Mission Work with a fun little twist?

Most of the time we think of mission work as over there.  If you ride a motorcycle, here is a cool way to make a difference, maybe make some friends, and help tackle one of the biggest global problem…clean, safe drinking water.  The world-wide water crisis claims more lives than war, natural disasters, AIDS, or even hunger.  If you ride a motorcycle, you can help make a difference and have some fun.

On March 17, Low Country Harley-Davidson is hosting a benefit ride to help Water Mission International.  Join Pastor Tom and Janie for a fun day for a good cause. Find out more on line at bikers4water.  Janie and I rode in this event last year.  It was a lot of fun.  Timmy Glover who served as our interim worship leader was the official spokesman for the police escorted ride.  It is a lot of fun to hear 300+ bikes rev it up for a good cause.  We will post the info on the main bulletin board, but the best way to get the info is to go on line.  You can pre-register and get a free event t-shirt.

More missional living.

One of the wonderful benefits of 40 Days In The Word is the involvement of each group in a Micah 6:8 Project.  It is designed to help us actually “do” the Word.  Imagine this for a moment: there are 4, 500 churches involved in the 40DITW spiritual growth campaign.  JIBC is kind of a small to medium size church.  In Charleston, Cathedral of Praise is participating, and they are a very large church.  Let’s just say each of these church families have 25 small groups, and each of them has a Micah 6:8 project showing love, justice, and mercy in the community.  That would be 1,125,000 potential mission projects into the community.  I suspect there is far more, but that is if most of the participating churches were our size and not the mega church size.  I am obviously pretty excited about this.  What else has doubled the amount of people in Bible Study, led the church to memorize scripture together, build intimacy among the membership as we carry out the “one another’s,” teaching them to do daily Bible devotions, and time alone with God.  Hallelujah, what a Savior.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

Lot's Going On...

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

I know it may not seem like an earth shaking event, but I am very excited about the track lighting installed just outside the church offices.  It now provides a more professional way to display a variety of art work.  If you did not see it Sunday, come on by and take a look.  Our thanks to Charles Oliver for having the lighting installed and loaning us some of his art work for display.  I look forward to the variety of ways we can use art as worship as well as enjoyment.  By the way, Charles loaned us art work that goes along with the Southeast Wildlife Exposition in town.

HERE IT COMES AGAIN: Annual Joy Club Mystery Trip

Once a year, the staff is responsible for planning a mystery trip for our Joy Club.  It is a Senior Adult ministry, but they are very generous about letting anyone attend.  Last year’s mystery trip will be hard to top, but I think we have a pretty good chance.  Just ask those who went last year.  They would not have wanted to miss it.  I really believe they will be saying the same thing about this Tuesday’s trip.  Meet at the church at 9:00 a.m..  The bus will leave at 9:15 sharp.  Don’t be late.  You will not want to miss this one.  Bring $10 for lunch.  If you don’t have $10, come on anyway, and Pastor Brent will buy your lunch for you…hehehe.

www.40ditw.com

Check it out, you will enjoy the 40 video devotionals by some of the leading pastor from around America and even Internationally.  I am so pleased with how the 40 Days In the Word is going.  We have over doubled the amount of adults in weekly Bible Study.  If that is all we did, it would already be a great success.  That means we have double the amount of Adults learning how to have a daily Bible Study, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word and how to apply God’s Word to their lives.  Now in addition to that, we have gone from 2 off campus connection groups to 19.  Our prayer is that many of the folks in these groups will so enjoy their time that they will want to continue in a small group as a way of living out their discipleship.  We give God the glory and thank Him for His faithfulness.

Pastor Tom

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Isn’t there something in each of us that wants to make a difference, to leave this world a little better off than we found it, to live in such a way that we help others find the Kingdom of God we so enjoy?  I really think there is.  We want our lives to count for something.  I believe it is built in us to leave a legacy, to pass on to the next generation values and faith that can change our hearts.

One pastor described it this way: “Community is when we use our lives to make a difference in the life of someone who is already here.  Mission is when we use our lives to make a difference in the life of someone who is not yet here”.  Read that again.  It is very powerful. It is worthy of some thought and meditation.

Community is what you and I as members of a church family enjoy.  It is where we live out the over 40 “one another’s” talked about in the Bible.  We love one another, encourage one another, admonish and pray for one another.  That is community.  Your community is the group that knows when you are gone, when you are celebrating, when you are hurting, when you have needs.  Your community is the group you ask to pray for you, help you with the kids, give you a ride or visit your family member in the hospital.  Usually that is your church family, your Sunday Bible Study group or your small group.  Your community is the group of people you try to influence, love and make a difference in their lives as you do life together.

