Youth Sunday
This Sunday is Youth Sunday! Please join us at 10:30 AM on Sunday, June 3rd for a worship service led by our fantastic youth group, featuring special music, a drama, and the recognition of our most recent graduates!
Summer Time and the Livin’ Is Easy
Although Memorial Day Weekend typically signals the unofficial start to summer, First Baptist Church got a week’s headstart.
No, I’m not referring to the typical summer-like pattern that evolves in our mountains with foggy mornings and afternoon thunderstorms. I’m referencing our children’s campout and sleepover this past weekend. As our 1st Explorers Ministry Director, Kelly Brown, details in his own reflection, the young men in our Royal Ambassador program went on a campout to the Davidson river while our Girls in Action had a sleepover at the church.
On Saturday morning, I drove across Highway 276 to rendezvous with the boys as they began to strike camp after a wet night in the Pisgah Forest. Yes, the boys and their leaders were a bit damp, but the bacon that Chris Moore was frying had everyone in a festive mood and the boys played whiffle ball beneath the drippy canopy of leaves. There was an unmistakable feeling of accomplishment among them, and I delighted in the sense of community that had sprung up among the men and boys. With the smell of a campfire flooding my nostrils, I couldn’t help but smile as the men drank coffee and the boys acted like boys. After a long and at times torturous winter, we had finally made it to summer.
Summer is a time for Sabbath-taking. It is ripe for new rhythms, late dinners and walks along a lush river valley. Summer is also a unique time for service and ministry as the season provides unique opportunities to assist our friends and neighbors while we tell them the “old, old story” of Jesus and his love. At First Baptist, we will strive to honor both rest and mission.
Here are some highlights of what we have planned for this summer:
-Sylva First Wednesdays concludes for the spring on Wednesday, June 6. Our Wednesday night programming in the fall will begin anew on August 22.
-Our joint Vacation Bible School with other downtown churches will run from June 11-15 in the mornings at Bridge Park. There are countless ways that you can serve the children and our families that week. Join us to help lead the children’s small groups, or to provide water for volunteers, or to visit with parents, or to help set-up tables and tents, or to simply be a part of the joyful chaos that is Vacation Bible School. Truly, the sound of children’s laughter is a balm for a sick and weary soul.
-Speaking of children, our 1st Explorers Ministry will again be offering their robust offering to the community with our Summer Explorers Camp. Although you may not have a child or grandchild participating in this wall-to-wall summer ministry opportunity, your Sunday School class can choose to partner with Kelly and our staff to provide unique opportunities of connection with children and their families this summer. I can think of no better ‘home’ mission opportunity than for a group, ministry, circle or couple to adopt a summer camp group of children who will be on campus with us over 40 hours each week. Think of the relationships that could be built and strengthened!
-As a church family, we’ll gather for fellowship on three Sunday afternoons this summer to relax, play and devour ice cream. Yes, we’ll be headed to the pavilion at Deep Creek in the Great Smokies Mountain National Park on June 24 where we’ll eat and play, and we’ll have our traditional potluck picnic at East LaPorte on August 26. But sandwiched between these two events will be a new gathering where we’ll have supper on the church grounds. On Sunday afternoon, July 15th, we’ll enjoy a hot dog supper followed by a veritable feast of ice cream afterward. It’s been some time since we crowned an ice cream maker champion, so get your recipes primed and ready for our contest after supper that evening.
-Of course, it’s not summer without the crack of a bat. Although our children and youth will be at their respective Passport Mission Camps the week of July 4th, that won’t stop the rest of us from taking in an Asheville Tourists game on the 4th of July at 7 PM. We’ll drive separately but sit together. And after the game, we’ll be invited to head out onto the field to take in their fireworks display. Tickets are $10 each and must be purchased by June 4th in our church office.
-Oh, and there’s much more. Our youth will be meeting together on Mondays from 4-6 PM each week, and there will be church hikes and a host of other mission opportunities to be a part of, as well. We know that your family will be traveling and vacationing this summer, but we also hope you’ll choose to broaden your chumminess with our own church family this summer, also.
Summer is a sweet, sweet gift and we’re not about to waste it. So, look around and see God at work in our beautiful mountain home. Feel the mist from a thundering waterfall. Take in an evening with friends by a fire pit. Barbecue on a rusty grill by a cement picnic table in the national park. Listen to the melody of the songbirds. And above all, be thankful.
It’s summer, and the time is ripe to play, rest and serve.
Spring Sermon Series
WMU Events Coming Up!
Circle, highlight, and underline April 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th. WMU has some exciting activities planned for the church on those days.
Hope you'll be in the MFC on Wednesday, April 4th, at 6:00 p.m., when Siv Ashley shares her inspiring story of faith and God's unrelenting love amidst the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia during her teen years. Now living in the United States, she has a passion for missions both home and abroad. Ms. Ashley will have copies of her book for sale that evening.
