Between the Proverbial Rock and a Hard Place!

I am absolutely loving all that is happening in the 40 Days of Prayer campaign. We have heard wonderful stories, and are seeing some amazing friendships form. We ordered 450 of the 40 Day Prayer Devotional Guides. We just ordered 50 more! Who knows, we may even try to start a group or two after the 40 Days of Prayer are over.

Here is the rock and the hard place story. Your Pastor has not figured out a way to end the 9:00 Worship service on time or early to give the Sunday Connection Groups long enough to watch the video and then to enjoy discussion. Pastor David has done a great job or keep the worship side of the program as tight as he can possible do. It is your long-winded preacher who is gumming up the works! Lol Our church staff is working with him (me) to see if adjustments can be made to just ever so slightly adjust the length of the sermons.

Of all the problems we could have, that is one that I really don’t mind. We absolutely want to have you be in two places at one time! Since that is not possible, we want you to be at both the worship service and the Sunday Connection Groups. So, we will gently remind our good intentioned pastor of the 5 B’s of good preaching: Be Brief Brother Be Brief!

Did you hear about the pastor who was wearing a band aid on his cheek one Sunday morning? The old deacon asked his pastor what happened to your cheek? The pastor replied “While I was shaving this morning I was thinking about my sermon and cut my face!” To which the deacon replied “How about next week think about your face and cut the sermon!”

OK, I cannot promise cutting either, but I can promise we are trying to allow time for the Holy Spirit to bless each person that attends. I love this material and I am so thankful for our leaders best efforts to make it all happen in such a short amount of time.

As one of the theme songs says “Don’t stop praying, don’t stop believing”. See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

40 DAYS OF PRAYER IS UNDERWAY!

“Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, 

and Thou has not withheld the request of his lips. For Thou dost meet him with the blessings of good things.”

Psalm 21:2-3

I am praying and hoping for the day when Jesus so fills my heart, my soul, my mind and my life, that my heart’s desire is what Jesus’ heart’s desire would be if He were me! Imagine being so close to our Father in Heaven that He would not withhold any request that came from your lips. And then His wonderful promise that our Father would meet you with the blessings of good things. Wow. It is possible and I believe it is part of His plan for all of His children. May our heart’s desire be the same as His heart’s desire and may you experience His blessing of good things.

We are underway with 40 Days of Prayer. We have already heard and seen some very exciting results even though we have only entered the second week. We have groups that started from zero people to now having 8! We have some classes that are full and some that have room for one or two more. Our Connection Groups that meet on Sunday and during the week have started out with a bang. Way to go.

I am so excited about those who want to participate and be a part of the 40 Days of Prayer Study even though they are not in a small group. We do realize some cannot be in a small group at this time; others may simply prefer not to be in a small group just yet. Not a problem. We are wanting you to reach out to us so we can get you the materials you need to join in. IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO START. Please feel free to reach out to any of our staff and let us know you want to participate. You can still greatly benefit from the group worship time (either in person, live stream or recording). You can still do the daily devotionals. You will miss the small group experience. My mom taught me that half a loaf is better than none. So two-thirds of a loaf is even better!

I love it when we see the Father working, lives changing, people praying, and disciples growing. To God be the glory! What if the Father was using this 40 Days of Prayer to get us ready? Amen.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing

Pastor Tom

AND JUST LIKE THAT

And just like that the 40 Days of Prayer has begun. We talked about it two years ago; we started working on it one year ago, we announced it to our leaders almost 6 months ago; we officially launched it this past Sunday, April 7. I am hoping many people will look back at April 7 as one of the spiritual highlights of their journey as a believer and a follower of Christ. We have had some terrific stories already.

Here are some of the high points for us so far. We ordered 450 of the Prayer devotionals and are almost out! Wow. We absolutely love that and will gladly order more. We have 30 participants in the “Still Worthy” recovery ministry. They have 25 residents and 5 leaders that have said they want to join us! We have a men’s softball team; we have members in Michigan joining us; we have Sunday Connection Groups that are completely full; I am offering a class during the weekday if there are those who want to be a part of a group but cannot meet at night or on Sunday; some are trying to start a class for homebound...I will be announcing more about that this Sunday.

I started back in February going through the daily devotional and watching the videos. I am staring all over again so I can be on track with all of our church family. I love the idea of everyone being on the same page…literally and figuratively. If you have not signed up or joined a class, it is certainly not too late. You can join in open classes for the next two weeks. Since the sermons and the video lessons by Rick Warren are all online, you can access them any time! You gotta love that.

