The group’s final hike took them up a steep elevation climb of 2,000 ft to Lake Angeles. The trail head leaves from a parking lot just below the entrance gate to the Olympic National Park. The group hiked in [and up] for three hours and back out for two! Good job you guys!
7/18/20 took our Hiking Small Group to the Port Townsend Sea Glass Beach. Were were purposefully more leisurely and let the kiddos hunt for treasures!
One of our teens is pretty awesome at finding seaglass and managed to dig up this beautiful handful within the first 15 minutes!
Hope you’ll enjoy pictures from our Hiking Small Group’s weekly journies! This week’s adventure took us along the Striped Peak Vista Trail that leaves from the Salt Creek Recreation Area Parking Lot.
What wild times we are living in church family! As I sit here, my head still spins a little trying to work out the “hows” of the mandatory shut down, working from home, and only leaving for absolute essentials. While I have been grateful for the quiet moments, the quiet time in study, and extra time with my family, I have truly missed worshipping and going to small groups with all of you.
I challenge you, in the coming days and weeks, as you pray for our country, for leaders, for the health of individuals, etc, consider who you might reach out to with a phone call, card, or some other method of communication. In a world where we can hardly leave our homes, it seems like there’s not much we can do to help those God has placed in our world. But I assure you, there is! Many studies have shown in both humans and animals that we do better when we’re able to have contact. Social interaction is critical for physical and mental health! Don’t underestimate the power of a friend’s voice, of encouragement, of sharing stories, of saying, “this is hard”, “I miss you”, of planning something you look forward to doing together when this is all over, and of praying with others. You absolutely can make a difference, right where you are!
I also wanted to let you know that we are going to be able to allow our volunteers to offer grocery delivery service to some of the more vulnerable members of our community here in Port Angeles. If you are reading this and you are over 60 or are immune-deficient due to pre-existing health conditions, please reach out to us for help doing your shopping! Call the church office at (360) 457-3313 and leave a message letting us know that you would like to have your groceries delivered. We have NINETEEN volunteers who are eager and waiting to help you!
I’m praying that in these times God is drawing you close and reassuring you of deep love for you and His control over your life, the things that scare you, and the uncertainty we are living in. Take courage friend, things will not always be this way!
Looking forward to seeing you again!
Lynn Crawford
Associate Pastor
Dear church,
From my bunker to yours, greetings in this time of quarantine. If your email inbox is anything like mine, every company and organization you’ve ever shared your email address with has sent you a notice of how they are responding to this Covid-19 Crisis.
Well, friends, it seemed fitting for your church family to do the same. So, how are we responding? Ah, let me count the ways.
1. SUNDAY SERVICE
Church service is happening online. And it’s so much fun! We have been blessed with an amazing group of people who are stepping up, and going above and beyond to help Sundays remain a successful time of worship and fellowship.
Worship is happening by filming our service, and then broadcasting that into our people’s living rooms via Facebook. I’ve seen some fun photos of people taking pictures of their families gathered around laptops and tv screens on Sunday morning. These photos bring joy to my heart.
These pictures actually remind me of those old black and white photos I’ve seen of our nation’s response during the second World War. In those old pictures, families were gathered around their radios to hear the news, and perhaps listen to Rev. Charles E. Fuller deliver his sermons. (For those who are interested, Rev. Fuller’s “Old Fashioned Revival Hour is available today on the Fuller seminary website. You can listen to his sermons by clicking on the blue words above.)
2. COMMUNITY SERVICE
Right away, we started to think about how our church can respond in this crises to the needs of our community. What we came up with was a grocery shopping program where anyone in Port Angeles, who feels that they are especially vulnerable to Covid-19, is welcome to call the church; and we will deploy a volunteer to go and pick up that person’s groceries. This is a service also available to the people of our church who fall within the vulnerable demographics.
3. OFFICE LIFE
Following the orders from our President and Governor, we have taken to closing our office to the public. We have sent as many people home as possible. Lynn and I continue to report into the office as necessary to plan and record the Sunday service, to help oversee the grocery shopping community service, and to respond as needed to daily issues that come up. However, while we are reporting in to take care of such essential needs, our office and building are officially “closed” to in-person traffic.
We’ve been able to set-up David with a “home office” of sorts; where he is continuing to manage some of our church business from his place of residence. We want to give a huge “thank-you” to David’s family for being so accommodating.
4. SMALL GROUP MEETINGS - WE’VE GONE ONLINE
A. In light of the stay-at-home order, some of our small groups needed to suspend meeting. Others, however, have gone online. The Young Adult small group, which meets Fridays at 5:30 p.m., actually shifted its focus: The group is starting a new study this Friday, April 3, 2020. The new study is going to focus on inviting people, who have intellectual objections to the faith, to come and have discussions with us about Jesus. We moved from being an inward focused discussion group to being purposefully outward focused in the hopes that some of our doubting friends might find this a fun thing to do in light of a sudden increase in free-time.
