WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a lovely little poem entitled “How Do I Love Thee?” “How do I love thee, let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace.”

I have always thought that was a wonderful way to state one’s love. Not to be too sappy, but it is easy to say “How do I love thee JIBC?” Two Sundays ago, I was dealing with vertigo. I made it to worship that morning and prepared Communion. Then I made the call…I am out and Scott is in! I hated to make such a last minute change. I am thankful for Scott’s willingness and ability to step in literally minutes before it was time for the service. Last week I had 2 bad days and four good days. That is good progress. Just to be safe, I asked our Youth Director, Logan to preach for me this past Sunday morning. I did not want to make another last minute call.

By Sunday night, I felt the goodness of God had allowed me to start feeling “normal”…whatever that is, right? So, back to the sonnet, I love the team that I have the privilege of working with each week.

I also love that almost everything we are promoting lately is related to outreach and mission. Several children were introduced to Christ at Kids Camp, we have a sports camp going on as I type this article. I went out to see them Monday morning, it they had 37 children in the sports camp. 25 of them report that they do not have a church home! In a week, on Friday, August 5, we will provide over 100 book bags filled with school supplies for the children at the EME Apartments on Central Park Road. We are doing this in partnership with a sister church, Emmanuel Baptist Church. The apartment complex management has not given us a time for the Back To School Party. When they do, you are invited to join us in the fun. The school supplies will be such a relief for single moms and underserved families. When it is all said and done, we expect to full 140 book bags. We hear a lot about Critical Race Theory…which I reject. I am busy promoting Kingdom Race Theory. It is based on an old song “Red and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight” and a wonderful Word from God found in Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

How do I love thee JIBC…let me count the ways. And a whole lot of ways are related to how you continue to be outward focused. You still have time to bring some school supplies by the office or to worship Sunday. You don’t have to buy everything on the list…every little bit will help.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing and the little calcium crystals in my ears don’t rise!

Pastor Tom

Blessed to be a blessing!

One of my favorite sayings at JIBC is “Blessed to be a blessing”. It has so many applications. Why would Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth bother to bless us? I think answer numero uno is because He is a Good and Great God. It is His nature to bless and to give. Secondly, I think it is part of His plan and strategy to love the world. He blesses us so we may bless others.

James Island Baptist Church is joining again with Emmanuel Baptist Church on James Island, to provide a “Back To School” party for the children at the EME Apartments on Central Park Road. Many of you have met and know their Pastor, Rev. George Kugblenu. I have worked with Pastor George on many occasions. He loves the Lord and he loves people. Put that together with heart of JIBC “Blessed to be a blessing” and we have a winning combo! So, for the second year, we are partnering with a sister church, an African American Church, to bless our community. I love all parts of this.

Please see the front of The Messenger to see the supply list. I love it when the Lord lays really big goals on our hearts. Imagine, filling 144 backpacks full of school supplies. The kids may not realize what a blessing that is, but I betcha the parents and grandparents will! We were blessed to be a blessing. Sending kids to school with a new backpack and all the supplies they need is a BIG blessing. Thank you for responding so generously. I have absolutely no doubt we will fill every one of the 144 book bags. What that means is 144 times you were a blessing to someone in need. Thank you all. There will be three collection boxes out this Sunday. Let’s see what we can do about filling them up.

Once again, thank you, Scott. This past Sunday I had another bout with vertigo. I had a sinus infection that triggered it this time. The medical term for it is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). These little tiny calcium particles fall out of their God appointed place in the inner ear and create havoc on the body’s balancing system. This time was much less severe than my last experience. I actually made it to worship at 9 in time to set up the Lord’s Supper for worship. After that, I knew I was going to have issues so I asked Scott to step in. It was as last minute as it could be. I am so thankful that Scott was there, willing and ready to step in. I regret not being present for the “wrap up” service of our series on Worship.

I look forward, good Lord willing, to seeing you this Sunday. Blessed to be a blessing. Doesn’t that sound great?

Pastor Tom

JIBC 75th ANNIVERSARY

For years we celebrated the church anniversary on the second Sunday of July. This past Sunday would have been the Sunday we had a church wide meal, recognition of any charter members and other Anniversary events. We did not forget the day or the date. We did, however, move the date to September. We are planning a big event…or two!

Join me in prayer and thought about this idea. How could we make this 75th Anniversary really different? What could we do that would be in keeping with who we are, what we value and what we see God doing here? How about this: To celebrate our 75 years as a church family, we find 75 Ways to Bless the Community in 75 days. If we start the first day of September, that would take us to November 14. I know some of you are thinking that 75 is too small a number. It will be quite ok if we happen to find 100 ways to bless the community in 75 days! Right?

