: We are asking our church family to find 75 ways to bless the community in 75 days. Starting September 1 and going through November 14, let’s find 75 ways, in honor of our 75 years, to bless our community. You can do this as an individual, as a family, as a Connection Group, as a Ministry Team, etc. No limits to the way you can bless. Our Finance Team had a wonderful idea: let’s give everyone $75 to use toward blessing the community. This could be $75 for your family, or for each adult in your family. This could be $75 per person attending or you could combine it with your Connection Group. Pray about it, think creative thoughts and go forth and bless! The envelopes will be given out Sunday September 18 and Sunday, September 25. We plan to give our up to $15,000 which will be 200 Blessing Envelopes. Our Finance Team will be handing them out for us. There will be a little card in the envelope. If you would, we ask that you write a brief note of how you blessed the community.

We are BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING…right? So let the blessing begin. We will be collecting jelly and diapers for our ministry partners at James Island Outreach and Lowcountry Pregnancy. How about 75 jars of jelly in September and 75 more n October…and 75 more in November! The same with diapers…75 in September, October and November!

This Sunday I will begin a new teaching series I am calling “Blessed To Be A Blessing”. Can’t wait to get started!

Pastor Tom

THE BLESSING TRAIN HAS LEFT THE STATION!

I had the idea of how our church family and friends could celebrate James Island Baptist Church’s 75th Anniversary. There are really 3 parts to this celebration plan.

First, under the purpose of Fellowship: Let’s have a big ol’ party! On Sunday, September 25th, we are having a Church Wide Fellowship at the James Island County Park. We will gather at 12:30 in the air conditioned Edisto Hall. Some will choose to meet outside on the picnic tables under the oaks. The meal is being catered by Home Team BBQ; after dinner music and entertainment provided by our favorite local band, Wildflower Station; there will be inflatables for the kids and for 2 hours a photo booth for fun! On Sunday, September 25, we will have our regularly scheduled Sunday Connection Groups and the 11:00 Worship service. WE WILL NOT HAVE A 9:00 SERVICE ON THAT DAY! We will be providing 75th anniversary name tags for everyone on Sunday the 11th, 18th,and 25th. Names and faces! Amen.

Second, Mission and Ministry: The Theme for September is “Blessed To Be A Blessing”. We are asking for everyone to join us in finding 75 ways to bless our community in 75 days, from September 1 to November 14. The Finance Team had a generous and faith based idea: Let’s give $75 to every family (or individual) to be used to bless the community. No strings attached, you just find a way to bless someone in Jesus name. There will be those who bless veterans, homeless, widows, orphans, under served, single moms, etc. You could do this as an individual, as a family, as a Connection Group or with your business partners. Just bless in Jesus’ name. On Sunday, September 18 and 25 we will distribute up to 200 Blessing Envelopes with $75 in each one. We ask that you would consider sharing a brief description of how you felt led or inclined to use the $75. For rejoicing purposes only!

The third part of the 75th Anniversary will take place on Thanksgiving Sunday, November 20. We will celebrate with praise and thanksgiving. What a day of rejoicing that will be.

We are indeed blessed to be a blessing. The Blessing Train is just about ready to leave the station.

See you Sunday, as we finish the teaching series on Jonah: A Story of Grace.

Pastor Tom