LET’S TRY THAT AGAIN

Starting Sunday, September 6, we are going to start again with the “in-person” worship gatherings. Remember, you never stopped worshiping. The only question is Who or what were you worshipping. We only stopped “in-person” worship gatherings because several of our leaders had Covid-19, we had two deaths related to Covid 19 and the number of cases in SC were spiking at that point. I am so thankful for our staff that could arrange for our messages to be recorded and available. Bless all of our Connection Group leaders who continually taught the Word of God on Zoom and found creative ways to reach out to and pray for their members. Well done good and faithful servants.

So, we are going to try it again. This time we are inside for both services, one at 9:00 and one at 11:00. We would absolutely have the 9:00 service outside if we were not in the middle of hurricane season. The set up and take down of the tent, chairs, stage and equipment can be a challenge without the threat of a tropical storm or hurricane. Maybe we will go outside in October?

One of the most controversial parts of this pandemic has been mask or no mask. The emotions range from a mild “It does not matter to me” to bullying and shaming if you even consider not wearing a mask. It will not get any easier at JIBC. We encourage everyone to wear a mask as you come to worship and enter the buildings and to wear a mask when the service is over and you exit the building. At this time, you are encouraged to wear your mask the entire time with our blessing. Restaurants require masks while entering, going to your table and while exiting. You are of course, allowed to take off your mask while you eat. At this time, our principle is similar. You may want or need to take off your mask once you are seated, at your table, so to speak. Of course you may leave your mask on and you may choose to sit around family and others that you know prefer to keep their mask on. We will, by the way, continue to provide on line worship for those who cannot attend or choose not to attend. We bless your choice to be safe.

Until then, we ask that you stop by one of the Health Screening Stations for a quick temp check and to answer a few basic questions. If you are not feeling well, consider staying at home. Do let us know so we can keep you in our prayers.

“It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times…but these are the only times we have”. Let’s make the most of them for the glory of God. Hope to see you soon.

Pastor Tom

PRESS ON, DON’T JUST HOLD ON

We just finished with our weekly staff meeting. One of the comments I left them with was the following: PRESS ON, DON’T JUST HOLD ON. It is tempting to just hold on, whatever that means to you, during this Covid-19 Pandemic. Just hold on and eventually things will get back to normal. I am not sure many people believe we will get back to normal or that we even want to get back to normal. But simply holding on is not really an option for followers of Christ. 

During the last seven months, we have committed ourselves to pressing on when it comes to church mission and ministry. When we were not able to have in-person gatherings, we adapted and had online messages and worship. When Connection Groups could not meet together in-person, they began to Zoom! We have heard from several Connection Groups that in some ways they are more active and together than before the pandemic affected in-person gathering. My wife, Janie, loves watching her group share back and forth about mission and ministry. Gotta love that!

When we could not have Wednesday night dinners, God blessed us with a strategy to bless others. So we delivered to homebound, shut-ins, fire stations, EMT, first responders, medical clinics, etc. The pandemic did not stop ministry and mission it just made it different. The JIBC family has given more food to James Island Outreach since the first of the year than any two years put together…and the year is not over yet. Because of your generosity, we have been able to continue our support of International, National, State and Charleston Baptist Missions. I have heard the most wonderful stories of Connection Groups doing community outreach events. One group helped host a Neighborhood Movie night and collected 230 pounds of food for James Island Outreach. That 230 pounds will be matched by JIBC totaling 460 pounds of food. We have hosted meals for grieving families in our community that are not a part of JIBC sharing the love of Christ in difficult times. 

Our goal has never been to just hold on till this crisis passed. Our goal, as always, is to look where God is working and join Him. Press on, don’t just hold on. Sunday, September 6, we begin to press on with our in-person worship gatherings. We understand not everyone is ready, willing or able to come back. So we press on with technology and will provide recordings and live streaming so you can keep connected at home. On Sunday, September 13 we will have the Lord’s Supper and celebrate baptism. Press on don’t just hold on. Press on in your Bible Study and prayers; press on in staying connected with your church family and friends. Press on in your generous giving to help others. Press on whether it is movie night under the oaks, the marriage enrichment event, or family night at the beach…press on, don’t just hold on.

This pandemic does not build character it reveals the character that you have. Press on!

Pastor Tom

It’s About Time!

Usually that is said with a bit of emotion and even a little anxiety. You know, it is about time that someone did something about that problem. In our case, I am referring to Pastor Scott’s teaching series on time. It is about time…how we invest it and how we make priorities that impact our time. If you did not hear him Sunday, I hope you will go back and listen. His illustration was on target and so easy to remember and relate to. It’s about time. I want to thank Scott for being willing to teach a couple of weeks for us. I knew it would be good and super relevant.