So, here we go, deep into the first week of 40 Days of Prayer. Come on and join us. If you absolutely cannot be a part of a group, but would still like to fully participate, you just have to let us know. Call

the church office at 843-762-0244. Or call Pastor Kyle. We will get you squared away.

See you this Sunday. Good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

WHAT A DAY, WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY!

We have been blessed and highly favored by our Father in Heaven. Amen? Amen! Here is a verse from God’s Word that seems so appropriate. Psalm 16:1 says , “ The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed my heritage is beautiful to me. Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy. In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.” It truly seems like our Father has blessed James Island Baptist in such pleasant ways. There is indeed fullness of joy. Even when we have difficulties and even extreme challenges, we find the blessings of God present and providing hope. May you continue to experience the pleasure of God!

There have been so many wonderful events in the life of our church: a community wide Easter egg hunt, a Resurrection Party, Palm Sunday with over 40 children waving palm branches, the beautiful Good Friday service led by Pastor David and his talented team and over 400 people attending worship on Resurrection Sunday! To God be the glory. As the verse says “…indeed my heritage is beautiful to me”.

40 Days of Prayer has been Officially Launched! Pastor David and the Worship and Tech Team put together a moving Concert of Prayer for Good Friday. It was a musically moving service leading us to the 40 Days of Prayer. Well done! Then Resurrection Sunday was our first Church-Wide introduction to the 40 Days of Prayer study. We have already had some great stories of how the Lord is moving to make this happen. This coming Sunday, April 7 will be the “first” Sunday with the coordinated sermon, Bible Study Video and daily devotional time. Here is a little secret: any Sunday you actually start the 40 Days of Prayer can be the “first” Sunday. Everything will be online and available: my sermon series on prayer; the Bible Study by Rick Warren; and all the testimonies. In other words, April 14th could be the second week for some and at the same time be the first week for those who start on the 14th. The same can be said for those who start on the 21st! The goal is to get you to go through the 40 Days of Prayer… not necessarily to go through it all together day by day. Does that make sense? We know some will not be able to start on April 7th or or April 14th for that matter. That is ok, we can make it work. Just hope in. We would rather you be a couple of weeks late in starting that to miss the boat altogether.

What a day, what a glorious day!

See you Sunday good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

HOLY WEEK/PASSION WEEK

Starting this past Sunday, Holy week began with Palm Sunday, sometimes referred to as the Triumphal Entry. This past Sunday was a wonderful day of worship. Attendance was up, singing was joyful, the preschoolers and children did a fantastic job with the parade of the Palm Branches. Celebrate Recovery had a good night supporting one another.

Two of our events will be over by the time you read this. Wednesday night will be our Children and Family Resurrection Party. I know it will be a wonderful event. Our Day School Spring Sing will be Thursday morning. It is always an over load of cuteness! Great leaders put together great teams! Way to go.

Perhaps you will get this newsletter in time to be reminded of this year’s Good Friday service. We will have a Concert of Prayer from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. Pastor David and his talented team have planned a very beautiful service combining the Passion of Christ and the ACTS of prayer. I hope you will be able to join us. We are scheduled to have Communion at the Good Friday Concert of Prayer.

And then…HE IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED. We celebrate Resurrection Sunday. It looks like this year’s weather will favor our Flowering of the Cross. Each year we take a cross specifically built to be decorated with flowers and cover it with beautiful flowers…most of which come out of our yards. You are invited to bring your flowers to the worship center/sanctuary Sunday before the 9:00 service and before the 11:00 service. We will have volunteers there to help put the flowers on the cross. It is really beautiful once it is completed. The old rugged cross is transformed into a wondrous attraction to me!

Sunday will also be the pre-launch Sunday for our 40 Days of Prayer. The 40 DOP is an intentional, church-wide study on the power of God and the power of prayer designed to help us grow closer to God individually, deeper in our connections with each other and wider in our outreach to family and friends.

There are 3 basic parts to the 40 Days of Prayer. First, will be the Sunday gathering for worship. For the next 6 weeks, my teachings and our worship will all be centered around prayer. Second, you can join a small group/connection group to journey together. You will be led by Rick Warren on video. The third part of the 40 DOP will be your daily devotional using the 40 DOP Daily Devotional guide. I think you will really enjoy it!

