Dear First Family,The Advent season is officially underway!This past Sunday, we began our journey of anticipation and celebration, and I can assure you, after reviewing the worship plans for December, there isn’t a single Sunday you’ll want to miss.Each week of Advent, we’ll reflect on the traditional themes leading us toward Christmas:Hope on December 1st (Luke 1:26-38)Peace on December 8th (Matt...

Dear First Family,Life often brings unexpected setbacks that challenge us and disrupt our plans. However, today, I want to offer a simple but powerful truth: setbacks do not always mean starting over. They are not the end of our journey but rather a part of the path God has carefully designed for us.Consider the Israelites as they fled Egypt under Moses' leadership. In Exodus 14, they faced the se...

Matthew 13:47“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.”One of the consistent elements of our weekly worship services is that I offer a time for public invitation. This is a moment in each service after the Word of God has been read and preached in which people can physically respond to what the Lord is stirring in their lives. Fo...

First Family,It is with great joy and anticipation that we extend a warm welcome to our new Director of Music and Worship Ministry, Chuck Newman. As many of you know, Chuck joins us with a rich background in both music and worship leadership, and we are thrilled to see how God will use his talents and experience to enrich our worship here at First Baptist.His passion for leading worship and his de...

First Family,Serving as a co-leader for a great group of third-grade kids this week at Vacation Bible School has been my joy. Most of my class members do not come from First Baptist families but are our guests, which serves as a great reminder of Vacation Bible School's outreach potential. Your prayers are invaluable to us. Please join me in praying for all of our kids and their families who are i...

First Family,You have heard these sayings before:"Time flies when you're having fun.""Life is short.""Time keeps ticking away.""They grow up so fast."When I was younger, time seemed to pass slowly, and I always looked forward to what was next. But these days, I find myself not asking, “What is next?” but, “Where has the time gone?” In so many ways, I struggle to wrap my heart and mind around the p...

First Family,This coming Sunday is our second Quarterly Business meeting. We have several items to discuss and present. We will hear from both our search teams (Student and Worship), a report from our messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention, and an update from our newly appointed team, which has been stewarding the potential acquisition of the King Street properties. We will gather in the sa...

First Family,I hope that you had the opportunity to meet Peter and Lauren Wimberly this past Sunday when they joined our church family. Peter is coming on staff as our second Director of Student Ministry. He and his wife Lauren have recently relocated from central Texas and quickly joined in last week by attending youth camp. I am confident that Peter will be a great addition to our team, and I lo...

First Family,I'm aware that the recent disfellowship of our church from the SBC has sparked a lot of questions and discussions. To shed light on this matter, I've prepared a list of the most common queries and their respective answers. I believe this will assist us in comprehending and processing this significant decision.Let's start with the question that's likely on many of your minds: why did F...

First Family,Have you ever seen the I Love Lucy episode where she gets a job at a chocolate factory?There is a famous scene in which Lucy is working on the factory line wrapping chocolates. In the beginning she is doing fairly well while seemly enjoying herself. Then the line supervisor calls for the line to speed up. Her face begins to physically change as she is overwhelmed and simply cannot get...