We are prepping to launch 

If all goes according to plans, we plan to re-launch “in-person worship” on Sunday, September 6 at 9:00 and 11:00. Both services will be inside. We will encourage the same protocol that we used in the past. We ask everyone to wear mask while arriving and going to your seats, stop by the screening tents/area for a temperature check and the prescreen questions. We will only have preschool and childcare services at the 11:00 service and not the 9:00 service. Of course, your little ones are welcome at the 9:00. But we will not be able to staff both services at this time. Hopefully we will be able to offer that service at a later date. The balcony will be reserved for the Media Production Team and their families only. We still encourage all the guidelines you experience in so many places: mask, social distancing, wash your hands frequently, don’t touch your face and protect the vulnerable. This is all so foreign to everyone. Let us thank you ahead of time for your patience, good will and cooperation. We certainly bless those who are not yet ready to join us for in person worship or gatherings. We encourage those who are at risk or vulnerable to practice caution. We are hoping to enjoy fellowship with you for the long run not just for the immediate time.

A JIBC Devotional in the making 

We have asked 40 or our leaders to write a devotional that will be put together as a 40 Day Devotional. It will feature a brief introduction as to who they are, one of their favorite Bible verses, and a favorite song and a devotional thought that might encourage us during this crazy time. I really believe you will enjoy it so much the challenge will be to not read it all at one sitting! LOL. I am enjoying reading them as they come in. Just a reminder…if you have been asked to write one and have not turned it in yet please do so ASAP!

Blessings of peace and comfort to you all,

Pastor Tom

FOUR MINISTRY PROJECTS I AM WORKING TOWARD

In no particular order, here are four ministry projects I am working towards. All four are connected and all four help us carry out our mission to make disciples who make disciples that change our community and world.

First, I am looking for volunteers to help shop for groceries for the under-served in our community. You may have read in last week’s messenger that James Island Outreach has had a surge of families requesting help. The JIO Ministry is in need of groceries and funds. We can help with both. Of course, you can do this on your own. We did have a good time when we made it a group mission. Anyone can join us in our shopping spree. I would love to have some folks who have never seen James Island Outreach go with us. The Executive Director is so gracious to give us personal tours and to explain how the ministry works. Days and hours are pretty flexible. This could be a great mission for a Connection Group, a family, an Awana group, Students, Joy Club, etc. With a little creative thinking someone could even find a way to make it an outreach event involving those we have yet to reach for Christ. Interested? Call the church office and leave your info. I will call back with the details.

Second, our staff is working toward re-opening in person worship on Sunday, September 6. The plans, at this time, are to only have two worship services. One will be at 9 and the other at 11. All the protocols we used will be in place with a few more! Remember that we stopped ingathering worship when basically all of our worship leaders and team had Covid-19 or were in isolation because of it. This happened at the time when South Carolina cases were spiking. Seem like an appropriate and necessary step to take. Now we are working on returning. Details will come as soon as we have them to share.

Third, we have asked 40 or so of our leaders to join me in writing a 40 Day Devotional. If all goes according to plans, this should be available at the first of September. The plans are for our Connection Groups to serve as our delivery system. I am looking forward to hearing what our Father has been saying to this group.

Fourth, I am looking for volunteers to help me put together a Day of Prayer. It is good and appropriate that we would have a church wide prayer effort at such a time as this. We have had several members to contract this corona virus. They have been young adults, median age and senior adults. We have had some hospitalized; several at home with severe symptoms; some with mild symptoms; and two members that died due to Covid-19. To make a dreadful disease worse, somehow Covid-19 and even the medicine to treat it have become political. I truly believe we are already praying. I want to invite you to join together in a focused prayer effort. I am working on a plan to have us sign up for some period of time. You could come to the church or pray wherever you are. We know that all things are possible for God. Let’s go before Him…together. More to come.

Blessings to you all,

Pastor Tom

 

THAT IS A DEFINITE MAYBE!

“I have given you a definite decision…I said definitely maybe!” That is what I feel like when we start discussing when we will begin in person worship gatherings. By the way, isn’t that an interesting phrase…in person worship gatherings. If we think back B.C. (Before Covid) that was a phrase we very seldom used. The idea existed because there are those who can only worship online or on television. Now, it is a phrase that applies to many of us. But I digress. Let’s get back to the definite maybe discussion.

Our staff is working on when to attempt to re-launch the in person worship services. It is about as easy as the decision to open schools or not. You may remember the reason we stopped the services was due to almost the entire praise team being isolated because of Covid-19. JIBC went so long without having anyone with Covid -19. Then, coincidentally, the JIBC spike in cases joined the spike in cases that was being experienced in South Carolina. Just fyi, the members we have had with Covid-19 did not have mild symptoms. They experienced the full wrath of this horrible virus. Sadly, we have even now had a member to pass away with Covid-19.

So when will we try to start gathering again? Well, remember we have been gathering…online. I have wonderful reports of some of our Connection Groups doing good work in spite of not being able to gather in person. I think most of us really do miss the face to face, or should we say mask to mask, meetings. We are weary of all of this yet so very thankful for our Fathers blessings.

