United Christian Ministries is in need of macaroni and cheese.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
First Explorers Update
This was another fun-packed week at After-School! On Monday, Rebekah from 4H came by and gave us a lesson on Earth’s many biomes. On Tuesday, Kaitlyn did chapel with the kids. On Wednesday, we had RAs, GAs, and Mission Friends. On Thursday, we did a scavenger hunt outside where we looked for all sorts of nature’s wonders. And on Friday, Debbie led the kids in a cool craft. Overall, it was a great week at After-School!
Empty Fruit & Vegetable Cans Needed
Thank you for the great response to the egg cartons request! We have all we need for our project, and now we need some empty fruit and vegetable cans. If you can donate some, please drop them off at the cart inside the back door of the church. Thank you!
Volunteer Needed
After-School needs a volunteer to meet the Fairview bus on Friday, May 15, from 2:50 to 3:20 p.m. We are short-staffed on this day. The volunteer will be able to leave as soon as the church bus returns from picking up the Scotts Creek students.
Community Helpers Week!
First Explorers After-School Ministry is looking for community helpers wants you to share with our students about what your profession is or was before retirement. How do you help and support our community?
Nurses
Doctors
EMTs
Medical field
Firefighters
Police Officers
All community helpers
We need volunteers from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. for the following days:
Thursday, April 30
Friday, May 1
Please text Debbie Hansen at 706-669-9781 to get on the schedule!
Mission Moment 4.29.26
Elket Rodríguez
CBF Global Migration Advocate
In a year filled with noise, upheaval and uncertainty, I’ve found myself drawn back—again and again—to the quiet truth that God’s presence is the deepest blessing I know.
Not the gifts God gives, not the answers to prayer, not even the things I’m most grateful for. Just…God.
I think of the words of the psalmist in Psalm 73. For 16 verses, the writer vents frustration and complains that the wicked flourish, while the faithful struggle. But then everything shifts: “Until I entered the sanctuary of God…” That moment of divine perspective reframes everything. Beyond circumstances, the writer realizes, “Whom have I in heaven but you?”
Psalm 42 also echoes the same longing: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?” The author begins in deep despair but slowly remembers that there is something deeper than bitterness and more enduring than sorrow. The turning point doesn’t come with changed conditions, but with God’s presence. “Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
I’ve had a year full of blessings, no doubt. I have three incredible children—one of whom still runs to me with open arms yelling, “Papá!” when I come home. I have two sons who hunger to learn and explore life, a heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127.3). And I have a wife who, honestly, defies description, a virtuous woman (Proverbs 31:10).
I could write volumes on the blessings in my life. But the real blessing—especially in moments when even those good things fade into the background, when joy is hard to muster, when gratitude feels distant—is this: God is the blessing.
It’s easy to get caught up in everything else—even in the good things—and still lose sight of the giver. But when all else dims, when darkness does not lift, there is One who lifts us, holds us and stays close.
I thank God for nearness, for patience and for faithful companionship. When all other blessings fade, God remains. And that is blessing enough.
A Blessing for the Journey
May you give thanks for all that has been given,
both the gifts you asked for and the ones you didn’t know you needed.
May you notice the holy traces
on the path beneath your feet,
the imprint of a faithful God,
and the footsteps of those who walk beside you.
May you receive the rain of heaven’s kindness,
that falls without condition,
refreshing the just and the unjust alike.
May you rejoice in the sunlight that rises without favoritism,
shining on every corner of your story,
even the ones still under construction.
May you savor the moments
when time slows,
and you become aware:
God is near.
God is here.
God is yours.
And above all,
may you give thanks not only for what God does,
but for who God is.
Amen.
Midweek Meals
TONIGHT, April 29 at 5:30 p.m.
Our midweek meals will continue tonight at 5:30 p.m.
in the MFC. We look forward to seeing you there!
First Explorers Update
This week at After-School, we talked about flowers. On Monday we talked about sunflowers, and our resident artist, Andrew, showed the kids how to draw a sunflower. On Tuesday, Kaitlyn had chapel with us. On Wednesday, we had RAs, GAs, and Mission Friends. On Thursday, Generation Kids did a program with us. And on Friday, Debbie led a craft project where the kids got to design their own flower garden. Overall, it was a fun packed week at First Explorers!
Empty Fruit & Vegetable Cans Needed
Thank you for the great response to the egg cartons request! We have all we need for our project, and now we need some empty fruit and vegetable cans. If you can donate some, please drop them off at the cart inside the back door of the church. Thank you!