B. Youth Group took a break while we adjusted to the new normal; but it is going to pick-up again this Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The group will meet online at 3:00 p.m.
5. FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
A. KIDS
For the past two Saturday evenings, we’ve hosted a fellowship time for the children of the church called, “Movie Night with (not at) the Hughes.” To carry-off this fun time of social interaction we are inviting parents to connect via an online service called ZOOM. The kids are able to see each other, talk, giggle, and have fun in conversation. The parents all bring up the same children’s movie on their TVs; then, we count down so we can all hit “play” at the same time. This way, the kids get to watch the same movie together.
Last Saturday, the movie was Frozen II; and we actually had a set of grandparents join-in to watch the movie on their TV. They had as much fun as the kids.
B. PRAYER
Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m., we are hosting weekly prayer meetings online, which are open to anyone in our church body who wants to join-in. During these prayer meetings, we are asking for God’s direction and blessing as we seek to share the hope we have in Jesus with our friends and neighbors. Evil does not come from God; but he can certainly use bad things for good purposes. We want to be prayerful and intentional in how we respond to this crisis.
C. SUNDAY SERVICE CHATTING
Because our service is broadcasting on Facebook, we have a unique opportunity to connect with one another via the “comment thread.” This is where people are able to write thoughts and greetings to one another. We encourage chatting online during this worship time as we meet and congregate with one another.
D. PHONE CONNECTION
We are working as an elder board and office staff to be sure that we are checking in regularly with our church body, that is, to ensure everyone is doing well. If you’ve not received a phone call from someone from the church by the end of the week, please call us; and let us know. We don’t intend to miss anyone; but in the midst of the unique craziness of the time, it is possible.
6. SPECIAL THANKS
I need to take a moment to thank some key people whose work and dedication you may not always see. One such person is Rhys Crawford. Rhys has given hours and hours of volunteer time to our church to help us with all things tech. This includes filming the worship time and sermon, as well as editing the videos so that we can see testimonies and kids’ scripture reading. He seamlessly adds in AND integrates the worship lyrics and sermon slides to the video.
Rhys was also invaluable in helping us set-up David at his house so he could continue working for the church while adhering to the Governor’s proclamation.
Thanks also to “I.T. SUPPORT SERVICES” which is owned and operated by Roger and Rose Sanders, and for whom Rhys works. They have also been a great resource during this unique time of becoming ever more dependent on technology.
7. FINANCIAL SUPPORT
A. IT IS NEEDED
Although our building is not open, we are continuing to share the Gospel as we serve our community. Earlier in the month of March, we were in a situation of deciding which bills to pay after we covered payroll, that is, if we were even able to do that. I had to call some of the ministries our church supports, and had to let them know that our monthly support would be coming late.
Thankfully, when our folks learned of our financial hardship, several stepped up to give above and beyond their normal commitments. As the Spirit leads you, do remain faithful in your worship of God through your giving, even if we can’t gather in-person.
B. IT IS OFFERED
However, because the church depends upon the gracious giving of our people, it mirrors well the financial realities of our community. If you are struggling, please know that your pastor and church family are well aware of the growing financial hardships that many may soon be facing, or are facing already.
It is our intention to be generous with what is untrusted to our care; and as the church receives support from our members, so too will we return that support. If any of you find yourselves in need of food or some other emergency resource, reach-out to your church.
8. COMMUNITY CONNECTION
In just a few moments, I am going to be part of a meeting with several other Port Angeles Pastors, who dream together about how we can continue to celebrate Easter together as we’ve done in the past with the Sunrise Service. Gathering at the Civic Field is no longer an option of course. But is there something else we can do? Stay tuned, as we are gonna try and address that very question.
9. REGIONAL CONNECTION
Each week several of your church leaders and I are connecting with other Mission Northwest church leaders to brainstorm ideas about how to be responsive to church and community needs. It is an important time of connectivity and idea swapping.
A FINAL STORY OF ENCOURAGEMENT
While working in the office, I received a phone call from our sister church in Oak Harbor. With the challenges of streaming a service and social distancing, they have had trouble getting their worship team together for their Sunday Service. Their Pastor, seeing the quality of what we had online called and asked for advice, which we freely gave. He then asked if he could “borrow” our worship team for his church service. We were able to do this by sending him the recordings we had of our ladies leading us in worship.
This means that on Sunday, not only did Lynn lead you in worship here in Port Angeles, but Lynn, Stacie and Sarah also helped lead the folks over in Oak Harbor. How cool is that!
“We encourage families to reinforce each child’s confidence in the Lord’s ability to strengthen and protect them.”