Let’s start practicing: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

North American Missions: Annie Armstrong Easter Offering

There are approximately 371 Million people living t in the United States; there are over 350 languages spoken (I did not know there were that many languages anywhere!); there are 281 Million people in the U.S. that are without the Gospel. That is why we support the North American Mission Board. A few weeks ago we put the “Make Jesus Known” North American Missions Prayer Guide in the worship bulletin. This is a wonderfully helpful guide to help us pray specifically for a few of our missionaries. Here is a number that will thrill you…O.K., at least make you a little impressed. This year we help sponsor 6,300 full time missionaries. Out of that number 3,300 are chaplains and 3000 are of various type of church planters, Evangelists, etc. That is why I do not hesitate inviting you to consider a financial gift to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. You can give on line at our church website or bring an offering any Sunday. If you do not have one of the Week of Prayer guides, please pick one up. The missionaries would love to know and believe they are being lifted to God in prayer.

HOLY WEEK STARTS THIS SUNDAY
I know it seems so incredibly quick, but this Sunday is Palm Sunday. The Children will help start our service with a praise and palm branch processional at the 11:00 service. Friday, March 29 at 7 PM we will have a Concert of Prayer. This will be a lovely and meaningful service a little different from our usual Good Friday service. It will include some interactive time for all who attend. And then Sunday, March 31 is Resurrection Sunday. Easter Sunday is a day of hope, a day of assurance, a day of rejoicing!

This Easter message will be “Do You Really Want To Grow Up?” It will be the official launch of our 40 Days of Prayer Campaign. We are thrilled that we have 20 small groups: our 9 Connection Groups that meet every Sunday and 11 (so far, but more are coming) new groups that will be meeting.

Listen to this. One of our volunteer Hosts is targeting several neighbors inviting them to participate. Perfect! Another Host has enlisted 11 from his ball team to form a group! Wow. I cannot wait to hear the stories of all He is doing!

I love our church family. What a privilege to work with our staff, our leadership teams and our church family and friends. See you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

40 DAYS OF PRAYER…JUST AROUND THE CORNER

For the next few weeks you should be hearing your staff praise, promote and ask for participation in 40 Days of Prayer. This will be 40 Days of INTENTIONAL, CHURCH WIDE-STUDY ON THE POWER OF PRAYER to grow us closer to God individually, deeper in our connections with one another, and wider in our outreach to our friends and community.

Why do we choose 40 days and not 60 Days? For some reason, the Holy Spirit of God led the saints and heroes of the Bible to choose 40 days. The idea of 40 Days appears 24 times in the Bible. Noah was on the ark for 40 Days; Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments for 40 Days; Jesus was in the wilderness praying and fasting for 40 Days. Perhaps staying at something for 40 Days is a good way to start a new habit and to stop a bad one!

When Jesus’ disciples asked him to “teach us to pray” that was a golden ask! They had watched Him do mighty miracles and wonders…often first led by prayer. They saw many breakthroughs related to Jesus’ habit of prayer. “Teach us to pray” is a pretty good request. So, for the 40 Days following Easter, we will be echoing the request of the disciples: Jesus, teach us to pray. In 40 Days Nineveh had the chance to repent and was not destroyed. In 40 Days the spies of Israel were able to go into the Promised Land and see what God said would be their own land. What could God do with a people who spent 40 days asking Jesus to teach us to pray? Is there a breakthrough coming? Is there a trial or test like Jesus faced? Is this the next step of your spiritual journey of discipleship? I am so excited about the possibilities.

LET ME BREAK IT DOWN. There are 3 basic parts to this campaign. First, our worship service beginning the Sunday after Easter will all focus on prayer. I will have 6 sermons related to prayer in my teaching series. Second, there will be a teaching series, taught by Rick Warren, that you will work through with your small group. We will have over 10 brand new small groups meeting! We will provide, free of charge, one of the nicest, most helpful books on prayer that you have ever seen or used. You will get your prayer devotional book from your group HOST. Third, that prayer book will also have a daily devotional for you. It will consist of one verse a day for 40 days. It will ask you questions that will help you meditate and think about what these verses mean to you. We will provide you, free of charge, with a key ring with 6 verses and a few other free resources for you.

Imagine, the entire church family, all on the same page for 40 days. I think it will be fabulous. I hope you will consider joining a group if you are not in one already. Or perhaps you would be willing to open your home serving as a HOST.

See you this Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

HOW EXCITED AM I?

With the full and total support of our leadership team, we are in full on preparation mode for the upcoming Church-Wide 40 Days of Prayer. Starting March 31, Easter/Resurrection Sunday, we will be launching a 40 Day Prayer Campaign. Here is the mission statement for the 40 Days of Prayer Campaign: “40 Days of intentional church-wide study on the power of prayer to grow closer to God individually, deeper in our connections and wider in our outreach.

