TAKE YOUR PICK…BLESSINGS ARE ALL AROUND

I really do believe that a blessed person has options. I want to list a few of the “additional” options you have for blessings. I say additional, because you have ongoing sources of blessing in your Connection Group, Weekly Worship, daily time with God, etc. Here are a few coming up that could make a difference. Of course they take some effort on our part. Look over the options and see if God may be providing an answer to prayers you have been praying or relief from a pain you have been experiencing. Either way, a blessed person has options!

This Saturday our Experiencing God group is leading a walk through the Riverland Terrace neighborhood. Walk you dogs or a walk with the family. Either one or both. As you walk, pray for what you see and ask God to show you what He sees. This is not so much a church wide event as it may be an event God has somehow, in His mysterious way, put on your heart. Meet at JIBC Fellowship Hall at 9:30 a.m. this Saturday, February 20. Walking, praying family fellowship…hmm?

This Sunday, pray for Class 101: Discovering Membership. We have 20 signed up. That is 20 wonderful precious souls our Father may be leading to unite their family with ours. I really do believe God adds to the church those that He wills. So let’s pray with them about this next step at JIBC.

How about your language…your love language that is? Saturday, February 27 will be our 5 Love Languages gathering. We have 50 signed up so far. Hey, by the way, you don’t have to be a couple to benefit from this. Knowing your love language will help single people, single moms or single dads, etc. Whenever I meet with a couple planning to get married, this book, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, is one of the three books I recommend. Need a tune up? Things going good but could be a little better…let’s give it a try. A blessed person has options. Call the church office to make your reservation or sign up this Sunday.

Just around the corner is our church wide blood drive. Our friends from the American Red Cross will be at JIBC on Sunday, March 6 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Janie and I will be out of town that Sunday, so we will make a special effort to donate the week before. Our family has been blessed more than once as we needed blood. My grandson, Wyatt, is here by the grace of God, the will of his mother, the love of his father, the prayers of our friends and the gift of life given through the Red Cross. Thank you for donating. It was the difference of life.

See you Sunday as we get Jonah in the belly of the big fish! Now he is Running To God.

Pastor Tom

Jonah: A Story of Grace

This past Sunday we started a series on the Old Testament Book of Jonah. It started off with a great message introducing Jonah and the great city of Nineveh. Jonah thought he could run from God and his responsibilities. Not so much. Psalm139 reminds us that we cannot find a cruise anywhere that God is not already there. And when we do run…He is fully capable of getting our attention in the most creative of ways. Perhaps it will not be in the belly of a great fish. It could be…but hopefully it will not be.

So I am encouraging our church family to spend some time reading and re-reading this great Old Testament Book of Jonah. I do believe Jonah was a real man swallowed by a real fish…a really big fish. I have no trouble believing the God who created the Heavens and the earth could also create a fish capable of putting up with a disobedient prophet for three days! So how is this God’s message for His church today? How is this message for your Connection Group? And more to the point, how is this a message from God’s heart to yours?

Jonah 1:1 starts with “The Word of the LORD came to Jonah”. This was the first evidence of God’s amazing grace in this story. Who is Jonah, and who are we, that Almighty God would take the time to speak a word to us? What grace and what love. We have a Father in heaven that the Bible describes as our friend; a Shepherd to His sheep; a lover of our souls. We have a Father who loved broken humanity so much that He sent His only Son to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. To give wicked Nineveh a chance to repent, to change their thinking about God is an amazing display of grace. This is a story of God’s grace to Jonah, to Nineveh and to the people of Israel. It is also a story of grace for you and me, JIBC, your connection group. Seek the Word of God. Let the Word of God come to you as it did to Jonah…just don’t run! Where could you run from His presence?

See you Sunday…good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

LEVERAGE YOUR INFLUENCE

Sunday I finished the series “ALL IN”.
We ended with a Celebration of Communion remembering what God has done for us through His Son, our Lord Jesus. I wanted to give some sort of guide by which we could begin to measure what being ALL IN looks like at JIBC. The only part I want to mention today relates to our reaching out and making a difference. How can you be salt and light in your family, neighborhood and community? How can you make a difference across the street, across the river or across the ocean? I want to encourage you to leverage the influence that you have.

Check out the story of Moses in Exodus 3. God asked Moses to go back to Egypt, confront Pharaoh and lead the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. “Let my people go” was to be the message

from Moses. Understandably fearful, Moses questioned God on several fronts. God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” It was his shepherd’s staff. God used that plain and simple staff to send a powerful message. So, what is that in your hand, in your ability, in your wheelhouse? The ability to talk wallpaper off a wall; a passion for a sport; the ability to listen to the broken stories of people you don’t even know; the ability to make money or the wisdom of how to budget it. On and on and on we could go. I am praying that we will allow God to use what He Himself has placed into our hands and abilities. Leverage your influence on boards, in civic organizations, on your teams. Make a difference.

