Where did the year go?

2014! Where did the year go? It seems like we just got started and here we are at the end of the first month of the New Year. I generally like to write a New Year letter to do two things. First, I want to give glory to God for the many blessings happening here at James Island Baptist. Second, I want to thank you for your faithful giving, prayers and service. It has really made a difference.

This past year we saw 39 precious souls baptized into the family of God. For those who are interested, we ranked 5th in the Charleston Baptist Association for baptisms last year. We graduated our first group of ladies from the Transition House to their next step in independent living. I already have appointments to interview the next potential residents. We are currently furnishing our two small apartments that will be available for ministry opportunities as well.

The Chinese fellowship had a slight change of plans. They were not able to move out in November as planned. They are still waiting upon the Lord’s timing for their next move to a place that can accommodate their growth. That is a wonderful problem to have. Claudio and the Hispanic ministry are still going strong reaching about 40 adults every week. They have started a children and youth class.

Last Sunday night our Celebrate Recovery Mission had over 50 in attendance. Our family ministry will soon add Sunday night recovery programs for children (Celebration Station) and youth (Life Hurts, God Heals) as well as preschool care. In other areas, our family ministries have been blessed with 15 new volunteers in various places of ministry. And I think we all love our new family friendly Wednesday night schedule. Wow! I cannot stress how amazing this is. Our connection group ministry is going great. Last year we added a new Sunday adult and children’s connection group and two adult groups that meet during the week. Good Lord willing, we will start a Sunday morning college connection group in a few weeks and one more week day group. Most of our groups are actively involved in an outward focus, taking the light of Christ to areas of darkness and need. Ministry is done in a variety of areas such as: crisis ministry, orphan relief, teen pregnancy, James Island Outreach, local schools, etc. I love it!

Your faithful and generous giving has allowed us to tackle some major building and grounds issues. We have replaced the ancient boiler system and water cooling tower. They both served faithfully for years. I thank God we do not have to drain the tower every time the temperature goes below 32 and light the boiler every Sunday morning when it goes out. Now, we just have to get used to the new system! Thanks for your patience…we will get up to speed quickly. New signs, fresh paint, repairs…again, to God be the glory. Thanks for all you do to make this possible.

Whether you give a little, a lot or none at all, I am grateful for your prayers and support. I love being the pastor of JIBC. I hope you are loving what He is doing.

Pastor Tom

Tailgating Party: Sunday, February 2!

On Sunday, February 2, we will have a church wide fellowship, outside, under the oaks.  First of all “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Just about any day, any time is a great day for a church wide party.  It just also happens to be Super Bowl Sunday.  Besides the World Cup (the other football), it is one of the largest sporting events in the good old U.S of A.  So, if weather permits, we will have a church wide tailgating party after the worship service on Sunday, February 2.  If weather does not cooperate, we will be inside…either way, we party…I mean fellowship.

Little details:  no 8:30 service that day;  Sunday Connection Groups meet same time, same place as usual; one service at 11:00 to celebrate Communion and to wrap up the “Roots: Producing Fruit That Last” teaching series; then, the church wide tailgating party.

Dress casual, dress warm, and come prepared for fun.  Each Connection Group is invited to put up a booth/table/tent/tailgate to showcase their group.  We have around 60 people who attend on a regular basis who have not yet found groups to connect with.  Here is a great opportunity to meet people, check out groups and do it in a fun atmosphere.

What is not to love?  Good people, good fellowship, good food, good cause, good fun!  By the way, Mark Livengood has always done a good job reminding us of “Souper Bowl Sunday”… a mission outreach to those in need.  Bring a canned good with a quarter (or a dollar) taped to it.  The money will go to Southern Baptist Convention World Hunger Causes and the food will go to James Island Outreach.  Look for the kids at the door with the big pots collecting for “Souper Bowl Sunday”.  I love it when you can combine fun, fellowship, food and missions!

This week’s message is the 4^th of the series on Roots: Producing Fruit That Lasts.  We will look at the family.  Good Lord willing, I will see you Sunday.

Pastor Tom

ARE YOU READY FOR A PARTY?

