CALL TO ME: CHURCH WIDE PRAYER EXPERIENCE

I have so enjoyed the daily devotional “CALL TO ME: A SEASON OF PRAYER AND CONNECTION”. It has been good to read devotionals written by our church members. To see their thoughts and feel the passion of their hearts has been encouraging. I have used the list of ministries in the front of the devotional book as a prayer guide. I am on my third time praying through all of these missions and ministries. I hope you are having a similar experience of joy and refreshing.

The finale to this event is coming up on Saturday, May 14. Pastor Marty and his team have put together an interactive prayer experience for the church family. On Saturday, May 14, from 6 PM to 8:00 PM you are invited to drop by the church for your reserved time of prayer. There will be four prayer stations in the worship center/sanctuary for us to experience. Each one will take approximately 15 minutes to experience. Then you will move t the next prayer station. The four stations will be Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (praying for others).

Just a thought: why not do this as a Connection Group, as a family or with a friend. Make a night of it. Experience this together; then go out to eat and talk about the experience. It is after all, a season of prayer and connection. What a great way to connect. It certainly would be our prayer and hope that the family that prays together stays together. The same would hold true for Connection Groups and friends. Pray together and strengthen your bonds!

“Call to me and I will answer and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”   Jeremiah 33:3

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

TWO FOR ONE

Don’t you love it when you get a great two for one deal? Buy one meal and get the second free. Buy one jar of jelly and get a second one free. Really, who does not love to get two for one? Here is my point: How about two blessings for one? Saturday, April 30 is the Taste of James Island. The best church cooks from around the island will be putting their best dish forward. You can come and enjoy some of the most delicious food anywhere around AND support one of our favorite ministries…James Island Outreach. If you can, bring a jar of jelly or any canned good item to donate. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness of the ministry and to collect food. The cost of admission is one non-perishable item…like a jar of jelly! Remember James Island Baptist is the church family in charge of collecting jelly. You can bring absolutely anything though.

FAMILY FRIENDLY The event starts at 11:30 am and goes until 3:00 pm. In addition to the best food around, there will be raffles, good music and children’s activities. This would be a great opportunity to involve your children in giving back to the community. You will see old friends and can make some new ones if you want to. We will have many churches from a variety of backgrounds participating. What a testimony to the love and grace of God that can bring us all together for fellowship and mission.

Two for one…how can you beat a deal like that? Think of the wonderful irony…by eating and enjoying great food we are helping the hungry. Only God can do that kind of wonderful work.

All kidding aside, think of the mission of James Island Outreach: No one on James Island goes to bed hungry unless we don’t know about it. Your ongoing gifts and support make this ministry a success. We have several members from our church family that volunteer regularly. We collect tons of jelly every year and we support JIO financially as well. Way to go JIBC. Job well done…jam up and jelly tight!

Pastor Tom

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great 

and unsearchable things you do not know.” 

 Jeremiah 33:3

TRANSITION HOUSE UPDATE

I cannot and do not always give updates on the Transition House or our residents. That sometimes is difficult because some may think they are entitled to know everything about everything. It is usually not that way. Residents can come and go quickly. Our primary objective is to give them the opportunity to transition. They may “keep their bed”, their place in the house, as long as they live up to the contract agreement they turn in every week. It should never be a surprise to a resident if they are asked to leave the house. They turn in a weekly agreement. Either they kept it or they did not. You certainly understand when we do not make public announcements about the house, who is out and for what reason. And, by the way, not everyone leaves because of a relapse. Some leave for more personal reasons. Thanks for understanding this and for helping others understand as well. 

I love the way our church family loves and receives the House residents. Just remember, many of them, like many of us, have lived for years as cons. To stop using your drug of choice is hard. Those addictive thinking patterns can be harder to change. One of the things we will be asking the church family and our recovery ministry is to not give money to our current or former Transition House residents. That is so hard because we love them and their babies. You can give money for them through Celebrate Recovery. Then their sponsor or CR leaders and/or group can make sure it is the healthy thing to do. That even includes things like diapers, milk, etc. Wow, I know, that is so hard. We want to make sure helping does not hurt. This may relieve a lot of pressure should someone ask for help. You can agree to help…but only through Celebrate Recovery. The new residents will sign an agreement that they will not ask.