Fall has returned, and with it our regular Sunday School schedule for kids. Nursery care is available for both services, with Pre-K through Kindergarten and grades first through fourth for older children in second service. Children in fifth grade or above may remain in worship with their families.
This quarter, we encourage kids to apply Bible truths to their lives. We’ll be exploring how God kept His promises to the Israelites through Noah, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. We encourage families to reinforce each child’s confidence in the Lord’s ability to strengthen and protect them.
In order to provide the most effective learning environment for our children, each class assigned a lead teacher and assistant. Currently, we urgently need Nursery staff for both services, and class room assistants during the second service. If you are older than eighteen and love children, we ask that you prayerfully consider committing one or more Sundays per month as an assistant or substitute.
Let’s make this a great year for our kids.
Karenjean Crawford
Karen Gentzler
“We truly enjoy contributing choral anthems into our services for the purpose of enhancing everyone’s worship experience.”
Summer vacations are over, kids are back in school and our Sanctuary Choir is in full operation. Our enthusiastic choral singers sang the traditional Zulu song: "We Are Marching in the Light of the Lord" on Sept. 29th to our very appreciative 9:30 morning worshippers. Thank you congregation for your happy response. We truly enjoy contributing choral anthems into our services for the purpose of enhancing everyone's worship experience. Within the next three months the choir also is planning to sing on Commitment Sunday, Oct. 27th, Thanksgiving Sunday, Nov. 24th, plus three times during the Christmas Season: Dec. 8th, 15th & 22nd.
Have you noticed our newest singers: Warren Eacret, Jan Isett and Randy Bailey? They are important additions to our choir as well as three people who, after having to be away for awhile, are able to sing with us again. We are so glad to welcome back: Missi Koon, Jenny Elofson and Trent Danielson.
Our prayers now are with those in choir who are facing major health issues. We miss you and pray for your swift & complete recovery. We are so thankful that others in our choir who also have had major health challenges such as Ray Hanson plus Don & Carolyn Miller have been able to return to full participation. We are grateful to have such loyal singers. God bless everyone of our choral members in their Christian walk and in their dedication to our choir's musical purpose.
If others in our congregation are singers and looking for a place where they can serve
God in our church, I would encourage you to consider coming to our choir rehearsals for awhile. Perhaps you also will discover the joy of serving God through sacred choral music and be blessed in the process.
“Sing"cerely,
- Betty -
Dear Flock,
Do you suppose Jesus ever had a sermon he didn’t want to preach? It’s a question worth pondering. Did the Father ever lay a message on Jesus’ heart that the human part of Jesus responded to by saying, “Yes, Father, I know you are right… but boy is this gonna make me unpopular.”
There is a famous sermon Jesus once gave that is now known as the “Seven Woes”. In that sermon he said things like this to the religious leaders of his day:
“23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!” - Matthew 23:23-24
I believe it to be very possible that going into that message that day there was part of Jesus that said - “OK Father, you want me to give THIS message?”
We know from Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus was not eager to go to the cross, and such sermons as this certainly didn’t win Jesus any favor among those who would later cry out “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
We are often told in our culture today that there are three subjects we should just avoid if we are to participate in “polite society’. These subjects are “Religion, Politics and Money”.
Well friends, guess what… Jesus spoke often about all three… very often. Indeed the passage quoted above is about BOTH religion and money, at the same time!
Friends, I’ve a confession to make - as your pastor I don’t always want to deliver the message that I feel God lay on my heart. Indeed, any minister sensitive to the Spirit’s leading is familiar with this feeling. This October we will enter the season of our church calendar that I approach always with a little feeling of dread because this is the time of the year we talk about one of the subjects I like preaching on the least, but that spoke about quite often… money.
“Indeed of the 39 parables Jesus told, 11 of them were about finances. If my preaching schedule was to follow this same ratio (28.21%), I’d be preaching about money about 14 to 15 times a year.”
Indeed of the 39 parables Jesus told, 11 of them were about finances. If my preaching schedule was to follow this same ratio (28.21%), I’d be preaching about money about 14 to 15 times a year.
Fortunately, I’ve not (yet) felt lead to do so. But for the month of October, we will be taking seriously Jesus’ statement in verse 23 from his sermon above that “you should tithe, yes…”
We will be discussing what a tithe is, why being faithful with our finances is part of being faithful in how we follow Jesus, and the blessings that come from following the Biblical directives in how we manage what God has entrusted to us.
And my favorite part of this season, is we are going to get to hear personal testimony from a few people within the congregation who have practiced God-pleasing stewardship in their own lives and how they have found blessings from following God’s directive.
It is true… each year as I enter this season of planning and preparation, I do so with a hint of dread. That cultural teaching that some subjects are off-limits runs deep in my people-pleasing heart. And yet each year that we come out of this study I find that being faithful to the prompting of the Spirit has led to blessing. Imagine that!
