Promotion Day

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This coming Sunday is a big day at First Baptist!! It is Promotion Sunday for our Sunday School classes. I know many of you won’t be promoting to a new class but for many of our children there will be a sense of excitement as they get to move to a new class and have a new teacher. Along with the children getting the opportunity to move to a new class there are several other changes taking place of great significance.

Since 1956 (with the exception of a couple of years) Bobbie Mosley has been teaching children in our church during the Sunday School hour. That is over a half century of teaching!!! This will be the first year in a long time she will not be teaching in our 2 and 3 year old department. Thank you, Miss Bobbie, for all of the years of service you have given to our church and our Lord! You have made an eternal difference in many lives.

Stacy Johnson has been teaching the TEAM class for several years. He has decided it is time to take a break. Keith Scharnhorst will be stepping up to take over the teaching in this class. Thank you, Stacy, for the time you have put in to make the TEAM class what it is today!

Shelly Allen will begin a new class for young ladies. This class will focus on the daily needs of ladies. I am excited about the opportunity this class brings to reaching a new group of ladies who are not currently active in Sunday School.

No matter what class you are in, I hope you will make Sunday School a priority. One of the ways we can stay connected with the two service format we now have is being in Sunday School. As we begin a new Sunday School year, if you are not a part of a class, I hope you will take this Sunday as an opportunity to get involved!

On a totally different note, I want to encourage you to be praying for our Building Task Force Committee which had its first meeting last week. This group of people have been charged with the task of examining our current building space and looking towards the future in what our needs will be. There are great things in store for us as a church, but we must be in tune with God’s plan for it all to work out properly and in His time. Please pray for John Akers, Georgeann Allen, Bill Lyle, Kenneth Montgomery, Bill Pannell, Vicki Ricker, and Keith Scharnhorst in the coming days as they go about their work.

I know summer time is upon us, but I hope you will continue to be faithful to our activities and opportunities of worship. God is up to something great in this place and I hope you will be faithful in being a part of everything He is doing.

Word of the Week for May 25th

It is hard to believe summer is already here! It seems like a few months ago we were having our welcome to the teachers luncheon. With summer comes many incredible opportunities in the life of First Baptist. Next Sunday is Promotion Sunday for our Sunday School. I hope you will make an effort to come and be a part of Sunday School Kickoff 2008!

With summer comes camps, Super Summer, Vacation Bible School, mission trips and many other incredible opportunities to grow and serve out your faith! I pray this is a summer of great growth for our church family!

Have a great last week of the school year!

Word of the Week for May 18th

Life gives us various measuring points along the way. For several people the next few weeks hold some major points of accomplishment. Today in our services we will be recognizing children who are completing the first, second and third grades with Bibles. The hope is as the children learn to read they will make God’s Word part of their daily reading. We will also be recognizing our graduating high school seniors. What a special time in the lives of these students and their families. Once they receive their diplomas, they will be looked upon differently. They will have accomplished a major goal in life. We also have some college graduates. Way to go! You have gone a step further in your education.

As I think about these groups of people, I see a pattern that as believers we should seek to follow. The children have learned to read. The high school graduates have gone a step further, the college students even farther, and for one a Master’s degree! We should all be seeking to reach for THE MASTER in our daily walk with Him.

Congratulations, graduates! We are proud of you!

Word of the Week for May 11th

I am not a big technology guy! I will be the first to admit it. There are people who are dragging me along into the technology age. One of the newer concepts out on the World Wide Web is blogging. Ryan Hurt and Kenneth Pipes have set up a worship blog for First Baptist Church. It is a place where you can go and share thoughts on our worship times together, something God has laid on your heart, or if you need prayer. After I figured out how it works, I think it is pretty neat!!!

I hope you will take time to visit the site and even add a word of encouragement if you like. Just open up the church website at www.grandviewfbc.com to find the worship blog link. Click it and away you will go!

Happy surfing and I hope you have a great week!

A Word of the Week for May 4

This past week was filled with all kinds of spiritual lessons. While we waited for the results of Shelly’s biopsy, I was reminded that God does not always answer our prayers the way we want, but he always answers our prayers. It is so comforting to know God travels with us every step of the way on our life journey.

I was also reminded of God’s timing. We waited all day Monday to hear from the doctor. It was a long day to say the least. I got frustrated waiting on a phone call I thought should have been made early in the day. It is good to know God has a timing for everything, and we can be rest assured that He is never early or late but always on time!

I hope this week we learn to trust and wait on our Lord!