CELEBRATE RECOVERY NEXT STEPS

This pandemic has altered the course of many of our ministries. One of the ministries most affected is Celebrate Recovery. JIBC had one of the strongest and healthiest Celebrate Recoveries in our area. I have often said that we would be pleased if the founder of Celebrate Recovery, John Baker, dropped in on any given Sunday to visit with our CR mission and ministry.

Because of Covid-19, Celebrate Recovery, like all of our missions and ministries had to make adjustments. We temporarily ended in person meetings but quickly went to online meetings. Then we took the step to start and add meeting in person for large group teaching. Once that was established and the group started growing again, we added to the large group teaching time the women’s small group and men’s small group. Our CR Team leader, Darryl Young, has told us CR is ready for the next steps. So, we are reaching out for prayer and volunteers. The next step to help CR get back to full strength is paid preschool workers. Many of the people who desperately need to attend CR cannot afford child care and often do not have families that can help. It is not as easy as having those who have children take turns keeping the nursery. Many of them have legal reasons why they cannot work in a nursery. So, we are looking for two people to fill a paid nursery position for 2 hours every Sunday night. If you would be interested in this mission, please let us know. You can call the church office or Scott at 843-762-0244. They will be glad to talk with you to see if we have a match.

The next step, which will happen sooner rather than later, is adding the “celebration” back into the mix. We will start having live in-person worship led by Pastor David and his team. We have been playing music, but we will soon be adding live music each Sunday night. This is a really important part of Celebrate Recovery. It has been on hold because of Covid-19.

The final piece that will come back is the fellowship meal. This provided a much needed opportunity to enjoy fellowship with fellow strugglers. In the past our faithful Kitchen Krew served a great meal with lots of variety. We were supplemented by The Charleston Crab House and Kickin’ Chicken and a donor who generously paid for pizza once a month. This may be the most difficult part of Celebrate recovery to add back. We may go back to a very basic menu of hamburgers and hot dogs! Any volunteers to help cook, or serve or clean up? It is great fellowship and it helps meet a great need.

So, now you see how to pray for Celebrate Recovery. The next steps are big steps. Let’s join them in prayer trusting God to provide for these next steps.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

A FISH OUT OF WATER AND GIVING A CAT A BATH!

 Have you ever heard those two phrases before? I have used them often to describe the way I feel about this time with Covid-19/Corona Virus. How is that? Well, a fish out of water is a fish not in its intended environment. A fish is meant to be in water, live in water do all their fishy things in water. Take the fish out of water and now that fish is in trouble.

As a pastor, this year of living in a pandemic has caused me to feel like a fish out of water so to speak. One example: when I first came to James Island Baptist Church, I would make over 500 hospital visits each year. I had to keep record for tax purposes. I love making hospital visits so that was never an issue. Now imagine how many hospital visits I have made over 35 years. Way over 10,000 visits to hospital rooms. This past year, 2020 has been the exact opposite. Pastors, along with family members, were most often not allowed to visit with members in the hospital. I have not been in the hospital since January of 2020 except when I was the patient! It caused a little bit of an anxiety issue for me. How could I represent Christ to those I could not see, touch, pray with, cry with, and love? I felt kind of like a fish out of water. Of course, we tried to adapt, change strategies, improvise and do the best we can. I know God’s love and care, that of the Great Shepherd, never stopped, never was limited by Covid-19. I still felt like a fish out of water, as did many family members, friends, church leaders, etc. I suspect we all felt that way at times.

Now the other saying…it was like giving a cat a bath! Have you ever tried that? It can be done, but the cat “ain’t” very happy about it! I feel like we are all cats being given a bath. All the Covid restrictions, rules, isolation, masks, social distancing…kind of like giving a cat a bath…I don’t like it.

As the old saying goes, these are the best of times they are the worst of times but they are the only times we have! So let’s keep on praising, thanking, praying, serving, reaching out, reaching up, reaching in for the glory of God. I just watched three of our Hispanic friends get baptized! Hallelujah….that is Spanish for Hallelujah! God is good all the time, He is still working and we are still in the business of joining Him. It may look different and be different.

By the way, we say good bye to three of our Senior Saints: Babe Galus, Juanita Garrett and Tommy Bingham. These are three precious souls who have officially transferred their membership from James Island Baptist Church to the eternal Lamb’s Book of Life. Prayers and love to their families and friends.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

FAVORITE CHAPTERS IN THE BIBLE?

