Daydreaming

Do you like to daydream? I mean think about things that could be. I do like to daydream about places I want to visit. Janie and I fulfilled a lifelong dream of going to the Grand Canyon. It was everything I hoped it would be. Now, we are dreaming about part two…seeing the other side or the other rim. It might happen. Reality is that I enjoy dreaming about such trips. They are attainable and not that out of reach. It just takes a little planning.

Now, let’s daydream together about a mission project or an outreach opportunity. I do not have a specific one in mind…I just want to invite you to dream about one. I heard a great story of someone dreaming (and working) toward a project of providing shoes to a homeless man. It was wonderfully more involved that just handing a guy a pair of shoes. It was conversation, building a bridge of friendship, involving others. I like that a lot: a daydream that turned into a mission of mercy.

Now, here is the really fun part for me: imagine two hundred people daydreaming about how they might reach out to others, help those in need, “scratch an itch” and meet a need. It could start small… buy a pair of shoes and socks from Goodwill and make a friend.

I recently met some soon to be new friends that operate 3 recovery houses on Johns Island. One of my friends lives there now. I never knew this place existed on Johns Island. So, I start daydreaming. How could we partner with this group to do a community wide outreach effort ? I like daydreaming about fighting Goliath a gigantic challenge. What could God do? God is in the business to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. We are in business to join Him. So for now, I am daydreaming on how we could join God in bringing Good News to those who are oppressed by addiction. I don’t have an answer…but I do have a daydream.

How about you? Ever had a passing thought that would lead you to reach outside of your usual comfort zone? Just spend a few moments in quiet asking the Holy Spirit to speak. See if He can help connect the dots of your daydream. I love that about JIBC. You are so willing to give, pray and go.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

WHEN THE STORM COMES YOUR WAY

I think that sometimes followers of Jesus believe that following Jesus means you will not experience storms in your life. The Bible actually records some interesting stories about the followers of Jesus being caught in an actual storm. Their panic is understandable. But the presence of Jesus right there in their boat resulted in the storm being calmed and their fears being relieved.

I know we have a variety of storms that come our way: emotional, financial, spiritual, relationships, health, etc. I am not sure I would want to pick which kind of storm I would prefer. I do believe all of us will find ourselves in life’s storms from time to time. Psalm 107:29 says “He calms the storm”. That is a promise I want to hold on to. I like the way the Gospel song says it: “Sometimes He calms the storm, other times He calms His child.” Either way, I am looking for and asking for calm.

Following Jesus does not mean you will be exempt from the storms of life. In fact, being a follower of Jesus may lead you into a storm or two that you would not have faced before your relationship with Christ. One person said it this way: “Remember that not all storms come to disrupt your life; some come to clear a path”. Whatever storm you may be facing my prayer for you is that it clears a path for you to get back into the presence of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, please clear a path through our fear and anxiety; blow out and remove all that hinders us from trusting you even when we do not see you; bless us that we would keep our eyes on you and not the storm or our fears. We acknowledge and praise you as our Savior who is Lord over all, even the storms. Amen

See you this Sunday, good Lord willing, as we look at the story of our Lord stilling the storm in the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41.

Pastor Tom

A GOOD PLACE TO TRY IT OUT

Sometimes we may hesitate to try something because we don’t want to get “stuck”. Some cell phone deals can be like that. You sign without reading the itsy bitsy fine print. You go to change and find out you and your children are bound to the same provider for all eternity…or you could buy your way out. No one wants to experience that kind of buyer’s remorse.

So what if you could “try out” a ministry without making a lifetime commitment to it? That would be a pretty good deal. Let me tell you about a ministry that will allow you to try it out, take it for a spin so to speak, and then decide if it is for you. You could start at the easiest of positions while watching what helpers and leaders do. Sound interesting?

So, what are you doing on Wednesday evenings? God has greatly blessed the Awana Ministry at JIBC. We have over 90, count ‘em, over 90 children enrolled. That, my friend, is fantastic! It is a work of the Lord to entrust those children to us. So, how could you try an entry level position to see if you like it or not?