The most important event in the Old Testament is the Passover and the Exodus. Of course, Moses is the one God used to make it happen. But before Moses, there was a big sister, Miriam, who carefully watched over baby Moses as he floated down the Nile River to be intercepted by Pharaoh’s daughter. But before Moses and before Miriam, there was a midwife who rescued Moses from an aborted life. Ordered by Pharaoh to murder all the Hebrew boys born at this time, this heroic midwife refused. She delivered the Hebrew boy who was later named Moses. She leveraged her influence, her skill and ability. Eternity will count her as one of the greatest missionaries ever…who may have felt like she was just doing her job.

All in …All Jesus…All the Time. God did it, God gets the glory. He chose to do it through men and women who leveraged their influence to join Him in His work to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world.

Pastor Tom

Our next teaching series will be the Old Testament book of Jonah! It is hard to keep a good man down!

A Good Question

DO YOU RIDE A MOTORCYCLE…or know someone who does?
Our sister church, Northwood Baptist, offer one of the best motorcycle safety classes around. They are offering it 6 times this year. Our friend, Timmy Glover, is one of the instructors. He has long been one of the top Motorcycle Cops in the state and nation. The goal of these classes is not to teach you how to ride a motorcycle. It is to teach you how not to crash…crash avoidance! Now that is a class worth taking. For all or our biker members and friends I would say this: I took this course and will gladly take it again. It is that good and helpful. If we want to go together as a group that could be fun. Here are the 2016 dates for training. You do have to register to attend. March 12, April 30, June 11, July 16, August 13 and September 17. Let me know at tombrown41@comcast.net or see me before or after worship.

A GOOD QUESTION. I was asked a good question this past Sunday. Our 2016 Mission and Ministry Budget reflects $43,296 for debt retirement. The line item says this amount contributes to the debt incurred for building renovations. I can see where that could be confusing. The most recent renovations, completed in 2015, to the Worship Center/Restrooms/hallways and offices have been completely paid for. By God’s grace, your generosity and our fantastic finance team we were able to pay for these recent renovations completely. We did not borrow any money and we do not owe anything. Paid for, done, over…can I get an Amen?

The only debt we have as a church family is for the Transition House, sometimes referred to as the Parker House. Two renovations ago, Renovations 4 Generations (R4G), we did a major renovation in our preschool, built the atrium and renovated the children’s center. That was all set and ready to go when the old Sportsman building property became available. That was an old service station building that sat on the point where we currently park the bus. Exactly at that time, the brick home behind our church, owned by the Parkers, also became available. The need to purchase both of these was a no-brainer. We were so excited about the old Sportsman’s Shop that we raised all that money in cash! The Parker house, at the peak of the market, cost us around $315,000. We have paid off all the renovations to the church buildings, paid for the Sportsman’s Shop but had to finance the brick home that now houses the Transition House Ministry. We currently owe around $220,000 on that property. That is where the $43,296 in debt goes each year. All monies now given to R4G go toward the principal. I am glad to say that is the only debt we have and it is for a wonderful mission. To God be the glory. Thanks for asking.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

ALL IN…ALL JESUS…ALL THE TIME

MATTHEW 22:37 - Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Another way to say that…ALL IN! 

ROMANS 8:32 - “He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” God so loved you that HE went all in..giving you the best that He had…His Son.

This Sunday will be the last of this series of lessons on “ALL IN”. It has been my desire to point out the many places where our Father and our Lord encourage us to go all in. The Bible is filled with story of the heroes of the faith that went all in with God. It is also filled with stories of what happens when we do not go all in. AS I said this past Sunday: It always cost to go all in…it just cost more not to”. This Sunday we will be hearing the ultimate story of going all in. I hope you will be here for the conclusion…or should I say the beginning?

By the way, could I review a little history of JIBC with you about going all in? You went all in with your willingness to sponsor and help the Chinese church. They began with 3 and when they outgrew JIBC they had almost 100 adults, their own youth program and their own children’s program. When they left they had more money in the bank than 80% of all Southern Baptist Churches in South Carolina. You went all in and the reward was great…the largest and strongest Chinese Church in Charleston. The same story could be told of going all in with our Hispanic church, Luz Y Verdad. JIBC has sponsored Luz Y Verdad through thick and thin. Now, God has blessed Pastor Claudio and Claudia and their team with almost

70 adults every week, plus their own youth, children and preschool program. All in, all Jesus, all the time. Again, we could repeat the story about Celebrate Recovery. All the way back to the days when Pastor Ted started CR to the place we are today. James Island Baptist has one of the strongest, well run Celebrate Recovery groups in Charleston. We offer ministry to adults (CR) to youth (The Landing) and to children (Celebration Station) and preschool childcare. The Charleston CCrab House, Kickin Chicken , Al Simmons and Barry Waldrop graciously provide quality meals for CR. We have on occasion had more attending CR than the average Southern Baptist Church in South Carolina has in regular attendance! All in, all Jesus, all the time.

