Just like presents under the tree, missions come in all different shapes and sizes. Some missions are big…I mean really BIG. For instance, it has been a year since the JIBC family joined in with over 50 other churches to be a part of “Pray Charleston”. Each church took one day a month to pray 24 hours that day for Charleston. JIBC took the 10th of every month and so for 12 months, we were committed to praying “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in Charleston as it is in heaven”. We had 168 people commit to praying and interceding to cover every 15-minute period of the 24 hours and then some. We even had our partner church in Romania join us in this prayer mission effort! Thank you, Father.
The second package is just as amazing. Asked to provide 300 Christmas toys for children in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, you crushed the effort! We quit counting after 400 toys. I don’t think “Santa’s” sleigh could carry this many toys in one trip, so we rented a UHAUL! We packed 30 XL boxes full of every kind of toy you can imagine; 2 XL boxes of candy and 300 little stockings (to be filled by the Greenville, Tennessee High school ROTC and the BETA club, an international honor society for students in the 4th through 12th grades.) In addition, we are sending 6 boxes of potato chips for the party they will be having on Saturday, December 19. Our members, full-time volunteer missionaries, Charles and Judy Dillon, will be there as Santa and Mrs. Claus to tell the children the Christmas Story about baby Jesus. Thank you all for crushing the goal of 300 toys! Yay God and Yay JIBC!
The third mission present is “unwrapped” on Wednesday, December 17. Everyone is invited to go Christmas Caroling at the Bishop Gadsden Rehab Center. Note, it is the “Rehab Center, Gadsden Glen”. Our worship pastor, David Martin, has put together the best caroling booklet I have ever used. You get the words to the Christmas songs and a brief and informative story about the songs. It is a fun event that carries a lot of potential for making the season bright!
See you Sunday, good Lord willing, as we continue this year’s advent theme, “All Hail King Jesus”. He is a different kind of King!
Pastor Tom