First, let’s get you on the “I am only trying it out list”. Marie Smith (Commander ReRe) Joanne Brown and Kat Cumberledge will give you the super powerful “get out of jail” card. Really. It’s a new thing we are trying out. JK.

The entry level position in Awana is one of the coolest positions of all…you are a LISTENER. Really, you listen to children who are trying to memorize the verse of the week. You hold the card with the verse, so you don’t actually have to memorize it. You just help the child to memorize it. They repeat it, you affirm they got it right or show them where they may have missed. Easy peasy…with one exception. Oh oh, here it comes. What is the one exception? You have to be present. We have not figured out a way to face time this ministry. It really is a ministry of presence.

So, we will sweeten the pot for you. For all “newbies” just trying and volunteering for the first, we will provide you with a free Wednesday night meal for a month! You and your family. You just have to let me know so I can make the arrangements.

Tell me when you have ever been offered a deal like that? You go from Wednesday night boredom to Wednesday night first step discipleship of the next generation. Just a thought!

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

ONE LAST ADVENT HURRAH!

We have had a wonderful Advent Season. I loved the title we chose for this year: Best Day Ever! I think we have succeeded in providing a constant, loving reminder of the “reason for the season”. Our worship team and technical team have done an outstanding job of leading us in worshipping our Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Our church family and friends have responded with great generosity in making sure we can connect Advent worship with Advent missions. I do not have any easy way to count the jars of jelly, the boxes of diapers and wipes or the ever so cute outfits for the preschoolers. Thank you, Lord Jesus and thank you ,JIBC family and friends for your amazing love and generous giving. My best guess estimate: Over 200 jars of jelly and 100 bottles of syrup for James Island Outreach; 150 outfits for the preschoolers helped by Lowcountry Orphan Relief; maybe over 5000 diapers for Lowcountry Pregnancy Center. Now, let’s add, so far, $19,476 to the Lottie Moon International Missions offering! This may be the largest Lottie Moon Offering ever in the history of JIBC. By the way, we also sent $4000 to our mission partners in Campulung, Romania. They are starting a mission church to the Roma, sometimes referred to as Gypsies. I requested a list of mission projects they were trying to accomplish. Cheryl Parish did the contact work for us. They sent us a list of 4 projects they were attempting: House shoes for 326 orphans; wood for the winter for the mission; linoleum in the church hall of the mission; 20 more second hand chairs. JIBC has been so blessed, we asked if we could meet all these needs. We will show a brief 3 minute film from the Romanian Pastor and our own, Cheryl Parish.

We are still receiving diapers, jelly, syrup, 5T and 5 yr old clothes and offerings for International Missions. To God be the glory.

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES

Please note this change. For this Sunday, Christmas Eve, we will combine our 9:00 and 11:00 worship services and meet at 10:00. Janie and I are hosting a drop in at 9:00 AM in the fellowship hall. Come on by and say hello…or Merry Christmas. We changed the morning services to give a break to our leaders since we will all be back for our traditional Carols, Communion and Candlelight Services at 4:00 and 6:00.

Merry Christmas One and all! We love doing life with our JIBC family.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

I know Elizabeth Barrett Browning was not talking about Christmas. She is talking about the deep spiritual aspects of love. I want to borrow her words and talk about James Island Baptist and Christmas. Oh, how I love JIBC and the Christmas season.

I love that Christmas brings out lots and lots of generous giving. I get requests everyday in the mail. Some are ministries and organizations that Janie and I support. We make giving to them a part of our celebration of our Saviors birth. Since I can’t give Him gold, frankincense or myrrh, I can give financially to people in need and ministries that bless. I love the lights of Christmas that remind me Jesus is the Light of the world. I love Christmas music. From here until Christmas I will try to incorporate Christmas hymns into my daily Quiet Time. I enjoy easy listening Christmas jazz. I love sending a receiving Christmas cards. Many of them are beautiful pieces of art. Janie and I save any cards we might receive. Starting January 1 we start going through the cards and praying for whoever sent them. I pray for them one day and then place them where Janie has her Quiet Time. Then she prays for them. Then we save them for Mark Livengood and his ministry in Ukraine or Slovakia.