I am looking forward to this month of study with each of you. And let me say this: If finances are a source of stress in your life, it is my belief that learning how God calls us to faithfulness with our resources will lead to joy. Indeed, anytime we follow God’s direction, it leads to joy.
Blessings all,
Pastor Tim
What a wonderful summer! I hope everyone is settling into their fall routines well and enjoying getting back to “life as usual”!
As we gear up for fall, I wanted to update you on some exciting changes coming to our tech department.
You may well be aware that for several months now we have been live-streaming our second service on Facebook just using a simple smartphone and tripod set up. It has enabled people who have been ill, out of town, or trapped in inclement weather to be able to connect with us. While it has been a good start to our online service, it has not been without its bumps. Admittedly, the audio on the sermon can be difficult to hear, and while you can certainly tell what you are looking at on the screen, it isn’t the best quality video either.
To help compensate for some of these things, we will be training soon on a newly purchased MEVO video camera and app that allows the videographer to control the camera from their phone from the balcony and plugin directly to the sound board’s feed of the sermon! The app will also allow for smoother zooms and pans.
If helping out with this new online service is something you are interested in doing, please reach out and let us know! In our modern culture of digital content and handheld devices, reaching out online has become more and more crucial to church growth and we need volunteers who are excited to be a part of these changes that will reach the next generation.
We are also looking for volunteers in our Tech Department, Barefoot Kids, Barefoot Students, and Serve Team for the following positions:
2nd service sound tech
2nd service camera tech (referenced above)
2nd service projection tech
Two 2nd service online greeters
Two 1st service nursery assistant teachers
2nd service Sunday school assistant teacher
Wednesday evening youth group leaders
1st service serve team member
Two 2nd service serve team members
2nd service child/youth elevator monitor
Will you please join me in praying over these positions and how God can use First Baptist to love the people around us?
May God bless and enrich your time with Him!
Lynn Crawford
Associate Pastor
From Reverend Timothy Hughes, Senior Pastor
A new school year will bring new changes for Children’s Ministry at First Baptist. Kim Ciaciuch who has led our ministry well decided she needed to step away. Thank-you Kim for all you did for our kids and volunteers! Your faithfulness and giftedness are so appreciated.
In her absence Teresa Hanson has stepped in to fill the gap in an interim roll. Teresa has been great and is going to continue to fill in for us through the summer months. Teresa, thank-you for your faithful service! Your gifts and service are also greatly appreciated.
Starting in September we get to welcome “The Karens” to the lead spot for our Children’s Ministry. Karenjean Crawford and Karen Gentzler have agreed to step up to the plate to help us teach the kids of First Baptist about the love of Jesus and what it means to follow him. We are certain to be blessed by this power-house duo! In fact, “The Karens” are already meeting to discuss plans and curriculum for next year.
How blessed our church is to have such wonderful leaders eager to raise up our young disciples in the knowledge and adoration of Jesus. Please do join me in giving a hearty thank you to Kim & Teresa as well as a warm welcome to Karenjean and Karen.
Blessings all,
Pastor Tim
If you have the desire to serve God through music at our church, whether part time or year around, we invite you to visit one or two of the groups listed below when they are rehearsing to see which one would fit best into your life style. Would it be:
Summer Singers? Baptist Belles Hand Bell Choir?
SiSS Singers? (Sisters in Sacred Song) Sanctuary Choir?
Baptist Beaus Hand Bell Choir? Men’s Gospel Singers?
Have you noticed that these four people have returned for steady participation in our singing groups after recovering from major health issues: Don & Carolyn Miller plus Warren Horsley and Ray Hanson? In addition, these three newer people have become regulars in our choir: Warren Eacret, Jan Isett and Trent Danielson? We are so blessed to have them all with us!
At this point in our church calendar year, our Sanctuary Choir is concluding their spring sacred choral season and the Summer Singers are beginning their choral season. Perhaps you attended the 9:30 a.m. worship service on Father’s Day and heard them sing the stirring song, “I Trust in the Lord.” That will be followed in July with a Christian patriotic song called, “Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord.” Plan to be in church when they sing it because this is a song you won’t want to miss!
During the summer this director will attend the annual choral workshop in Seattle to meet with other church music directors and become acquainted with numerous new compositions suitable for church worship services. This is an inspiring time and I am fortunate to be able to attend. Thank you for all the support you give to me through your encouraging words and loyal participation.
All our musical groups prepare and present their special music with one purpose in mind. We desire to present inspiring sacred musical numbers which will significantly enhance the worship experience of each person who comes to church to worship God.
If this describes how YOU feel about sacred music, COME JOIN US!
