By Tom Jenkins on 12/15/2008 6:59 PM

   Communion, often reffered to as the Lord's Supper, is a special event for the Christian church. We Baptists refer to this as an "ordinance", along with Baptism. Bread and juice are the elements of communion. Both are symbols of Christ, his body and his blood. We Baptists generally use grape juice rather than actual wine as the beverage and the bread is small squares of unleavened bread. The service is filled with the symboism of Christ's love for us that was profoundly demonstrated through his sacrificial death on the cross. The service is patterened after the supper that Jesus had with his disciples the night he was arrested.    Christmas is about Christ's birth. Yet, the shadow of the cross was cast upon the manger for his birth began the journey to the cross. The joy we sing about at Christmas is climaxed with our shouts of joy at Easter as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.    We will celebrate communion at our sevice on Christmas eve at 11:00 p.m. We will gather around the table of the Lord and...

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By Tom Jenkins on 12/11/2008 9:02 AM

   We were blessed yesterday with two gifts of the Christmas season. First, our Music and Drama Teams presented, "Christmas: I Love To Tell the Story." It was a splendid blend of various elements such as music, art and drama to tell the story of Christmas.    Second, last night Carlo Curley gave the inaugural concert for our new Allen Organ. Curley showed us what a splendid instrument the Whitfield family gave us. The program included classical pieces and seasonal pieces. He led us to sing two Christmas Carols and showed us how splendid we can sing as the organ swelled to its full instrumentation to lead us.    Our Children's Choir presents their Christmas program Sunday night, December 14 at 7:00 PM. Their program is called "Angels We Have Heard." I'm sure it will inspire us and remind us again of the old, old story we celebrate at Christmas.   Join us at FBCC as we continue our journey through the Advent Season.

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By Tom Jenkins on 12/4/2008 8:49 AM

    David Richardson shared with us a blessing he's received during our "30 Days of Prayer". He took a group of our youth to the Durham Rescue Mission where they served food to the residents and shared Christmas joy with them. The blessing came in witnessing the way the youth responded to the residens with the love of Christ. David said that we often spend much time working with youth without clear indications of the effectiveness of our work. Then along comes a clear sign that our work has been effective like the response the youth made to the work of Durham Rescue Mission.
    Perhaps you, too, have received a special blessing from God as you have traveled through the "30 Days of Prayer." Share it with us. I'll even post it on our web site, with your permission. God is at work among us and we eagerly wait to hear how he is blessing your life.

By Tom Jenkins on 11/17/2008 2:54 PM

    We began “30 Days of Prayer” on November 16. The emphasis calls for church members to pray for specific ministries and programs of the church over the next 30 days. The themes for prayer are taken from our Core Values. Core Values identify a church’s mission and vision. They are the drivers for the work of the church, the non-negotiables that define the church.     Our Core Values appear in our budget as the headings for categories of ministry and mission that we support through our financial contributions. That implies that our Core Values drive decisions about how we spend our money. The Stewardship Finance Committee will mail copies of the proposed budget for 2009 to church members in a few weeks. When you receive your copy, notice how the Core Values are used to drive the budget. During the “30 Days of Prayer” ask for God’s blessings upon specific areas of our ministries. For an example, pray for our local missions work. Our food closet, just one area of our local missions, provides food each week to...

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By Tom Jenkins on 10/20/2008 10:57 AM

 These are difficult times for us. The stock market crash and the subprime mortgage meltdown have affected most Americans. Persons planning to retire may have to now work longer to rebuild their retirement accounts. Young couples planning to buy their first home may have to continue renting or living with parents. Church's planning new buildings or programs may have to wait or scale back.    What is the Christian to do in such difficult times? Pray. That's the bottom line. We walk by faith and not by sight. We must continue to claim the promises of God. The Psalmist said that he had never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread (Ps. 37:25). God will provide.   In the coming weeks our conregation will hear about our financial plans for 2009, including the budget. I will not be asking you to sign a commitment card this year. Instead, I am asking you to commmit to a season of prayer. We will begin "Thirty Days of Prayer" on November 26. We will pray each day for particular and specific programs,...

