Remember our Youth and Youth Leaders who are on retreat at Lake Junaluska where they are white water rafting and zip lining! They will be returning Sunday evening. Pray for a safe time and return.
The By-Laws discussion has been helpful and we appreciate the input and suggestions that have been presented. From the discussion last Wednesday night, we do not feel more discussion is needed at this time. If you have questions or comments, please direct them to any committee member: Marty Mixon (martymixon@gmail.com), Sarah Steele, Elaine Ling, Eddie McKnight, Mackie Driggers or the church staff.
UPWARD BASKETBALL
The first meeting of the Upward Basketball Team will be next Wednesday night at 7pm in the conference room. We will begin planning for the basketball season that begins in November. Kathy Jones has decided that this will be her last season as director of Upward and she wants to use this season to train more of our people in the various aspects of this outreach ministry
This is a vital ministry for our church and community. For Upward to continue, we need some organizational leaders, coaches, referees, devotional leaders, etc. If you are interested in serving on this team, come to this meeting! If you cannot attend, let the church office know of your interest. If you have questions, see Doug Ray
GRADUATES
We will recognize our graduates next Sunday, June 10th. We will recognize Michael Gibbs, Creighton Price, and Chuck Wheeler as our graduates for this year. Congratulations!
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL KICK-OFF
Saturday, June 9th at 2pm! Be There!
Last Wednesday night, Marty Mixon led a discussion on the Proposed By-Laws. There was a good crowd and many good questions were asked. We have decided that we will do this again this Wednesday at 6pm for additional questions and clarifications. We encourage you to attend and bring your copy of the By-Laws. Some of the issues discussed last week involved active/inactive membership, requiring new members to attend a membership class, the re-alignment of the Church Council into an Administrative Church Council, number of Deacons, Ministry Teams and other items. Space does not permit an explanation on these issues, so we encourage you to attend the meeting next Wednesday night. Marty Mixon pointed out that these By-Laws are not perfect and will have to be adjusted or changed in the future. The Proposed By-Laws reflect the original By-Laws in areas that are still applicable, reflect current needs and practices that have been accepted by the congregation, and attempt to address current future issues that need clarification and direction. Future adjustments should be expected. A question was raised about changing the proposed By-Laws. Whereas it is permitted under Roberts Rules to amend any motion, this does create confusion. Also, any changes or amendments would have to be submitted in writing and subject to a majority vote to be considered. If the amendment is agreed to by majority vote, the final vote on the amendment would be held at the next business meeting in July. In order to avoid confusion, the By-Laws Committee would prefer that the Proposed By-Laws be accepted or rejected as presented, and any significant changes or issues be done in the future as needed. ***Remember, the Q&A this Wednesday night and the vote on these By-Laws will be Wednesday, June 20th at 6pm.
***If you would like to contact Marty Mixon for any questions concerning the By-Laws you can reach him at martymixon@gmail.com or 843-688-6170
This past week was amazing! Many things came together that we have been working on for many months. Here is a brief recap of where we are now and what lies ahead. Chris McGill will begin his duties as our Youth Director and Worship leader very soon. He will be traveling for a few weekends to lead our worship at 11am. He will start his full-time duties as soon as he finds a place to live and moves back to the area. This could be the middle of June before this happens. Be in prayer for Chris, our praise band, our youth and youth leaders as we make this transition. And, speaking of youth, we need to start another class of youth in our youth Sunday School. Our numbers there have increase enough for us to work on a younger and older youth class. We need another teacher! Who will
step up?We increased our budget last Wednesday night from $682,000 to $698,500. This will take care of the increases needed in the personnel areas for our Youth Director, increases to our maintenance budget to repair the baptistry and bring our elevator up to code. We can take this step of faith in our budget because our offerings have exceeded our budget so far this year. This is a good position to be in! The Pastor Search Committee was also selected last Wednesday night. They are: Tom Schoonmaker, Marty Mixon, Justin Steedly, Sarah Steele, Margie McMakin, Robin Nichols and Bob Stives. Be in prayer for this committee as they begin this important task of searching for our next pastor. The By-Laws Committee presented the revised By-Laws to replace our current Constitution and By-Laws. Copies are available at the Welcome Center and online. Marty Mixon and the committee will be present this Wednesday night, May 23 at 6 pm for an informal Q&A. Bring your copy of the proposed By-Laws and ask your questions. The vote on the By-Laws will be Wednesday, June 20th at 6 pm. We need to form an Upward Basketball Ministry Team. Kathy Jones has agreed to serve one more year as director in a limited capacity. We need to form a team to be trained to handle various aspects of this ministry. Kathy will aid us in this training. We are looking to have an organizational meeting in a few weeks to begin this process. Want to serve? Contact the church office or see Doug Ray. And …it gets even better! Emerson and Mary are moving to Moncks Corner. Saturday, May 26th is the day they need some help loading and unloading a truck. Sure! You can even help!
[Doug Ray]
As a part of our 2012 church budget, we are contributing 10% of all our tithes and offerings to missions causes. This includes support of Cleveland Hope, a network of new churches in Cleveland, Ohio, led by Kevin Litchfield of Moncks Corner. There is an article in the Baptist Courier this week that highlights one of the church planters that Cleveland Hope is supporting. If you're interested in knowing more about Zach Weihrauch and Gateway Church Heights, click here. In addition to this and other similar ministries, we also support the Cooperative Program, International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, Screven Association, and St. John’s Christian Academy. When you contribute a tithe or offering to FBC, these ministries are supported financially. We anticipate these contributions to exceed $68,000 this year. Also note that if you designate your offering to another cause or ministry at FBC, then that money is not shard in these mission endeavors. In the weeks ahead, we will be highlighting these mission and ministry areas. Thanks so much for your giving to our church and supporting these needs in our church, community, state, country, and world!