Have you seen the stage in the Worship Center? It exploded with love and generosity. More that we could have imagined or asked for. And we still have three more weeks to receive gifts of diapers, wipes, 5T and 5 clothes, jelly and syrup and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Hey, by the way, when we were collecting these gifts, we had a group collecting items for prisoners in South Carolina. Fantastic! Oh, James Island Baptist, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. It would be almost impossible to count the ways because so many are doing so many wonderful things. Bless you for staying outward focused. Your generous giving will result in praise and thanksgiving to God.

Dear Father, you gave the best and most awesome gift, Your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

WORSHIP X 4

This past weekend, I was blessed with “worship x 4”. I had four very unique and very moving worship experiences. The first one came from what some may think of as a very unusual time. Saturday, we had a Life Celebration/ Funeral Service for Breanna Simmons. I had the privilege of marrying Breanna and Al Simmons almost 10 years ago. Bre developed breast cancer. She fought for the better part of 3 years with a positive attitude and strong courage. Our worship leader, praise team and tech crew put together a beautiful Life Celebration Worship service. I felt as though God would have been pleased and honored as we sought to give Him glory and ask for His mercy and strength. Bre’s life celebration service was attended by around 150 to 200 people. Only handfuls were from JIBC. That means a lot of people were blessed by our effort to show them a good and beautiful Father and to present the Good News of the Gospel.

The second and third worship times happened on Sunday morning as we gathered together with our church family. Our 9:00 service was attended by 94 people. It was a great way to begin this year’s advent season. We sang a favorite Christmas Hymn “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. One hour later, 127 of us gathered at 11:00 to celebrate the Hope we have in the advent/coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I so love this time of the year as we celebrate “Best Day Ever!” The Advent Mission Gifts are beginning to fill the worship center stage. It looks beautiful.

The fourth time of worship was during Celebrate Recovery. Pastor David and his team lead the CR group in “celebrating” our recovery. The songs are always heartfelt. By the way, did you know that half of the people who attend Celebrate Recovery are there for reasons like co-dependency, control issues, relationship issues, PTSD, depression or other mental health challenges? I so love singing with others who are on journey toward recovery.

I felt I was particularly blessed with WORSHIP X 4. Worship makes the most wonderful time of the year even a little more wonderful.

Remember when you are out shopping to pick up one or two of the items we are collection this year: diapers, wipes, jelly or syrup and any clothes item for size 5 and 5T. We also encourage you to consider a gift to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Thank you for the outpouring of love to our Father and to those who are under served.

See you soon, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

2024 Mission and Ministry Budget

Let’s start with blessings: God is good; His people at James Island Baptist are generous; our church has no debt; we are fully staffed with gifted and talented leaders; the Word of God is taught; outward focus to the community and world is a priority; and to God be the glory. In addition to the mission support in our budget, in 2023 you have given an additional $92,000 to local and global mission causes. That is above our budgeted mission and ministry line items. Really, that is not nearly all that you do, but it is enough to get us started shouting AMEN! Take a moment and think what you would add to this blessing list. Thank you for your generous giving and your generous living.

Each year our Budget and Finance Team gathers budget requests from all of our ministry and mission teams. Along with the staff, they review these requests with prayerful and expectant hearts. I cannot remember a mission request ever being turned down. There were many times when our team found a better way to provide and fund a mission or ministry request. Your Budget and Finance Team works with the belief that if God is leading us to a mission or ministry, HE will provide the means. That has been a blessed combination.

Copies of the 2024 Mission and Ministry Budget are available at all the entrance doors to the Worship Center. The names of the Budget and Finance Team are included in the brochure. Please feel free to ask them any questions you might have about the budgeting process. The Church Family will vote on the Church Budget on Sunday, December 31.

This Budget represents our church family’s efforts to carry out the purposes of God: to bring people into God’s family; build them up to be more like Jesus; involve them in ministries to the church and community; to lead them to be outward focused in their life, the life of their family, their Connection Group and Church; and to worship Him with how we live our lives and as we gather weekly.

To God by the glory,

Pastor Tom