Just around the corner, Sunday, February 2, we are having a Connection Group Tailgating Party. Sunday, February 2 will be the “wrap up” of our teaching series “Roots: Producing Fruit That Last”. We will celebrate communion/Lord’s Supper together in worship, then join together for a fellowship outside under the oaks (yes, weather permitting).

As you may know, Sunday February 2 is Super Bowl Sunday. The game will be televised Sunday evening. In the spirit of fun and fellowship, we are planning a tailgating party. For those who have never been tailgating, think picnic food around a football theme and atmosphere.

Each Connection Group, whether a Sunday group or a weekday group, will be encouraged to have some tailgating/party/fun food for your group and others. Bring the grills, prepare your favorite dish, buy your favorite fried chicken! Let’s make it a fun fellowship under the oaks.

What’s the goal? We want to have a fun time of fellowship and find a way to introduce our connection groups to anyone not currently in a group. By the way, on that day, we will actually be starting a brand new connection group. I could not be more pleased with that!

So, on Sunday, February 2, we will not have the 8:30 service. We will combine to have one service and the church-wide tailgating party afterwards. We will have the Sunday morning Connection Groups/Bible Studies as always. We will not have the 8:30 service. So we will have 9:45 Sunday, all ages Connection Groups; followed by the 11:00 worship service with communion; and then the church-wide Connection Group Tailgating party. Please feel free to dress casual, dress warm and wear your team colors. If you are not sure what colors to wear, go ahead and choose black and garnet for the number four college team in the nation. Or you could wear Tennessee orange. Just kidding. Syracuse orange. Still kidding. Just dress warm and come to have fun. By the way, the Super Bowl is the National Football League, so, you could wear your favorite NFL team colors…or black and garnet. Either way, it should be a lot of fun.

Happy New Year

Transition House Celebration
What a joy to celebrate with Tonya and Amber over their next “transition”. Tonya has been at the house for over one year and Amber for 7 months. They are moving out together to an apartment here on James Island. What a great idea to move in together as the next step. We are so proud of them and look forward to their continue growth and leadership.

Late last week I also learned that another of our Transition House residents is transitioning out. Crystal will be moving this week to a house in North Charleston. We will look forward to celebrating with Crystal the same way we celebrated with Amber and Tonya. Each of them deserve their time to shine! Way to go Crystal. To God be the glory.

We will be planning a Wednesday night celebration for them all coming up real soon. I want to say thank you to our church family and church leadership for taking risks. After all, what do we know about “Transition House” living? What we do know is the One who helped us all transition from the life of darkness to the life of light. This is not a ministry without problems. It has been extremely blessed and successful.

Brrrrr….
Just a word of thanks for your wonderful patience during the time of exchanging our heating and air conditioning systems. If it is absolutely too cold for you, let me invite you to temporarily serve in the preschool or children’s ministry. They are the only ones who have heat. The downstairs and upstairs class rooms do not have heat. My adult classroom was just as cold as the downstairs classrooms. The youth area was just as cold as the fellowship hall area. All God’s children were cold. Well actually, the children and preschoolers were not. All God’s youth and adults were cold. What a wonderful joy it will be to not drain the water tower every time the temperature goes below freezing. What a pleasure it will be to not have to fire up the boiler or figure out why it is not working on Sunday morning. For the joy set before us, we gladly suffer a few Sundays. Again, thank you for your wonderful patience and understanding. You are the best.


See you Sunday, good Lord willing,


Pastor Tom

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

On behalf of our staff, I hope you all had a wonderful merry Christmas and will have a blessed New Year. As the year comes to an end, it is a great time to reflect and give thanks. The Word of God is instructive…”give thanks”. We really are better when we count our many blessings, name them and give thanks for them. We had a very Spirit filled and Christ centered Advent season. My prayer is that all the decorations, teaching series, wonderful music, opportunities for outreach, Bible studies, fellowship have all enriched your season of celebration. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.


CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS GOING ON

Even as I type this article, I can hear the wonderful noise of repairs and improvements. Power washing going on, new ac/heat system being installed, the youth area is being “repurposed” and updated…it’s all good. What a great way to end the year.


