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