How will we do this? First we are praying for church wide alignment—as many people as possible participating. I will be preaching a series 7 sermons on some of the most often asked questions about prayer. Pastor David Martin will be building our worship services around each of the sermon topics.

Second, we will all be invited to be in a Connection Group for these 40 Days. We will be led in our lessons by Rick Warren. Each person in a small group will receive free of charge, a daily devotional book that you will use daily on your own and weekly as you meet with your group. Pastor Kyle will be coordinating that for us. We are praying for and working toward starting as many new Connection Groups as we currently have. That is a BHAG...a Big Hairy Audacious Goal!

Third, we will be asking each ministry team to put aside their regularly scheduled activities to make sure everyone can participate for 6 weeks in a Connection Group. So, individually, you will have a daily devotional guide focused on prayer. In your group, you will have a video presentation. The outlines for these presentations are found in your 40 Days of Prayer daily devotional book. As a congregation, we will be hearing 7 sermons all related to prayer.

There is more, but this will serve as a good introduction.

I am very excited about seeing our church family and friends align our effort and purpose that will help us be equipped and better prepared for prayer! We are going all in to make this a spiritual breakthrough event. Please join us in prayer for a moving of the Holy Spirit across our church family.


See you soon, good Lord willing


Pastor Tom

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?

This past Sunday was probably your first time to hear our Associate Pastor Kyle Hooss preach. Some of our staff had heard him online at his former church when we were interviewing him. We knew he was solid. But now our church family had the opportunity to be blessed by his teaching/preaching message and style. Janie and I were gone for the weekend attending a Pastor/wife marriage enrichment retreat sponsored by The Charleston Baptist Association. I asked Kyle to fill in for me this past Sunday. He did the excellent job that I expected. Janie and I were on our way back from Myrtle Beach when we joined in the Livestream of our worship service. We loved that we could hear the music so wonderfully clear, we could hear the Welcome and Announcements by Kyle and the Mission and Ministry Moment by Logan all with amazing clarity. The livestream of Kyle’s message was just as clear as if we were in the worship center with you all. He delivered a strong message about “Partnering Together” based on Philippians 1:1-11. His opening illustration about Forrest Gump and Bubba was a great illustration for the message of having each other’s backs. Well done Kyle, well done.

By the way, let’s say that you happened to miss this past Sunday. You can still go to the JIBC –SC church app or to the church Facebook page and hear the message. You can go back and listen to any of the past sermons if you have a desire to do so. Please do not be too shy to ask for help if you do not know how to download or find the church app. A lot of us have to ask our kids or grandkids to help us out. Or ask one of the church staff to give you a hand. They will be so happy to do so. The church app has a lot of helpful information for you. Enjoy!

JIBC is so blessed. We have two staff members, Kyle and Logan, who are very gifted speakers. Kyle Hooss is our Associate Pastor of Administration and Connection Groups. Logan Duvall is our Student Pastor. Whenever I am away, we will rotate preaching responsibilities between the two of them. Some of you may remember the really old days where we had to go outside the church to find a guest speaker. Now we have two of the best right here at JIBC!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday, February 25th. We will pick up our study through the Gospel of Mark just where we left off two Sundays ago.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

TWO REQUESTS FOR PRAYER

One of the things I like most about Facebook is the immediate access to a lot of family, friends and acquaintances. It is a fun way, most of the time, to keep up with people that you know and even some that I do not know. I can see pictures of the food they are eating, the vacations they have been on and the family they celebrate. Every now and again, I might have to remove someone from my friend list that is getting a little too rowdy or a bit too condemning. The one thing I like most about Facebook is that you can ask for prayer and have dozens, if not hundreds, of people say they will join you in prayer. I so love that. That can be something that unites us instead of something that divides us.

Today, I would like to ask for prayer for two events coming up. First, something that might be considered a rather selfish prayer request. Janie and I are going on a Pastor and Wife Marriage Enrichment Retreat. It is sponsored by the Charleston Baptist Association. Our Association is investing in strengthening Pastors as a way of also strengthening our churches. This is where I would usually tease and say “I look forward to dropping Janie off at this conference so she can get some things straight.” Those of you who know us have a pretty good idea which one of us needs to be straightened out! In our younger days, we would go every year to the Marriage Enrichment events at Ridgecrest, NC. One of our favorite people, Potts Wilburn use to say: “Tom, is your marriage that bad you have to go every year?” I would usually respond by saying “No sir, it is that good and I want to keep it that way!” That has not changed.

