Beach Baptism!

BEACH BAPTISM SCHEDULED

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023

6:30-7:30 “ish” (Baptism closer to 7)

FOLLY BEACH COUNTY PARK

OK, what a way to end the summer, right? We are celebrating Christian Baptism at Folly Beach. By the way, I may have slipped up and said the Beach Baptism was going to be at another nearby park…not so much. It will be at the Folly Beach County Park. We will try to locate right in front of the main pavilion at the county park. If I am reading the tide charts right, this would be almost 3½ hours before Low Tide. Perfect! For those who are interested, the sun sets at 8:11 PM.

Now, are you ready for the hallelujah news? We have, as of this writing, 13 baptismal candidates. I know anything could happen between now and then (vacation schedules, sickness, etc). But as of right now, we have 6 adults, 4 youth and 3 children. Hallelujah and amen! I want to thank God first for this beautiful harvest. Secondly, I want to thank all the teachers, leaders, volunteers who prayed for, taught, and loved these who are being baptized. It is wonderful when you get to see the fruit of your labor. I really encourage those of you who taught, loved, ministered to, discipled, and encouraged these, to be present to celebrate. Come on and get some sand in your shoes and joy in your heart!

PRAYING FOR MARK LIVENGOOD...Mark is scheduled to go to Slovakia on August 17. He will be working with some of the same believers he worked with in Ukraine. They have now fled and relocated to the neighboring state, Slovakia. He will be helping them start new churches. Think of that and rejoice: God touching the world from a small church family like JIBC. Only a Great God could do such great things.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT HOME...As I type this article, we have guest churches working with JIBC to host a sports camp at the Medway sports fields. The Gospel will be shared and kids will be having a blast. We look forward to reporting the details later.

See you all Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

SURVEY SAYS...

We surveyed 100 people and asked them to name a messy food. Here are the top five answers: #5. Powdered donuts; #4 ribs covered in BBQ sauce; #3 ice cream cones in July heat; #2 anything with jelly; #1 Pickin’ Blue Crabs. (I did not really ask 100 people).  Ok, what was not on this list that you would definitely put on yours? The list could be long and all of it needs to be served at our Fall Wednesday Night Dinners! Amen.

The reality is that there are a lot of things that are messy in life. It is not just the food we eat. Sometimes relationships can be...well, a little messy. Family life can get messy in a hurry if we are not mindful. Look at our political world…beyond just a little messy right?

Celebrate Recovery is one of those areas of life that can be messy. Think about it: there was a significant hurt somewhere at some time. That hurt probably went unattended and became a place of darkness, a messy place of darkness in our soul. The hurt led to anger that led to bitterness that led to self-medicating that led to an addiction. And now the messy part of life just got messier.

Listen, it happens. It happens far more than we wish to admit. And when it happens it will usually get messy: at home, at work or at play. I am thankful for a church family that is not afraid of messy. You know if you eat BBQ ribs, it is going to be messy. You know ahead of time that pickin’ Blue Crabs is going to be messy. It comes with the territory. You know when you get involved in loving and caring for people it is going to get messy. Is it worth it? When you finish a great meal of BBQ ribs with a great sauce…is it worth a little mess? Of course. And it is worth it when things get a little messy dealing with people who struggle with not only their addiction but their addiction lifestyle. Yes, it is so worth it.

We asked 100 people and asked them where a person can go to work on their messy life. The top Five Answers were: #1. Celebrate Recovery, we are all recovering Messes. #2. Church Worship services where we celebrate our Father who welcomes home those who have far too long lived in Messyville. #3. Connection Groups where we gather together with friends who will pray for and support one another as we navigate the messy places in life. #4. Celebrate Recovery where…oh yeah, I already mentioned that one. It is so good, I had to share it twice. CR is not just about recovery from drugs and alcohol. We are recovering from a variety of hurts hang-ups and habits. #5 Don’t forget about your daily time alone with God. That is a great place to start sharing about the mess we are in at the moment.

Life is hard and messy. Don’t panic. Be patient. Add some more BBQ sauce!

Pastor Tom

Abundant life!

“I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.”   John 10:10

We are literally forever grateful for God’s gift of Eternal Life. We are also thankful for the abundant life He gives to His children. Abundant life! How would you define God’s gift of abundant life? Perhaps you could use the description of the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There would certainly be many more ways to describe abundant life.

Let me offer a different approach. What if abundant life involved both the beautiful qualities described above as well as the beautiful actions like those I am describing below?

When I look around at JIBC, I see abundant life! Last Sunday, our Hispanic Church baptized 9 precious souls. JIBC is scheduled for a beach Baptist on Wednesday, August 9 at Folly Beach County Park. So far, we have 7 who have signed up. That is an abundant life action! This week we have our annual Children’s Camp: next week a Student/Youth camp; the next week community wide sport camp! The fruit of abundant life! This past Sunday, Kat Cumberledge led a Mom’s Bible Study. Her room was full. Looks like abundant life. Pastor David equipped our JIBC praise band and tech crew to carry on full steam ahead…even in his absence! More sightings of abundant life. Above I asked how you would describe abundant life. Now I ask you “Where do you see the evidence of abundant life at JIBC?”

I could go on and on about the ways I see God moving. I didn’t ask permission to use this story, so I will leave the names out. One of our members was shopping at Goodwill for shoes to wear at work. Goodwill did not take the kind of payment he had so he put the 3 pairs of shoes back and would return the next day with cash. There was a lady behind him listening to the transaction. She paid for the young man’s shoes. The young man told her he had the money, just not the preferred way to pay. As they continued in the conversation, turns out they are both members here at JIBC. Another abundant life sighting!

Jesus came so that you may have eternal life and…abundant life. Don’t wait for Heaven…let’s bring heaven down each day. I love our church family!

Blessings,

Pastor Tom

Beach Baptism

 BEACH BAPTISM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9

JAMES ISLAND COUNTY PARK  6:30 TO 7:00 “ISH”

Why do we baptize?

First, to follow Jesus’ example: Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Read about it in Mark 1:9. Second, we are baptized because Christ commanded it. It is part of the Great commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. The third reason we are baptiszed is to demonstrate that we are truly believers and followers of Christ. 1 John 2:2 reminds us that we know that we belong to Him when we keep His commands.

What is the meaning of Baptism? The act of baptism illustrates beautifully the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul spoke of this in Colossians 2:12. It also illustrates our new life in Christ. Two verses I love are 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 6:4.

So why do we baptize by immersion? Three reasons I would suggest. One, because Jesus was baptized by immersion. (Matthew 3:16). Two, every baptism in the Bible is by immersion. And three, the word baptism actually means immerse.

Who, then, should be baptized? The answer is wonderful: every person who has believed and trusted in Jesus Christ. Read the wonderful verses in Acts 2:41 and Acts 8:13.

For JIBC, baptism is part of what we refer to as “First Base: Fellowship and Membership in God’s family. Our desire is to see all people BELIEVE, be BAPTIZED and BELONG to a local church family. In keeping with that, we are planning a BEACH BAPTISM on Wednesday, August 9th at the Folly Beach County Park.

We will gather around the church flags…so you will not miss us. Somewhere around 6:30 or 7:00 we will celebrate believers Baptism. If you would like to be in that group, please call us at 843.762.0244.

Speaking of baptism, our Hispanic ministry partners, Luz y Verdad, will be baptizing on Sunday, July 9, after our 11:00 service. If you want to see a wonderful celebration, try to time visiting during their baptism service. To God be the Glory.

Pastor Tom