WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL AND SWEATY SERVANTS!

Our hats off and our sincere thanks to all who made the Sunday Anniversary Picnic such a wonderful success. I think everyone had a great time. The attendance was great and the weather was beautiful. Thank you to Susan Warren and Janie Brown for organizing the large number of hard working volunteers. Many hands make light work. You all sure made it look easy…and we know it was not. Thank you from all of us that enjoyed the wonderful day. I am so happy to be a part of a church family that loves one another. People sat and talked for hours. By the way, how cool was it to celebrate believer’s baptism on Anniversary Sunday. Such a beautiful young family God has added to the JIBC family. Welcome Wally and Ashley.

THE CONSTRUCTION IS ABOUT TO BEGIN 

We do not know the exact dates so let’s say sooner rather than later! Any time now construction could begin on the next two major Daring Faith Renovation Projects. Both of them could rearrange your usual traffic pattern in attending Bible Study and worship. There are two projects that could be happening at the same time. 

First, the Fellowship Hall. This is predicted to be the dustiest project you can imagine. So when it begins Rose Haselden’s Class and Fred Roark’s Class (Genesis) are very likely to be temporarily displaced. Rose’s class will meet at the Transition House for the few weeks of construction. Hopefully only two weeks. We will see. The temporary location of the Genesis class is TBA. We are working hard on the details. For the two weeks of construction, you will not be able to enter the Fellowship Hall through the double doors in the main hallway by the water fountain. Deep breath and remember…this too shall pass. As soon as we know we will try to let you know.

Second, the new entrance and elevator is coming…maybe at the same time. So, for a month or so, we will not be able to use the Plymouth Avenue side door entrance. That is the side door closest to the oak trees. If we could, let’s all of us able bodied folks park on the Plymouth Avenue side of the church and let those who need to (Senior Adults, people with children, special needs, etc) park on the front paved parking lot. Please note, this project will take longer that the Fellowship Hall. So, we will be without this exit for well over a month. This too shall pass…like a kidney stone, but it shall pass. Be patient and rejoice, be patient and rejoice and again I say be patient and rejoice.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

CHURCH ANNIVERSARY THIS SUNDAY, JULY 15

Here we go, ready or …of course we are ready! This Sunday will be a great day to give thank to our Heavenly Father for the part of His Church known as James Island Baptist Church. For 71 years the faithful have been seeking to join God in His mission to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. I do love that about JIBC…outward focused, loving fellowship and a desire to live out the Word of God. God has been so good to His people.

This Sunday the schedule will be exactly the same as far as Sunday School/Connection Groups. We meet at 9:45 as usual. Then we gather for worship at 11…just as we usually do. We will celebrate believer’s baptism and observe the Lord’s Supper together. THEN THE PICNIC! Dress casual so you can join us at the James Island County Park at the Edisto Shelter. The Edisto Shelter can seat around 300 people inside and it is air conditioned! There will also be seating outside at the picnic tables under the oaks. Weather permitting; there will be some outdoor children’s activities. A new little twist at this year’s picnic will be the time of singing and drawings for some really neat door prizes. You do have to be present and inside for the prize drawings. This will add a little spice to the picnic. Serving tents will be outside, but we will fix our plates and find a place inside the Edisto Shelter. Enjoy the fellowship, get to know some new faces and enjoy the cookout. If you bring anything, just bring a dessert. Please make sure it is pre-sliced and ready to serve since we are not at the JIBC Kitchen will all of our serving supplies! I am looking forward to another great anniversary celebration. I do hope you will join us!

CHILDRENS CAMP 

JIBC Church kids will be off to CentriKid Camp at Gardner Webb University on Monday, July 16. I can tell you from first-hand experience, that is a fantastic camp and our kids will have a blast as they grow closer to Christ and to each other. I am hoping that Janie and I can take off Wednesday night after she gets off work and join our kids for the full day of camp on Thursday. I so want Janie to see and experience this camp. Pray for our entire team of leaders and children: ask the Lord for safety and smooth traveling with no vehicle issues; pray for hearts to be drawn ever closer to our Heavenly Father; pray for those who might make first steps toward becoming a follower of Jesus. See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

CHURCH ANNIVERSARY PICNIC: SUNDAY, JULY 15

We are less than 2 weeks away from our 71st Church Anniversary. This year we will celebrate on Sunday, July 15. Join us at JIBC for Bible Study—Connection Groups at 9:45 and Worship at 11:00. We are planning to observe the Lord’s Supper and celebrate believers baptism. What a great day at JIBC.