Ever thought about what are some of your favorite chapters in the Bible? I often say Psalm 23 as a meditation when I am anxious. It is a gift from our Father to help bring calm and assurance. I still get a little anxious when I fly so you are likely to see me quietly meditating on this Psalm.

I also have referred to Psalm 91 more in 2020 than I have the rest of my life combined. It is a powerful chapter speaking about the loving protection of God. You may remember the beginning of the Covid-19 panic back in January and February of 2020. Wow, that seems so long ago. We started and ended several of our worship services reading this Psalm. I printed it everywhere that I could and prayed through it often.

I am sure we could have wonderful and meaningful conversations about your favorite chapters in the Bible. I hope you will share them with me sometime. Today, I want to share with you another one of my favorites, Colossians 3. Inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, penned by the Apostle Paul, this beautiful chapter has often brought me balance and peace. There are times when I find myself dominated by old ways of thinking and old habits that I looked to for peace. The problem is I am not that old Tom anymore. I have been born again, I have a new life and a new nature in Christ Jesus. Paul helps me to see that while I am free from the penalty and punishment of sin, I am not yet free from the presence and temptation of sin. This chapter, Colossians 3, lays out some spiritual exercises and principles that will help me find balance and peace and will fill my cup. The Word of God calls us to set our minds and hearts on things above, not on earthly things. We are to acknowledge, believe and act on the truth that Jesus Christ is our life, our source of life, the meaning and purpose of life. The other things, the “earthly things”, are an attempt to substitute for the real thing. For example, it is tempting to substitute religion about Jesus for a relationship with Jesus.

Jesus calls us to sacrifice the lower things of life to receive the higher things. We are invited to let go of the old ways and open our hands to receive God’s new ways. This past Sunday, I taught on Colossians 3:1-4. It dealt with this in more detail. This coming Sunday, February 14, I will teach on Colossians 3:5-11. Remember you can check these messages out at jamesislandbaptist.com.

I am hoping that as we go through Colossians 3 together, this will also become one of your favorite chapters in the Bible. Don’t forget to work on memorizing Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up: do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

See you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

CLOSE AS A TWO FOOT PUTT!

That is how close we are to finishing the latest “update/refreshing” of the Transition House. Our volunteers have done a great job of cleaning, repairing, and replacing in order to have it ready for the next guest. While things are still in “Covid-Mode” at the Charleston Center and they are not ready to send us new residents, we are trying to get the house ready to offer temporary shelter to families that cannot stay at the Ronald McDonald House because of Covid-protocol. That may or may not happen, but we are preparing to make the offer.

Here is a list of the items still to be addressed. If you would be willing and able to take any of these off the list, please let us know. Call Neale at 762-0244 or email me at tombrown41@comcast.net. The list: Hang closet doors in the Master Bedroom; level the washing machine and dryer; repair the hall bathroom light fixture and vent cover; cut and tie the cords on all the blinds; minor woodwork repair on the upstairs dresser trim; paint the inside of the metal medicine cabinets that are so rusted. The one big exterior need is to caulk and paint the outside trim. This would need to be coordinated with a power wash of the exterior.

It is as close as a two foot putt! We are almost there. Our thanks to the volunteers who did dozens of projects that got us to this point! Hallelujah and Amen.

“Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 49:13

This Sunday at 3:00 I will be participating in the Four Chaplains Memorial Service at the American Legion on Folly Road. The public is welcomed to this inspiring service. I have been privileged to participate and consider it an honor to do so.

Pastor Tom

Questions With An Eternal Impact

This was the title of my message this past Sunday. It came from Acts 16:30. The jailer had seen and heard Paul and Silas react to being beaten and imprisoned. He heard them as they prayed and sang songs of praise. Then he experienced the shaking of the earthquake that opened the doors of the prison. He fully expected to find the jail empty. Why wouldn’t the prisoners run for their lives? But they did not and Paul stopped the jailer from taking his own life. What happened next is amazing. The jailer asked “What must I do to be saved?” I hear in his question the desire to have what Paul and Silas had; to have meaning and purpose beyond immediate circumstance; to have faith in the face of persecution. What must I do to have that?

We may forget that those around us watch us. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We have been born again, filled with His Holy Spirit, part of a community of faith. We are not perfect but we are to be different. How do we handle adversity? How do we treat others, especially others who are not like us? What comes out of our mouths and hearts when we are wronged the way Paul and Silas were wronged? The prayer and praise was powerful and had an impact.

What must I do to be saved? That is a great question with an eternal impact. Today people may ask that question using different words. They might ask questions or comments like these: “How do you remain so calm under these circumstances?”, “How can you survive such a devastating loss?”, “I could never do what you did!”. We want to be open and sensitive to the questions they might ask. It could be a question with an eternal impact like “What must I do to be saved?”