There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the letter all church members received in the mail today. This is my attempt to clear up the confusion.
The letter says: "Our pastor, Emerson Wiles, will be at St. John's this Sunday morning at 8:30 to lead that worship service.He will be back in time to preach at First Baptist for the 8:30 service here."
No, Emerson is not able to be in two places at one time, as this confusing wording may indicate. The service at St. John's, more of a chapel-style service, traditionally lasts around 30 minutes. Emerson will preach that service and drive to First Baptist to be in place to begin preaching at 9 AM - following the music, offertory, choir special, etc. that typically happen at the beginning of our 8:30 AM Traditional Service.
We received this email update from Kelly Creech who is living and working in China. Thought you would be interested in hearing how our missions giving was being put to use around the world.
Hey Mr. Doug,
I wanted to let you know how grateful I am for the gift from my "family" in Moncks Corner. I will send you all another update when I can, but for now I wanted to give you a brief update. (also, there's a video I tried to share with you and the family, but maybe failed. Hopefully my dad will be in touch to help you guys out with that).
I have been lifting up a student for a while now in particular, her name is Yang Juan (sorry no English name). She's a student from last year as well. I remember at our Christmas party last year, she won a game, and received the door prize or a 10 cent equivalent notebook. She was SOOOO THRILLED. We've been meeting weekly now, and she's been incredibly open to His story of good news, and remains full of questions and curiosity. Her village is about 3 hours by bus outside of town, followed by a 2 1/2 hour walk home. Her parents currently work in a factory. They used to be farmers, but couldn't afford her tuition by farming, so are now working in a factory. They are doing all they can send her to school, but struggling. She is also worried about their health. They're older, and working extremely long and hard hours for someone their age in not great conditions. When I went to a restaurant with her (I was paying of course) that cost a mere 6 RMB for a dish (not quite 1dollar), she started panicking about how expensive it was. Her parents won't be home for their winter holiday in January either, because it's too expensive for them to come home, and they can't afford to take a day off of work if they want her to go to school.
So when I heard that FBC donated $1000 for Christmas, I was overjoyed. What a better way to show her the way that He loves her, than by helping her tuition. I have been pr@ying heavily for a way to help her financially, and this is what I believe to be the answer to that request. I just left her, after telling her this news, and explaining that it's a Christmas present from you all because of the gift of our Father. I WISH I could make all of you present for that moment. For the most sincere tear-filled hug I've ever received in my life. For the moment when I could once again tell her He believes she is special. He has a plan for her. He desires a relationship with her. AND HE gave a gift much bigger than this one, to cover a fee much larger than this school fee.
My request from Yang Juan upon giving this gift, was that she would 1. remember that this is not a gift from me, but a gift from Him because He loves her 2. that she would study hard and try her best in school 3. that she would tell her parents the reason for the gift, and not that "you have a foreign teacher that is from a rich country" or "foreign teacher that is a good person" because that would simply not be true, and 4th, that she would take the time to thank you all. So expect a thank you from her soon.
Please thank the family back home on my behalf. The Father will remember their generous giving. "When you give to the least of these, you give to me." I strongly believe He is at work in Yang Juan's life, as well as other's here. Thank you for your support and lifting me up. Please continue to lift up Yang Juan. Lift up her family as well. I want them to become a part of her "forever family" so badly!
- Kelly
Introduction:
The transition team of First Baptist Church, Moncks Corner, consisting of 12 volunteer church members, has been charged with advising appropriate church leaders on issues that the church has expressed as priorities. The top three priorities expressed by the church are unity, youth and finances, in that order. Most recommendations will be sent to the Deacons, and a decision will be made there if it needs to go to the congregation.
Team members are Gary Steele, Marty Mixon, Dody Sims, Jennifer Driggers, Robin Nichols, Libba Shepherd, Eddie McKnight, Ray Bowen, Johnny Hill, JD Steedly, Gail Hill, and Mary Beth Kirby.
At this point the team has met 4 times, and has identified several issues related to structural priorities that need detailed attention, including, but not limited to worship, discipleship, prayer, evangelism, fellowship, ministry and stewardship. Over the next several months, recommendations will continue to come forward.
The first project was to more clearly identify the purpose and appropriate use of St. Johns church in Pinopolis in order to improve church unity. It is more clearly understood after much discussion that the current group meeting there are not operating under any guidelines established by First Baptist Church. There have been hours of discussion amongst team members, along with discussions with many, many church members, both at First Baptist, and those attending St. Johns. After prayerful and deliberate consideration, the team makes its first recommendation to the Deacons.
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
Thursday, September 15 at 6:30 PM in Fellowship Hall
This event will focus on the journey of a shoebox, and the impact of that journey which will culminate in millions of children beginning the 12-part discipleship program called The Greatest Journey.
We will also hear the story of Tiffany Carpenzano’s trip to Uganda to distribute shoeboxes with OCC. Tiffany is from Summerville and had the privilege of being selected for the July 2011 Samaritan’s Purse youth trip.
A Ladies Tuesday Morning Bible Study
beginning Tuesday, August 30 at 9:00 AM God will never give up on you. Explore how David's life proves this promise to be true in this updated edition of the best selling A Heart Like His: Seeking the Heart of God Through a Study of David. In this examination of the "man after God's own heart," David will delight and disappoint you. You'll want to be just like him at times and nothing like him at others. If you've ever experienced doubts, temptations, losses, family problems, or personal inconsistencies, this study is for you!
First released in 1996, this updated Bible study features all new video sessions (sold separately) and updated Member Book content to speak to today's women. While other Bible studies about King David exist in the market place, no other women's author teaches the Bible "the Beth Moore way." Regardless of the topic, you will not want to miss this updated study about seeking a heart like David!
|
RSS Feed