Volunteer Needed
After-School needs a volunteer to meet the Fairview bus on Friday, May 15, from 2:50 to 3:20 p.m. We are short-staffed on this day. The volunteer will be able to leave as soon as the church bus returns from picking up the Scotts Creek students.
Community Helpers Week!
First Explorers After-School Ministry is looking for community helpers wants you to share with our students about what your profession is or was before retirement. How do you help and support our community?
Nurses
Doctors
EMTs
Medical field
Firefighters
Police Officers
All community helpers
We need volunteers from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. for the following days:
Monday, April 27
Thursday, April 30
Friday, May 1
Please text Debbie Hansen at 706-669-9781 to get on the schedule!
Mission Moment 4.22.26
David Haun
Senior Pastor, Fredericksburg Baptist Church
Fredericksburg, Virginia
One blessing that resonates deeply with me in this season of life and ministry comes from John O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between Us. In his blessing titled “For a New Beginning,” O’Donohue writes:
“Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”
These words strike a deep chord because they speak powerfully to the moment in which I find myself—a moment of stepping into new leadership as senior pastor of Fredericksburg Baptist Church. Transitioning into this role has felt both exhilarating and daunting. While I grew up in this church community and spent nearly two decades serving in various roles, stepping into senior leadership has been a journey of unexpected transformation.
O’Donohue’s blessing beautifully captures the essence of trusting God amid uncertainty, embracing risk with faith and courageously moving forward even when the path isn’t entirely clear.
The phrase “learn to find ease in risk” particularly resonates with me. It reminds me that leadership is inherently tied to vulnerability. To lead authentically means embracing uncertainty, trusting that God’s spirit is guiding and shaping our community, even in moments that feel uncomfortable or unpredictable. The invitation to “awaken your spirit to adventure” inspires me to see leadership as an ongoing pilgrimage rather than a static role, embracing the unknown with a sense of hope and curiosity rather than fear or anxiety.
Within our Fellowship, as we navigate staff changes, ministry reimaginings and new ways of engaging with our broader community, this blessing has become an anchoring prayer for me. It is a constant reminder that while change can be disorienting, it also holds tremendous potential for growth, renewal and deepened faith.
The call to become “home in a new rhythm” also speaks to our church’s collective journey. As we collectively discern God’s call for our congregation, these words reassure us that while the new rhythms of ministry may initially feel unfamiliar or challenging, we will soon discover a deeper, richer community life that feels genuinely home. O’Donohue’s blessing affirms that our souls already sense this hopeful horizon, even if our minds cannot fully grasp it yet.
Claiming this blessing for myself and our Fellowship, I am encouraged by the tangible presence of God’s grace guiding us through these threshold moments. I see this blessing as personal and communal—a shared prayer that invites each member of our congregations to trust that God is leading us to new spaces of ministry, compassion and communal flourishing.
May we, as a Fellowship, embody the courageous, adventurous spirit this blessing offers, holding nothing back as we faithfully step into the sacred unknown that awaits us.
For a New Beginning
By John O’Donohue in To Bless the Space Between Us
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Midweek Meals
TONIGHT, April 22 at 5:30 p.m.
Our midweek meals will continue tonight at 5:30 p.m.
in the MFC. We look forward to seeing you there!
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of macaroni and cheese.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of macaroni and cheese.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
Mission Moment 4.15.26
Sharon Felton
CBF Congregational Advocacy Officer
A Blessing for the Calling of God’s People
Creator God,
Our world feels upside down and backwards for so many:
Our communities, systems and churches.
We are failing to care for our neighbors.
Our fears and lies are overwhelming our desire and ability to care and love all of Creation.
Our hope feels lost.
Our hope feels lost until we remember: You are our hope.
Not governments, or systems or leaders.
Our fears are overwhelming until we remember:
Love casts out fear, and love is our call to action.
Our communities and systems and churches are failing, until we remember:
God, your love commands us and moves us to do justice, to care for our neighbors, to work for the well-being of all.
Our world feels upside down and backwards, until we realize:
We are supposed to upend the world as we know, it and make it a place of hope for all of Your creation.
We are to love and serve and work for justice for all, to be blessings for each person we meet and those we never have the chance to know.
We are to be Your church, that changes the systems so that they are just and work well for everyone.
God, we have much work to do, but today, we can begin the work of loving all our neighbors and doing justice, so that all will experience the hope of Christ, in this world, in this time.
Amen