There is also mission…when we use our lives to make a difference in the life of someone who is not yet here, not yet in a small group, not in anyone’s Sunday Bible Study class.  Mission is when you love, serve, pray, and care for someone who is not yet here…not yet connected to God’s family.  We are not responsible for making them “get born again.”  That is God’s work.  We are responsible for using our lives to make a difference.  Good news about that…I believe we are created with that in our DNA…we are created in the image of God.  It gets marred and messed up along the way and results in self-centered thinking and living, then we meet Him and are born again.  The DNA of His purpose starts to grow and flow.  You start believing that you can make a difference and that you were put here and are still here for a purpose.

Since September 15, 1985 my goal has been the same:  “To lead JIBC to make a difference in our families, our church, our community, and the world.”  That is community and mission.  It is still the vision, still the mission, still the value, still the goal.  I love Him more today than ever and am just as excited, by His grace and power, to make a difference.

Pastor Tom

What's Going On?

A NEW BIG SCREEN TV?

Pretty cool, we were able to buy a big screen TV for use in the Fellowship Hall.  Here is the cool thing (pun intended).  We bought it with money from the Coke Machine in the fellowship hall.  Remember the old advertisement theme of “I’d Like to buy the world a coke”?  Go ahead; just make sure you use the machine in the fellowship hall.  Things really do go better with Coke.  Sunday night 51 people in Celebrate Recovery watched the Super Bowl on a 51” flat screen.  Love those coke drinking polar bears.

CLASS 101: DISCOVERING MEMBERSHIP

The story says the little boy was playing church.  He was in the process of baptizing the cat.  The cat was very vocal about not enjoying the process.  The little boy’s mother walked in on this rapidly declining religious ceremony.  “Son, can’t you see the cat does not like water?” the mother asked.  The little boy replied “He should have thought of that before he joined my church!”

Ok, it is a little bit funny, right? But at the bottom of the story is a truth I like.  We do want people to understand what membership at JIBC is all about.  No member has joined JIBC I the past 15 years that I have not personally shared a clear plan of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We teach what Jesus says about baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  We go through the purpose of JIBC, why we exist and how we are accomplishing our mission.  Then, we go over how we operate as a church family.  Not only what we do but how we do it.

Think about it.  We have guest who are willing to give up an entire Sunday afternoon to go through this seminar.  They come motivated and willing to make a significant sacrifice to be a part of JIBC.  It lifts the bar higher.  It is a part of our goal of making fully devoted followers of Christ.  I am always blessed by the opportunity to spend such time with those considering membership at JIBC.  It is one of the many things I absolutely love about being a pastor here t JIBC.

Good Lord willing, see you Sunday when we officially kick off 40 Days in the Word.

Pastor Tom

THREE AMAZING MINISTRIES

First, the Transition House-180 Ministry.  By the time you read this article, we will have our first resident living in the Transition House at JIBC.  Our volunteer Director, Marsha Cline spent her first night there this past Sunday night.  She will begin making it her home and will be the live in ‘house mom.” We have an interview for our second resident this week and could place the third any time we are ready.  I think we might start with two and get our feet wet, so to speak.  Thank you to all who prayed, worked, donated time, labor, and finances.  Here it is, up and running with a waiting list to get in.  Praise the Lord.

Second, Celebrate Recovery.  I knew this ministry could be strong in time, but I had no idea it could do so well so quickly.  We have a great team leading this ministry, and in almost every way, it is a text-book example of how Celebrate Recovery should be run.  Last Sunday we had 40 adults.  It is a little like nailing jello to the wall, but with enough creativity, you can nail jello! With God all things are possible.

Third, 40 Days in the Word of God.  We have done several 40 Day church wide spiritual campaigns before.  All of them were worthwhile, and all of them proved to be productive.  So I wondered how this one would go.  Wow.  We have had great response.  David Johnson is new to our staff leading Worship and Connection Groups.  In the middle of getting settled into his new home and city, we give him one of the largest, most difficult ministries to tackle.  He has done a good job.  Don’t hold up the standard of perfection, except to Jesus.  The rest of us are due grace and prayers as we lead and equip the saints to do the work of Christ.

I am very excited when I see what is happening.  There are far more than these three ministries.  Weekly, our church family joins together to help disciple children, youth, and adults through Bible Study, Awana, Youth Worship, Children’s worship, etc, etc.  We are not just spinning our wheels maintaining the status quo of committees we have always had, doing what we have always done, and getting the same results we have always gotten.  We are making headway, taking the Light of the World into dark places, and seeing individuals and families rescued, neighborhoods getting better as lives are changed, and believers engage in serving.  You are the salt that makes a difference.  You are the light shining in your neighborhood.