Let me be straight forward…it cost every time we go all in. It cost to help the Chinese Church, the Hispanic church and Celebrate Recovery. It always cost to go all in. It’s just that it cost more not to.

Thank you for being a church willing to go all in. I love you and am blessed by God with the privilege to be your pastor. My commitment is to continue to be all in…all Jesus…all the time.

Pastor Tom

TWO REALLY BIG EVENTS HAPPEN THIS WEEK.

I am writing this on Monday, January 11. Tonight Clemson plays Alabama for the National Championship. By the time you read this the game will be a done deal, in the record books. If Alabama wins, it is what most prognosticators expected. If Clemson wins, it may well be the biggest sports story of the year. You have noticed that I usually do not joke about sports or teams from the pulpit. Every now and again I will poke fun at the teams I enjoy and support…but not often. People are very touchy about their teams…especially if they have a history of being less than successful.

It is fun to imagine what would happen if the followers of Christ were as rabid and radical about the Kingdom of Christ as the Kingdom of My University. How different the worship would be if sung with the enthusiasm of our fight songs; how packed churches would be if we attended so faithfully; how the offerings would multiply if we gave with big game enthusiasm. That is at least a part of what I am aiming for in the “ALL IN” series. What would stop us from being all in on an eternal championship team? I am so pleased to hear your enthusiastic worship Sunday after Sunday. I am thrilled to see offerings so generous we can constantly increase what we give away to community and to world missions! I am blessed when I see friends bringing friends to worship and connection groups. Really, I love it. I love Team JIBC. Your love for our Father and Lord Jesus changes your life and your families. All In…All Jesus…all the time!

THE SECOND BIG EVENT. This past Wednesday was the lottery drawing for $1.3 Billion dollars. OK, gotta be honest. Janie snuck out to the 7/11 to buy a couple of tickets. Don’t judge. She did it for the sake of helping South Carolina education. OK, it wasn’t Janie, it was me. The point is, have you ever thought what you would do with $1.3 Billion? OK, after taxes and taking a cash payout, you only get around $500 Million. Still, what would you do? It is fun to imagine. The only thing I can’t imagine is the idea that it would not change me! Since I will not know what it is like to have $500 million, I dream about what I would do with a little less. What would I do with what I do have? I will be a good steward/manager of what God gives me. I will tithe and give offerings, save for emergencies, and live life blessed and highly favored. What I would do with a little is probably an excellent indication of what I would do with a lot. Either way, I want to live ALL IN…ALL JESUS…all the time.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing, wearing Victory Orange!

Pastor Tom

WHAT A NICE OPTION

This past Sunday was our first Sunday without the 8:30 Worship Service and it was our first Celebrate Recovery Worship Service in the Worship Center/Sanctuary. In the past Celebrate Recovery worship has been led by Marty from 6:30 to 7:15 in the Fellowship Hall. That had some real challenges to it: people still eating, kitchen noises, children leaving, people spread out over the entire hall, etc. This past Sunday we moved it to the Worship Center/Sanctuary added another instrument and two more singers. Oh my, oh my…what a wonderful intimate experience. It was worshipful, all together and very intimate. Wow! Way to go CR TEAM. 

So why is it a nice option? For those who were use to attending the 8:30 service, this may be a wonderful option for you. We had 30 people but they all sat close together…not spread out in a room built for 400. Same overhead, same singers, same Marty leading…it was a quality experience and it was well received. It starts at 6:30 and last until 7:15. Then the CR folks break up into their small groups.

So how does this affect you? If you are looking for another meaningful and inspiring worship event,

I want to suggest you visit Celebrate Recovery on Sunday nights. It is not just about alcohol and drug recovery. It is about a variety of hurts, habits and hang-ups. It is for those of us with anger issues, control issues, marriage or family issues, food issues, spending issues, co-dependency stuff, pornography addictions, sexual issues, gambling, etc, etc. It is about life and all our hurts, habits and hang-ups. We usually have a welcome and prayer, a song, the reading of the 12 Steps or 8 Biblical principles, giving out the CR chips, then a worship set followed by a lesson. After the lesson, some leave for the evening. Those who are a part of CR go to their men’s group or one of the two women’s groups. The worship experience is an open meeting and everyone is welcomed and invited.

What a nice option…for someone looking for another great worship experience or a smaller more intimate setting. See you Sunday, good Lord willing!



Pastor Tom