“Sing”cerely,
Betty Hanson, Director
From Lynn Crawford, Associate Pastor
This past weekend, First Baptist Church celebrated officially licensing me for ministry. While I wrestled with the implications of what it meant for me personally a year ago (my obligations and responsibilities as I step into a pastoral role as well as if it is Biblical for me to do so as a woman), something I didn’t anticipate it would do is that it caused me to reflect on where I’m going and where I’ve been. I find that I have much to be thankful for and absolutely marvel at how God’s plan for my life has unfolded thus far.
I grew up an only child in a loving, Christian home and have distinct memories of begging to go to church at a young age, loving God in a very deep-seated place in my soul for as long as I can recall. I remember many, many times in my life begging God to use me however He saw fit, and in more recent years have found great peace in knowing that what God has in store is so much better than any future I could possibly contrive.
I took four years of private piano lessons before high school, then once in high school took up percussion, and participated in as many band and choir experiences as my schedule would allow.
At the age of 15, God plopped the music ministry of a very small church I attended into my lap. I protested that I was too young and a girl and it was wrong for me to “lead” people four and five times my age. But as I was the only one in the church with musical experience, they lovingly assured me of their patience and that God had everything under control. So I began leading solo Sunday morning worship and working with their choir, and they began (unbeknownst to me) teaching me how to lead.
Three days before my graduation, I left high school to tour with the Continental Singers (a group that performed choreographed and chorally arranged Christian music in local churches around the world). I met Rhys on my second tour in 2003 and we began a relationship soon after. Through what I can now only describe as divine providence, God brought us to Port Angeles (1,200+ miles away from our Southern California homes) to settle and to start our family.
We began attending Independent Bible Church and I quickly became involved with one of their praise teams where I learned how to play music from chord charts rather than sheet music. Rhys and I also helped to lead the praise team for their middle school ministry and in my time of being aboard, young married woman with no children, I volunteered in the office of their music director where I became familiar with the ins-and-outs of how music ministry happens in a big church.
A few years later, my husband’s fellow co-worker, Chris Cummings, approached him, asking him for help with a year-long project of moving First Baptist Church’s sound board from a small closet out to its current location on the edge of the balcony. We reluctantly accepted to devote 2009 to this task and began attending services here in order to enable Rhys to better help with the project, but still maintained our mid-week commitments at IBC. Over the course of that year, one by one, God slowly released us from our responsibilities at IBC. In December, with the project nearly done, we found ourselves at a crossroads: Go back to IBC and force our way back into the over-staffed ministries we loved with the people we had come to love or stay at First Baptist and start over where the need was much more dire.
We prayed, searched our hearts, decided to stay, and continued to prayerfully consider how God would use us here in what we considered, at the time, to be a “mission field.” Rhys continued volunteering with sound and after a year of prompting by Wayne Roedell, I finally joined the praise team.
As things began to shift with our service and our worship style, we came in need of a new praise team leader in December of 2010. I found myself once again, stepping into a leadership role with the praise team that I was unable to escape.
As terrified as I was, it was the first time I felt like I was beginning to see God answer my, “Lord, what do You want me to do with my life?” questions and see that He had the answers and had been preparing me, life experience by life experience, all along.
I continued in that role until July of 2016 when I had the joy and blessing of coming on to staff full-time and adding the organization of Small Groups, Serve Team, and various special events to my responsibilities. I was more than a little surprised that God might want to use me for something else besides music (which is where all of my “training” has been).
As I consider all of this and count the number of times when I have felt unprepared and unqualified for the work God has set in front of me, I am amazed to see that each time God has stepped in and been “enough” when I was never enough. Every single time He was faithful to do more than I could ever imagine. And I get the feeling He’s not done yet. With me or with you.
Will you join me in continuing to say, “Lord, whatever it is you want for my life, for our church, I will do it. I hold nothing back.”?
Let’s not settle for anything less than exactly what God has planned for us!
Dear Flock,
Several months ago we embarked on a prayer journey together - fasting and praying that God would bless us with 40 baptisms in the year 2019. This would be the highest number of baptisms in any given year in our church’s history. The vision for the prayer came from my own private prayer time with the Lord.
Since we began that prayer journey together we have celebrated that Christopher Buckla, Michael Roggenbuck, Wendy Reese, Jesse Widder, Jennifer Cummins, Amanda Kendrick and Bella Johnson have all made the decision to follow Jesus.
I am overjoyed that these seven people have made this decision that will shape and give direction for the rest of their lives. It is wonderful and joyous to see!
And even as we celebrate their decision for Christ I encourage you to remain in prayer with me that God would continue to use us to reach out so that others can learn about Jesus as we follow him here. When was the last time you prayed for the ministry and people of our church? I know I am guilty of not always praying as I should. I can be so action driven that I can often find myself having begun a meeting or a project only to suddenly remember that I need to pause so that we can initiate the whole thing with prayer.
