Deacon Ordination and Pastor Appreciation

Tonight the family of First Baptist Church of Clewiston gathered together to ordain Josh Sherrell as a Deacon and show our appreciation to our Pastor, Todd Buck.

Valentines Banquet

Tonight our church held their Valentine's Banquet. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the love of God and our love for each other.

Babies Galore & Women's Ministry

We have hosted 3 baby showers in the last month at church. Our nursery will be overflowing with babies by January. Two of the three (Emsley Kate and Jesuah Emmanuel) have entered this world. We are anxiously awaiting the birth of Clayton in December. These babies are truly a gift from God.




Tonight we held our second women's ministry outreach. This month we prepared fruit baskets (with other goodies) for our members that are either in the nursing home or are not able to attend church due to their health. We prepared 11 baskets and they will delivered by the Tuesday morning prayer group next week. After we prepared the baskets several of the ladies went out to dinner. It was so much fun laughing with these ladies and getting to know them better.

City Fall Festival Booth

Our church participated in the City Fall Festival this year. Our booth was so cute thanks to Bereance! The kids loved the pumpkin roll race and the yummy desserts.

Baking for the City Fall Festival

Ordination Service

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Acts 13:2-3

On Sunday night our church ordained our associate pastor, Joshua Vincent. It was a sweet time in the life of our church and in Joshua's life.

Joshua with the ordained men

Joshua with the deacon chairman and our Senior Pastor

Joshua and Todd

Not Done Yet

Last night was our first monthly missions opportunity at church. The first Wednesday night of each month the men and women will meet separately (Brotherhood and Women on Missions) to learn about International and North American missions, ways we can be involved in missions in Florida, and a time of prayer for missionaries.

A member of our church invited a very dear friend of hers to come speak at our first meeting. Dot Elliott had served for 20 years as a missionary in Japan. She shared how God worked in her life and others while she served there. Dot is currently retired and currently living in a retirement center in Tampa. At 84 years old she is still serving. She is currently coordinating a Bible study at the retirement center each week (finding speakers, worship leaders, etc) for those living there and anyone else that wants to attend.

It was an encouragement to hear her speak about the work that she has done and is still doing for the Kingdom. The most encouraging was to hear her say that she is still doing the Lord's work and doesn't plan on stopping until God is ready for her to stop.

The Lord's Prayer - The Message Version

Heard the Lords Prayer read today at the Hearts Called to Prayer Conference hosted at our church . I've never heard this particular translation.

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Go Do Some Good

As Beth concluded the Simulcast on Saturday she had each of us stand and find a woman next to us, take their hands, look them in the eye and repeat these words of commissioning:
My Dear Sister, God has not overlooked you.He has not ignored you He hears every petition and intimately knows the heart beneath it. Give Him full access to all your longings pray every single day to become a person who delights in Him. When it seems to disappear remember to check your JAW! Are you jealous? Are you angry? Are you worried? Roll it all on Jesus; He's strong enough to carry it, big enough to handle it.
Trust God with all your heart. Now leave this place and go into the world and do some GOOD.

Treasures Unfolded

Our weekend at the Living Proof Simulcast was awesome! God has given Beth Moore a wonderful gift and she is not sitting on it but is sharing it with others and in this day and time that is awesome. Below are some of the treasures found in the Word that Beth shared with us.

I was created to delight in a God who delights in me.

God delights to show me mercy (Micah 7)

Nothing dictates our lives like our desires - People do what people want to do. A legitimate heart desire is a sustained longing that is unaffected by mood or surroundings.

Beneath the desires of our heart is the heart of our desires - keep praying! What is under the layer of that desire. Is destiny or God's glory at stake?

Delighting in God adapts our desires into inevitability - when we delight in God there is a wonder. Give me a heart that delights in you.

Ask God to give you specifics to work on in your life - wanting to be a woman of God is too general - move to a more focused desire (deal with grief, addiction, tongue).

Nothing external can steal our right to delight. If we don't delight it's not external, it's internal. We can't blame people or circumstances if we don't delight in Him.

