LESS THAN THREE WEEKS!

It seems like so long ago that we began dreaming and planning for the Festival of Hope. But here it is less that three weeks away. Here are the basics. The Festival of Hope is one way to help remove the stigma of mental health illness and to raise awareness of addiction, substance use disorders. How could we do this on a large scale? That was the question. Then we started with the idea of having a “Festival of Hope”. We would invite Vendors of Hope to join us. These are individuals and organizations that would join us and advertise and promote what they do to help bring hope. We have counselors, the Charleston Center, National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), Wake Up Carolina, Lowcountry Behavioral, Connie Maxwell, Warrior Surf Foundation, His Radio, James Island Outreach, etc, etc. I could not be more pleased with the “buy in” and enthusiastic desire to be a part of this day of hope.

We are providing a family environment that in itself will go a long way to removing the stigma of mental health. We are not hiding our mental health issues; we are building a festival around them! A person would be able to stop by any of the booths to meet the Vendors of Hope. There will be lots of giveaways, free food and the best music on the Island from our friends Wildflower Station! We will begin at 10:00 am with a patriotic ceremony featuring a color guard and the singing of the National Anthem. The first 1000 people get vouchers to eat free or to have a shaved Kona ice treat or a coffee from “Tom’s Coffee Truck”. Btw, that is a different Tom…not me!

So, who should come to the Festival of Hope? It is not a stretch to say everyone. We all have struggles we live with. Some have minor mental health struggles and some are more serious. We all know someone who has addiction issues. Addiction can be more that drugs and alcohol. Meeting these Vendors of Hope may help us know resources that can help. Seeing all the resources God has put together in one place may be exactly what some need. Let’s hope so. Janie and I plan to be there volunteering where ever Pastor Kyle needs help. Hope to see you there too!

Pastor Tom

Why The Festival of Hope and Why for Me?

Those are fair questions. Why are we producing, promoting and pushing this Festival of Hope, May 17 from 10 AM to 2 PM? It has long been on my heart to find a way to help remove the stigma of mental health issues and to raise awareness of addictions/substance use disorders. It is my belief that a very large percentage of addiction issues are rooted in mental health issues. (By the way, I don’t think all mental health issues end in addictions). I do believe almost all addictions (drugs, alcohol, shopping, gambling, sexual addictions, etc.) are fueled by an undiagnosed or untreated mental health issue. My prayer is that we could help find a way to remove the stigma of mental health issues and make it easier for everyone to seek help and be supported.

Now, how does that relate to you? I suspect most of us know someone struggling with mental health illness and/or addictions. We might not know of resources to help them. The Festival of Hope is assembling what may be the biggest one time gathering of helping ministries in the Charleston area. The list includes what I call all the heavy hitters: The Charleston Center, National Alliance of Mental Illness, Steadfast Recovery Ministries, Charleston Teen and Family EMPOWER, Charleston HOPE, Connie Maxwell Children Ministries, Lowcountry Biblical Counseling Center, Barrier Island Free Clinic, Wake Up Carolina, Warrior Surf Foundation, The Navigation Center, and on and on. Our goal is to have 40 of these Vendors of Hope who are all on board with our mission.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness shares the following: 1 out of 5 adults experience mental illness each year; 706,000 adults in South Carolina have a mental health condition; 1 in 6 youth experience a mental health disorder each year; over 200,000 adults in South Carolia did not receive needed mental health care. The numbers can go on and on. I think we get the point. Perhaps many of us have been there or at least know someone we love who has been there. We are gathering 40 of our city’s best resources to be available at no charge. Talk to a counselor, stop by a find out what that agency does, connect with people who are making a difference.

Now, let’s say your life is free from anything described above. Why is the Festival of Hope for you? We want you to come and volunteer. Be a greeter, help park cars, serve food, rub shoulders, encourage the Vendors of Hope, etc. Invite, invite, and invite. Our goal is 1,000 people. We are ready for 2,000! Pray that we continue to find favor with God and man!

See you Sunday,

Pastor Tom

WHAT TO DO ABOUT EASTER?