Then everyone is invited to join us for the church wide picnic in the air-conditioned Edisto Hall at the James Island County Park. Food tents will greet you as you arrive and fellowship will await you around the tables! This year we are adding a little twist of fun. We will have giveaways and live music at announced times. Marie Smith has done a fabulous job in getting great donations for the day. You will want the ticket you will be given as you go to the food tents. There will be activities for the kids as well. Those who choose can enjoy the cookout under the oak trees at the picnic tables. It should be a wonderful, wonderful day.

NOW FOR SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT 

ON MISSION magazine is published by our North American Mission Board. They have an article called “The Pulse”. Here are some of the, let’s say, interesting items reported. (1) Teen Depression. The American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending teens between the ages of 12 and 21 be assessed every year for mental health disorders. Suicide has become the third leading cause of death among young people in the United States. (2) Stress and Prayer. Americans surveyed said their stress level is 4.5 out of 10, but only 29% say they turn to prayer in times of stress. “Oh what needless pains we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer”. (3) A study of 27,000 people worldwide showed that having close friends in old age was a stronger predictor of physical and emotional health than close family connections. Connection Groups…they are good for your health!

This Sunday we conclude our study of 1 John: You May Know. The message this Sunday will focus on how to know you are a child of God. Looking forward to seeing you, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

CHURCH ANNIVERSARY COMING UP: SUNDAY, JULY 15

Our church family will be celebrating another anniversary in July. Traditionally, the anniversary has been celebrated on the second Sunday of July. We had such a great turn out last year that we wanted to stay with the successful game plan. Our church Fellowship Hall is really too small to seat 300 people. So, we rented the Edisto Shelter at the James Island County Park. It will seat 300 inside, plus about 10 picnic tables under the oak trees. We will do a cookout providing all the hamburgers, hotdogs and all the fixin’s. You are welcomed to bring a dessert if you would like. If someone happened to bring a macaroni and cheese, they would need to see me so I could take special care of it! Oh, back to the desserts. It would help if you could pre-slice your dessert since we will not be at the JIBC Kitchen with all our serving wares. Believe me, anyway you bring a great dessert will be fine. Plan to dress for the park on that Sunday. We will leave right after worship. By the way, we are planning to celebrate with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

So, a few things that will be different at this year’s picnic. We will fix our plates outside the shelter under the tents and then proceed inside for seating. That way we increase the number of seats in the air conditioned inside! We have some great prizes to be drawn but you do have to be present to win. Marie Smith has been working on the door prizes and she always comes up with great prizes. Rumor has it there are two $75 gift certificates to the View Salon! So far I think she has seven adult prizes and three for children. We plan to have live music featuring our talented musicians. Sounds like it is going to be a great day at the park.

This past week was a great example of why I so love JIBC. We had a great Vacation Bible School with volunteers that were high energy and highly committed to serving children. We collected over 100 jars of jelly and gave over $1,200 for James Island Outreach. What a great way to say welcome to the new Director at JIO, Scott Graule. We want him to know JIBC is on board with the mission. By the way, I can’t wait for you to hear some of the new changes in the outreach ministries. The VBS children also collected and made dozens of hygiene kits for the homeless.

We also had a Life Celebration/Funeral service for our dear friend Jenny Greenhalgh. Our praise band played three different times Sunday and all three brought Him glory. Our Kitchen Krew fed over 100 people. Our security team and prayer teams did their job and I want to thank them for a job well done. Thank you for all you do as a church family to make His love known. You were able to show, perhaps over 100 people, what a good and beautiful God looks like. I am honored to be your pastor.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

Celebrate Recovery

Next Sunday should be a very interesting and meaningful Celebrate Recovery.
You may have heard that one of our dear friends, a sister in Christ, Jenny Greenhalgh passed away last week. It does not seem like it, but Jenny came to us four years ago. Jenny came to our church family through the Charleston Center and through our Transition House ministry. Like so many, she battled with her addiction. She truly loved the Lord and her JIBC family. She was an easy person to love and always so very interesting. In personality types, she was a true Golden Retriever! I believe her life was blessed by her time and connection with the JIBC family. I know we were blessed by her.

So, here is the little twist in her Life Celebration—Funeral. We will actually have two services for Jenny. Both of them will be on Sunday, June 24. The first one will be at 4:30 here at JIBC. It will be the more traditional funeral. Of course everyone is welcome to attend this with Jenny’s family and friends. The second service will be a part of our regularly scheduled Celebrate Recovery Service. We will kind of wrap the remembrance and celebration of her life around the parts of Celebrate Recovery. This was the planned service from the beginning. Plans had to change a little so we opted to serve the family with an early service. Of course, family and friends are welcome to stay for the tribute during Celebrate Recovery as well. I believe both services will be beautiful in their own way!