Thankfully we have a God who hears our prayers - even when we forget to lead off with them. I hope that this brief letter may serve as a reminder to any within our flock that may have found the busyness of life crowding out the importance of starting and ending your day with kneeling before the Savior of our souls and listening to His direction for our lives, for our families, for our church, and for our world.
James 5 tells us that the prayers of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Won’t you join with me as I continue to pray for the ministries of our church - that we would continue to lead more and more people to that place of decision where they give their hearts and lives to Christ.
Blessings,
Pastor Tim
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Hello all,
Within Children’s Ministry we have moved the kiosk from a parent check-in to Serve Team check-in at the end of the hallway. This provides for greater safety and accountability for the children under our care. In addition to our check-in/check-out process at the kiosk, for those who have children in the nursery, we are asking that before picking them up that the parent or guardian come to the kiosk to check them out. We will then add stickers to the parent labels which indicate they have been checked out. These can then be shown to the Children’s Ministry volunteers in the nursery. By doing so, this not only allows for safety protocol to be implemented but also allows a thorough accounting of the children in our care. If this is new to you, please know we desire to ensure the safety of your children. Thank you for helping us to achieve excellence in this ministry.
A reminder: Please make sure you bring your parent labels back to the kiosk to allow swift check-out.
Our kids were so happy to be involved in the Christmas Eve service, wearing nativity costumes and singing “Away In The Manger.” Overall, this event went very well. Several adult volunteers stepped up to manage the masses. Additionally, in the costuming process our 10-13 year old group, which has been led by Karenjean Crawford and David Hull was very active; helping the smaller kids get dressed. This enabled the quick transition. It was such a blessing to witness their servant hearts as they sought to be a part of, and to provide support for, the Barefoot Kids Ministry. For the help of all, I was, and am very thankful.
Being within the Winter term of our studies the children are learning about Jesus. YAY! It is always such a blessing to see the children’s minds spark questions, seeking to understand God’s word. One of the blessings of the children’s curriculum of Heart Shapers is the interaction within the classes. There is curriculum now in place at the Nursery (0-2), Pre-K (3-5) and Elementary (6-9) year old levels.
As always, within children’s ministry, those who volunteer have a great desire to change hearts for Christ…one lesson at a time. Thank you for your support of this ministry.
In Christ,
Teresa D. Hanson (Children’s Ministry Leader Sub.)
Psalm 68:3 says:
“Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God.”
Dear First Baptist Church Members,
Come, rejoice with me that we have so many people in our congregation who joyfully contribute their talents to our various musical groups.
The people in our musical groups are dedicated to serving God through music. If this appeals to you, please join in with one of the groups listed below:
Men’s Gospel Singers Sanctuary Choir
SiSS Singers ( Sisters in Sacred Song )
Baptist Belles ’n Beaus Hand Bell Choir
All total, we currently have forty plus people involved in our musical groups! Approximately twenty-five people are regularly involved in our singing groups and fifteen in our bell choirs, but we have room for more. In addition, we have others who are able to join in with us at certain times of the year but not year around. We welcome them also for they add much to our on-going efforts. So, if you can be a part-time participant, we would welcome you too if you have the desire to serve God with us through music.
Our groups prepare and present their special music with one purpose in mind. We desire to present musical messages which will significantly enhance the worship experience of each person who comes to church to worship God.
Will you join us?
“Sing”cerely - Betty -
As I contemplate all that has happened in 2018, I find that there is so much to celebrate, rejoice, and give thanks for! While change can often seem slow and so incremental to us, God is so good and faithful to walk us through His plan in His perfect timing!
This year, the Praise Team was able to welcome one new member, Greg Crawford, who has blessed us with his many vocal and instrumental abilities!
Serve Team has seen several exciting changes in 2018. The first was to begin working on adding a security component to our serve team where specific members have been tasked with being aware of and responding to immediate issues of safety in our building.
Serve Team has also folded Coffee & Conversation into its list of responsibilities. In December, a sign-up sheet was posted up on the bulletin board for people who wish to provide snacks in the January-March quarter (the availability of this sign-up sheet was also announced in the worship services). In March we will post a sign-up sheet for April-June. In June there will be a sign-up sheet for the July-September quarter. Finally, in September there will be a sign-up sheet for October-December.
When someone signs up to provide snacks for Coffee & Conversation, they will receive a reminder email the Wednesday before they serve and either a text or a phone call the Friday before they serve with information about who they are serving with.
On weeks where two people are signed up to provide snacks, Coffee and Conversation will run as it always has. On weeks where only one person is signed up for Coffee and Conversation, a serve team member from first service will help them plate their goodies (along with some goodies provided by the church) at approximately 8:50 a.m. and a second service serve team member will help them move the goodies out to the table and then clean up afterwards. On weeks where no one has signed up for Coffee and Conversation, the serve team will handle the whole process.