Every man desires unfailing love - Proverbs 19:22

What's taking a bite out of my personal delight? Look to the JAW
J- jealousy (desire tinged with envy -John Piper).Who am I jealous of?
A- anger - refrain from it - what am I mad about? Anger is constricting - delight is freeing. Anger has a degree of grief. There is always a degree of sadness in madness.
W - worry - to eat or gnaw into . . . to affect something by biting or gnawing it. Worrying never changes it. When we worry the thing we worry about ends up looking like a raw hide bone that a dog has been gnawing on. God can control it but I have no control.

We want everyone and everything to get fixed so we can be happy.
To make room for delight we have to commit.

Commit - roll your burdens upon Christ. Some of us have no delight because we refuse to commit.

Our behavior betrays our beliefs.

Fill yourself with holy passions.

Way = journey, your road, passage, course of life. Our rear ends are sore from sitting on the fence.

Nothing is passive about patiently waiting for desire to turn into delight.

Be still (v.7) stop, hold your peace, be silent. Sometimes we need to SHUT UP. There is a danger of being doers and not hearers. Learn to listen. Before you pass on a truth, receive it and meditate on it.

Wait = anxious expectations. Chiyal - to twist or to twirl - to bring forth.

Nor is glory piled upon glory good for you (Proverbs 25:27 - The Message). Self glory is not good for us. The biggest offense we can commit is arrogance. God will go to great lengths to protect our humility. Humility brings intimacy with Christ.

Til faith becomes sight trust in God and do good. Faith will become sight. Speak faith to each other.

Trust him and do good. If my objective is to be right and proven right this is not the right attitude.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

Don't sit back waiting to be proved right, get out and do some good.

Dwell in the Land - I have an inheritance. Until I receive it dwell in the land where God has placed me.

Safe pastures: feed on his faithfulness

v. 13 - the Lord sees the evil and he will deal with it.

The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked

The first Beth Moore study I did was over 10 years ago. It was through this particular study, A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place that God created in my heart a longing to dig deep in His Word. I also developed a love for Beth’s style of teaching, her dynamic personality and her heart for women. Ten years later I have gone through many more studies (not all of them by Beth) and God continues to give me a desire and hunger for the truths, peace, and wonders that are found in the Bible.

This weekend a group of ladies and me will be attending a simulcast that Beth is doing! I am so anxious to hear her unfold the treasures found in Psalm 37. There is no doubt that God knew I needed to hear and apply these scriptures to my life.

As I have prepared my heart this week for this weekend, God has also been at work preparing others to reiterate the message of Psalm 37. Here’s a list of how God has been at work:

• Prior to finding out the Scripture Beth would be teaching from I had a conversation with a dear sister in Christ this week about how I worry constantly about the way certain individuals continually treat me and others as if we are dirt beneath their feet and it seems like God just turns his eyes from what is happening and they never get what’s coming to them (Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb).
• Our pastor gave me the order of worship for this Sunday and guess what the Scripture reading is . . . Psalm 37:23-25 – The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand.

It has never failed yet when I am going to a Bible study or conference that God uses some other means (individuals, conversations, reading, sermon, etc.) to drive home the point he wants me to grasp.

There is no convincing me that God doesn’t pay attention to the details no matter how big or how small.

Only Trust Him

The last 3 months have been filled with many emotions ranging from sorrow to excitement. In April our Senior Pastor passed away. During my time at the church as a member and an employee I have experienced many things, but I never would have thought I would experience the death of a pastor. Within the body we have experienced pastors leaving for one reason or another, but this was a first (and I pray a last). I have been encouraged to see my Father's guidance and divine providence, grace, mercy and love poured out among His people. Just as God in history led His children, He continues to lead them today.

At times, I confess, I have doubted and stressed over the circumstances we were facing. I have a fear of the unknown. Who would lead us? Would we be united? But God in his infinite wisdom knew from the beginning of time the outcome over the last 3 months. The only thing I really needed to do was to seek the Father and pray that his will, not my own, be done. I will never be able to look into the future and see what lies ahead, but there is one who does.