Right now, the Transition House is going through some changes. I am calling it a reboot. We are having some major construction issues. Some of them are structural in nature. Others are more cosmetic. Think about it. We originally bought the house for the purpose of tearing it down for parking. It went with no attention for over 6 years before we started the Transition House. We have had the Transition House Ministry for close to 4 years; housed over 20 women and almost that many children. It is time for the four R’s…repair, repaint, refresh and refurnish. While the house is temporarily closed, we will also be “rebooting” our policies and procedures and developing a Ministry Team to help lead the Transition House Ministry. Just FYI, the last residents had over a month’s notice that the house was closing down. We did not want anyone, especially babies and children, living there with major construction happening. So, all in all, announcing in February that the house would be closed was good timing. It gave everyone 4 to 6 weeks to make plans.

Let’s pray together Jeremiah 33:3…call to me and I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know…

Pastor Tom

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN

We have had 9 of the most exciting, adrenaline filled days I can remember. The James Island Easter Egg Drop was an off the wall, complete success. The attendance more than doubled our biggest goal. The only downside was there were so many people we did not anticipate the staggering number. We had as many preschool children as we had hoped for the entire attendance of adults, preschoolers and children. Thanks again to the giant team of volunteers and leaders who made that happen.

Then we followed up with three wonderful services around the theme “Never Lose The Wonder”. The Palm Sunday service, the Good Friday service and then Easter! Hallelujah. We baptized 5 precious souls welcoming them into the family of God known as JIBC. Want to hear some more great news? Our Hispanic Church, Luz Y Verdad, came over after our service and baptized 12 more! Whoohoo. I stayed and participated with them as Pastor Claudio and his team baptized all 12. By the way, Luz Y Verdad is running close to 100 adults on a regular basis plus their youth, children and preschoolers. Wow. They are on track to outgrow their current meeting space. Who knows what will be next?

Now, let’s come back down from a wonderful spiritual high…and buckle up for the next one.  CALL TO ME is our 50 day, church wide emphasis on calling out to God. We hope that it can be incorporated into our Connection Groups as you do life together. But as a group or individually, you will be blessed by the focus on calling to God asking Him to show us great and glorious things. The books are available in the church office. If you did not get one Easter Sunday, come by or pick one up this Sunday. The 50 days starts with Easter Sunday and goes for the next 50 days…Pentecost Sunday. The devotions are not numbered by date, so you can really start any time. All of the devotions were written by leaders in our church family. You will be blessed by their thoughts and their heart for the Lord.

See you Sunday as we launch our next teaching series on prayer…Call To Me (Jeremiah 33:3)

Pastor Tom

Never Lose The Wonder

GOOD FRIDAY@7:00

Every year we have a Good Friday Worship Service. It is always reflective and worshipful. The focus, of course, is the cross, the sacrifice, our God who so loved the world that He gave His One and Only. We sing, we pray, we hear scripture and we observe the Lord’s Supper. You are invited to join us this Friday night as we turn our eyes upon Jesus.

EASTER SUNDAY DAY OF CELEBRATION SUNDAY @ 11:00

What a day of celebration…He is risen…He is risen indeed! Join us this Sunday as we relive and recount why we “Never Lose The Wonder” of what God has done for us. We will sing and celebrate! If the weather continues to cooperate, please bring flowers from your yard (or your neighbor’s) for our annual flowering of the cross. We will have a special cross in the Worship Center where you can place your flowers and see the old rugged cross transformed to a symbol of beauty and new life.

We are also celebrating the resurrection of Christ with baptisms this Sunday. We have adults, teens and children scheduled to be baptized. Their baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It is the beginning of their public profession as followers of Jesus. It is their entry into the membership of the part of God’s family known as James Island Baptist Church. Hallelujah, what a Savior.

PRAY AND INVITE

We had a wonderfully successful Easter Egg Drop for the Community. Now we pray for the process of outreach and spiritual growth. Pray that those influenced by the love and excitement of last Saturday will be wonderfully, mysteriously drawn to God. Pray for those you can invite to join you for one of the best attended services of the year. Be ready to give your seat to a guest…we can stand! Amen and amen!