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By Tom Jenkins on 10/16/2008 9:52 AM

  FBCC called David Richardson to lead our youth as the Interim Youth Director. David and his wife Becky have been active in our church for several years. Both of them yielded to the call of God for Christian ministry before joining FBCC. I feel that God brought them to us so that at the appropriate time David could be lifted up as Youth Director. Before the church asked David to become Interim Youth Director he was already involved with our  youth, most recently leading the youth through Christianity 101. David is also very active in our technology programs such as running Media Shout for our video programs on Sunday mornings. Becky is a gifted young lady who will work alongside David in a ministry partnership. She will bring her charm and commitment to the work.   FBCC actually followed the pattern of the early New Testament Church in calling out its own members for ministry. We followed that pattern when we ordained Steve Brown for Christian ministry this year. Steve is now serving as the Associate Pastor...

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By Tom Jenkins on 10/15/2008 3:56 PM

  Sunday was Homecoming at FBCC. We also dedicated the new Allen organ, given in memory of Nita Whitfield by her family. I changed directions for the sermon and spoke on "A Room Called Remember." The title comes from a story by the same title by one of my favorite authors, Fredrich Buechner. In the story the author tells about a dream he had. He went to a hotel where he had never stayed before and checked into a room. Immediately, he was overcome with feelings of happiness and peace. He said that everything was the way it should be. He learned, later on another visit, that the special room was called "Remember."   Homecoming may be referenced as "A Room Called Remember." We come together to remember our forefathers and foremothers who had the faith and courage to found and then build a church. We remember friends and neighbors who used to worship with us. Some remember growing up in the church. Some have spent the whole span of their lives in this community as active members of FBCC. The sanctuary is filled with...

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By Tom Jenkins on 9/26/2008 6:58 AM

  I have a cross-stitch piece my mother made for me years ago. It is a saying she picked up somewhere: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." It is in a beautiful frame that she had made for it. I think about her when I see it. She made it for me at a difficult time in my life when I was struggling to understand God's will in a difficult situation. Mother wanted me to understand that the past is the past and every day presents me with new opportunities.    Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4 that we "are perplexed but not driven to despair." I think the idea behind his words is that we are perplexed by many things we do not understand but we do not despair. That takes faith. We can despair over what we do not understand unless we face uncertainty with the certainty of Christ dwelling in us, as Paul says to the Colossians, "Christ in you; the hope of glory."   I think that's what my mother was saying to me with the framed words she delicately stitched. You can give in to the despair that may come from dwelling...

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By Tom Jenkins on 9/17/2008 5:52 AM

  I popped in and out of the sanctuary several times yesterday while skilled workmen were installing our new Allen Digital Organ. I returned last night after leaving the annual meeting of our association and found our organist, Nancy Wynn, sitting before the keys playing "Amazing Grace." What a thrill to listen to her play the new instrument.   I've always appreciated good organs. Don Surrency gave me organ lessons many years ago and even on an old Hammond organ with slide bars he could play in such a way as to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.   I know that we live in a time where many churches use contemporary music in worship. I believe there is a place for that style of music. It has brought many people to worship that were turned off by other musical expressions. Personally, though, I like our style which our music director, Betsie Forsythe, and I call blended. We sing traditional music mixed with some modern renditions of gospel favorites. Our choirs and soloiosts often favor us with more...

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By Tom Jenkins on 9/4/2008 10:18 PM

  I've been taking some time off this week to oversee the paitning of our house. The people charged with the job have painted the house before. That is, the father of the current painter did the job for me about ten years ago. The son is now running the company, appropriately called a father and son company. I was happy to connect again with the family. I had not known that the son had taken over the company.   My job is to watch what they are doing and be sure the work meets my wife's specifications. It's a plesant job when you have good people working. We should finish tomorrow before Hannah pays us a visit with wind and rain. The bad thing about painting your house is that it makes other things stand out in relief and you begin thinking about upgrading other areas. Maybe we need new cabients in the kitchen and the wallpaper in one of the bathrooms needs to be replaced and also the carpet in the bedrooms and..... You get the drift.   I think there is a lesson in this for the Christian life. C.S. Lewis likened...

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