I would really love to see us make a statement like this: we celebrate 75 years by focusing outward instead of inward. We are not forgetting about our church family. We are planning a church-wide fellowship meal at the Charleston County Park here on James Island. It will be big, really big! How many times do you get to celebrate 75 years?

I am so looking forward to how we can respond to such an Anniversary Challenge. Start praying and thinking…what are 75 ways we could bless the community? I can’t wait to hear the ideas and all the stories.

By the way, didn’t you love hearing Logan tell us about the wonderful Student Mission trip? Wow, solid work, great group, no drama…just loving Jesus and loving people. Thank you Father for your watch care and blessings.

See you Sunday,

Pastor Tom

RICK WARREN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

You may have heard that Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life announced his retirement almost a year ago. Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist Church, has already called their next pastor. How would you like to try to fill those shoes? You know that Warren has been my mentor for years. I have never met him. Yet, God has used him to influence my spiritual life and growth. Let me share with you why I have loved watching God use Rick and Kay Warren.

Warren serves and lives in Orange County California. The Orange County Association has 149 churches. Saddleback Church, by God’s grace, started 90 of those churches. They have started many more; those are just the ones in their own association. Rick is a 4th generation pastor. His great grandfather was led to the lord by Charles Spurgeon. His own father was a bi-vocational pastor all of his life. That helps explain why Warren donated all the proceeds from the best selling church growth book, The Purpose Driven Church, to bi-vocational pastors.

When Warren was a teenager, he was mentored by Billy Graham. At age 16 he was hired by the California Baptist convention to preach crusades as an evangelist. He had preached 120 crusades by the time he was 20 years old.

He has served one church his entire 42 year career as a Pastor. That church, of course, is Saddleback. Guided by the Holy Spirit of God, Rick and his wife Kay started the church from zero. God has grown the church to 78,179 members. All of them came through the 4 hour long Class 101: Membership Class. By the way, Saddleback Church had 10,000 members before they purchased any property or built their first building. They rented out stadiums and other venues until they felt God leading them to the right place to purchase property and build. The church has 9,173 home Bible Study groups. Led by our Lord Jesus, the church has baptized 56,631 new believers. In obedience to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, the church has sent 26,896 members on international mission trips to 197 nations. Their first goal was to take the Gospel to every nation. Done! Now they are praying that God would allow them to take the Gospel to every people group. The church works hand in hand with our International Mission Board.

He has trained over 1.1 Million pastors over the years. That is more than all 5 of our Southern Baptist Seminaries put together. He has often been recruited to be the president of one of our seminaries. His reply has always been the same: I am called to be the pastor of Saddleback Church.

He drives an old pickup truck, wears Hawaiian shirts and looks and acts like he is your favorite uncle at your family reunions. God has so protected Rick and Kay Warren from scandal. He has not kept the critics away. While the critics’ blast away, Warren leads his church family to feed the poor, help the broken, care for the widows and orphans. I almost forgot, Celebrate Recovery is a Saddleback Ministry. It is in more prisons around the world than any other prison ministry.

I suspect we have not heard the last from Rick Warren or Saddleback Church. Look what God has done. The boast is not about Rick Warren but about the miraculous work God has done using Rick and Kay Warren. In some ways, to not share this story would be to rob God of His glory. Rick Warren could not do these things. Only God could do such miracles. I pray our Father will continue to do it again and again until the entire world knows the Great Name of Jesus.

Thanks for reading this,

Pastor Tom

Worship: You were Created to Praise!

This past Sunday I started a new teaching series entitled “WORSHIP: YOU WERE CREATED TO PRAISE”. My goal is visit some of the premier passages in God’s Word about Worship. Worship is one of the five purposes of JIBC. Using the familiar baseball diamond you might remember: Membership/Fellowship is FIRST BASE; Discipleship/Maturity is SECOND BASE; Service/Ministry is THIRD BASE; Outreach/Mission is HOME PLATE; Worship/Magnify is at the pitcher’s mound right in the center of it all.

So, for the next several weeks we will be looking at what God’s Word has to say to us about Worship. Sunday we read the magnificent Psalm 100. There are so many things to learn and practice. High on the list was the place of joy and gladness in our worship. Worship is celebration. We have been forgiven, set free, filled with the Holy Spirit, given the Bible as God’s printed Word, our guilt has been removed, and we have been placed in the family of God. There is great cause for joy and gladness. No one can do your worship for you. Worship is designed to be a participation event, not a spectator event.

Join us when you can, as often as you can to worship Him together. Feeling great…then worship Him with praise and thanksgiving. Feeling bad…then worship Him with praise and thanksgiving. He is worthy of our worship and we are in need of worshipping Him.

