Dear Friend,

I also want to share with you our Thanksgiving Offering plans for this year.  Last year was the largest monthly Thanksgiving Offering ever!  It enabled us to end the year in the black and catch up on the many needs in our church.  The Thanksgiving Offering is recognition of our thankfulness to God for all that He has done and provided to us.  Even in times of great economic difficulty, our God has provided – He has been faithful.  This offering demonstrates our faithfulness to Him. 

This year, the need for the Thanksgiving Offering is even greater.  Since May, we have had to hold much of our budget missions giving and benevolent commitments.  In the last month or so we have been able to pay all of our current obligations because we have reduced our spending significantly.  However, we would like to go back and catch up our mission and benevolent responsibilities.  As we approach the holiday season, the need for assistance in our community will be great.  Our Thanksgiving Offering will enable us to better meet these needs to our families and those in need.

The Stewardship Committee is already working on the budget for next year.  The challenges for this committee are great because there will be reductions in every area of our budget, including personnel, missions, ministries and benevolence.  I ask for your prayers as the committee makes these decisions.  The budget will be presented to the church Wednesday, December 14th at 6 pm.

I also ask that you consider your offerings to the church. We have many members who have faithfully committed to Gods direction with their offering to the church. We ask that you prayerfully seek God's direction in your financial stewardship of what he has provided each of you. While your church is not the only place that does God's work, we recognize that as members and believers our primary responsibility is to First Baptist Church and its missions. God provides for us so that we can help others. Remember Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."        

Special Thanksgiving Offering envelopes are available.   You can use this envelope or your regular church offering envelope.  This is not a special offering.  This offering benefits the entire church and all of its priorities as prescribed in our budget.

We are so blessed to have Emerson Wiles as our Pastor.  He and Mary have helped our church so much in such a short time.  He is working hard to prepare us for the leader that will become our Pastor.  He is helping us set the stage for the future ministry of this church.  He needs our prayers and our support.  I know that you will give it to him!

We are fast approaching a great time of the year!  Let’s use it to celebrate a great and powerful God, and also celebrate a strong and vibrate church that God wants us to be!  In all we do, we give God the glory!

Doug Ray, 
Administrator

We have reached the 68% mark and one Sunday to go!  I hope that as you celebrate Thanksgiving this week you will remember the goodness of our Lord ... "We are So Blessed!".   You no doubt have heard the phrase "God is Good all the Time."  His goodness is worth celebrating - so let's do it!

In past posts, I have written about our missions giving and our church ministries.  Today I would like to share some other hidden gems in our church that are supported by our tithes and offerings to the church.  

• Bereavement:  We have a wonderful team of people (mostly ladies) who provide a lunch or dinner for families who have lost a loved one.  This usually happens after the funeral service. This is a great ministry to our families at a very tender time in their lives.  Great ministry ladies!
  
• Upward Sports: This ministry is led by Kathy Jones who holds this part-time position.  She leads a team of very committed volunteers who coach, referee and make our soccer and basketball seasons happen.  This is a very effective ministry to our children, community and church and your support allows this to happen.
  
• Church Decorations:  Every church has people who decorate the sanctuary and other areas for special occasions. However, I don't think I have every seen such a dedicated and talented group of ladies that decorate our church.  You will see the fruit of their labors very soon with our Christmas decorations.  They also decorate for various banquets and special events at our church in addition to special flower arrangements for our worship services.  Simply beautiful!
  
• St. Johns Church: We host a worship service and Bible Study time at the St. John's Church in Pinopolis each Sunday morning.  Monty Polk delivers the sermon there each Sunday and Wayne Creech teaches the Sunday School lesson.  This is another ministry supported by our church budget.
  

These and other ministries is what makes FBC what it is.  Thanks again for your support!

Doug

Update for Week 2 of our Thanksgiving Offering!

Last Sunday's Offering totaled $19,044 which brings our total to $43,645!  This is almost 44% of our goal.  Two Sundays left!

This week, I would like to highlight the church ministries that we support with our general budget.  These figures are from the proposed 2011 budget.

        Sunday School (mostly literature)               $19,000
        Music Ministry (Worship, camps, etc)         $18,400
        Youth Ministry (program, camps, etc)          $14,000
        Children's Ministry (program, camps, VBS)   $  9,700
        Discipleship Training                                   $  2,800
        MOPS (new ministry)                                  $  1,000
        Men's & Women's Ministry                           $  2,500
        Other (Preschool, Singles, Seniors, etc)        $  6,475

This totals almost $74,000 in direct ministry to our church families.  Again, all of this support comes from our tithes and offerings.  Your support us crucial to the ministry of First Baptist Church!

Doug

Week one of our Thanksgiving Offering totaled $24,601 of tithes and offerings!  Our goal for the month is $100,000.  This represents about 25% of the goal.  Great Start - thanks for your support!

We have special envelopes for this offering, but understand that you do not have to use these envelopes.  The regular offering envelopes mailed each quarter to our people can also be used.  As in the past, this Thanksgiving offering is used as part of our ongoing church ministries.

Today, I would like to highlight our Missions Giving.  This is the part of our budget and World Mission Offering that we use to fulfill the Great Commission:  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).

As a part of our General Budget, we allocate 12% of all our tithes to the Cooperative Program and to the Screven Baptist Association.  This amounts to $116,400 yearly.  We also have a local Benevolence Ministry led by our deacons.  This yearly amount is $15,000 and is projected to rise to $18,000 next year.  This helps local people with food and other assistance.  In our Local Missions Budget of $10,000 yearly, we fund the services at St. John's church in Pinopolis, Habitat for Humanity, Journey Church (a new church start in Summerville) and fund mission projects for our members.  In addition to this, we also contribute to the Gideons Ministry the sum of $8,000 annually. In addition to the budget amounts, many in our congregation give additional funds for these ministries.  And then there is our World Mission Offering!  More on that next time!

I am proud of what First Baptist Church does to promote the gospel to the world.  All of this is made possible by your financial support of First Baptist Church.