IT IS OFFICIAL!

We have just entered into the “Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!” I usually wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas and start listening to Christmas music. By the time we gather again, it will be officially Christmas Season. I say it every year, so let me go ahead and get it out of the way. I love almost every part of Christmas: The Christmas Story, Christmas music, lights, festivals, gift giving, special meals and goodies, the cooler temperatures, caroling at the nursing homes and on and on I could go. I do not like the extra traffic. Although, who could tell if it was extra or just regular terrible traffic! And, I do not like stories of people going into debt over Christmas. Please do not make this wonderful time of the year a financial burden.

Our Advent Theme this year is “The Best Gifts Ever”. I will be teaching a series of messages about the best gifts God has ever given us. By the way, the word “advent” means coming. It refers to the coming of our Lord Jesus. It is the celebration of the birth of God’s Son, our Savior. I am of the opinion that you cannot celebrate that too much. Just because the secular world tries to take “Jesus” out of Christmas does not mean we throw the baby Jesus out with the bath water…so to speak. We use Advent to help us WORSHIIP the King and to celebrate His coming. We also use advent to do MISSIONS. We combine the giving of Christmas with giving to help others. Here is how we can do it this year. If you are able, please join us in donating the following. 1) Diapers or wipes for The Lowcountry Pregnancy Center. Let’s help those who courageously chose life over death.  2) We are the jelly church on James Island. Let’s bring jelly and/or pancake syrup to help the underserved. 3) We can never forget the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that goes to support our International Missionaries. 4) We are asking for Visa Gift cards of any amount. These will all go to Western North Carolina to help hurricane Helene victims.

Someone once asked “How come people aren’t this giving all year long?” I replied, “You need to come hang around the James Island Baptist Family. It is the most wonderful time of the year all year long for these great folks!”

See you Sunday at our first week of Advent celebration.

Pastor Tom

THIS SUNDAY: A SUNDAY OF THANKSGIVING

This Sunday is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I am praying it will be a special day in so many ways.

FIRST: We will combine the 9:00 Worship Gathering with the 11:00 Worship Gathering. There will NOT be a 9:00 service this Sunday. If you show up at 9:00 for worship, our Kitchen Krew will put you to work helping prep for the Thanksgiving Meal! Lol. As a part of this day of unity combining the two services, we will have name tags available at all the entrances. Our greeters will be glad to assist you. We should have a packed house!

SECOND: We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. The Greek word Eucharist means “thanksgiving”. It has become synonymous with “the Lord’s Supper”. We will put our focus on the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. We do this in remembrance of Him! There will be communion stations in 6 different locations around the worship center. Feel free to visit any of them when we reach that point in the service.

THIRD: We will have a church-wide Thanksgiving lunch together. I have already heard people talking about Chef Barry’s dressing! Bring it on. No charge, just wonderful fellowship and delicious food. It may be a little crowded but we can make it work. There will be seating in the Genesis Class room also. As an overflow, we will have tables ready to set up upstairs in the Youth Worship room. What a great day this will be!

FOURTH: If you still have energy and are looking for your cup to be filled even more, there is the Community Wide Thanksgiving Service at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Folly Road. It is always an inspiring service or praise and thanksgiving! It starts at 4:00.

Now, it is not too early to shift gears and talk about Advent. Advent means coming and it refers to the coming of Jesus to Bethlehem. It is the Christmas Story. At JIBC we have tried hard to let Advent overshadow the commercial side of Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas songs, decorations, lights and gift giving. The only thing I really do not like about Christmas is IF someone goes in debt! Please do not do that.

This year’s advent theme is “ADVENT: THE BEST GIFTS EVER!”. We have combined mission, worship and celebration to the Advent season. We are asking our church family and friends to consider donations to our four mission projects. 1) Diapers and wipes for Lowcountry Pregnancy Center; 2) Jelly and syrup for James Island Outreach; 3) An offering for International Missions/Lottie Moon Christmas Offering; 4) Visa gift cards to be taken to Western North Carolina Helene victims. Worship and mission…I love the combination!

See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

Three Blessings Coming Soon

First, the blessing of Thanksgiving. Starting this Sunday I will be preaching a two-part teaching series on “Giving Thanks”. The goal is to lead us right up to the Thanksgiving Season with hearts and minds prepared to celebrate the goodness of God. Of all the spiritual disciplines that I could recommend, giving thanks and being thankful would be at the top of the list.

Second, on Sunday, November 24 we will be observing the Lord’s Supper together. Now, here is the catch. We will have only one service on November 24. The 9:00 Worship service will join the 11:00 service. The Lord’s Supper is sometimes referred to as Communion. What a great word. Communion with God, the Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Communion with our forever family! It is a great word. Communion is based on the Greek word for fellowship. It will be one of the few times we all join together (koinonia-fellowship) in one service!