CODEPENDENCY CLASS COMING SOON. Starting Sunday night, July 10, I plan to begin a short 4 week course on Codependency. If you are interested, you can join us on Sunday nights. The full schedule will be: 5:30 Fellowship Meal; 6:30 Celebrate Recovery Worship Celebration; 7:00 Codependency Class. The Class Room will be announced later.

THANK YOU VBS VOLUNTEERS. What a great VBS! Thank you to all the volunteers that made this a great week. May your tribe increase.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

READY OR NOT, HERE COMES VBS!

By the time you read this article, Vacation Bible School (VBS) will almost be a memory. I love VBS and I want to say thank you to all the parents for bringing their children to VBS. They could not be here without the effort of the parents. Thank you. Secondly, I want to thank all the volunteers. Many of you put in a full day at work or a double full time at home and THEN you come to pour into the hearts and lives of these beautiful children. And thank you for to the staff for the leadership and direction you give to make this happen. Well done, everyone, well done!

Some might be tempted to ask “Is it worth it? Is VBS worth all the effort, time and resources? YES, YES AND ANOTHER HARD YES! Think about the following for a moment: there were over 2.5 Million Children in VBS last year; there were 70,135 professions of faith (I say let’s reach them before we have to rescue them); churches discovered 155,344 prospects (people who do not attend church anywhere); kids get 15 hours of intense discipleship and Bible Study; and they get great snacks…don’t forget the snacks!

And watch this…there was over $6,500,000 given to mission causes through VBS! Is it worth it? Again, that would be a hard yes! For many churches, Vacation Bible School is the single largest evangelistic effort of the year. Let’s pray that as the Gospel is shared that lives would be transformed. Vacation Bible School is just one of the ways we carry out the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go into all the world and make disciples baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Let’s love some kids, teach God’s Word, make some disciples and have fun doing it all!

COMING SOON TO A CELEBRATE RECOVERY NEAR YOU Starting July 10, I will be teaching a four week course on codependency. It is open to anyone, no book required, just a heart willing to learn. You can just attend the class from 7 to 8. Or, you can come for the fellowship meal between 5:30-6:15, join us for Celebrate Recovery Worship from 6:30 to 7 and then come to the class at 7. Hope you will join us.

By the way, I would encourage everyone to come to Celebrate Recovery a time or two. Not just because you might have hurts, hang-ups and habits to work on, but because you know so many people who do. Nothing “sells” a product better than word of mouth. If you tell someone you attended and can explain to them what goes on, it greatly increases the odds that they would agree to attend. Just a thought!

Blessings,

Pastor Tom

Thankful for God’s Provisions

We have been blessed in so many ways. Today, I give thanks for just one of those ways. Janie and I were scheduled to be a part of two weddings, two weekends in a row. The first one was a family member in the upstate. It did require that we be gone on a Sunday. No problem, the Lord provided JIBC with very competent staff. So, we planned to go. The second wedding is this coming weekend. It is out of state in Illinois. Many of you will remember the Koch family. At one time or another, all of them served on the JIBC staff. It is hard to believe, but little Caroline grew up and is getting married this weekend. We are honored that they would ask Janie and me to perform their wedding ceremony. That, however, means we will be gone a second Sunday. The Koch family is living in Petersburg, Illinois. It will be good to see some of the old JIBC family again.

So, let’s talk about God’s provision. I am able to leave and know that JIBC is in good hands. Scott is more than competent to lead and keep things rolling. Our Youth Director, Logan Duvall, is a very good speaker. I always receive great feedback on his speaking. He will be speaking again this Sunday. Neale, like me, has been around forever and will be able to handle any situation that comes up.

Now, back to the weddings we had on the calendar. The first wedding we were scheduled to attend was cancelled. I know, right? Heartbreak for all involved. Since we already had the time set aside, Janie and I went to visit my brother-in-law in Surfside and my brother in Newport, NC. They both looked great and both were experiencing the blessings of God. My brother looks as good as I have seen him since his kidney transplant.

On the way home, Janie and I listened to the Livestream of this past Sunday’s worship service. Wow! If you had seen the old Livestream we started with, you will be amazed at the improvement that has been made. To Pastor David, Allan Knapp, David Jr and your whole team, job well done. If you find yourself away on a Sunday, I really encourage you to find the livestream of the JIBC Worship. Of course, it is not as good as being present…but it is a wonderfully clear, has pleasing sound and a crystal clear picture.

“Now, something entirely different”. Starting July 10, I will be teaching a four week course on codependency. It is open to anyone, no book required, just a heart willing to learn. You can just attend the class from 7 to 8 pm. Or, you can come for the fellowship meal between 5:30-6:15 pm, join us for Celebrate Recovery Worship from 6:30 to 7 pmand then come to the class at 7 pm. Hope you will join us.

Blessings,

Pastor Tom