Posts from June 2023

Weekly Update – June 29th, 2023 At Sunday’s Members’ Meeting we announced some updates to our staff and deacons. To our staff, we added Daniel Holsten and Matthew Klika. Then, Bob Berning, Jake Norman and Kamto Eze will join Nate Johnson and Alex Martin as deacons. Let me explain exactly what that means for us now. For our staff, the addition of Daniel Holsten and Matthew Klika brings some intentionality to a few needed areas. Daniel will come on as…

Weekly Update – June 22nd, 2023 Every year, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meets in June for its annual meeting.  The convention contains just over 47,000 churches with anywhere from 8-12,000 messengers attending this annual meeting on behalf of member churches.  The SBC was formed in 1845 with the singular purpose of, “eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the Gospel.”  First Baptist Church is an active member of the SBC…

Weekly Update – June 15th, 2023 As you all know, Vacation Bible School is just around the corner.  Every summer our church has a week where we specifically focus on teaching the children of our church and the community the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This week always requires a lot of effort, resources and time.  Therefore, for the sake of simply doing something because we have always done it, I want to remind you, just as I have done in…

Weekly Update – June 8th, 2023 In Philippians 1:4, the apostle Paul starts off his letter by expressing his thankfulness for the Philippians “partnership in the gospel.”  This coming Sunday, we will see Paul talking about his situation in prison as a circumstance that will serve “to advance the gospel” (1:12).  With Paul starting off his letter with this word “gospel” and continually using it throughout, it was necessary for us on Sunday to take some time to clearly define…

Weekly Update – June 1st, 2023 Summer is easily my favorite time of the year.  I know some complain about the hot weather, but I love it.  I love the warm nights, the bright sun, the afternoon storms and the different pace that summer often brings.  With summer though, there comes a temptation.  Anytime there is an opportunity for leisure and refreshment, the evil one will bring the temptation to focus inward and to neglect what the Lord is doing…