You know, perhaps from your own life or from the news, addiction in America is far too common. It is easy to curse the darkness of evil. Thank you for being a church family that lights a candle and takes on the tough issues of life. The Gospel of Christ is the power to change. May we forever be committed to being a recovery station for broken people.

See you Sunday, Good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

It’s About To Get Real Up In Here!

By the time you read this we will be less than one week away from Vacation Bible School: Game ON! Our VBS leadership team has done an outstanding job in recruiting leaders and workers. I believe they are ready for a great year of Bible Study, Worship and Fun. Please keep this year’s VBS in your prayers. Pray for precious souls to come to know Jesus Christ; for disciples to be grown even more; for workers to stay energized; and for safety for all involved. Game On!

Today, 21 Youth and 6 Adults went to summer camp. I am blessed with mixed emotions. First, my Grandson, Noah is going to youth camp. I am excited about that. Second, my grandson, Noah is going to camp. I can’t believe Janie is old enough to have a grandchild going to camp. Mixed emotions. In all seriousness, I want to thank our JIBC family for so generously supporting sending children and youth to camp. It really does make a difference. Join me in praying for their safety as they travel to Ridgecrest, North Carolina and back. Praying for a mighty movement of God among them all.

Monday, July 16 is the projected start date for the Fellowship Hall renovations. If we do everything that is planned you are going to be amazed. Make sure you go by to see it one more time before July 16. Once the plans are finalized and approved, we will start letting the proverbial cat out of the bag concerning the renovation plans. For those who are new to the church family, we recently completed a church wide discipleship ministry called “Daring Faith: Renovating Hears and Buildings”. It was a wonderful success. If you would like to participate, it is not too late. We have asked our church family to pray about three ways to give. First, would you consider making a sacrificial one time gift. As much as possible, we are trying to pay as we go so we do not have to borrow money. Second, some will give on a monthly basis, working it into your regular budget as God blessed. Third, some have committed to giving additional gifts that they don’t currently have. Now that is Daring Faith. Trusting that God will provide is the key no matter how you give or how much you give.

The next renovations on our list are the new entrance on the Plymouth Avenue side of the church and the installation of an elevator! Wow, has that ever been a long time coming. As stated above, then we will start the Fellowship Hall renovations on July 16. HEADS UP…that will be a very messy process. It will most likely impact Rose Haselden’s Class and Fred Roark’s class. When it is time to begin these projects, we will have times of prayer and dedication. Keep looking for information coming your way.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL…NOT YOUR DADDY’S VBS!

Vacation Bible School is almost an institution for many southern communities. It has been a way of life and a part of life for many of us throughout the years. Our parents attended VBS, we attended, our kids attended and now our grandkids attend. Here are some interesting things about VBS you might enjoy reading.

Mrs. Walter Aylette Hawes gets credit for starting what we know call Vacation Bible School. In 1898 she rented a beer hall in the Eastside of New York to conduct an “Everyday Bible School”. Her goal was to get kids off the streets. Her pastor convinced her to move the school to the church campus. She tried but found out the kids were not coming so she went back to the beer hall!

In 1922 Southern Baptists more formally adopted this idea and it became known as Vacation Bible School. It began as a 4 week Bible School…oh my. In 1924 VBS had grown so much it moved from under the Sunday School Division and became its own division in the Southern Baptist Convention.

It is one of the most strategic outreach tools using age appropriate evangelism messages and methods. Each year in the Southern Baptist Convention, 25% of all baptisms come from decisions made during Vacation Bible School. Each year, there are over 2.7 million people enrolled in VBS and 10% of those enrolled in VBS are unchurched. This makes for a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel. Every year almost 79,000 precious souls come to know Jesus as Savior by the mission and ministry of Vacation Bible School. My guess is Mrs. Hawes would love the development of what she started back in 1898 in that local beer hall.

This years VBS theme is GAME ON!. The motto is “Gear Up! Get Ready! Game On!” We will have 4 great Bible studies, great worship and lots of fun. VBS will start Monday evening, June 18 and will conclude with family night on Friday, June 22. If you have not been to a VBS in a while…check it out one night. We have all our classes and teams filled, but you can always come as a spectator…or a last minute volunteer. Pray for this years VBS. Pray that boys and girls will open their hearts and lives to the work of God’s Holy Spirit. Pray that they will be reached before they have to be rescued.

Game on!

Pastor Tom