THIS SUNDAY BUDGET VOTE

This Sunday we will vote to approve the 2014 Missions and Ministry Budget presented by our Finance/Budget team. It will be a simple Yes of No vote. I am grateful for our Ministry Team leaders who submitted their budgets and to our Budget Team who process and present the final product. Good job by all involved.


SCI-FI with a twist??? If you like the “Left Behind” kind of series, you might consider the new book written by our own Charles Keltz, Interstellar Pursuit. Cool thing, the author is selling the book for $20 and donating half of the proceeds to JIBC. We are designating the donations to the mission trip to Haiti. The books will be available through the end of the year. Call or drop by the office for your copy.


Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I love you and so enjoy doing life with my JIBC family.


Pastor Tom

Christmas at JIBC

I sometimes hear the phrase “I feel the love” or “I don’t feel the love”. This time of the year when I think of God not sparing His one and only Son and sending Him to be born here on earth…I feel the love! This coming Sunday, December 22 will be the fourth Sunday of Advent. We will focus on the Gift of Love. It really is a season of love and we will focus on the Gospel message of God’s love for us. My favorite verse in the New Testament is Romans 5:8…take a look.

Did you notice something missing this Christmas season?
The Church-wide Christmas card mail box was not up this year. When it came time to put it out and up, we were right in the middle of a major construction project. It’s not that it was impossible to get it out; it was just a lot easier considering all the construction and Christmas traffic. It is the first time in my 28 years that we did not have the Christmas card mail box out. I feel sure you will see it make its annual appearance next Christmas season. By the way, remember the reason for doing that? To save money on stamps and give the money to Lottie Moon/International Missions offerings.

The largest attended service of the year is Christmas Eve. Make plans now to attend this year’s Christmas Eve Carols, Communion and Candlelight service. We begin on Christmas Eve, 6:00 p.m. We sing our favorite Christmas carols, some wonderfully new songs, observe the Lord’s Supper and then have a beautiful candle lighting service. If all goes well, we will plan to have baptism that night as well. What a most wonderful time of the year…sorry, couldn’t help it. It is true and I hope it is a wonderful time of the year for you and your family.

See you this Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

Blessings Upon Blessings

The Thanksgiving Service

Sounds like a wonderful broken record: Maybe the best Thanksgiving service ever! Sunday’s worship service was certainly a highlight in many ways. The card board testimonies were through the roof. What a great job. Baptizing 11 was fantastic…6 from JIBC, 3 from the Chinese Church and 2 from Luz Y Verdad. International missions right here at home. The worship center was filled to the brim in attendance. The Kitchen Krew did an outstanding job feeding the largest crowd ever. I know, it sounds like a broken record…at least it is a wonderful broken record. To God be the glory, what a Thanksgiving!

We are going shopping for the Transition Apartment

Most of you are familiar with the Transition House. That ministry is really going well. We have several ready to transition out into their next homes. If you by chance know of something like a four bedroom home that two of them could rent together, please let us know. JIBC has two small apartments that we are going to use for transition as well. One is almost completely furnished. The other is one we are working on. We are looking for two twin beds, a small kitchen/dinette table with two chairs, a small microwave oven, and kitchen items (dishes, silverware, pots, pans, etc). Our goal will be to make these ready to move into. The only thing they will need to bring is their clothes. By the way, we are not in the “real estate rental business”. We know we could rent these any day of the week. So, we are not looking for people to rent these apartments. They will become part of our transition ministry. Affordable housing is so hard to find, we have people asking on a regular basis if the apartments are available. The answer is no. We are not looking to rent the apartments.

Sunday begins Advent

The word advent comes from a Latin word meaning “coming”. It is the season where the followers of Christ anticipate and celebrate the coming of God’s Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ into the world. It is one way we lead our church family to focus on the meaning of Christmas and to enjoy the rich traditions of the Church. We will celebrate the season of Hope, Peace, Love and Joy made possible by our Lord Jesus. This week I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. This Sunday, we begin the Advent Season. Thanks to our volunteers for decorating the worship center…it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Pastor Tom