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

YOU DON’T SEE THAT EVERY DAY

The 2024 State Mission Prayer Guide had a wonderful story about a very creative ministry. On day one, the Prayer Guide asked us to pray for Riley Kinard and Bobby Strothers. They were burdened to find a way to reach college students at the University of South Carolina Lancaster. Riley and Bobby began a ministry called “Hugs from Grandmas”. They offered free hugs to anyone who wanted or needed one. If there was any interest, they would invite them to a Bible Study. I love it! Out of the box, very little effort or cost and a big payback!

What is so big about a hug? A consensual hug and a desired hug can be a warm and welcoming greeting. It can also be healing and even therapeutic. It can send a signal that says I am a friend and I care. I read that hugging activates the same reward center in your brain as eating does. If you are not getting enough hugs you may feel you are “starving” for touch. Lack of hugs can be associated with loneliness, depression and poor sleep quality. Hugging has value…lots of value.
So, why not take that to a college campus where many kids are separated from their families. Be kind of a surrogate grandma for them and offer a beautiful healing hug. I am not recommending JIBC start a free hug ministry at the local college. I am commending two senior adults who wondered how in the world could we ever minister to young adults on today’s college campuses. Free Hugs was the answer.

If you have not picked up a SC Baptist 2024 Prayer guide, please do so. It will certainly give you an insight into missions around SC and may stimulate a few creative ideas like a hugging booth! I love it.

By the way, if the Lord has blessed you and you are able, consider giving to the Janie Chapman State Missions Offering. This offering helps support missions like “Free Hugs”. If you can give above your tithe then this is a worthwhile offering to consider.

See you Sunday…with free hugs available!

Pastor Tom

PIECES IN A PUZZLE BOX

Do you like doing puzzles? It is not really my favorite thing to do. I could handle the puzzles with the 20 or 30 big pieces. You know, the kind you do with your kids when they are very young. My brother, on the other hand, loves puzzles. If I call him right now and ask “Hey Bubba, whatcha doin’?” His answer will be “Kathy and I are just sitting at the table putting a puzzle together.” He has a room where he stores all his completed puzzles. Some of his favorites will become artwork they hang in their house. He sees art…I see a thousand little pieces that all look the same and they all look different. Bubba has the patience and the eye to see how the pieces fit. No pressure, no anxiety, just work the next piece.

I think church life can sometimes be like putting a puzzle together. You see pieces and part, hundreds of members, each different and yet kind of the same. Then God starts putting the pieces together and a beautiful picture starts to appear. You see a children’s ministry reaching 60, 70 or 80 children each week; a youth ministry that had 29 teenagers last Sunday night; a new Bible Study reaching women; a couple of pieces that look like foreign countries. You see little tiny pieces that no one really recognizes or even notices. Yet that little piece provides color and depth. To leave it out would be to rob the picture of its completeness.

I love that about the James Island Baptist Church family. There are so many wonderful puzzle pieces, each piece adding to the whole beautiful picture. When you look into the box (maybe our Sunday morning worship gathering) you see a bunch of puzzle pieces, but maybe not the beautiful picture they will create. The puzzle is a picture of how God uses brokenness to bring healing; how He uses imperfection to show His own glory. Don’t be fooled by the look of a bunch of puzzle pieces in the box. He is not finished putting all the pieces together. I have been doing this long enough to tell you I love the picture He is making. Thank you for being a part of His wonderful, glorious picture.

See you Sunday…with all the other pieces!

Pastor Tom

OPPORTUNITY AT YOUR FRONT DOOR…SO TO SPEAK

On Sunday, September 8, JIBC will host a Voter Registration table. The table will be open from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or until the large crowds are finished! The Voter Registration Table will be located just outside the office door close to where you might drop off jelly and/or syrup. Heather Hickman will be there to help you get registered. This is not about being partisan. It is about encouraging everyone to get out and vote. If you would like to register but cannot physically make it, please call the church office at 843-762-0244 and let us know. We might be able to provide transportation for those nearby. It would be a worthy goal to see 100% of James Island Baptist registered to vote and voting! Whichever party you are voting for, there is a lot at stake in this election. Let’s get out and vote and let’s get the vote out!