Just for fun: Did you know that most questions are not questions?

See you Sunday, good Lord willing. By the way, we have room for you at Class 101: Discovering Membership at JIBC. Would love for you to join us for your first time or for a refresher. Just let us know if you are coming.

Pastor Tom

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? 

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” 

Isaiah 43:19 

God has a history of doing something new. That was the title of this Sunday’s message. It is easy to chronicle throughout the Word of God that He has a history of doing a new thing. Our theme verse is an excellent place to start. Read it again. Try to memorize it. Let this be a new…see what I did there…part of your theological understanding of our Heavenly Father.

Now here is the challenge: You can’t receive the new way of God until you open your hand and let go of the old way. If you are familiar with Experiencing God you may remember this: You can’t go with God and stay where you are! I love the idea of God doing a new thing. But truthfully a new thing can be challenging. It is easy to get comfortable with an old way or an old thing. Sometimes when God starts a new thing in a new way in our lives, the greatest opposition comes from the old things with its old ways.

The good news is that God has a history of doing new things, of making a way in the wilderness of life, of making rivers where there has been deserts. John 5:17 says the Father is always at work. I believe that and pray that He will help us to “perceive it” as Isaiah says. Perhaps He is doing something new in your family; your work; your spiritual life; James Island Baptist; our country? I know our Father has a history of doing a new thing. Let’s look for it and expect it. I am praying He will continually do a new thing in my life and that I will be able to see it and embrace it. May the deserts you experience be flooded and overflow with the river of God’s blessing. May the wilderness in your life that seemed so empty and barren become a place of abundant blessing. We must be willing to open our hands and let go of the old to receive the new thing God is doing.

By the way, speaking of God doing a new thing, Pastor Frankie Gilmore has accepted a call to a sister church in the Summerville area. He began with us as an intern while he was at Charleston Southern. We called him to a part time position as soon as one was available. As his wedding date moved closer, he needed a full time salary so he went to work for one of the Escape Venues here in Charleston. We then put together a full time package to help meet his needs and called him back to JIBC. I am so excited for Frankie and Jen and the opportunity ahead for them. This will be a great opportunity to grow even more. They are loved and will always be a welcomed part of the JIBC family. He has been one of the most versatile staff members we have ever had and he served with such a willing heart. Just like Frankie and Jen, we now open our hand to let go of the old way to receive the new way and the new thing God is doing.

Hope to see you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

A New Way

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up;

do you not perceive it? I am making a way…”

Isaiah 43:19

This is the first verse I will memorize in 2021.  It is the theme of our church new year.  It would be a good one to add to your list of memorized verses.   My thanks to Pastor Scott for teaching Sunday and introducing the New Year’s Theme: A New Way.  I am looking forward to continuing this series Sunday! 

Speaking of a new way…here are two “new” things that will be happening. Both of them are Covid-19 related.  We are trying our absolute best to make progress while also trying to do our best to mitigate the spread of this virus.  It is a bit like keeping one foot on the dock while having the other foot on the boat.  Lol!   We are, with cautious optimism, wading back into a full church schedule.  We are adding one or two things at a time.  We will then evaluate and make course corrections as we go. 

 WEDNESDAY NIGHT DINNERS ARE BACK WEDNESDAY JANUARY13!  You can sign up online or this Sunday during worship to reserve a spot at the Wednesday night meal.  Tables will be spread out with limited seating at each table.  We will have some new options for payments.  You can pay with cash but you must have the exact amount.  That helps everyone not “touch” the money more than necessary.  We are also trying to make it possible to pay by debit card (that is still being worked out).  The cost is $5 per adult and youth and $3 for children.  Bear with us while we work out the details.  Please wear your mask until you are seated at your table.  No one will be allowed in the Kitchen area except the Kitchen Krew.  They will accept “air hugs and kisses” from a distance! 

SUNDAY CHANGES.   We will be receiving the offering as we did during the Christmas Eve services.  Our leader/servants will hold the offering plates as they walk down each aisle.  That limits the contact and is a method of offering more similar to what our church family is use to.  You may, of course, still place your offering in one of the offering boxes located in the worship center.   A growing number of our church families and friends are giving online now, but for some, it is still their preference to give at the service.  We are providing multiple opportunities.  Giving is very much a part of our worship experience. 

“See, I am doing a new thing!”  Let’s join Him is what He is doing.

Pastor Tom