CALL TO ME

This Sunday at the end of the Easter Worship service, we will distribute copies of the CALL TO ME devotional guide. This is a 50 day prayer devotional written by some of our church leaders for our church family. Our hope is that Connection Groups will find a way to use this together, to pray together and to grow together. It is not to replace anything you are currently studying…it is an opportunity to live out Jeremiah 33:3…call to me! We have 500 printed and ready to go. There will be greeters at the doors to give them out. If for some reason you do not get one, let us know. We will make sure you do! From Easter Sunday to Pentecost…50 days of praying together! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

NEVER LOSE THE WONDER

As we enter into Holy Week. Let us Never Lose The Wonder of the cross. This year’s focus, Never Lose The Wonder, will call our attention to the great love of the Father and the loving obedience of His Son, our Lord. If you grew up in church you may have a list of wonderful songs that remind you of the wonder of the cross. We begin this Sunday looking at the soldier who recognized Jesus was surely the Son of God…he saw the wonder of the cross. Then Friday, March 25 we will gather for the Good Friday Worship experience where the entire service will be to help us never lose the wonder. Then comes Resurrection Sunday…He is alive…He is alive indeed! You are invited to share and participate in Holy Week that we may Never Lose The Wonder. Communion at the Good Friday service and baptism on Easter Sunday. May we never, ever lose the wonder. 

CALL TO ME

On Easter Sunday we will be distributing the CALL TO ME devotional prayer guides. We have created a 50 day devotional guide to be used in Connection Groups and by individuals to call us to a season of prayer. This season of prayer is based on Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” From Easter to Pentecost, we are inviting and encouraging our entire church family and friends to call to God. Let us prepare our hearts, our wills, our minds and our bodies for a fresh new work of God. Imagine, 500 of us, all praying together, praying in one accord calling on Him. It takes extraordinary power to accomplish extraordinary things. Let’s call on Him and trust Him to do what He alone can do. Our hope is that every Connection Group will find a way to work this into their meeting time. Perhaps you could begin or end your group time with the devotion for that day. Use this as an opportunity to deliver the Devotional book to absentee members. Be creative and open…call to Him and see what great and unsearchable thing he tells you. I will begin a teaching series from God’s Word on the same theme…Call To Me. What great timing. Following the Holy Week emphasis on the wonder of the cross, now we turn to our Father in prayer for 50 days. May His will be done.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing

Pastor Tom

Here It Comes

HERE IT COMES We are just a few weeks away from one of the biggest community outreach events in our church history. The James Island Easter Egg Drop WILL BE Saturday, March 19 from 11 am to 2 pm. Pray for a beautiful clear sky, little to no wind, no rain day. Pray that we will be ready for the large number of people that we believe will attend. Pray for those who will share the gospel and interact with our guest. Pray for a record number of volunteers. We need all types of people for all types of activities. We even need some after event people to do some follow up work. Then pray that they will be so moved to attend Easter Sunday worship to hear the greatest story ever told! Whoohoo, here it comes. Please check the volunteer table in front of the office to see where you would like to volunteer. If you are on face book, “share” the information of the James Island Easter Egg Drop. That way the ad will go to all the people on your facebook.

COMING UP NEXT It may seem a little early, but I wanted to let you know of our church wide prayer emphasis. On Easter Sunday we will launch CALL TO ME: A SEASON OF PRAYER AND CONNECTION. This will be a fifty day prayer guide from Easter to Pentecost. It will consist of a daily scripture reading, a devotion written by one of our leaders and a guided prayer for that day. We have 19 of our own church family that will be writing this 50 day prayer emphasis. We will hand these out for the first time on Easter Sunday morning. Everyone will be encouraged to have their own copy as we go through this together as a church family. You will, of course, be doing this on your own in your daily quiet time. The plan is that you do it “together” as a Connection Group. Share your prayer request, your thoughts about the devotional or the individual scriptures. Pray together. Encourage one another to discipline yourselves to daily be in the word and to daily be praying for God’s will and for the JIBC family. “Call unto me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3. Some of you have been around JIBC to remember that was the Old Brick Man, Ted Luther’s favorite Bible verse. What prayers will he answer during this period of time? What unsearchable things will he show us? 

Pastor Tom