IT TAKES SOMEONE SPECIAL

One of the areas where we have experienced a turnover of volunteers is in the childcare provided for Celebrate Recovery. We lost three outstanding workers: Dea, Kay and Joanne. We still have Shelley and now we have a couple of short term volunteers, Mary and Ava. This can be a very challenging task to love on the kids coming from such special backgrounds. One evening we might have 8 kids and the next week none at all. We must always have two volunteers each night and most of the time we have three. We do pay for this position. What we try to do in all of our volunteer positions is to create what I call easy on and easy off. We want to make it easy to try a ministry out without committing too deeply…that is easy on. We also want to create an easy out if this is not the area of ministry for that person. No problem, we are thankful you tried…it should be easy off. If you think you might have a heart burn for some special kids…why not try the easy on path. I will tell you it takes a special person to minister to a special person! Maybe that is you? Call us at 843-762-0244.

We are blessed beyond measure, filled with His Spirit, washed in the blood, made right by His good work, children of the King! That is all for now, but that is enough!

Love you all,

Pastor Tom

KIDS AND JELLY!

Sounds like a great combination doesn’t it…kids and jelly! Even now, if I am in a rush and don’t have time for a meal, I can get by easily with a PB&J…peanut butter and jelly sandwich! The Dallas Cowboys eat PB&J before their games. If it is good enough for the Cowboys, it is good enough for me!

Let’s talk about kids. We have recently loss three terrific children’s workers at Celebrate Recovery. Dea Cann moved to North Carolina; Kay Hammer will be leaving to take care of her daughter and grandson; and Joanne Brown cut back on all her part-time jobs with us here at JIBC. She is now working full time at James Island Christian School. So, we are looking to replenish the workers for Sunday night. This is a paid position for two hours a week. Sometimes there are 5 or 6 kids and sometimes there are none. It takes a special person to work with kids. If you think you are interested, please call and speak to me, Neale or Kyle.

Now, let’s talk jelly! We are the jelly church of James Island. We have been asked by JI Outreach to include pancake syrup. This past Monday, the James Island Outreach came by to collect all the jelly we had at JIBC. The number of clients they see has increased significantly. They go through almost 40 jars of jelly twice a week. Just a reminder to consider picking up some jelly and/or syrup as you shop. We will have really big responses during Christmas and other special occasions when we do BIG JELLY DRIVES. In between, we have a steady donation of jelly. It just cannot keep up with the demand. Let’s keep the jelly and syrup coming. I am going today to buy as much as I can using our JIBC emergency jelly funds! Inflation and the cost of food has risen significantly. So, understandably, donations have slowed down. Remember, how you vote does matter…for kids and jelly!

Love you all,

Pastor Tom

Did He Really Mean It?

There are two places where God spoke to His Church about missions. My question, in a positive, thankful, rejoicing way is “Did He mean it?” Our Lord said, “Go into all the world and make disciples…” We call that passage the Great Commission. The second verse is found in Acts 1:8. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Now, with a joy filled heart, I ask again: Did He mean it? Did God really think that a little church on James Island could touch the world? Is there really any way that from our community we could touch a people group half way around the earth? Yes, of course He meant it. And by God’s grace and the power of His Holy Spirit we see it happening.

This past Wednesday we were scheduled to baptize around 18 people: 6 adults, 6 youth and 6 children. You are touching the world right around you. Rett Iler is going to St. George to work in disaster relief. He is really touching the world. We just had two members return from Romania and have two more leaving for Slovakia and the possibility of three going to Africa! You helped provide back to school supplies for over 150 students. As one of the office people at Camp Road Middle School said “You are changing lives!” It is amazing how our Father can use little James Island Baptist to touch the world.

Thank you for being an outward focused church family. If you were able to see the beach baptism Sunday, you were seeing the fruit of your labor: the children you disciple, the classes you taught, the ministries you served in; the love you shared. You touched the world starting in your Jerusalem, moving to our Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the world. I love you all!

Pastor Tom

By the way, I have another prayer request. As you may have read or heard, we have a vacancy on our church staff for a Children’s worker. Joanne Brown will be working full time at James Island Christian School. I am sure she will do a great job and introduce those children to Jesus, the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cubs!

We are using this interim time as an opportunity to reboot the children’s ministry. Pray for guidance as we seek the right person for this important ministry and mission staff position. We have every confidence our Good, Good Father will provide.