After all the
hard work, time and cooperation in building, the ROC (Recreational Outreach
Center) has become a reality. There have
been many hours of work by the building committee, staff and church in seeing
God use different people with different skills to build the new building. Today and in the future, there will be
different and new ministries developed by staff and members to use the new
facility to reach new people with God’s love and care. We appreciate you and the many others who
have prayed, worked, and given to see the building become a reality.
Last weekend,
there were many funerals and memorial services at the church and in the
community. Many people have seen the
death of family members, friends, and church members and loved ones. Each person will experience grief, which is a
natural human emotion of love and loss.
A man once gave me this saying, “DEEP LOVE….DEEP HURT.” When you love a person and that person goes
into eternity, you do hurt. There is joy
for a Christian in knowing that life on earth is not final, but a transition to
our heavenly home. For individuals
experiencing grief, a new course called, “Grief Share” will begin next
Wednesday night, January 25, at 5:30 p.m. on the second floor of the ROC. It will be led by Phyllis Roundtree. Everyone in the church and community is
invited to be a part of this group. We
are blessed to have Phyllis Roundtree to lead the course because she has vast
training, experience, love of God and love of people.
Mark your
calendar—Tuesday, January 31. The 55
Plus Ministry will have a Health Fair at the ROC beginning at 9:00 a.m. to
12:00 noon. Over forty-eight different
vendors will have tables with health information and other types of health
screening. Each vendor will provide a
door prize to be given away to people that attend the Health Fair.
Pastor Mark will
be preaching in all services at First
Baptist Church
on Sunday. Sunday School will be at 9:45. Plan to attend and prepare for worship by
reading your Bible and praying. Please
pray for our pastor and the worship services.
We live in
culture where people are not antagonistic to Christians or church, but are
apathetic or not concerned about the church or Christian teachings. New people will come to church only by a
personal invitation from a good friend or family member. Your smile, a personal invitation and a
personal relationship with friend or family member can be just the incentive to
get a person to visit a church. Your
church staff is presently reading a book called: THE MILLENIALS. The millennial generation is 78 million
people strong, and this generation has very little interest in church. First
Baptist Church
and other churches must become interested and involved in reaching our younger
generation for Christ. We must not
forget past generations and minister to our older members, too, but we must be
a church family of loving, caring, ministering and reaching all ages.
We are thankful
to have you at First
Baptist Church. We hope you and your family have a wonderful
weekend. Take time to enjoy your family
and enjoy God’s beautiful creation. We
look forward to seeing you at church on Sunday.
God bless you.
Fred W. Lewis
