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.

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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!

 
 


A Ladies Thursday Morning Bible Study
beginning Thursday, September 15 at 11:30 AM

From telemarketers to traffic jams to twenty-item shoppers in the ten-item line, our lives are full of interruptions. They're often aggravating, sometimes infuriating, and can make us want to tell people what we really think about them. 

But they also tell us something quite important about ourselves.

The prophet Jonah's life was interrupted by a clear call of God that made him mad enough and scared enough to run in the completely opposite direction. Yet it wasn't really an interruption. It was an opportunity for Jonah to be involved in something the likes of which the Old Testament world had never seen: national revival in a Gentile country.

What if Jonah had seen God's interruption for what it truly was—a divine intervention that held more adventure and possibility than any other thing he could have been doing at the time? What could have felt any better than being directly in the center of God's will?

Yet we play it that same way—always running from major pains and minor problems that just don't seem to suit us at the time. Who knows what we're missing by being so interruption avoidant? In this very personal account of opportunities lost and lessons learned, popular conference speaker and author Priscilla Shirer shows how to embrace the amazing freedom and fulfillment that comes from going with God, even when He's going against your grain.
 
 
  • Churches will learn from past experiences, free themselves from hindering traditions, and replace discord with harmony.
  • Churches will develop more effective church practices.
  • Churches experiencing decline or a growth plateau will experience spiritual and numerical growth; growing churches will accelerate.
  • Churches will grow in their understanding of pastoral ministry and in appreciation of pastors and their families.
  • More members will become personally involved in their churches’ ministries.
  • Energy previously spent dealing with conflict issues will be redirected to expanded ministries.
  • The tenure of the next pastor will be increased, sparing the church the expense of frequent pastoral changes and making more money available for ministries.
  • Thus, the percentage of Southern Baptist churches without a pastor will decrease. Less time will be spent in the interim mode with growth plans put on hold.
  • Church members will rediscover and celebrate their spiritual passion.
 
 
Whenever a church is without a Senior Pastor, it is a very vulnerable time. There are several options for filling the pulpit and the leadership role that has been vacated by the former Pastor. According to Lifeway, the average time that a church spends without a Pastor is between 9 and 18 months. So much can happen during that time that could affect the church either positively or negatively. A Transitional Pastor can help the church stay focused on its mission and keep from becoming complacent during the intervening time.

A church can choose to let staff members fill the pulpit. If you have a large enough staff to get a decent rotation going then this can work. However, it is possible that the preaching ability of the staff may not always be what the church body expects.  It is important in a large church, that the quality of the preaching remain high. If not, there can be an extreme drop off in attendance. Another danger of allowing staff members to fill the pulpit is the natural tendency of many church members to want to present one of the staff members to the Search Committee as a candidate. This seldom works out and the normal result is that the staff member is not voted in, and the church is left fractured by the process with quite a few hard feelings. The staff member is usually put in the position of having to resign since he has become the focal point of division.

A church can choose to schedule multiple preachers and speakers fill the pulpit in the interim. The positive side of this is that the church family may get to hear many preachers they would never have been able to hear otherwise. The downside of this method is who will be scheduling these speakers. It becomes a very daunting task to schedule fresh speakers every week. Another problem with this method is the inconsistency in the pulpit. People do not know from one week to the next who is scheduled. People are not able to develop a relationship with the speaker as they are with a Pastor or Interim Pastor. This situation tends to lead to a great deal of uncertainty for most people in the pew.

Many churches choose to secure an Interim Pastor. Often it is a local retired pastor. They are able to fill the pulpit and assist the Search Committee. Depending on the Interim Pastor, often some in the congregation will want to make this person the Pastor. They will often approach the Search Committee with this suggestion. If the church has not already discussed this option with the Interim Pastor ahead of time, it can cause some division in the church if the Interim Pastor has any desire to become the Pastor. For this reason a church should be sure not to secure anyone as the Interim Pastor that they might consider as a Senior Pastor. Unfortunately, many churches suffer from a real sense of insecurity, so that whenever there is no Senior Pastor in place, many members will want to take whoever fills the pulpit in a halfway decent way, and make him the Pastor. In a sense, they are saying it is better to have this person than no one.  People have to learn to trust the Lord and the Search Committee they have selected and learn to live with a certain amount of tension. 

A better option for most churches is a Transitional Pastor. A Transitional Pastor is similar to an Interim Pastor in many ways.  Most Transitional Pastors have been trained for that purpose. They tend to be experienced Pastors at some point.  They tend to be capable in the pulpit and with relationship skills. They have the leadership skills to lead the church staff and lay leaders in the direction they should go in order to be ready for the arrival of the new Pastor. In many cases, they are able to deal with problems in the church body, so that when the newly called Pastor arrives, he does not have to deal with them. Those problems might include confronting a church boss, making a difficult change, organizing a ministry structure, developing the church’s stewardship, and more. A Transitional Pastor comes in with a set salary which may be close, but slightly less than a full time Pastor. He will set a schedule of office hours and ministry times for the church. He will sign a contract with the church for a set period of time and in that contract agree that he will not be considered for the position of Senior Pastor.  By signing a contract with clearly defined job description, schedule, salary, time limits, and agreements for non-consideration, he enables the Search Committee to be able to proceed without worry about someone causing division in their church. He also is able to provide leadership to the congregation during this time and hopefully prevent the church losing attendance.

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We know many of you still have questions about what a Transitional Pastor is and what his role will be here at First Baptist. We hope to answer those questions with a few entries here on the blog. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us. 

A Transitional Pastor is a very intentional way of helping the church family navigate between a former Pastor and a new Pastor. His goal is to help the church mend any spiritual or relational issues that may exist in the church family and have come to the surface since the former Pastor has left. He may assist the church family in organizing for ministry and church growth. He may also help the current staff by training for ministry and preparing them for the arrival of a new Pastor. He will need to help the church plan some special events to enhance fellowship and outreach. He will need to help prepare the congregation to receive a new Pastor by educating the congregation on the ministry of the church and the role of the Pastor.