The third blessing is something we have not tried in a while. Out Kitchen Krew will be preparing and serving a special Thanksgiving Meal for our entire church family. There is no charge for this meal …just come and enjoy. The Kitchen Krew did ask that anyone who would feel so inclined might make and bring your favorite dessert! This Sunday will necessitate a little disruption for the two Bible Study Connection Groups that meet weekly in the Fellowship Hall and in the Genesis Class room. I think Jan Cooper’s class will meet upstairs in the Youth Room and the Genesis Class will meet in their room, but around the tables that are set up for the Sunday meal.

So, there you go, three blessings yours for the taking! I hope you will participate and be blessed by all three. Believe it or not, when we are finishing the Thanksgiving Meal on November 24, our “Christmas Elves Team” will be in fully engaged in decorating the worship center for the Advent Season! Don’t say it, don’t say it…sorry, I have to say it “IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!” I love this time of the year from the Fall Festival to the last Sunday of Advent.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

ONE BITE AT A TIME

I know it is an old joke: “how do you eat an elephant?” The answer: “One bite at a time!” That is how I think about our church-wide ministry “PRAY CHARLESTON 24/7”. This is a BIG elephant to eat. Here are the basics. There seems to be a Kingdom movement happening in the greater Charleston area. At last count there were over 100 churches representing over 16 different denominations working together to pray for Charleston 24 hours a day every day. Different churches will approach this different ways. Bottom line is that there will be Followers of Jesus that will be praying for Charleston, every day, all day! I cannot remember the last day event that called together over 100 churches from over 16 denominations. Maybe a Billy Graham Crusade but I cannot think of much else. That signals to me that this is something special, something different. It feels like and even “smells” like a Kingdom of God movement.

HOW DO YOU FIT IN? We are asking our JIBC friends and family to pick one 15 minute time slot for every month on the 10th. So, November 10 will be our “soft launching”. Then we will pray again on Tuesday, December 10. Then we will cover the next 10th, which would be Friday, January 10.

• You are asked to pray for one 15 minute time period. You do not have to pray for that entire day, the 10th. Only for the 15 minute time period you signed up for.

• You can pray for your city, the Mayor, your representatives, the homeless, First Responders, etc. We are seeking to cover our city with prayer asking God’s forgiveness and asking for His blessings.

• Of course you can pray for more that 15 minutes. And we may very well have several people praying during the same time slot, say 1:30 p.m. on every day that is the 10th. No problem is someone picks the same time as you. That is great! If my math is right, we will need to cover a total of 96 fifteen minute time periods. Those really tough hours, we are asking some of our overseas mission partners to join in for coverage. *Remember, you can pray at home. This does not need to be at the church campus. You can pray at home, on lunch break, traveling in your car. He can hear us wherever we are.

Imagine if every day of 2025 there were believers praying and seeking God’s face. Hundreds of churches, maybe thousands of believers, and over 16 denominations uniting our Holy City in prayer. Now that is a worthy goal. We are starting now in order to get our system ironed out. This Sunday will be our “soft launch”. We will be warming up in November and December. Come January, we will be in full “Go Mode”.

Two or three ways you can get on board with the mission. One, you can go to the church app; go to missions tab; tap the Pray Charleston tab, choose your time slot. There are other resources there about how to pray, what to pray, prayer topics, etc. This is a great entry point for those just starting to add prayer to their spiritual habits. It is also a challenge to those who are already on their prayer journey.

Two, there will soon be a sign up point on the main church bulletin boards by the water fountain going into the Fellowship Hall. Third way, see me or Kyle and hand us a piece of paper with your name and time preference, we will get ‘er done for you!

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you fill a 24 hour prayer vigil? One 15 minute slot at a time. See you Sunday,

Pastor Tom

THANK YOU DOES NOT SEEM BIG ENOUGH!

I wish there was an easier way to thank everyone who prayed for, help bring, hunted deer, cleaned coats, bought new coats, donated items, etc. Thank you does not see strong enough or big enough.

This next Monday, October 28 we are planning, good Lord willing, to leave for Greeneville, Tennessee. We will be taking venison and coats. We have received over 160 new coats and probably 50 used coats. It was a requirement to only bring used coats that had been dry-cleaned.

Ron Corry and I are going to deliver these to our former church members, Charles and Judy Dillon. Using online estimates, I believe Charles will be able to make over 2000 meals on 500 lbs of venison. For those new to our church family, Charles and Judy Dillon were members here at JIBC. On one of our relief trips to Katrina victims in New Orleans, Charles and Judy felt God call them to do relief work full time. Since 2005, almost 20 years, they have been serving as volunteer disaster relief missionaries. Ron and I also have another person going with us. A friend of Mr. Hines, felt God calling him to go and help. So we are taking Chip with us. If Charles thinks he will work out, we will leave him and help support him for a month as he volunteers to work with Charles and Judy. Again, thank you does not seem to be big enough, but THANK YOU ALL!

FALL FESTIVAL: ONE WEEK AND COUNTING!

