Monday, September 30, 2013

What Will People Remember?

This weekend Mom, Debbie & I went to 2 visitation services, well one I sat in the car & waited on them because I didn’t personally know the man. I knew who he was and had seen him many times out and about in Southside but did not personally know him or his family. Mom & Debbie got back in the car & reminiscence on the times they spent at First Baptist Southside. This man they went to pay their respects to was named Tom Harris. As I listened to them talk about how he always went on the youth trips and it seemed like Joey always got in his room it made me think of how people think of us.  Mother said just a few weeks ago she & the twins had seen Mr. Harris at Jack’s   & he had went on and on telling the twins about being with Joey on youth trips when Joey was about their age. He had been wanting to come hear Joey preach & never got the chance. It left me thinking Mr. Harris must have always been about church & helping with the youth.  I just know when I am dead & gone from this earth I hope they’ll be someone I touched who can say I remember when. So I guess my question is…what people are going to say about you when the time comes & you leave this earth. Are they going to say you were a nice man or woman? Are they going to remember you being hot headed? Are they going to remember you always made people feel welcome? Are they going to remember you being faithful & dedicated to the church & doing God’s work? Are they going to remember you tearing others down or lifting other’s up? Are they going to remember you leading them to Christ? Just something to think on.
I think as we get closer to the 100th anniversary of WBBC I’ll reflect back on some of those adults that made a huge difference in my life and the path of WBBC. I want to encourage everyone to go read the Bible at church for 1 hour. I think we can give God 1 hour if He has given us 100 years at a blessed church. I want to encourage families to do this together. How awesome would it be for your children to see you putting God first? Let the kids have a turn too! I have seen most of the children read a bible verse out loud so don’t think they aren’t able. The twins are going to share the hour with Jami & I & I’ll probably make Jack repeat a verse too. Let’s put God right where He should be 1st in our families!
This Friday night will be “Family Movie Night” in the gym. Concessions starts at 6:30 & the movie will begin at 7:00. I have had a request for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, so if anyone has that I would love to borrow it for the night. Bring a chair or blankets & come enjoy a money free night with your children. We’ll be collecting cans for the food pantry that night too. This is a great opportunity to invite another family to church. There will be a meeting right after church Sunday for anyone (Youth & Children) who would like information on the Disney/Mission trip. I’ll be getting us some prices together this week. Be in prayer on what type mission work we can do while we are there.  Trunk or treat will be here soon so let me tell everyone what we need & how you can help. Sign up w/ Teresa Coley for chili & Megan Williams if you can bring a dessert for the bake sale. We will need lots of 2 L drinks & candy donated. Just drop those off in the gym if you wish to donate. I still need youth to sign up to work games & I need someone to run the popcorn popper.  The band has already been in practice so I am very excited about us having some music this year. I invited someone yesterday so use this event as a way to get someone to church. You invite them to the T or T; they feel welcome & feel the family experience with us, meet a few church folk & then they will be more at ease to come on a Sunday morning. Just cold turkey walking into a new church is very hard for many people. The children will start working on Christmas music next month during Sunday children’s church. I still have to order the music so pray that I find one that will touch not just the kid’s hearts but the people who come hear them. I guess that is it! I hope to see everyone Wednsday night! Have a blessed week & get signed up to read the Bible!