We are also excited to welcome Nina Nenahlo as our new head of the Serve Team Department! While I will still ultimately be responsible for the overall direction of the team, Nina will handle the day-to-day training and implementation of the team! I am looking forward to working closely with her and to see how God will bless and grow this ministry under her guidance!
Finally, our Serve Team has taken some hits this year in the number of adults who have had to step away from this ministry. If you love serving others and find joy in the behind-the-scenes details of making an empty building into a place that is warm and welcoming and love the idea of having the opportunity to welcome searching people into our building to experience God’s love, would you prayerfully consider how God might be calling you to participate in this vital ministry?
I continue to be blown away by our Small Groups program! It is overwhelming to watch first-hand the personal growth that God is cultivating in individuals within the groups, hear about answers to prayer, and hear stories of how people were blessed by the content and other people in the groups over and over and over again! Praise God!!
In the spring of 2018, First Baptist had 66 people in five groups. In the summer we had 18 people in two groups. In the fall, we had 61 people in six groups and were able to introduce a new group especially for our 10-13 year old kids who are too old for Children’s Church but not quite old enough for our Youth Group program.
Some of the projects that the groups participated in were church work parties and clean-ups, visiting shut-ins, decorating the church, providing a meal for TAFY, hosting a “Mommy and Me Pampering and Tea” event for young, at risk mothers in our community, hosting a cleaning supply drive for DSHS, hosting a Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner, picking up trash at a local park, gathering together to turn old plastic shopping bags into sleeping mats for homeless people, assisting to make hanging flower baskets for a TAFY fundraiser, hosting a children’s book drive for First Steps, hosting a suitcase drive for DSHS, and several others.
Pie with the Pastor continues to be a successful and exciting event where new guests can learn more about our church and find out how to get plugged in at First Baptist. We hosted 23 new people over three events this past year!
Volunteer Summit has been an excellent tool for training and encouraging our volunteers, communicating vision and changes in ministry, on-ramping new volunteers, and giving our volunteers the opportunity to communicate problems. Often, accomplishing these things on Sunday mornings alone are just not possible. Having teams get together two to three times a year for these special events goes a long way to maintain momentum, quality, and continuity across our ministries, as well as stimulate growth! Thank you so much to those who are giving these trainings priority in your schedules! You are truly the back-bone of your ministries!
It was a bit of a light year out at Camp David Jr this past Memorial Day weekend with only 53 campers for our annual Family Camp event. Despite being small, it was still an intimate and wonderful time with a core group of campers! Our speaker was our very own Hillary Gentile who taught on prayer.
On August 19th, our church hosted our Celebrate Life Sunday event (with 130 people in attendance). Following our worship service we had a free lunch (put on by Outreach), games for children, a bounce house, and a dunk tank. Habitat for Humanity, an organization that comes along underprivileged members of our community and helps make home ownership more accessible, came and shared about all their organization is doing. We were able to donate $2,000 to Habitat through this event!
One of the things that I very much appreciate about serving in our congregation is the high priority placed on training. This year I was able to attend the Northwest Ministry Conference with Tim Hughes, Hillary Gentile, Kim Ciaciuch, and David in March of 2018, a Fresh Expressions Pastor’s Conference with Tim and a fellow Mission Northwest pastor in March 2018, and finally the Leadership Tune-up at Rosspoint with Tim, Macy Marquez, David, Hillary Gentile, and Nina Nenahlo in September of 2018. Fresh ideas, inspiration, motivation, and time to dream with other leaders about where God may be leading us as a church is so key to keeping the church moving forward and preventing burn out. Thank you for not only offering these opportunities to us as leaders, but encouraging them!
Something that has been crucial to my own personal journey in 2018 has been realizing a distinct call to ministry within my role at First Baptist and really wrestling with the theology on women in leadership. From this I have more fully begun to embrace and step into the role of an associate pastor over the course of the year. Thank you so much to those who have been walking in prayer with me in this, to those who have raised questions and asked for clarification over the theology, as well as to those who have been encouraging, offered feedback, and spurred growth within me. You all have blessed my spirit beyond what you can imagine!
I also cannot thank the volunteers across all the teams that I work with enough! Your passion and dedication to your Lord, your church, and your ministry are such a blessing! Thank you for participating in the body of Christ, for being the hands, feet, eyes, shoulders, etc that God has called you to be! I pray that “...the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better”! (Colossians 1:10)
May God bless you and build you up in His Spirit!
Lynn Crawford
The final sermon series before the beginning of the 2018 advent season was a study through the troubling book, 1st Peter. I say it is a troubling book because it is largely about trouble, specifically the trouble we Christians should expect to face as we live faithful lives within a faithless world. While our clear preference would be to live free of pain and sorrow, this isn’t the promise we are given in scripture. Rather, Jesus clearly teaches that a life of faith is one which is willing to pick up our cross and to follow him (Luke 9:23). After all, says Jesus, the world hates him and so too will it hate us (John 15:18-25).
