“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
One of the life lessons I feel like God is teaching me is to keep my eyes, my focus, on Him through all of these seasons. In the easy times, we forget how much we desperately need our Savior and the cost to call Him Father. In the hard times, we drown in worry and focus on the waves around us instead of maintaininga trusting gaze, connected with the eyes that love us more deeply than we can ever imagine, that know us better than we know ourselves, and that gave up everything to allow us to call Him ‘Friend’.
I find myself now in a very hectic season, where I am constantly reminding myself to "let go and let God" and to be thankful for the many, many blessings in our lives. And despite the busyness, there have been blessings in abundance and inexplicable peace!
One recent blessing was the opportunity our Praise Team had to provide the music for the 2014 Easter Sunrise Service at Civic Field! (See photo, below) It is always an incredible joy to worship with members from many local congregations as well as to represent First Baptist Church to our community! The weather was perfect, and God was certainly glorified that morning!
Photography credit to Dave Logan
Another huge blessing was our Spring Renew event in March! With around 50 people in attendance, we shared in worship through song, art (in a drawing by Donna McDaniel), and through testimonies (shared by Grace Kauffman and Sara Soha). Afterwards, the Outreach committee put on an ice cream-fellowship fundraiser for the Praise Team. Thank you so much to all who participated!
We are anticipating great blessings as we look forward to our Summer Renew where we, as a church, will reach out to our community through a “diapers and wipes” benefit concert for My Choices Crisis Pregnancy Center, on August 2nd, down at the pier from 5-8pm! In addition to having several bands performing Christian music in this public venue, we are also hoping to offer games (much like the ones set up for our church's Harvest Fest), bubbles, and sidewalk chalk as activities for children. My Choices will have an information booth, and we anticipate having free hotdogs to hand out to those who attend the event!!
Please join us as we lift up this event in prayer to God, asking that He would bless it, that it would be successful at reaching people for Christ and bringing in donations for My Choices, and that He would protect it from the hands of our enemy. Also, ask how God would have you participate with us in showing Christ’s love to our community! Please continue with us also in prayer for our church and it's leaders. It is an exciting time of growth for us, and Christ's success in our lives and church body makes us a target for Satan! Thank you so much! We covet your prayers on our behalf! You truly are warriors!
Affectionately,
Lynn Crawford
This article originally appeared in the May 2014 edition of the FBC newsletter. Click here to view the rest of this newsletter.