Monday, September 23, 2013

The Devil verses The Angel

I lay in the bed last night not able to sleep & I had a thought for today’s blog. Of course, I should have written it down because I have no idea what I wanted to talk about. Maybe as I type it will come to me. I did make a note while I was in the sanctuary yesterday. I know, I know how she could possibly have had a hand to write with when both hands were holding Jack down but I did manage to scribble a thought. During the offertory music (when Kendra & Amanda play) I noticed the 2 pews in front of me & the one I was on, minus Jack & how quiet & respectful the youth and children were during the offering collection. Not saying any others weren’t I just noticed those in front & to the side of me and thought wow! I am really proud of them for showing not just Kendra & Amanda the respect they deserve but also the respect the collection of the offering deserves.
I had given my SS class a challenge to do 5 acts of kindness last week at school. I directed them to look for a child who might be getting left out or someone who looked down & out. I was so proud of them! They all came in & told me what they had done & who they had done it to. I even had one child tell me she asked a girl everyone always said was mean to play and she found out that she wasn’t mean but enjoyed playing with her.  Boy couldn’t we learn a lesson from them? How many times as adults have we not spoken to someone because we thought they were rude, shy or just plain unfriendly? How many times to we not acknowledge people at our workplace or show common courtesy and say hello when we pass them in the hall. I know I don’t have a “real workplace” to go to during the day but I use too. I worked in a huge building & I remember passing the same person day after day & never speaking because I thought she looked so mean. Lol isn’t that just horrible? But I bet at some point in your life you can relate! Maybe we should be like those kids and step out on faith & know that God is going to handle the situation & extend an act of kindness to someone today!
Now I know what I wanted to talk about! Mother has her pet scan tomorrow. I don’t even remember what month she was diagnosed with cancer; it seems so long ago now. But I remember the day. I had already researched her type spot & knew in my head what the diagnosis would be. But when Joey called to tell me I screamed at him, I threw the phone, I cried uncontrollably and I felt like my heart had been ripped out. Jami had to finish the call & then deal with me. I had not reacted like that the other 2 times but it just seemed like the 3rd time had to be the end. I mean how many times can someone get cancer and overcome it? So for days to come I felt like the cartoon story where the devil sits on one shoulder & angel sits on the other.  The devil made me doubt & the angel told me God can. The devil used the diagnosis that we can do surgery but this type cancer will come back & the angel said God can handle it all. The devil brought hurt and pain but God provided us with well needed family time together in Pigeon Forge.  The devil made us question how we were going to get Mother to Bham every day for treatment & God provided friends & family to help to make it easier on Joey, Daddy & me.  So it has been a tough year on her & she has been a trooper. Tomorrow I dread. The devil keeps popping up on my shoulder saying they could find cancer but the Angel keeps saying if they do God still going to handle it.  I hate doubting so I just keep trying to push that devil back down because in my heart I know that no matter what the test reveals God has my mother in His hands. I am going to ask for your prayers. I know many of you have felt this way this year. It seems like our church family has had so much hurt & loss but I hope you hold on to the fact that God can handle it all and He can get you through anything. I have seem so many of you deal with loss of family members, children in pain, marriage & financial struggles, aging parents & you have dealt with it all with such strength & that is an inspiration for me. Thank you! Leaving this sad topic behind now!!
This Wednesday night I am surprising the children with pizza. Don’t tell them but don’t feed them supper either! They are working so hard in school & I have been so proud at how faithful they have been at coming to church & we need a little down time so we are going to have a shortened version of Big City Studio & eat some pizza.  October 4 we will have a family movie night, 6:30 for free concessions & 7:00 will start movie. Bring a chair or a blanket & enjoy a movie with your family. I do ask that each person brings 1 can food item so we can help stock the pantry for Thanksgiving food donations.  Invite someone!! Please read yesterday’s Trunk or Treat blog post so you will know all the info. I can’t think of anything else right now. Continue to pray for the Clarks as they have the service for Kathy today. Pray for those still hurting over loss, pray for my mom for a great cancer free report tomorrow.  I hope yall have a great week and I look forward to seeing you Wednesday night!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Trunk or Treat Info

Let me start over & have a redo on the Trunk or Treat. To begin with it is probably WBBC’s largest event for the community. Let me give you the basics & then I’ll fill in with the needs. Everything is free to those who come. Families come and enjoy grilled hot dogs, chili , popcorn & drinks.  We sell baked items & that money goes to a cause each year. The kids wander around from trunk to trunk getting candy. Church members dress up in costumes & dress their trunks up…. Or you can chose to wear your regular clothes & not dress up your trunk. It is entirely up to you. You bring candy for your trunk but we always have extra because more than likely you will run out.  We have carnival games set up and the youth run those. Kids will get candy or a prize at each game. The gym will have 3 small inflatables for the smaller kids & 1 very large inflatable outside for the big kids. There is also a real train that runs for little ones. We have a hayride too. Jami will have whatever night game is going on the big screen outside the fellowship hall. There will also be a sign in table for people to register to win door prizes. The date is October 26 from 6-8 but those doing a trunk, game or bringing food need to be at church by 4:30 because we need to be set up & eat before people arrive & they will arrive early.
So let me get to the needs now that I was unorganized in the meeting. I need 2 men to volunteer to watch kids in the gym & 2 to watch the kids on the outside inflatable. Kids tend to get wild on those & we do not want anyone to get hurt. Tim McKee volunteered to put the signs up so that is done. I need someone to volunteer to work the sign in table. I need someone to volunteer to work the popcorn machine. I’ll have the supplies you just pop, bag & hand out. I need youth to volunteer to work the games. I’ll need some men the Wed. night before T or T to help bring games down from the upstairs.  Teresa Coley has a list for those who want to make a pot/crockpot full of chili & Megan Williams has the bake sale list. Get with them if you can help with those items.  I will need hay at a cheap price. If you know anyone who can help with that let me know. We use a good bit for decorating & the hayride. I need mums & pumpkins cheap too so if anyone knows a good price on those, let know. We do have a budget to buy things but by the time you order inflatables & a train that knocks out a large portion of it so I need to be cheap on the decorations. Lol Other items we need donated are bags of candy, hot dog buns & 2 L drinks. If you want to purchase any of those you are welcome to just leave them in the gym. . Setting up…. Lots of help needed! I’ll be at church Friday night trying to decorate inside & outside & then Saturday trying to pull out stuff we couldn’t leave out over night.  I think that covers it. Sorry I am never clear when I have to talk in front of a crowd so that is why I am redoing!! Lol If you have questions please contact me. Don’t stay home that night! Our church will be packed & you’ll see someone you know & then you’ll have a chance to invite them back for regular church!  If you stayed for the meeting thanks so much!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