Pastor Tom

“DRIVERS, START YOUR ENGINES!”

Those are exciting words if you are a Nascar fan.  It means the race is about to start, get in your seat, put your head set on, and get ready to enjoy the race.

If I could paraphrase those famous words just a little:  “FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, IGNITE YOUR FAITH, FIRE UP YOUR PRAYERS, AND START YOUR SPIRITUAL ENGINES!”  We are just two weeks from kicking off several outstanding ministries here at JIBC.

First, the 40 Days in the Word of God.  Here the words of our Lord: “If you abide in my Word you are really my disciples.”  John 8:31.  The prayer for this 40 Day spiritual journey is to lead our family to abide, more deeply abide, begin to abide, or continue to abide in the precious Word of God.  Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, my prayer is you will greatly benefit from this 7 week time of fellowship and discipleship.  I pray we will learn to love the Bible as we have never loved it before, to learn the Bible as we have never learned it before, and to live the Bible as we have never lived it before.

I am so personally committed to this; I will be leading two groups.  Janie and I will be leading a Tuesday night group at our home.  I will also be leading an open group on Wednesday nights at the JIBC campus.  This Wednesday night group is open to anyone who is not in another group, maybe missed a time with their group, or their Sunday Bible Study class, for some reason, is not joining us for the 40 Days in the Word.

This is going to be good.  Your spiritual life can be stronger, your Bible Study class or small group will be better equipped, your knowledge of the Bible can soar.  Best of all, you will no doubt come to know our Father and His love even better and that will lead you to love Him even more passionately.

Any of the staff will help you find a group or figure it out.  Just ask Dave, Brent, Neale, Jess or myself. We will help you get connected.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

TWO BLESSINGS IN ONE!

Years ago there was a popular and wildly successful advertising campaign for Certs breath mints.  Do you remember it?  “Two, two, it’s two mints in one.”  Was it a breath mint or a candy mint?  It was two mints in one.  It was memorable, successful, and will not be forgotten by an entire generation.

That is my prayer for the coming month of February.  Two, two, two blessings in one.  We are doubling the opportunity for you to be blessed.  The entire month of January will be given to advertising and encouraging you to claim both blessings, two in one, so to speak.

Blessing number one:  40 Days in the Word.

Starting February 5th, James Island Baptist will begin a church wide spiritual journey that can positively transform your life and the life of JIBC.  We are providing multiple ways to be a part:  Sunday Bible Study classes, weekday connection groups that meet in homes, different nights and different communities, and a Wednesday night “make up” class if you happen to miss your connection groups meeting.  We have 14 who have agreed to “host” this 7 week spiritual journey into the Word of God.  The goal is simple:  Love the Word of God like you have never loved it before-Learn the Word of God like you have never learned it before-Live the Word of God like you have never lived it before.   Please take a look at your calendar soon and put this down.  February-March, 7 Weeks, 40 Days in the Word of God.

Got questions?  Call me at 762-0244.

Blessing number two:  Church Wide Pictorial Directory. 

I will agree that there are basically two types of people in the world.  Those who say there are two types of people and those who don’t.  Ok, maybe four types if you add those who like to have there picture taken and those who do not.  Here is the deal.  First, having a church wide pictorial directory is a great tool for fellowship.  Think of how many names and faces we will be able to put together.  No more “Hi, uh, Bubba?” or “How you doing, you ol’….person you?”  Now, we can casually look up the face or the name and have a match.  I think almost everyone would like to have that kind of tool.  Here is the catch.  It is only as helpful as the number of people who participate.  The more faces and families, the more we can improve on the “Heyyy, you!” because we can’t remember names.  Second, the only way to get the directory is to have your picture put in.  The church directory will not be available to everyone.  It is a one copy for each “family”.  That means if you are an individual getting your picture made-one directory.  If you are a couple-one copy.  If you are a family of 5-one copy.  Good news, that copy is free.  You also get a voucher that will allow you to get a free 8x10 or put that voucher price toward a different package if you want to.

See what I mean?  Two, two, two blessings in one.  Sign up for both will take place over the next three weeks.  Check your calendars for the February 23-25 and/or the March 1-3 Olan Mills picture shoots.  Find a time that suites you and sign up soon.

“If you abide in my Word, then you are truly my disciples.”  John 8:31.

Pastor Tom