On Wednesday night, August 7, we will have a church-wide/community-wide believers baptism. The plan is to gather at the Folly Beach County Park. There is a charge to get into the park. If you are a gold pass member it is FREE. I think this is when Janie and I renew our gold pass every year! LolAt this time, we have signed up: 3 adults, 6 children, two youth from a sister church and perhaps a few teenagers from JIBC. I will guarantee you this: We will not run out of water! Why do we baptize would be a good question and the answer would be good information for future use.
First, we are baptized to follow the example Jesus left for us. “At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” (Mark 1:9) Second, we are baptized because Jesus commanded it. Matthew 28:19-20 is the Great Commission given to all believers and to all churches. We are to go into the world, make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Third, it is a demonstration that I am really a believer and follower of Christ. 1 John 2:3 says “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.”
Believers baptism beautifully illustrates the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus; “…having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12)
We try to be crystal clear that being baptized does not save you or make you a believer. It shows you are already a believer. That Christ Himself has saved you. And your baptism is an outward sign of an inward commitment you made when you accepted His invitation to follow Him.
So, here we go to Folly Beach. If you would like to be a part of this group, please call the church office and let us know. (843-762-0244) By the way, if you will text me your T-Shirt size, we have a cool baptismal shirt for you! You don’t have to wear it…it is a gift to you. Wear it if you like.
See you this Sunday, good Lord willing.
Pastor Tom
Janie and I were away for a little over a week. We rented a little mountain cabin about 5 or 6 miles outside of Bryson City, North Carolina. It is still a part of the Great Smokey Mountains. We had a little 1 bedroom cabin isolated up on the side of a mountain. Directly at the foot of the mountain was the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Our goal was to relax and unwind and take a hike or two. We went on 5 different hikes ranging from very easy to “why in the world did we do this one!” Sometimes it seems like those mountains are uphill both ways! We went tubing in Cherokee on the Oconaluftee River. Ocanaluftee is an old Native American word for “Don’t do it”. I got stuck and hung up at least once on every rock in the river. If it was not for the nice kids helping me, I might still be there today. Besides that we did accomplish our goals to rest and unwind. We are so thankful for the time off.
This next week we are sponsoring a Sports Camp for Riverland Terrace. At last count, Joanne had over 50 children signed up. Two sister churches are travelling to help us in this outreach event. Please pray for a little more moderate weather, safety for all volunteers and participants and for those who might respond to the Gospel Presentation. “Dear Lord, bless this attempt to join You in reaching the lost souls right around JIBC. Amen.” The Sports Camp Is Monday, July 22 through Thursday, July 25 with a Celebration Worship service and a Banquet on Thursday evening.
*For your mission calendars, we will have a Backpack Back To School Giveaway on Saturday, August 10. It will be held at James Island Outreach. Sponsored by Emmanuel Baptist , James Island Baptist and James Island Outreach. Be watching for more details.
BEACH BAPTISM is scheduled for Wednesday, August 7 at 6:30ish! We will meet at the Folly Beach County Park. Look for our “feather flag” and smiling faces! Want to be baptized? Contact the church office by calling Neale at 843-762-0244 or email her at Neale@jameislandbaptist.com
Pastor Tom
As Janie and I were returning from our vacation, we listened to the JIBC Livestream. By the way, the quality of our livestream is great. A big ol’ thank you to the teams that make that happen each week, twice a week and on special occasions! Janie and I loved singing along with our church family. What I really loved was Pastor Logan’s report of 20 Youth going to camp and 4 of that 20 made professions of faith in first steps of becoming disciples of Jesus! Hallelujah and Amen. We had 2 children that made professions of faith during Vacation Bible School. You know my old saying: “Let’s reach them before we have to rescue them!” Our profession of faith is a first step, not the only and certainly not the final step. Now they continue the journey of becoming fully devoted followers of Christ.
Then at Monday morning Staff meeting we celebrated that we have two JIBC teams going on International Mission trips. One led by Cheryl Parrsh going to work with one of our partner churches in Campulung, Romania. The second team, led by Mark Livengood, is going to Slovakia. It is possible that we will have 5 members of JIBC serving Jesus half way around the world! God is good all the time.
The Children’s Ministry is going wide open with love and enthusiasm. We had a great Vacation Bible School with over 90 children each night. Today as I type this we are waiting to send our children to a week of Children’s Camp hosted at Charleston Southern University. Joanne and her team will, no doubt, by God’s grace, see spiritual fruit and the kind of fruit that remains. Then one week after they return, JIBC and two out of town sister churches will sponsor a Riverland Terrace Sports Camp. Last year at this event, we had 50 children attending who were not connected in any way to JIBC. They got to hear the Gospel and have a blast while playing sports. Way to go team.
Want to see all this come together beautifully? Join us on Wednesday, August 7 at the Folly Beach County Park for our Baptism Celebration! We have about 5 confirmed for baptism and about as many still considering. Make sure you put that on your calendar. Let’s have a BIG OL’ JIBC gathering that evening. Baptism happens somewhere around 6:30ish.
See you this Sunday, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
P.S., I know you will join me in saying “thank you” to Kat Cumberledge for her heart and leadership in our children’s ministry. Kat has been a part time staff member of our team. She feels the Lord leading her to focus more on her faith and her family as well as her career as a gifted painter. While she will not be on staff, she will continue to serve in our children’s ministry and in the Mom’s Bible Study Group. I am so happy Kat will be around to serve. She has been a wonderful addition to our staff team. Kat, thank you is not enough. But thank you for your beautifully gifted servants’ heart.
I know there is some logic in slowing down the church calendar for the summer. It can be very hot, people are on vacations (Janie and I are just returning from a little time in Bryson City, North Carolina). I know it can be a trying time as far as church calendars go.
Our children and youth teams have put an all out effort into their missions and ministries. We just finished a week of Vacation Bible School. Then Logan and his team are taking a great group of students to Youth Camp at North Greenville University. When he returns, Joanne and her team will be taking a children’s group to Kids Camp! Then toward the end of July we will be sponsoring a Sports Camp for our community. The one last event will be the back to school book bag mission to help some of the underserved children here on James Island!
I love this so much: evangelism in VBS; discipleship and maturity at camps; missions here in our community; and missions again to round out a wonderfully busy summer. Well done JIBC, well done! Now the topping on the cake will be the church-wide baptism celebration scheduled for Wednesday night, August 7 at the Folly Beach County Park. This baptism is open to adults, youth and children. Families are welcome to come for family baptisms; husbands and wives, fathers/mothers and their children. Last year’s baptism was a beautiful celebration.
Keep these events and the follow-up in your prayers. The Gospel will be shared and the invitation to follow Jesus will be extended. We will rest in August…maybe! That is when school starts and we kick back into our full schedule.
By the way, I wanted to say thank you for all the families that came out for the Parent Child Dedication service back on June 23. We had two families that could not make it due to sickness.But didn’t the stage look great filled with young families, children and babies? It was a beautiful blessing from God and all the kids did great!
To God be the glory!
Pastor Tom