FEELINGS

I come to you this morning not as a children’s minister but as a youth parent. Most of you know that Arlo resigned as youth minister last night. I am sure he did this with a heavy heart. I did text Arlo this morning and He and Jennie are fully committed to the youth until God brings us someone else. That includes Winter Extreme & I know some of you had questions about who would handle that trip. I am so thankful to Arlo and Jennie for stepping up immediately and volunteering when the Mayo’s resigned. They joined our staff & I fill like they showed love and a true concern for our youth.
As a church family we have some things we need to do. First, we need to be in prayer that the devil is barred from our church doors & from every crevice.  He will use any way he can to slip in. We need to pray for Arlo & Jennie because I know their hearts are hurting.  We need to be in prayer for whoever is on the youth search committee that they make decisions based on God not on their own feelings.  We need to be in prayer for Joey as he leads the committee. We need to be in prayer for whoever God brings us that our hearts will be open to change and we and our children will welcome them with open arms. We need to be in prayer for our youth. I know we had many youth upset last night. I hope our older youth who were devastated when they lost their 1st youth minister will remember those feelings of sadness & heartbreak and reach out to those who are hurting & encourage them that it will all work out. Isn’t that what Christians should do for each other? As parents we need to encourage our youth to stay involved and be at church for all things not just the fun stuff. We need to encourage them to be respectful to Arlo & Jennie & to pray for them because they are still their leaders for the time being & because as Christians we should be respectful & be in prayer for people anyway. I also encourage you to ask them to understand the process of searching for a youth minister. The process can be long & we don’t want to think we are neglecting finding them someone but the truth is the person will come in God’s time not WBBC’s time.  This is a great opportunity for our youth to really experience church and see that it takes prayer and hard work to make things happen. This could be a great family bonding experience as you talk about your youth’s feelings, concerns, assure them God always has a plan & pray with them.  Lastly, this can be a time where you explain to your child that church is not about the youth leader, the Sunday school teacher, or the pastor. Coming to church is about worshipping God and building your own relationship with God. I remember years ago complaining about a fill in preacher & someone said to me, you are not here to like or dislike the person leading, you are here to hear the message about God & that should be where the focus stays. The point was taken & I have looked at the message ever since then, not the person. I know everyone has different feelings today. This was my way of letting them out. I hope they help someone. I hope you all know how much I love my church and only want to see the best happen at WBBC. Be in prayer for the Clark’s today. Amy’s mom is not doing well & be in prayer for the Raines family as they lay Carol to rest today.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Kindness

I was so pleased to have most of my children in Sunday school yesterday morning. I had 11 children which is great! I hope each of you will continue to place Sunday school as an importance in your child’s life. Sunday school is a place they learn the stories of the Bible. Yesterday my class learned about the woman at the well. She was a woman, a Samaritan, argued or debated with Jesus and had sinned and in those times all those characteristics were considered negatives. Jesus was a Jew & Samaritans and Jews did not like each other. Of course Jesus is like no other and he showed compassion & kindness to the woman. He spoke to her with respect and love. In our life, we are all different & some types of people might not like each other or want to be around certain types of people.  I used a homeless person for an example. We all have seen them. They look dirty, hair isn’t combed, clothes are torn, mismatched & stained, shoes might not fit right or have toes popping thru the whole at the end, teeth are black & missing a few & normally they have an odor. Visualize the person.  Now think about this, you are in line at the grocery store, you are in a hurry & the homeless woman in front of you is holding up the line as she slowly counts out her change to buy a banana. How do you react? Are you snickering to your teenage daughter about the smell? Are you rolling your eyes & shaking your head in disgust to the person behind you? Are you looking at your cell phone clock & huffing a little because you are really late? How about some kindness and compassion? Anybody got any of that to share? So I challenged my SS kids to do one random act of kindness at school each day this week. I asked them to step out of their normal routine of playing with the same child or children & find a child who gets left out and invite them to play or say an encouraging word to them. I asked them to reach out and show kindness like Jesus did to the woman at the well, write the names or act down & bring it back to church Sunday. I know we’ll have some good stories Sunday and I look forward to hearing them tell me what they did. Go ahead and try it to. This doesn’t have to be just for kids. Make yourself more aware of the people around you and see if you can offer up more kindness or compassion.