The second prayer request is for an upcoming church-wide leadership meeting. This meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 21 in the Genesis Classroom. A meal will be provided before the meeting. Pastor Kyle and our staff will be presenting the upcoming 40 Days of Prayer Campaign. I am so excited about this event. We are inviting all leaders to attend and be the first to hear what we believe can be a breakthrough for our church family and friends.

Two events, two requests for prayer, thanks in advance! After the approval and buy-in of our leadership, we will be presenting information from now until Easter’s Resurrection Sunday!

Can’t wait for our church family and friends to see it.

See you soon, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

 

CLASS 101: DISCOVERING MEMBERSHIP AT JIBC

Our next membership seminar will be taught on Sunday, February 25 starting at 4:00 PM. It has been quite a while since we had a membership class. Is it too late to blame it on Covid? LOL. I have no one to blame except me on this one! But now we are back in full swing and are looking forward to the next class. You can sign up several ways: the Information Insert in Sunday’s Bulletin call the church office at 843-762-0244 or text CLASS101 to 843-762-0244

At JIBC, we use Class 101: Discovering Membership as the way we join our church family. It gives us an opportunity to look at the DNA of our church family. It provides an opportunity for those who are at this next step an opportunity to meet with the pastor. I have material to present but we also have plenty of time for questions and answers.

If you are at the place in your spiritual journey where you would like to know more about JIBC, then this is the perfect next step for you. I would be honored for you to join us for a great time of fellowship and informative information. By the way, we will provide a meal and childcare for you.

It is a really good deal!

SUNDAY CELEBRATION

This past Sunday, we were thrilled with the start of a new Connection Group for Dads. Our Associate Pastor, Kyle, reached out to some dads and they responded wonderfully. He had a total of 15 dads in the room. First Sunday out, and he already is looking for a room with more space! Way to go Dads. By the way, I think the Dads Group was so successful because the Moms Bible Study Group was so successful. Kat Cumberledge and her team have been open and sensitive to the leading of the Spirit of God. May their tribe increase! Way to go Moms.

Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday as we continue going through the Gospel of Mark.

Pastor Tom

Oh give thanks to the Lord

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

For His steadfast love endures forever!”

1 Chronicles 16:34

Let’s spend some time today giving thanks to the Lord, for He is indeed, God. As we like to say: God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Allow me to give thanks for a few things.

First, I thank God for all of our Awana volunteers. Marie Smith, more commonly known as Commander ReRe told us there are over 100 children enrolled in the Awana ministry. The amazingly wonderful part of that is that 50 of those children are not associated with JIBC in any other way. I suspect we will see the fruit of the labor of all our volunteers for the next few years to come. We pray that all of these children will come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord and will follow Him in baptism and discipleship. “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!”

Second, we give thanks to our Father for starting a wonderfully strong Moms Bible Study group on Sunday mornings. They started at once a month and then twice a month. This group is led by Kat Cumberledge and Ashley Judy. Wow, praise the LORD…His love endures forever. The Moms Bible Study Group gave birth (sorry about that!) to a Dads Sunday morning Bible Study Group. Our new Associate Pastor, Kyle, has launched a group focusing on Dads. He has 11 signed up before the first class has started! I think that will be another high octane group! By the way, both groups are still open. The only thing we ask is that no one leaves a Sunday Connection Group they are already in to be a part of one of these new groups.

Third: on Wednesday, February 21st, we will be introducing a new church wide campaign called 40 DAYS OF PRAYER. This will be an exciting 40 day study on prayer. We will invite the church family and friends to join us in an effort to align all of our efforts to take us into a stronger relationship with our Father in Heaven and our Lord Jesus Christ. We will grow together, worship together, study together, aligning our efforts in a spiritual growth journey that could change our hearts, our church, our community and our world.

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His steadfast love endures forever.”

Pastor Tom

Daydreaming

Do you like to daydream? I mean think about things that could be. I do like to daydream about places I want to visit. Janie and I fulfilled a lifelong dream of going to the Grand Canyon. It was everything I hoped it would be. Now, we are dreaming about part two…seeing the other side or the other rim. It might happen. Reality is that I enjoy dreaming about such trips. They are attainable and not that out of reach. It just takes a little planning.