Our goal….drum roll please…is Sunday, September 6 as a definite maybe. We will try September 6 as our “let’s make sure we remember how to do all the Covid-19 procedures”. Then the actual launch will be Sunday, September 13. That date rings a bell. It will be our 35th Anniversary as Church and Pastor! It will also be my 65th birthday. Now that would be a great way to celebrate both occasions. Let’s meet together for a day of worship and celebration. That is a definite maybe!

Until then, join us as we gather together on line each week!

Pastor Tom

WHAT TO DO WHILE YOU WAIT

Do you suppose there will ever be a “normal” again? As the beloved Old Testament Prophet Amos said: “I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet.” I really have no guess if we will ever return to normal, if we really want to return to normal or if that is some sort of a sentimental dream! Lol. So, what do we do while we wait on the old normal, the new normal or whatever is coming?

Proverbs 4:23 encourages us this way: “Above all else guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.” That is a pretty good place to start. Guard your heart is sound biblical advice. But what are we guarding our hearts from? When times are tough I think it is easy to give into the flesh and into our old nature. It is so easy to revert back to what was once our only nature…our old fleshly, carnal, lost, selfish nature. Our old nature is a breeding ground for things like pessimism, fear, anxiety, bitterness, resentment, rage, vengeance, and the need for control, arrogance, pride, immorality, surrender, stinking thinking and the like. I suspect that most of us are not plunged into such a pool of despair. We are more likely to wade into it…you know, starting with our toe, then our foot, then before we know it we are swimming, or drowning, in a backwash of our old nature.

But we, as followers of Christ, are not to live by our old nature. We have put that off as though it was a dirty garment that no longer fits who we are and who God has destined us to be. So we heed the advice of the wise man and diligently guard our hearts…what goes in and what comes out. Any time is a good time to practice what we refer to as the spiritual disciplines: prayer, Bible Study, devotional reading, rest, not having the last word, worship, giving, serving, encouraging, memorizing scripture, etc. We tend to get “good at” what we practice. These may well be the best of times and the worst of times but they are the only times we have. So let’s make the most of them.

Football teams have not been sure if they were going to have a season or not. Football players with any wisdom have been practicing and preparing as thought they are having a season. When the decision is made to have a football season, they will not have to “get in shape”. They have already been practicing and are in shape and ready to go. I am suggesting that team JIBC continue practicing the spiritual disciplines and be ready to go. Our season does not begin in September. Our season is today, tomorrow, this week and next.

There is a lot of life that may or may not return to normal. What I do know is that whatever the near future looks like, it must include followers of Jesus who have guarded their hearts, practiced daily the spiritual disciplines that make us more like Jesus and are actively engaged in ministry and mission in our community and around the world. “Above all else, guard your heart for from it flow the springs of life”. Let it flow!

Pastor Tom

TRANSITION HOUSE MINISTRY

It is hard to imagine that we have had the Transition House Ministry for almost 10 years. We have had 32 Women and over 32 infants/toddlers/children come through this unique ministry. When we started the Transition House we were the only one of its kind in the Charleston area. There may be one or possibly two others now. You may remember that we started this ministry when I heard a Charleston leader say that one of the greatest unmet needs in Charleston was housing for women with infants coming out of the Charleston Center. Particularly women who are on step-down medications. One of the many things I love about James Island Baptist is our willingness to take on the giants. I had no experience running a Recovery Transition House. My thought was it is better to try and to fail than to not try at all. So we tried. About 3 years into the ministry we temporarily stopped the ministry so we could do major upgrades to the house. The volunteers who did that did an amazing job. They made the house into a home. Four years ago we temporarily stopped the ministry again. This time we did it to improve how we administrated the home. We got input from others, had the Charleston Center Rehab give us help and we looked at what other ministries were doing. We did that re-boot about 4 years ago and it made a significant improvement in the day-to-day operations at the Transition House.

Now is the time for another re-boot of the Transition House Ministry. The re-boot this time will focus on a Transition House Ministry Team. Neale Young and I have basically been serving as the team. Now it is time to expand the team and to broaden the experience. I have every confidence that this will be a great move.

We currently have two residents plus their sweet children that live at the house. They will be transitioning out at the end of August. Jada has been with us for two years and Kate has been with us almost 1 full year. They have both become such a part of our church family. They are all loved and we are thrilled at being a small part of their recovery journey. My hope is that both of them will be continue to be a part of JIBC and Celebrate Recovery. I have every confidence that this will be a great move.

The timing for this re-boot is good because of the “shut down” of the Charleston Center. They have closed two of the programs that we worked with. The need is still great but not at this time because of Covid-19. I suspect they will re-open this fall and perhaps we will be ready to re-open the Transition House by then. We will look forward to whatever wonderful new friends God will bring us through this mission.

Blessings to all,

Pastor Tom