 For many churches Easter Sunday/Resurrection Sunday is the largest attended service of the year. And for good reason…it is celebrating and remembering the greatest event in history. It makes sense to do everything you can possibly do to be present in worship on Resurrection Sunday. I look forward to hearing the beautiful echo “He is risen!” and “He is risen indeed!”. It is a once in history event that breaks the power of sin, defeats the grave, and removes the sting of death! He is risen…He is risen indeed.

Try to join us this Resurrection Sunday. Invite your family to come and sit with you. Invite them to worship and to a meal afterwards. The invitation to join you for this years Easter Worship Service will probably be enough. If you add a meal into the invitation, it is almost a sure bet they will join you. I will be sharing a clear and basic message of salvation.

FLOWERING OF THE CROSS

For years now, we have been carrying on a lovely tradition called “Flowering the Cross” . We invite everyone to bring some flowers to put on a specially designed cross. You can bring flowers from your own yard or in my case, from a neighbor’s yard…with their permission of course! We also pick up a small bouquet from Costco or our local grocery store! It creates a lovely picture symbolizing what Jesus did: he died on the old rugged cross and by His death and resurrection, made the cross a part of the Greatest Story Ever Told. Don’t forget it makes a beautiful backdrop for pictures!

By the way, if you get this Messenger before Saturday, Todd Holseberg will be putting out pine straw around the church to spruce the campus up a bit! He would love to have some help! He will start at 8:00 AM.

See you this Resurrection Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

SIX WEEK COUNTDOWN: FESTIVAL OF HOPE ON MAY 17

SIX WEEK COUNTDOWN:

FESTIVAL OF HOPE ON MAY 17

By the time you are reading this article, we will be less than 5 weeks from The Festival of Hope. Almost a year ago, I felt God laying this idea on my heart. There were two things I wanted to see happen. First, I wanted to find a way to help remove the stigma of mental health problems. Second, I wanted to raise awareness of addictions, substance use disorders. My observation over the years is that mental health issues and addictions are closely connected. There are times where we are trying to self-medicate our undiagnosed or untreated mental health issues. So maybe, just maybe, we could have a Festival of Hope that would help accomplish those two goals.

Pastor Kyle has been doing an outstanding job or leading in this mission. We have almost 35 helping agencies that are on board with us planning to participate in the Festival of Hope. We have more joining every week. We secured one of the best locations on James Island. First Baptist Church of Charleston has graciously allowed us to use their athletic complex including parking and the football field. We have our favorite group, Wildflower Station, that will be singing twice. We have the America Legion kicking off the day with their Honor Guard and the National Anthem. We have guest politicians. There will be free food and options for food trucks (hopefully at reduced cost or no cost!). We call the agencies and groups that will be present “VENDORS OF HOPE”. Each of them brings something unique to the world of mental health issues and addictions. We intentionally made it a family friendly event to help move us toward removing the stigma of mental health issues and substance use disorders (addictions). It will be the biggest event of this kind to ever be hosted on James Island. We are having it rain or shine.

What can you do?

ONE, pray. Pray for people to come. My worst nightmare is that we throw a huge party/event like this and the crowds do not come. We are hoping and working toward having over 1000 people present. We have professionals helping us to reach and exceed that goal.

TWO, plan to attend. It will be a fun and very interesting event. Come and say hello to the community resources that help make Charleston a better place to live!

THREE, volunteer. We will need help with parking, safety, food service, greeting, setup and tear down, volunteer at the inflatables, registration and first aid.

FOUR, invite someone to come with you.

FINAL COUNTDOWN TO THE FESTIVAL OF HOPE. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Amen!

Pastor Tom

For more info, visit hopeforcharleston.com

FESTIVAL OF HOPE

REMOVING THE STIGMA

MAY 17, 2025 FROM 10:00 TO 2:00

FBC ATHLETIC FIELDS

2051 George L Griffith Blvd

An inadequate mental health system affects individuals, families and communities. That is one reason we are hosting and promoting one of the largest health care events ever to be held on James Island. My heart was touched by the goal of removing the stigma of mental health illnesses and at the same time, raising awareness of substance use disorders/addictions. It is my belief that almost all addictions are driven by some type of mental health issue. But not all mental health illnesses lead to addictions…if that makes sense?