On the next day, ladies of the church are invited to Ryan's Steakhouse, at 1:00 p.m., to have lunch with Siv and talk further about her life and ministry. Lunch will be Dutch treat. Please let Dee Grantham know if you plan to come by calling her at 828-507-9016 or emailing her at dgranthamsmhs@yahoo.com.
And, by the way, Siv Ashley is the mother of our own church secretary, Tia Ashley!
On Saturday, April 7th, ladies of the church are invited to a special brunch just for them! The event will be held in the Mission and Fellowship Center beginning at 9:30 a.m. The highlight of the morning will be guest speaker Phyllis Elvington. Phyllis is a Christian wife, mother, daughter, speaker, teacher, writer, and coach. She is a servant who loves the Lord and she has spoken at Sylva FBC before. Her inspiring talk on Saturday morning may be just what we need to recharge and reconnect after a hectic week. Please RSVP to the church office at 586-2095 by Wednesday, April 4th to let us know you are coming.
Sunday, April 8th, will be a special event, too. Phyllis Elvington will bring the message (be sure to bring your Bible. She will ask how many brought them!). Our RAs, GAs, and Acteens will help lead the service along with the women of the church. It is sure to be a good day.
Hope to see you there at any or all of these events!
Holy Week Activities
March 25th - 31st is Holy Week! Here are some activities we will have going on that you can participate in:
Wednesday, March 28: Wednesday Night Activities - We will have our usual Wednesday night activities this week, including dinner, Adult Bible Study, and Children/Youth activities.
Thursday, March 29: Maundy Thursday - Join us at 6:30 PM in our church sanctuary for a special Maundy Thursday service.
Friday, March 30: Stations of the Cross - Our sanctuary will be open all day for you to have an experiential journey with Christ to the cross through stations that will include scripture readings and object lessons.
Sunday, April 1: Easter Sunday - Celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with us at First Baptist Church in Sylva on Easter Sunday morning, April 1st at 10:30 AM. An Easter Egg Hunt for children will take place on our playground immediately following our service. Bring your family to worship and hear the story of Easter with us.
Gardner-Webb University Concert Choir
The Gardner-Webb University Concert Choir is a mixed, auditioned touring choir composed of students from a variety of musical backgrounds and scholastic fields. They perform sacred and secular music from all historical periods in churches, schools, and at University functions. Each year they tour throughout the Carolinas and the southeast, and have performed in New York, D.C., Europe, the Holy Land, Costa Rica, and last year to Ireland. They have been invited to sing at the NC American Choral Directors Association conference in recent years. Dr. Paul J. Etter is their conductor.
Located in Boiling Springs, 50 miles west of Charlotte, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina in Boiling Springs. GWU is home to nearly 4,000 students from 40 states and 15 foreign countries, and includes a total of 5 professional schools, 2 academic schools, and 13 academic departments offering over 80 undergraduate and graduate major fields of study. Founded in 1905, Gardner-Webb University, a private, Christian, Baptist-related university, provides outstanding undergraduate and graduate education that is strongly grounded in the liberal arts while offering opportunities to prepare for various professions. Gardner-Webb is committed to the liberal arts as the best preparation students can have for rewarding, meaningful lives, and provides exceptional educational opportunities within a Christian environment. GWU is proud to have been honored by the John Templeton Foundation as a “Character-Building College,” the U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll since 2008, and 1 of 24 universities nationwide to receive an “A” from American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
Dr. Paul J. Etter is in his seventeenth year as Director of Choral Activities/Coordinator of Worship Leadership and also the Chair of the Department of Music. A GWU Excellence in Teaching award winner, he teaches conducting classes, worship leadership classes, and conducts the GWU Concert Choir, and each spring the Choral Union performs a major choral/orchestral work. Dr. Etter has been actively involved leading church music for nearly thirty-five years, is in demand to lead clinics and festivals in area churches and schools, and serves as the treasurer for the NC chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
Pulpit Guest for Sunday, March 4, 2018
After a 13-year career in church music, serving congregations in Alabama, Virginia and Kentucky, the pursuit of a new ministerial calling led Seth Hix and his family to North Carolina, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Seth began as Church Engagement Coordinator for CBFNC in June f 2017. His responsibilities include providing leadership of the Ministerial Transitions Team, Reference and Referral program, and a focus on strengthen relationships with local congregations. Seth and his wife, Genelle, live in Greensboro, NC with their two young children, Caleb and Madilyn.
Choral Worship with Gardner-Webb Concert Choir
On Sunday, March 11, we have a special treat in store for us during the 10:30 worship hour. The Gardner-Webb University Concert Choir will present a "sermon in song." The choir is under the direction of Dr. Paul Etter and accompanied by Timothy Scruggs. Several of our church families will be keeping students in their homes, and we will be serving them a covered dish lunch following the service. The housing is covered, but if you would like to support this effort by bringing food for the lunch, please contact Virginia Burrell, who is coordinating the meal. I know that you will enjoy this special music from one of our NC Baptist universities.
Bob Holquist