Bath Moore, at least the part I got to stay for, was great! I really enjoyed the worship music!! It was the most beautiful sound hearing all these women singing and it just filling up the sanctuary. The woman who put this event on worked tirelessly. Our gym was beautiful! I just felt like every detail was perfect, from supplying guest with water bottles & goody bags to the signs directing people to the bathrooms. Yall out did yourselves!
For the rest of September the kids will be doing Big City Studio on Wed. nights from 6-7. If you haven’t joined in for a Wed. night yet, don’t wait! Come on this Wed. & join us! The little kid’s class is going great. Jack was crazy about the shirt he painted last Wed. night. He told us all about it! We have a few upcoming events to be praying on to see how you can help & we have one need that I would love for yall to pray on.  They’ll be a meeting this Sunday immediately after church for those who want to help with Trunk or Treat which is October 26 from 6-8.  Don’t sit back and be shy…. Come to the meeting! You are needed!!!!!! Our 100th Year Celebration is October 13 & I have been placed in charge of games. If anyone has a corn hole or horse shoe games I would love to borrow them for that day. I had also said I would plan us a Disney/mission trip for spring break 2015.  I can’t plan a Disney trip w/ a clear conscience if we do not include some type mission work & required devotional meeting time every day. If you are cool with that then we will meet October 6 right after church to get some planning underway. This is for any of our church families whether it be youth or children. Ok the need I was talking about is big. Be in prayer for a helper for Leslie McGlaughns’ Sunday school class. She has a class full of younger kids this time & really needs an extra set of eyes in there. It needs to be someone with a heart for children. & a desire to see those children learn about God.  Yall be in prayer for this person to step forward! I pray yall have a great week showing kindness to others. I am going to bet that kindness will come back to you. Continue to keep Amy Clark’s Mom in your prayers & Haley.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Husbands Need Prayer

