Recently I have had a few conversations about what kind of church James Island Baptist is. I think it is a great question. I would love to have an open discussion to hear the thoughts of those who are inside the church family and those who are in the community. Our newest staff member, Pastor Scott Blasingame asked it this way: What would the people in our community say about JIBC?
Not to get to philosophical about it but here is one way to consider our answers. There is who we think we are, who we say we are and who we actually are. Boy, there is enough to keep you busy for a while. The closer we can get those three together the closer we are to having what some might call “institutional integrity”.
The feedback we get on a consistent basis says we are a friendly church. I believe that. You have gone out of your way to make people feel like they are welcomed here. The clothes we wear, the honesty we share, the Good News we declare all say “You are welcomed here”. Someone could rightly say we’re a “fellowship-centric” church. We are one of the only churches on James Island that has a full time, fully funded Student Pastor. Hard to believe, but that is the truth. We do not have anywhere near the largest student ministry because we are nowhere near the largest church. We could be known as a church that cares enough to invest in a full time missionary/youth pastor to reach “Generation Z”. The Student Pastor’s salary is listed among the other salaries. It could rightly be listed under missions. For a small church, JIBC is about as outward focused as any church you will find. One prospective staff member said that is what he looked forward to the most, finding out how JIBC became so outward focused. It would be correct to say we are a “mission-centric” church.
We have significant ministries in the Transition House, Celebrate Recovery, and feeding people for free, caring for the homebound, offering showers, free food and fellowship to the homeless, helping support the underserved through James Island Outreach, etc. How could we not be known as a “compassionate-centric” church?
All these descriptions are accurate and I would be proud to be known and associated with any of them. You know the description I have aimed for my entire ministry, right? I would be proud to be known as a church driven by the purposes of God as revealed in His Holy Word. All churches are driven by something or someone. I have sought to lead JIBC to be driven by the purposes clearly taught by our Lord Jesus: reach people for membership in His family; help them mature to be like Christ; involve them in ministry to build up His church; send them into the community and world to make a difference; and to worship Him in all we do. Yep, Purpose Driven: biblically sound, theologically grounded, compassion motivated, taking on the spiritual giants as we join God’s mission to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world.
JIBC is not a perfect church and I am far from a perfect pastor. I do believe it would be hard to find a pastor who loves his church more than I do. I absolutely love who we are and who God has called us to be.
Pastor Tom