The observant reader may have noticed that I state that it was 1st Peter which was the troubling book, but both the references above are from the Gospels, and not 1st Peter. And you, oh reader, are correct. This is because Peter remains true to the teachings of Jesus in his letter. Within our lives difficulties will arise. And as in our own lives individually, so too within the church. Challenges, struggles, heartache, hardship - these ought not surprise us for we have been forewarned. And yet, it seems, we are always surprised.
So then what’s it all for? What’s it all about? Isn’t the Bible supposed to be “Good News”? Where is the “Good” within this News”?
Well, now I will quote from Peter’s letter, for he says:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
(NIV: 1 Peter 2:9)
My friends, we have been chosen out of this world into the promise of the world to come. We’ve been taken from the darkness into his wonderful light; and come what may, we can continue to live within this hope and expectation. And not only have we already been rescued from all that this world may do to us, even as some suffering may be yet to come …, we have also been raised up to a new life with a new purpose. Not only have we been redeemed from the darkness, we have been made royal priests.
Royal because we have been adopted into God’s family.
Priests, because we have be given a great commission. We are to go out into all the world and proclaim the truth of Jesus and his gift of salvation.
It is because we have been faithful to our position as royal priests that we have seen a wonderful revitalization of our congregation over the past many years. In the past 10 years we’ve had more baptisms than the previous 30 years combined! Such outreach and success is only found when we are faithful to the call God has given to his people. This is why we can celebrate that in 2018 we added 18 people as members of our church and nine of those were by baptism.
And yet …
While our trend has clearly been toward growth, evangelism, and new faith, 2018 was also a year of farewells. While we added 18 people by baptism, we have released 27 people from membership. There are a variety of reasons that people have left, including 5 of our faithful saints who have been welcomed into the arms of our Savior.
A good number have left us because they’ve sought out employment in other communities. The number of goodbyes grows even larger when we consider the people who have moved that, though regular attenders, never took the step of joining the church.
2018 is the first time in 13 years that we closed out the year with fewer members than with whom we began.
This loss is magnified by way of the unique demographics of our church, by and large we are missing two generations. The 9:30 service is predominately comprised of people who are part of the Builder Generation. The 11:00 is predominately comprised of people who are part of the Millennial Generation. We are sorely lacking in people who are part of the Boomer Generation and Generation Xers.
Of course the good news in this is that a decade ago we didn’t even have the Millennials, which we now do. And praise the Lord for that growth.
But because we have so few people in the age range of 40 to 65, we are missing much of the unique strengths that demographic would bring to our church. Speaking in generalities, that age range tends to be the years where we have the most free time to volunteer within the church because our kids are either in high school or have left the home. We also have the most freedom to be financially generous as we’ve established ourselves within our professions, but are not yet living on a fixed income. And by our 40’s to 60's we will have enough years under our belt, or perhaps hanging over our belts just a bit, that we bring a bit of extra wisdom and experience to the church.
Of course, as our Builder Generation knows all too well, the whippersnappers among us are gonna blink, and suddenly their 30’s will be behind them; and they’ll be in the midst of their 40’s with their 50th birthday staring them down. And they’ll wonder how they got there so fast.
So long as we keep pressing forward, true to the royal call of our priesthood, this is where we will find ourselves come the annual report for 2028. But, alas, that is still a decade away; and this is the report looking back on 2018 where our membership has declined, and families have moved away.
So, what are we to do? The answer is, we turn to scripture, and we heed the calling of our Lord. We continue to recognize that we are the ROYAL PRIESTHOOD. We take upon ourselves the challenge presented to Esther by her uncle Mordichi. Esther, faced with the challenge of standing for God’s People did not shrink away, but rose to the challenge, heeding the words of her uncle: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (NIV: Esther 4:14).
We too have a royal position as priests within God’s kingdom. We know there will be challenges. We know there will be occasions to rise up and press onward. We know that we must never lose the urgency of reaching the lost with the hope of the Gospel; and we must be willing to surrender our desires to him, to do whatever he asks, and to give whatever he demands, that more would come to know him.
When our Children’s Ministry struggles for lack of teachers; when our volunteer positions remain vacant; when our budget struggles to meet expenses; when our pews appear more empty than full on a Sunday morning this is our opportunity to rise up to our royal position, and to remember our call to “Lead People in an Ever Changing Culture to the Hope of Jesus.”
For to such a time as this, you have been appointed to the royal priesthood of God. Let us go forth, and declare Jesus to a world lost in sin and darkness; and which is in desperate need of being brought into the light.
- Pastor Tim