I asked God to give me something to put in the blog this morning & the topic that keeps popping out to me this morning is marriage. I know I have talked on this some many posts back but it looks like you get another dose of it today. On the radio this morning they were talking about wives being submissive to their husbands and husbands being the leader of the home. The Bible tells us in Ephesians5:22-24 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church ;and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. The radio station was receiving calls on this and of course many people had very different opinions just as some of us would. People questioned should a woman be submissive if the husband is not leading his home as a Christian and of course there are women who think they should never submit to a man because it takes away our rights. I am not going to argue or try to persuade any side on this.  What I do want to do is encourage you in your marriage. Marriage is tough and it takes a serious commitment. This world makes it easy to cheat, lie & divorce but if you turn to God he will make your marriage stronger. From a woman’s perspective, you have got to be in prayer for your husband. He might be lost or he might be a true Christian leader of your home, either way he needs prayer. He needs lots of prayer! The crazy commercials we all see on TV show half naked women and constant drinking & partying. You can’t watch one sporting event without being enticed by the images. This world encourages men to live it up and only think about what feels good and to live in the moment. Sin and evilness are all around. So as a wife you need to be in prayer for your husband. If he is lost you need to be in constant prayer that he finds Jesus and that you can be an example of what a Godly woman looks like. If your husband is a Christian and a true leader of your home pray for him because the devil wants to bring him down. The devil wants him to struggle at work, struggle with finances, struggle with communication with you, struggle finding time to spend with his children. The devil wants him to feel like a failure & wonder why trying to do right is worth it. As a wife, you can help with all those situations. Pray that evilness and sin stay away from your husband, pray that his friends are other Christian men, pray that if he has men friends who are not Christians that they are removed from his path until their hearts are changed by God, pray that he feels like he really accomplished something at work today, pray that his eyes and heart remain faithful to you & pray that he handles the stress of this world by turning to God in prayer. If your marriage isn’t where you feel it should be pray about it.  Don’t forget to lift your husband up! Use words that encourage him. Tell him how great he is, tell him how you depend on him for this and that, tell him you saw how well he responded to such and such situation.  We all want to be encouraged and praised. I have told yall about the book Jami bought me, “The Power of a Praying Wife.” It is a great resource to guide you in prayer.  Don’t walk away from this thinking Kristi must think she has the perfect marriage or knows all about being married because I don’t. We are just a regular old family, trying to make it in this crazy world. What I have learned over time is prayer helps in every situation that can come to your family. So ladies, I am challenging you today to start praying for your husband. If you already pray a little for them, I challenge you to pray harder. If you are a man reading this blog, guess what? Your wife needs prayer to because the devil is coming after her just like he is trying to get to you! Make it your morning ritual… pray for your spouse when you pray for your children! Ok done preaching now! If you want to borrow my book it is awesome!
Wasn’t it great to start of the service with a baptism yesterday? That sight never gets old to me.
There is so much going on at church in the next few months. Big City Studio this Wed. night for the children. Katie Smith & Teresa Coley will be leading that.  The new children’s class started off great last Wed. night with 3 kids & the 3 workers.  I pray that class will continue to grow. I know Ashley, Courtney & Donna all enjoyed the class. Beth Moore is Saturday and I know many have put in lots of hard work to make this happen at WBBC. I think it will be a great day! I am actually in my pink WBBC shirt right now! I saw Shay in hers this morning too. Sunday is “National Go Back to Church” day so get out an invite someone to church. Let’s pack the church out! We are having a great guest speaker during preaching who has been quoted to say,”He runs touch downs for the Lord now.” There will be no children’s church Sunday because I think the children can benefit from our speaker.  There will be a trunk or treat meeting right after church Sept. 22 for anyone interested in helping.  Wbbc’s 100th year celebration is coming up October 13 & then Trunk or Treat will be Oct. 26. Pray for each of these outreaches that God places people in our path who need a church family & who need a place to worship our Lord. Keep Amy Clark & her family in prayer this week, Katie Smith & her family and don’t forget to pray for those husbands!! Have a blessed week!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Define Blessed

Happy Labor Day! I hope you are enjoying some well needed rest and family time today. Here is a question for you all. Define the word blessed? That word was in our SS lesson yesterday & it made me think on that word. We hear it all the time, “I am so blessed” but I think it is generally used now for anything good that comes to people. Blessed means to be made happy by God which to me makes the word seem a little more valuable or hold a little more importance. So now when I say I am blessed you’ll know that God had his hand in whatever I am blessed with. I know that sounds kind of crazy but I see it on Fb all the time, so and so is such a blessing or I was blessed by this. I just wonder if people really think about the real meaning & know that blessing was intended to make you happy by God? Think on it the next time you say you are blessed and realize God made that blessing for you! Makes me smile & my heart do a dance!
Yesterday was move up day in SS for the children’s dept. With it being a holiday weekend we were very low in attendance. That is ok because there is next Sunday and I know I’ll have all my kiddos back then! I was thrilled to have a new child to SS in my class yesterday……that was a blessing to me! I was also thrilled to know that a family took my “Go to SS” challenge. I am looking forward to seeing them in SS each week and I believe God will bless them by stepping out and giving SS a try! We were low in preaching too but God still works on holiday weekends because we still had lots of visitors! I get so excited when we have visitors! I know y’all think I am crazy but I still do get excited. Once Jami & I get home I am like did you see so and so at church today or do you know who that was sitting over by so and so. I hope you get excited too. To me it means God is still working in our church. When we have no new visitors coming in & regulars not showing up then we have a problem. I don’t want to ever see that happen & I can’t imagine how that must feel! God has been so faithful to our church and that is a blessing to me!
This Wednesday night we are back to our regular kids lessons in “Big City Studio”. We will meet in the gym from 6-7. I hope everyone will invite someone to church for Wednesday night. The new children’s class for the age 3-5 will meet upstairs in the green room. If your child is closer to 3 they must be potty trained to go into this class. I am excited we are able to offer a class geared to the younger children. People sometimes think young kids can’t learn about God but I remember being at Dwight Baptist years ago and hearing a group of 2 yrs. olds recite bible verses. Each one had memorized a different verse so I know it is never too young to start teaching our little ones about God. Please be in prayer for Ashley, Donna & Courtney as they lead this little group. Trunk or Treat will be coming up soon. The date is October 26. We will have a meeting in a few weeks for those who would like to help. I am looking forward to this fall at church. I hope you have a blessed week and get some relaxation today!