More Than Just A Date On A Calendar

September is usually a very good month for Janie and I. College football has arrived again and Saturdays are filled with the highs of winning and the lows of losing. But that is not what makes September so special for us.

This year my birthday was on Friday, September 13. I am not really superstitious so the Friday 13th does not bother me. I was born on Tuesday, Friday 13, 1955. I like the year 1955 for a few reasons. It was the year Disneyland opened. Back in the day, I was an avid Disney fan. Not so much anymore, but it is still an interesting date. McDonalds also opened in 1955. Chevrolet made one of the most iconic cars ever, the 55 Chevy. Coke introduced canned drinks. Until then, cokes were only sold in bottles. I could keep on going about the interesting events of 1955. To top it all off, Claude and Helen Brown created a little trouble maker in that same year and named him Thomas Arthur Brown.

Now, fast forward a few years. On Friday, September 13, 1985, Janie and I moved to James Island, with our three children, to begin a new work at James Island Baptist Church. We moved into a rental home on Friday, my birthday and began our ministry at JIBC on Sunday, September 15, 1985. We just celebrated my 69th birthday and our 39th anniversary at JIBC. The good Lord willing, this November 29th we will celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. Do you ever get excited to watch the mileage of your car turn over from 99,999 to 100,000? Then 199,999 to 200,000? That is kind of how I feel about 2025 when the event odometer turns over to 40 years of ministry at JIBC, 50 years of marriage to Janie Marlene and 70 tears of trips around the sun.

Janie and I are so thankful to have spent so many of our years with you trying to carry out the purposes of God. It is more than a date on a calendar, it is a lifetime of joy! As Frank Sinatra would sing, “It was a very good year”. Janie and I will be celebrating our anniversaries for the next couple of weeks. We will look forward to seeing you all when we return.

Pastor Tom

YOU DON’T SEE THAT EVERY DAY

The 2024 State Mission Prayer Guide had a wonderful story about a very creative ministry. On day one, the Prayer Guide asked us to pray for Riley Kinard and Bobby Strothers. They were burdened to find a way to reach college students at the University of South Carolina Lancaster. Riley and Bobby began a ministry called “Hugs from Grandmas”. They offered free hugs to anyone who wanted or needed one. If there was any interest, they would invite them to a Bible Study. I love it! Out of the box, very little effort or cost and a big payback!

What is so big about a hug? A consensual hug and a desired hug can be a warm and welcoming greeting. It can also be healing and even therapeutic. It can send a signal that says I am a friend and I care. I read that hugging activates the same reward center in your brain as eating does. If you are not getting enough hugs you may feel you are “starving” for touch. Lack of hugs can be associated with loneliness, depression and poor sleep quality. Hugging has value…lots of value.
So, why not take that to a college campus where many kids are separated from their families. Be kind of a surrogate grandma for them and offer a beautiful healing hug. I am not recommending JIBC start a free hug ministry at the local college. I am commending two senior adults who wondered how in the world could we ever minister to young adults on today’s college campuses. Free Hugs was the answer.

If you have not picked up a SC Baptist 2024 Prayer guide, please do so. It will certainly give you an insight into missions around SC and may stimulate a few creative ideas like a hugging booth! I love it.

By the way, if the Lord has blessed you and you are able, consider giving to the Janie Chapman State Missions Offering. This offering helps support missions like “Free Hugs”. If you can give above your tithe then this is a worthwhile offering to consider.

See you Sunday…with free hugs available!

Pastor Tom

PIECES IN A PUZZLE BOX

Do you like doing puzzles? It is not really my favorite thing to do. I could handle the puzzles with the 20 or 30 big pieces. You know, the kind you do with your kids when they are very young. My brother, on the other hand, loves puzzles. If I call him right now and ask “Hey Bubba, whatcha doin’?” His answer will be “Kathy and I are just sitting at the table putting a puzzle together.” He has a room where he stores all his completed puzzles. Some of his favorites will become artwork they hang in their house. He sees art…I see a thousand little pieces that all look the same and they all look different. Bubba has the patience and the eye to see how the pieces fit. No pressure, no anxiety, just work the next piece.

I think church life can sometimes be like putting a puzzle together. You see pieces and part, hundreds of members, each different and yet kind of the same. Then God starts putting the pieces together and a beautiful picture starts to appear. You see a children’s ministry reaching 60, 70 or 80 children each week; a youth ministry that had 29 teenagers last Sunday night; a new Bible Study reaching women; a couple of pieces that look like foreign countries. You see little tiny pieces that no one really recognizes or even notices. Yet that little piece provides color and depth. To leave it out would be to rob the picture of its completeness.

I love that about the James Island Baptist Church family. There are so many wonderful puzzle pieces, each piece adding to the whole beautiful picture. When you look into the box (maybe our Sunday morning worship gathering) you see a bunch of puzzle pieces, but maybe not the beautiful picture they will create. The puzzle is a picture of how God uses brokenness to bring healing; how He uses imperfection to show His own glory. Don’t be fooled by the look of a bunch of puzzle pieces in the box. He is not finished putting all the pieces together. I have been doing this long enough to tell you I love the picture He is making. Thank you for being a part of His wonderful, glorious picture.

See you Sunday…with all the other pieces!

Pastor Tom

OPPORTUNITY AT YOUR FRONT DOOR…SO TO SPEAK

On Sunday, September 8, JIBC will host a Voter Registration table. The table will be open from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or until the large crowds are finished! The Voter Registration Table will be located just outside the office door close to where you might drop off jelly and/or syrup. Heather Hickman will be there to help you get registered. This is not about being partisan. It is about encouraging everyone to get out and vote. If you would like to register but cannot physically make it, please call the church office at 843-762-0244 and let us know. We might be able to provide transportation for those nearby. It would be a worthy goal to see 100% of James Island Baptist registered to vote and voting! Whichever party you are voting for, there is a lot at stake in this election. Let’s get out and vote and let’s get the vote out!

IT TAKES SOMEONE SPECIAL

One of the areas where we have experienced a turnover of volunteers is in the childcare provided for Celebrate Recovery. We lost three outstanding workers: Dea, Kay and Joanne. We still have Shelley and now we have a couple of short term volunteers, Mary and Ava. This can be a very challenging task to love on the kids coming from such special backgrounds. One evening we might have 8 kids and the next week none at all. We must always have two volunteers each night and most of the time we have three. We do pay for this position. What we try to do in all of our volunteer positions is to create what I call easy on and easy off. We want to make it easy to try a ministry out without committing too deeply…that is easy on. We also want to create an easy out if this is not the area of ministry for that person. No problem, we are thankful you tried…it should be easy off. If you think you might have a heart burn for some special kids…why not try the easy on path. I will tell you it takes a special person to minister to a special person! Maybe that is you? Call us at 843-762-0244.

We are blessed beyond measure, filled with His Spirit, washed in the blood, made right by His good work, children of the King! That is all for now, but that is enough!

Love you all,

Pastor Tom