Take a look at these statistics supplied by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). High school students with depression are 2X more likely to drop out than their peers. 56% of South Carolinians age 12-17 who have depression did not receive any care in the last year. Many homeless people live with a serious mental illness that leads to their homelessness. In the USA 1 person dies of suicide every 11 minutes. There are 2 million jail bookings of people with serious mental illness each year.

I know I cannot accomplish these two goals in just one Festival of Hope…but we can try. You miss all of the shots you don’t take. We are taking this big shot from half-court. It is a big, really big plan. To God be the glory, He has shown us favor is so many areas. We have almost 30 of the leading agencies, services, ministries, organizations in the Lowcountry participating. We have a back up plan if it rains; a football and soccer field at First Baptist Church Recreation facility to use; one of James Island’s favorite bands playing; free food and drinks; vendors that all are working to help bring hope into the lives of all people regardless of race, creed or background. Inflatables for the children!

What can you do? #1) Pray for over 1,000 to attend and for great weather. #2) Plan to attend and bring someone you love. We all know a family that struggles. We are bringing the Vendors of Hope together in one place. You might never see this again! #3) Volunteer to help in one of the dozen ways: greeters, parking, shuttle, runner, servers, set up or take down, etc.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

Policies and Procedures in the Prevention of Child Abuse

For years, even decades, JIBC has had taken Prevention of Child Abuse seriously. We have made it a part of our Class 101:Discovering Membership at JIBC. Our staff has received additional training from area attorneys. We were doing our best long before it was and “church industry” standard. My how things have changed.

Our insurance carrier asked to see a copy of our Policies and Procedures in the Prevention of Child Abuse. They are requiring that we make important and significant additions to our existing policies and procedures. To the point, they will not provide coverage if we do not make these changes in our training and policies. We think that is a very good thing. It is, however, a much more involved process of training all volunteers. It is even more involved for those of us in leadership positions that recruit and train volunteers.

Under the new guidelines from our insurance company, in addition to background checks for anyone working with preschool, children, youth or vulnerable adults they will also receive a copy of our Child Abuse Prevention Policy and will need to sign a form stating they will abide by the policy.

All volunteers and teachers in the Day School will be required to complete an on-line training video course (approximately 1 hour long) and take a short quiz. All Staff and volunteers who are part of the enlistment process will be required to complete a more detailed on-line training video course (approximately 2 hours long) and take a short quiz.

This will not be new to anyone volunteering in the public school system or to anyone who goes to camp as a counselor. Logan’s volunteers have been doing this for a few years now.

This article is just to give our church a “heads up” that this is indeed coming. It is a good thing and we fully support this requirement. I am grateful for the insurance company giving us the info we needed to do our best!

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

“THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR”

Perhaps many of us have seen an event that we were sure was exactly as we saw it. Example: you see a grown man run up and physically tackle another man. It appears as if an assault just took place. The reality of this story is “not so fast”. The man who tackled the other man saved his life. He jumped, at risk to his own life, to save the other man from an oncoming out of control automobile. All the other misunderstandings assigned a bad motive and a bad action to something that was rather heroic.

Jesus was arrested, falsely accused, beaten and crucified. To make their point even more brutal, they buried him and put a group of guards around his grave to make sure no one took his body. Point is “things are not always what they seem”. They only knew half of the story…the death and burial. From their perspective, death was final. No one walks away from a Roman crucifixion. The Jew from Nazareth is dead. Not so fast. That was Friday but they forgot Sunday is coming. They forgot the prophecies; they ignored Jesus’ own testimony. On the Third Day Jesus was raised to life defeating sin, death and the grave. Things were not as they seem.

We see from our perspective. We may need to ask God to help us see from His perspective. What seems to us to be a sure thing, we could not be mistaken, I saw it with my own eyes could in fact be not the whole story. Give God a moment to finish His work. Things are not always as they seem. It would be arrogance to think our way of seeing things is always right. After all, dead men don’t walk again or talk again. Problem is that just is not true. God was up to something. Why not pause and see what it might be. Things are not always as they seem. Just because we do not see it does not mean it is not so. You may be down but you might not be out if God is in the plan.

Blessings to you. See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom