By Tom Jenkins on 10/29/2009 8:49 PM

I’m sitting in my church office looking at bare walls and empty shelves. The books, pictures, and other personal items were moved to my home study several days ago. Honestly, the office looks a little depressing. Making a move evokes competing emotions. You feel joy when you know that you’re doing the right thing in regards to God’s will for your life. Thinking about starting a new work creates feelings of excitement. But there are also feelings of sadness about leaving people you love and work you’ve enjoyed. Cheryl and I will be grateful for the rest of our lives for your support of us and the generous love you poured out on us. We will be different people because of our sojourn with you. Let me give you a few parting words. Pray without ceasing for FBCC in this time of transition. God is at work to bring a senior pastor in his own timing. Don’t get ahead of him. Let him work and deny yourself the temptation to manipulate the process he controls.

 

Remember that we have bylaws, policies and procedures...

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By Tom Jenkins on 10/29/2009 8:49 PM

I’m sitting in my church office looking at bare walls and empty shelves. The books, pictures, and other personal items were moved to my home study several days ago. Honestly, the office looks a little depressing. Making a move evokes competing emotions. You feel joy when you know that you’re doing the right thing in regards to God’s will for your life. Thinking about starting a new work creates feelings of excitement. But there are also feelings of sadness about leaving people you love and work you’ve enjoyed. Cheryl and I will be grateful for the rest of our lives for your support of us and the generous love you poured out on us. We will be different people because of our sojourn with you. Let me give you a few parting words. Pray without ceasing for FBCC in this time of transition. God is at work to bring a senior pastor in his own timing. Don’t get ahead of him. Let him work and deny yourself the temptation to manipulate the process he controls.

 

Remember that we have bylaws, policies and procedures...

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By Tom Jenkins on 8/30/2009 8:44 PM

   One of the traditions at FBCC is Sunday School Growth and Promotion Sunday. All of our Sunday School classes assemble in the sanctuary. Toni Anne Wheeler, our Sunday School director, leads us through a time of celebrating the closing year of Sunday School and anticipating the new year. Children promoted to the middle school department receive Bibles.    Persons who have attained perfect attendance in Sunday School are recognized. We had four this year. Ruby Joe Brown received a pen for 2 years of perfect attendance, Kenneth Woodlief for 12 years, Neal Woodlief for 32 years and Sue Woodlief for 56 years. The Woodliefs have accumlated a century of perfect attendance among them. In a time when Sunday School is becoming less important for some people and when commitment to almost anything is waning it is comforting to know that some people still take seriously the commitments they made to church and Sunday School attendance. The bottom line is, we do what we really want to do.

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By Tom Jenkins on 8/10/2009 4:55 PM

Dr. Henry Estes, my best friend for twenty-five years, died last week. I was privileged to officiate at his memorial service on Sunday. Henry was an Old Testament Scholar. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Book of Ecclesiastes, an accomplishment that revealed the depth and complexity of his mind. He knew at the deepest possible level the capacity of Holy Scripture to speak to the needs of our lives and to shine light where there is darkness lest we despair and become hopeless.

He was a loving family man, father, husband, son, brother, brother-in-law, and member of a large and ever growing extended family. He was an Old Testament scholar, a Christian minister who brought good news and hope, a linguist, computer expert, keeper of arcane information--you didn’t want to play Trivial Pursuit with Henry--a train enthusiast, a caring family member and a friend. He leaves behind his wife of thirty-six years and their adult son.

Henry and I were best friends for over 25 years. We met while both of...

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By Tom Jenkins on 7/29/2009 5:43 PM

 

     The children in our Summer Camp program led the chapel service for the Academy this week. They wrote a script based on some of the concepts of “Boomerang Express”, our theme for Vacation Bible School this year. They used puppets as the “characters” for the script. The boys and girls in the Academy were delighted with the puppets. They laughed and giggled so loudly that the Summer Camp children had to present the play twice to be sure that they had been heard. They ended by leading us in the pledges to the flags and the Bible. We sang a song from my ancient past in Bible School, “The B-I-B-L-E.” I am pleased that our Summer Camp workers use the Bible as part of their teaching. After all, Summer Camp, including the Academy, is part of our church and we must teach eternal values to be true to our identity as the Church of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the workers in Summer Camp and the Academy that see their work connected with the eternal purposes of Jesus Christ for his church. We are following the Great Commandment that tells us to love God with our “heart, mind and soul” and the Great Commission that tells us to “teach the Gospel.” There is no higher purpose for us in our work with children than this. Pray for all of our children’s workers and ask God to bless them as they faithfully teach our boys and girls about Jesus Christ.            

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By Tom Jenkins on 7/12/2009 7:11 PM

       I was on vacation last week. One of our grandsons was with Cheryl and me, so I stayed away from work as much as possible to enjoy his visit and “Re-Create” myself. That’s the root meaning of “recreation”. The body and mind need downtime away from everyday activities to re-create. That’s what vacations are supposed to do. I know some people, however, who attack vacations like they are work. They don’t feel like a vacation has meaning without much activity. I can be on vacation and never leave town. Just give me a few days away from the office and the multiple demands of Christian ministry and my mind can go into “vacation” mode.

      You must be on your guard when you take a vacation without leaving town. It’s easy to be consumed by projects at home you have delayed. A home renovation project can ruin a vacation. I used to use vacation days to paint, hang wallpaper and rework the yard. I learned that’s not a vacation. That’s work and a vacation should not involve work.

      Now I try to...

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By Tom Jenkins on 6/16/2009 5:58 PM

     Vacation Bible School (VBS) is this week at FBCC. The buildings are filled each evening with the sounds of children, music, teachers and the air is heavy with excitement. I like VBS. I’ve been involved in VBS since my preschool days. My earliest memories of VBS are of accompanying my mother and listening to her teach Bible lessons. I learned the Great Commission from her, Jesus’ marching orders given to his followers, “Go into all the world…teach, preach and baptize.” She planted the seeds that blossomed in my ministry into a passion for missions. I’ve been fortunate to serve as the pastor of great churches that shared my passion for missions. I worked as the Director of Missions for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina for seven years. I was privileged to work with a staff that started new, mission churches, reached multi-ethnic groups, ministered to the blind, the deaf, the mentally handicapped, the hungry, the homeless, the addicts, carried the Gospel to prisons, trained pastors, partnered with...

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By Tom Jenkins on 5/28/2009 7:00 PM

     I visited with one of our aging members that is no longer able to attend church. He was about as excited to see me as I was to see him. He said, 'I've been sitting here waiting for someone from the church to talk with." I had not planned to make the visit on that day. I had other tasks on the schedule for the day. But sometimes God nudges me in a direction I had not chosen for the day. So I made the visit and received a wonderful blessing. I call visits like that one, "Just in time ministry." God urged me to see someone because he knew the person needed an encouraging word on that day. He's been in a rough place recently and felt like he was struggling by himself. I was able to assure him of God's love for him and the love for him shared by his church family. I'm grateful God gave me a nudge in a different direction on that day.      "Just in time ministry", for me, is suddenly appearing at the right place with the right people doing the right thing. Only God can set that sequence in place. When God "nudges"...

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By Tom Jenkins on 4/26/2009 7:07 PM

   I am preaching in a revival this week at a neighboring church. I've enjoyed these preaching missions ever since I was the preacher for a revival team back in college days. In those days most churches had spring and fall revivals. Often one of the revivals began with Homecoming, a time honored tradition of celebrating the past, perhaps inviting a previous minister and following the service with a meal. At FBCC we still have Homecoming in the fall but we do not follow it with a week of revival services.    In the rural south where I grew up revivals were often held in the summer after the crops were "laid" by, that is, the farmers had completed their work in their fields and were waiting for the harvest to ripen. So there was a short reprieve between the making of the crops and the harvesting of the crops. Some churches held what were called "protracted" revivals which meant that the beginning date was posted but no one knew when it would end because planning an ending date was akin to "quenching the spirit."...

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By Tom Jenkins on 4/20/2009 12:47 PM

    April 19 was Youth Sunday at FBCC. Our youth director, David Richardson preached, the youth choir sang, youth acted as ushers, staffed the welcome center, greeted our guests, offered prayers, read Scripture and even gave the children’s sermon. It was a marvelous experience for us all.

    God has a way of stirring a church through its youth. He often uses them to remind us “older” folk of our need to have youth-like faith, a faith which always includes the elements of journey and unpredictability. Youth are great at showing us that God can use us even when we feel unprepared. Youth ministry has an exciting edge of Divine serendipity about it. What may at times appear to be lack of preparation by youth are actually faith steps trusting God to do what they cannot do. We all need to learn that or our faith walk becomes predictable, routine, ho-hum and a little monotonous. So risk something this week for Christ. Do something for him that you have been reluctant to do. You may discover as many Christians...

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