The annual Fall Festival is just a few weeks away, almost just a few days away. Remember, this is the largest numerical event we will have on our church campus all year. The event draws hundreds and hundreds of people. The Riverland Terrace Community has jumped on board to have their “Under the Oaks” event. Smart thinking on their part. That increased our event from BIG to BIGGER! So what can you do? First, pray for safety and for the love of God to be shown in every volunteer, in every game and in every way. Second, please consider volunteering for 1 ½ hours or for the entire 3 hours. The event cannot happen without volunteers. Make it a family event: husbands and wives; parents and child; neighbors and friends; churched and unchurched. We can make this work. Third, if you can, bring candy this Sunday. Let’s make it rain with goodies, every child having a safe, family friendly, fun time sponsored b y people who love Jesus!

Good Lord willing, I will see you Sunday.

Pastor Tom

Opportunities to Serve

JIBC Family, there are three things I want to share with you in today’s article.

First, our annual Fall Festival is just around the corner, Thursday, October 31. We are already asking our church family and friends to do three things: pray, donate candy (lots of candy) and volunteer. We will have the most people of the year on our church campus that night. We throw a great party and the crowds will come. We have about 50 volunteers already and we need about 40 more. You can volunteer for 1½ hours or for the entire evening of 3 hours. There are a variety of games and booths were you can serve. No talent or training needed, just willing, happy hearts. This is a family friendly positive alternative to some of the more harsh traditional Halloween events. Volunteers make it a success. We cannot do it without large number of willing volunteers. Please consider signing up to help. Signup sheets are located by the office and in the worship bulletins.

Second, our next response to Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts will be two-fold. First, I have it in my heart to carry 500 pounds of venison to our friends Charles and Judy Dillon. Former members, they have given their lives over the past 20 years to feeding the masses during devastating disasters. They are currently set up in Greeneville, Tennessee feeding 150 people a day. This is a totally volunteer ministry. I already have 225 pounds of venison donated. I am asking our hunters to donate to this cause and to ask their hunting buddies to donate. I think we can reach a goal of carrying 500lbs of venison if our hunters will feel the call. That 500 lbs, by my calculations, can feed over 2000 meals of stew, chili or spaghetti! My plans are to go to Greeneville, Tennessee to drop off supplies on Monday, October 28 and to return on Tuesday, October 29. Please let me know if you are interested and willing to donate and help collect some donated venison. Come on, let’s go hunting for Jesus!

Third, cold weather is already setting in up in the mountains. I want us to send 100 coats of any and all sizes to Charles and Judy to be distributed. Charles told me last week “If you bring the meat, I’ll cook it and if you bring the coats, we will distribute them”. My response: “Then get your freezers ready and your space cleared out, JIBC is coming”. So, do you have a gently worn coat you no longer wear or that does not fit? Bring it to the church and drop it off by the office. Please make sure to include something with your name and the size of the coat. Right now, we are only accepting coats from our members and friends. If we do not reach the goal of 100, then I will release the Krackens (our best and most serious Goodwill shoppers) to go to every Goodwill store in our region to buy coats. Let’s give our JIBC family a chance to meet the need. If you wanted to buy a new coat to donate, that would be great. Just make sure you leave the tags on it. There is a reason for doing that.

I love you all. That is the kind of church I pastor!

Pastor Tom

More Than Just A Date On A Calendar

September is usually a very good month for Janie and I. College football has arrived again and Saturdays are filled with the highs of winning and the lows of losing. But that is not what makes September so special for us.

This year my birthday was on Friday, September 13. I am not really superstitious so the Friday 13th does not bother me. I was born on Tuesday, Friday 13, 1955. I like the year 1955 for a few reasons. It was the year Disneyland opened. Back in the day, I was an avid Disney fan. Not so much anymore, but it is still an interesting date. McDonalds also opened in 1955. Chevrolet made one of the most iconic cars ever, the 55 Chevy. Coke introduced canned drinks. Until then, cokes were only sold in bottles. I could keep on going about the interesting events of 1955. To top it all off, Claude and Helen Brown created a little trouble maker in that same year and named him Thomas Arthur Brown.

Now, fast forward a few years. On Friday, September 13, 1985, Janie and I moved to James Island, with our three children, to begin a new work at James Island Baptist Church. We moved into a rental home on Friday, my birthday and began our ministry at JIBC on Sunday, September 15, 1985. We just celebrated my 69th birthday and our 39th anniversary at JIBC. The good Lord willing, this November 29th we will celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. Do you ever get excited to watch the mileage of your car turn over from 99,999 to 100,000? Then 199,999 to 200,000? That is kind of how I feel about 2025 when the event odometer turns over to 40 years of ministry at JIBC, 50 years of marriage to Janie Marlene and 70 tears of trips around the sun.

Janie and I are so thankful to have spent so many of our years with you trying to carry out the purposes of God. It is more than a date on a calendar, it is a lifetime of joy! As Frank Sinatra would sing, “It was a very good year”. Janie and I will be celebrating our anniversaries for the next couple of weeks. We will look forward to seeing you all when we return.

Pastor Tom