By Tom Jenkins on 2/21/2009 12:09 PM

   I lost a good friend this week. Ben Johnson and I had been friends for 48 years. He was a deacon in a church that I served when I was a college student. He was a good role model for a young preacher. He affirmed me in many ways and every criticism of his came with love. He was one of three very close friends I had in that small rural community in Georgia. I have now buried all three of them. Their loss takes away a part of my life. Though memories are ever there, presence is what's missed most.    John Donne was a preacher in London in the seventeenth century. A third of the city was destroyed by the dreaded plague during his ministry. Though people were afraid to gather in large numbers for fear of catching the plague, Donne preached to a packed house every Sunday because his words offered them hope. Donne caught the plague and as he fought death he wrote some of his most memorable words.    No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed...

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By Tom Jenkins on 2/2/2009 7:25 PM

  Our third annual service of "Remembrance" will be held February 22 at 6:30. We started holding these annual services as a way for us to express our grief and share our memories of church members who died during the preceding year. The service is a worshipful way to say "Thank You" to  God for those we've lost in death and to enliven our hope for life everlasting. Last year we started including the names of extended family members, such as parents, who may have died years earlier as a way to celebrate their lives. We will do that again this year.
  Charles Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said "Our people die well."  I believe he meant by that Christians die with hope. Surely, we grieve at the loss of anyone, but the death of the Christian is more about hope than loss. Our hope is in an everlasting life, promised by our Lord and verified by his resurrection. Amen.
 

By Tom Jenkins on 1/24/2009 4:03 PM

    Upward Basketball is in full swing at FBCC. We have over 200 boys and girls playing on 9 teams and 65 cheerleaders. With the teams and family members that come to watch the games, over 800 people come through the Family Life Center each Saturday. Upward teaches basketball skills but it also teaches life skills. Bible verses are memorized, prayers are offered, and spiritual counsel is provided for the teams. The players learn that it’s not all about winning. Developing character is more important than winning.

    A devotional is delivered at halftime each Saturday. Ralph Seagrove, one of our active deacons, gave the devotionals today. He said that in learning to play basketball we have to listen to our coaches, practice faithfully and learn from our past mistakes. Those are good lessons for life, too. We have a coach, Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to work with him and thus “practice” this matter that we call Christianity and through his grace we learn from our mistakes and grow in our faith....

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By Tom Jenkins on 1/7/2009 9:17 AM

     I’ve allowed too much time to pass since last coming to these pages. I hope that grace is extended if I promise to be more faithful to my writing tasks.      Cheryl and I enjoyed time with our family over the Christmas holidays. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas day with our son and then we flew to Key West to visit our daughter, son-in-law and their three children. For many years the entire family was at our house for Christmas. As children get older, move away and marry, and cultivate relationships among peers and move in their own circles beyond family, scheduling the holidays together as a family is difficult.         Our church family, FBCC, gave us many gifts, too. I’ve been writing notes of thanks and am overwhelmed as I am reminded of the generosity of so many people. The church surprised me in 2008 with a special luncheon and money to buy a new clerical robe. I wore it for the first time at our Christmas Eve service. I don’t wear a clerical robe often, but each time I use it will replay for me the mental tape of that celebration.

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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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