While I feel like the storm is calming, I know that there will be more storms to come. But how sweet it is to look back and testify to God's sovereignty through it all. Just a few of the ways I've seen God at work within this body:

• protection, comfort and shepherding of Katherine and her boys during this time .
• members loving and caring for one another.
• Joshua (our associate pastor) and his wife (Cari) loving and ministering not only to Katherine and her boys but the church body as well.
• Joshua's godly counsel and leadership to the church body.
• Todd (worship pastor - now senior pastor) loving, leading and serving a church body he hardly knew yet faithfully surrendering to God's call to become the senior pastor of our church.
• Ginger (Todd's wife) as she's prayed and supported this body and her husband from miles away.
  
• Our deacons faithfully serving and supporting the pastors wherever needs arose.
• Our church family uniting in love as we prayerfully sought God's will.
  

The list could go on and on, but it has been marvelously evident that God has a plan for us, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11). We may at times doubt, but all we truly need to do is look around to see that He truly works all things together for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

It's with joy and great excitement that I look forward to see how and where God will lead us in the days to come.

Scenery in Tennessee

She's Back

Angela got back on Friday night from a week in Milligan, TN. She went with the Methodist Youth Group on a mission trip sponsored by Know Sweat. While there they spent the week using their hands and feet to demonstrate God’s love for people in practical ways through service projects. These projects consist of community service, assisting ministries with outreach as well as home repair and maintenance for individuals. She loved every minute of the trip. I'm so glad to see her developing a love for missions.

Our Week

It has been a long but fun week. This week our church has been doing Vacation Bible School and as always it has been fun being around the kids and being a part of this great outreach program. Although the days have been long (at work by 8:30 a.m. - at home by 9:00 p.m.) there is no place I would have rather been. I pray that children were presented the Gospel and that through the efforts of those who taught classes that seeds were planted in their hearts.

Take off the Mask

I am the next to the youngest of five children, by the time my younger brother and I came along our oldest brother and sister were not living at home and if they were it wasn't long before they moved out. I recall a particular Sunday morning where everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It was total chaos and my dad was not a happy man. As we pulled in the parking lot of the church my mom turned to him and said, "You may want to reach up under the seat and get your sack." Dad replied, "What ___________ sack are you talking about, I don't need a sack." To which my mom sarcastically said, "Sure you do, it's the one you keep your religion in."

Over the years I have thought about that incident and frankly I've needed the blunt honesty of my mother on numerous occasions. In Matthew 23:25-28, Jesus was giving the scribes and Pharisees a serious tongue lashing. These scribes and Pharisees were good about putting on a masquerade. Too often, I find myself doing just as they did. Especially when I'm around brothers and sisters in Christ. It is so easy to keep the outside real nice and pretty but just like Jesus could see right through the religious types of his day, He also sees right through my masquerade.

Not only does God see right through us, the world often sees right through us as well. I don’t think that it bothers the world that we sin. I think it bothers the world that we act like we don’t. We are often indifferent or angry throughout the week or even on our way to church or a church function. When our “church friends” aren’t watching, we may be struggling spiritually causing us to fall short. On the other hand, we may be wailing about others, gossiping, mean, just plain sinful without even a care. But as soon as we pull up and exit our vehicle we put on those smiles like the homecoming queen in the parade. On Sunday we are a Saint, on Monday we ain’t. No wonder it’s so hard to teach the word to those who need it most, when we put on a masquerade for the entire world to see.

Why do we put on these masquerades? Obviously it is what Satan wants. The saddest part is we are at the one place where honesty should be encouraged, where our shortcomings ought to be accepted, a place where we can say without fear or judgment, “I am struggling, I hurt, or I need help.” More often than not the opposite happens. For example, consider this conversation that happens every week. These people may be hurting or struggling but you would never know it.

“How are you doing Sue?”

(Good, always well.)

“Good. It’s great to see you.”

Sadly, this is a frequent occurrence and the majority of us have enough on our plates without having to deal or even care about someone else’s problems. So we put on the smile and give the ceremonious reply.

As soon as Sue walks off we breathe a sigh of relief, hoping that she didn’t see the act and thankful that she didn’t dump any of her problems on us. I’m not saying we have to share all our problems with everyone. Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong with being transparent with our brothers and sisters if things aren’t just dandy. All of us struggle. The biggest problem is that the world has convinced us that something is wrong with us if we are hurting or if we are in need. We tell ourselves that we must be doing something wrong spiritually if we are struggling. The fact that God created us with a desire to be together tells me that part of his plan is for us to be helped by other members of His body. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Unfortunately, many of us sit in the pew every week but would never dream of being transparent within the church. We may have tried being transparent at one time, only to be burnt by gossip or harsh judgment. So we decide that it is good for us to be here but it isn’t safe. We’ve heard brothers and sisters (and yes even our pastors) that we view as “strong Christians” look down or criticize a “weaker Christian” that may have had a different viewpoint on things. Romans 14:1-15 explains how these situations should be handled. All too often we judge as if we have no shortcomings or that our way is the only way. While some judging is required we need to avoid harsh criticism and fault-finding (Matthew 7:1-6).

It can be painful being transparent. There is so much more available to us in the body of Christ if we can overcome our fear and drop the act. It can only bless the body if they see the love of Jesus pouring out on those that may be struggling instead of just seeing the same old act. If we really believe that as a body we are to care for another and bear one another’s burdens, we need to drop the act, stop the judgment and pursue being transparent with one another. It’s not an act, so let’s close the curtain on our stained glass masquerade!

Arrangements

Here are the arrangements for Brian's Memorial Service:

Visitation will be Wednesday, April 29th from 4pm-6pm at Akin-Davis Funeral Home.
The funeral service will be Wednesday, April 29th at 7pm at First Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers the family has requested that donations be made for a college fund for Nathan & Luke. Donations can be made to First Baptist Church of Clewiston.

Please Pray

Please pray! Our Senior Pastor, Brian Hamrick, has won the ultimate victory in Christ- the realization of his eternal life and hope. The Lord called Brian home last night. Brian is survived by his wife and two sons, his mother,father, and brother along with his church family.

Sweet Sweet Spirit

I have been meaning to post all week and am just now getting around to it. It's been a good week. One of those weeks where God has shown himself so vividly that there was no mistaking his presence. While I realize that God is present all the time,I have to admit there are times when I take for granted his presence or simply ignore it.

On Thursday of last week our Pastor had emergency surgery for some intestinal problems. Due to complications he was airlifted on Saturday evening to a hospital on the coast. He has been (and still is)a very sick man this week. As of today he is off the ventilator and actually sat in a chair for almost an hour. We are praying that as the days pass he will continue to gain strength and be back with us soon.

It has been a delight to watch our church family pour out their love upon Brian and his family by praying for them, helping out with their two sons, etc. The members of First Baptist Clewiston are such a loving, gracious, and caring body. We had a prayer vigil last night for him and their family so that our body could come together for the specific purpose of lifting him up before the throne. Other churches and individuals in our community joined us. I can’t tell you what a blessing it was to be with other brothers and sisters in Christ interceding for our pastor. What a sweet time of prayer. We are commanded in His Word to pray for one another and to bear one another burdens. Our community and church have done just that this past week. If I haven't been answering emails, I'm answering the phone for updates on him. I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God!

Continue to pray for Brian, his family and our church. May God receive all the Glory as He shows his majesty and power among these people.

Thoughts on WOF

The Women of Faith Conference was wonderful! It was encouraging to hear women of the faith share their testimonies throughout the weekend in ways that encouraged other women. Some of the speakers would have me in tears, while others made me laugh. It was amazing to be seated in an arena with thousands of other women (from all walks of life) and all be rejoicing because we realize how blessed we are that God's infinite grace has been poured out into our lives.

As I've reflected on this weekend I've thought about the way I sometimes look at other Christian women and think, "they have it all together" not realizing that they struggle at times just as I do. One of the speakers made the statement that we are more alike than we are different. I realized that this weekend. There are none of us on this side of glory that "have it all together" and guess what, We won't until we stand in the presence of God. I'm not alone in pursuing the goal God has set before me and I will attain it just like Patsy Clairmont, Lucy Swindoll, Jan Silvious and the rest of the speakers. . . by God's infinite grace!

Anita Renfroe was the only speaker that didn't bring tears to my eyes (okay, so one time) when she was on stage. She is a comedian, musician, speaker, and author. She is definitely one that comes out and says what we are all thinking. You gotta love a women that can do this. . .



and when asked by Dad's where their song is comes up with this. . .