Now, let’s daydream together about a mission project or an outreach opportunity. I do not have a specific one in mind…I just want to invite you to dream about one. I heard a great story of someone dreaming (and working) toward a project of providing shoes to a homeless man. It was wonderfully more involved that just handing a guy a pair of shoes. It was conversation, building a bridge of friendship, involving others. I like that a lot: a daydream that turned into a mission of mercy.

Now, here is the really fun part for me: imagine two hundred people daydreaming about how they might reach out to others, help those in need, “scratch an itch” and meet a need. It could start small… buy a pair of shoes and socks from Goodwill and make a friend.

I recently met some soon to be new friends that operate 3 recovery houses on Johns Island. One of my friends lives there now. I never knew this place existed on Johns Island. So, I start daydreaming. How could we partner with this group to do a community wide outreach effort ? I like daydreaming about fighting Goliath a gigantic challenge. What could God do? God is in the business to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. We are in business to join Him. So for now, I am daydreaming on how we could join God in bringing Good News to those who are oppressed by addiction. I don’t have an answer…but I do have a daydream.

How about you? Ever had a passing thought that would lead you to reach outside of your usual comfort zone? Just spend a few moments in quiet asking the Holy Spirit to speak. See if He can help connect the dots of your daydream. I love that about JIBC. You are so willing to give, pray and go.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

WHEN THE STORM COMES YOUR WAY

I think that sometimes followers of Jesus believe that following Jesus means you will not experience storms in your life. The Bible actually records some interesting stories about the followers of Jesus being caught in an actual storm. Their panic is understandable. But the presence of Jesus right there in their boat resulted in the storm being calmed and their fears being relieved.

I know we have a variety of storms that come our way: emotional, financial, spiritual, relationships, health, etc. I am not sure I would want to pick which kind of storm I would prefer. I do believe all of us will find ourselves in life’s storms from time to time. Psalm 107:29 says “He calms the storm”. That is a promise I want to hold on to. I like the way the Gospel song says it: “Sometimes He calms the storm, other times He calms His child.” Either way, I am looking for and asking for calm.

Following Jesus does not mean you will be exempt from the storms of life. In fact, being a follower of Jesus may lead you into a storm or two that you would not have faced before your relationship with Christ. One person said it this way: “Remember that not all storms come to disrupt your life; some come to clear a path”. Whatever storm you may be facing my prayer for you is that it clears a path for you to get back into the presence of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, please clear a path through our fear and anxiety; blow out and remove all that hinders us from trusting you even when we do not see you; bless us that we would keep our eyes on you and not the storm or our fears. We acknowledge and praise you as our Savior who is Lord over all, even the storms. Amen

See you this Sunday, good Lord willing, as we look at the story of our Lord stilling the storm in the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41.

Pastor Tom

A GOOD PLACE TO TRY IT OUT

Sometimes we may hesitate to try something because we don’t want to get “stuck”. Some cell phone deals can be like that. You sign without reading the itsy bitsy fine print. You go to change and find out you and your children are bound to the same provider for all eternity…or you could buy your way out. No one wants to experience that kind of buyer’s remorse.

So what if you could “try out” a ministry without making a lifetime commitment to it? That would be a pretty good deal. Let me tell you about a ministry that will allow you to try it out, take it for a spin so to speak, and then decide if it is for you. You could start at the easiest of positions while watching what helpers and leaders do. Sound interesting?

So, what are you doing on Wednesday evenings? God has greatly blessed the Awana Ministry at JIBC. We have over 90, count ‘em, over 90 children enrolled. That, my friend, is fantastic! It is a work of the Lord to entrust those children to us. So, how could you try an entry level position to see if you like it or not?

First, let’s get you on the “I am only trying it out list”. Marie Smith (Commander ReRe) Joanne Brown and Kat Cumberledge will give you the super powerful “get out of jail” card. Really. It’s a new thing we are trying out. JK.

The entry level position in Awana is one of the coolest positions of all…you are a LISTENER. Really, you listen to children who are trying to memorize the verse of the week. You hold the card with the verse, so you don’t actually have to memorize it. You just help the child to memorize it. They repeat it, you affirm they got it right or show them where they may have missed. Easy peasy…with one exception. Oh oh, here it comes. What is the one exception? You have to be present. We have not figured out a way to face time this ministry. It really is a ministry of presence.

So, we will sweeten the pot for you. For all “newbies” just trying and volunteering for the first, we will provide you with a free Wednesday night meal for a month! You and your family. You just have to let me know so I can make the arrangements.

Tell me when you have ever been offered a deal like that? You go from Wednesday night boredom to Wednesday night first step discipleship of the next generation. Just a thought!

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom