Spiritual Conversations: Let’s Talk About…

I started a new teaching series I am calling “Spiritual Conversations: Let’s Talk About…” The big idea is to encourage and equip our church family and friends to look for opportunities to have these “Spiritual”, Gospel Conversations. These conversations can take place anywhere at any time and may start off about anything.

There are two ways we can have these conversations. First, you might initiate them. You take the first step. Maybe ask questions like: Do you go to church anywhere? Are you watching the news about Israel and Iran? Would you guys like to go to church with us this Sunday? Those are straight forward, nonthreatening, questions that you could initiate and see if there is a conversation to be had. The second way is to respond. Keep your ears and heart open to listen to what people ask and say. For instance: “My teen has gone off the rails and I don’t know what to do”. “We just called Hospice in for my grandmother. I am not sure what to do to help her”. The person you are with might bring us the topic that really is a spiritual conversation waiting to happen. I try to watch and listen for the things only God can do. Only the Holy Spirit can convict people of sin, lead them to righteousness, and convict them of judgment. Only the Holy Spirit could lead someone to seek after God. So when I hear these things, I can be pretty sure God is working and this might be the place for a Gospel/Spiritual Conversation.

How can we celebrate these conversations and give God the glory? Pastor Kyle made a great looking display box. Every time you have a Spiritual Conversation, you are invited to stop by the box and drop a ping pong ball into it. There are three holes at the top and a cross on the inside. What if we had a hundred Gospel Conversations this summer? Wow, we plant the seed, someone else waters and God makes it grow.

Let’s pray that we will be open and ready to give an answer to anyone that might ask why we have this hope in Jesus.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

“But in your heart set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.”

1 Peter 3:15

SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIIONS

Starting this Sunday, our teaching series will be called “Spiritual Conversations: Let’s Talk”.

The big idea is to lead our church family and friends to engage in spiritual conversations with those who intersect with our lives. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at biblical examples of spiritual conversations. We might even have some testimonies from those who have had such conversations. We are currently working on a way to help us measure how many spiritual conversations our church family is having.

Frankly, we don’t want to be “that guy” who with no sensitivity at all, just blurts all over people whatever is on their mind. We are not looking for arguments. We are looking for those Holy spirit led moments when it just seems so right to engage in …well, spiritual conversations. We will be trying to equip our church family and friends to engage in spiritual conversations the way Jesus did. My guess is that our church family is already having such conversations. We just don’t think about them as such. So, for 6 weeks, we will be brining them to the forefront of our thoughts.

The big picture is spiritual conversations. The subtitle is “Let’s Talk About…” Each week we will study a Biblical Story about spiritual conversations. Let’s Talk About… forgiveness when we have been wronged; about how could a loving God could send someone to hell; if there is a God was does He allow suffering; there must be more than one way to heaven; etc. I will try to address the kind of conversations we might have with family members, friends, co-workers and team mates. These can be conversations with people that are near to us but far from God. It could be with people who use to believe but got hurt and dropped out of Church and away from God.

“…and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3:15

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Janie and I have had the opportunity to take some time off the last three weeks. As much fun as we had, the old saying is so true: “There is no place like home”. We started our adventure with a trip to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. Wow, it is the largest wooden structure in the world. If you have kids or you are a big kid at heart, you may want to consider making the trip to see the Ark Encounter. You could also visit some of the most beautiful horse farms in the country. We left My Old Kentucky Home area for a brief stop in Sellersburg, Indiana. We have wonderful old friends who invited us over for evening meals. When God blesses you with good friends He has blessed you with a great gift.

We left Southern Indiana for our destination of the Smokey Mountains. We stayed in Pigeon Forge but our goal was to hike as much as we could. We love chasing waterfalls. Our biggest hike was 5 miles in and 5 miles out! We packed our salads…yep, our salads, and took off for our hikes. I figured if we met black bears they would not be enticed by salads!

By the way, we saw 8 black bears in Cades Cove! There were two days we did not hike. One was spent shopping at the Big Knife Store. You gotta see this place to appreciate it. The second non-hiking day was spent at Dollywood. We have been asked if we rode the roller coaster rides. Not only did we not ride them, we never even saw them. We jumped around from music venue to music venue enjoying really good music and shows. Once you hear Dolly’s story, you become a fan.

Then the last of the summer travels included going to see the Savannah Bananas. Yes, that is a real name. It is a profession baseball organization that does for baseball what the Harlem Globetrotters did for basketball…only bigger! Our daughter Erin won the tickets for the game played last weekend at the Carolina Panthers football stadium. That stadium seats 75,000 and was packed…two nights in a row setting an attendance record.

So now, we are home sweet home. We have no more travel plans for the summer that I know of so we can get back into our comfy routine.

This Sunday is Father’s Day. We will have a Parent Child Dedication service at the 11:00 service and will be recognizing and honoring one of our Elders, Frank O Hunt at the 9:00 service. This week’s sermon will finish our series on The Apostle’s Creed. I will be teaching on the section that says Jesus descended to hell. I should have assigned that one to Logan!

See you this Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

“Summer time and the living is easy!”

June is such a great month. The old saying is “Spring would be a tough act to follow, so God made June!” The grill gets fired up, the pools are ready, you get extra hours of daylight. You can get ready for bed while it is still light outside!

Let’s make June a month of worship, Bible study, fellowship with friends, inviting those who are close to us but far from God to join us for a fun event…like a ballgame. What a great month.

June at JIBC includes VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL. This is one of the time-honored spiritual traditions here in the South. Throughout the year, parents, grandparents, Sunday School teachers have all been planting the Gospel seeds and VBS is one of the seasons where we just might see a spiritual crop! Our VBS will be June 23-June 27. There is a VBS training event on Thursday, June 12 and the VBS Decorating Event on Saturday, June 21. See Felecia Hebert or Pastor Kyle about the details.

Father’s Day almost slips by without too much fanfare. Not this year! This year we will have a “Parent Child Dedication Service” on June 15 at the 11:00 service. If you feel like double dipping, we will also have a recognition of one of our faithful servants on that day, too!

Here is a June event that happened as a result of the Festival of Hope. On June 29, 6:30 p.m., JIBC will host a free “Narcan Training” event. The Festival of Hope was designed to help remove the stigma of mental health issues and to raise awareness of addictions. There have been 187 drug overdose deaths this past year in Charleston. In South Carolina there were 2,296 drug overdose deaths in 2022. Let’s make June a month we decided to do something to change that number. Everyone attending will receive a free Narcan kit and free training.

June is the gateway to summer. Let’s make June a fun gateway to worship, service, fellowship and friends!

Summer time and the living is easy…and blessed, I hope!

Pastor Tom