Be sure to sign up for these upcoming childcare options:
To sign up, go to our website here: http://firstbaptistsylva.com/giving
For more information, contact Kelly Brown at fbcsylvachildcare@gmail.com or 828-339-0130.
Ann Melton was celebrated this past Sunday for her many contributions with our church partner, Circles of Hope. We are grateful for Ann’s tireless efforts in our community to do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.
Mentoring inmates through art-making is one of the ways I live out the presence of Christ in community. I assist programs in both the men's and women’s prisons. The women are inspirational and a delight to work with. Simply delivering new art supplies for them to use is met with delight and gratefulness.
Even though life is not easy, they try to make the best of their time and are so thankful. I truly love mentoring them. As Jesus said, "When I was in prison you visited me...when you did it to the least of these you did it to me."
We create beloved community in many ways. For me this is the heart of what it means to be the presence of Christ: presence, time, and energy given out of love. A beloved community in an unexpected place.
At the request of the warden I initiated a beautification effort in the prison through creating large wall murals. The first was completed in early October. Four of the Narwastu Art Community students who are from Serbia joined in and taught the women how to properly create a large-scale mural. Currently the women are painting murals in the visit area.
- Tina Bailey, field personnel in Bali, Indonesia
Dear Congregation,
Thank you so much for your prayers and cards to Norman. By God’s grace and mercy he is doing much better. He’s almost back to his old self. We both still covet your prayers always.
In His service,
Lorie and Norman Meservey
1st Explorers could use your support in donating the following supplies:
Cotton balls
Glue: glue sticks, glue bottles, hot glue sticks and/or gallon containers.
Varied colored construction paper.
Poster board and/or paper.
Canvases of all sizes.
Varied colored yarn.
Tape: colored, masking, craft, duck and/or scotch.
Writing utensils: pencils, washable markers, crayons, and/or expo markers.
Also, see our Amazon wishlist here to order things directly from Amazon for us: http://firstbaptistsylva.com/giving/
All items can be left outside of Kelly’s office in the 1st Explorers Area. If you have any questions, contact Kelly, our 1st Explorers Ministry Director.
Your church needs upkeep just like your home…Time for some major repairs!
We have a few large-scale projects that can no longer be put off:
Our church needs a new roof.
A new wall needs to be built in front side of the church.
Furnace needs to be repaired.
Windows need to be replaced.
Several small projects need attention.
Truth is, we have no money for the above projects. We do have an emergency fund for needs such as a furnace or plumbing problem which we need to keep in place. We will seek the most cost effective and physical pleasing options for these projects.
That is why we are launching the Raise the Roof Campaign to raise funds for these projects. We chose this name because:
1. Much of the money raised will be for a new roof and
2. During this initiative we want to not only raise money, but to raise hearts to God, our hands to help, raise hope for the future, and raise eyebrows as we come together to accomplish these tasks!
Because you are an important part of our family, we thought you would like to know what we are planning for the next six months. We would like to invite you to be a part of this process.
Now, we ask you to prayerfully consider how you can help with Raise the Roof campaign.
Your generous donation to the project will eliminate the number of fundraising projects we have to initiate. We would appreciate a monetary donation toward this goal. Please write checks to First Baptist Church and put “Raise the Roof” in the memo line. They can be placed in the offering plate or left in the church office.
Sincerely,
Jennie Hunter, Co-Chair
Linda Stewart, Co-Chair
It seems so odd and unbelievable that we are quick to dismiss what happens when Jesus calls Matthew to follow him. When we read this story from the New Testament, we regard it with the same suspicion and skepticism that we reserve for the other outrageous and supernatural miracle stories in the Bible:
“A big fish swallowed Jonah?”
“Moses split the Red Sea?”
“Jesus turned water into wine?”
“Matthew left everything to follow Jesus?”
“Whatever,” we mutter. None of those things are even remotely believable.
Jesus adds to our incredulity here. Just before the story where he calls Matthew to follow him, Jesus gives us several examples of individuals who do not wish to drop what they’re doing to follow Jesus. Each person is willing to follow Jesus, but just not at that specific moment.
One particular individual will gladly follow Jesus but wishes first to bury his father. Sounds reasonable to me, but Jesus thinks not. In fact, he’s curt: “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
So yes, it seems unrealistic that Matthew would leave his place of employment that moment to follow Jesus. But that’s precisely what he did. Many of us who read this passage are grateful that this moment happened in ‘Bible Times’ so that we don’t have to face it today. Think about it: If we were approached by Jesus in the middle of our work day, or while on the way to tackle an important matter, would we drop everything to follow Jesus?
Some of us will remember that Matthew was a tax collector and that he was manning a booth on the road outside of Galilee. Local merchants and fishermen would saunter by him, trying to avoid eye contact with the Roman official. But in the end, with the force of the empire behind them, the tax collector would wind up with a portion of the sojourners’ money or goods. Tax collectors were universally despised. They were stooges to Rome and took people’s money. It worked this way: the tax collector would first pay a year’s worth of tribute up front and at the beginning of the year out of their own wealth, and would then work to collect it back by taxing the locals in their district the following year. If they wanted to break even on their ‘investment,’ they would work hard by securing money from the people who trafficked by their booth. If they wanted to pull a profit, they would simply ask more from these same people. Clearly, many tax collectors wanted to make quite the profit.
And just like that you can see why tax collectors were despised.
When Jesus asks Matthew to follow him, the tax collector freely surrenders his investment and chooses to lose money rather than extort it from his fellow Jews. Jesus doesn’t demand that Matthew do this in order for him to become a follower. Jesus simply extends Matthew grace and mercy by inviting him to be a part of his team. In turn, Matthew chooses to extend grace and mercy to those he had been cheating.
Zacchaeus, another tax collector from Luke’s Gospel, responds much the same way. Jesus announces to the diminutive tax official that he will be staying at his house that same day. This great honor causes the local onlookers to grumble. How could Jesus extend such an honor to one such as Zacchaeus?
Right then and there, the tax collector pipes up and says: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
This, Jesus announces, is how salvation comes to Zacchaeus’s house!
Jesus is merciful to individuals who are not deserving of it. And in response, the person who benefits from his mercy chooses to extend mercy to others. Zacchaeus even quadruples the amount of reparations due his ‘customers.’ Mercy begets mercy.
This is why Matthew, and Jesus’s other followers and disciples, could just up and leave everything to follow Jesus. Their truest, most authentic response to Jesus’s invitation to follow him was to stop defrauding others and to become his disciples. Almost immediately, both Matthew and Zacchaeus began to make things right. Mercy is contagious that way. When we experience it firsthand, we are far more likely to share it with others. Because when we experience mercy, it feels like a breakthrough. It feels like a second chance. It feels like salvation.
Who would have thunk it? Mercy feels downright miraculous.
There will be a Cuba meeting this coming Sunday right after church in the gathering room. At this meeting, we plan to select a new date for going to Cuba and complete the VISA applications. Please, bring your passport.
To My Church,
I want to thank everyone in the church for your kindness to my family while Conrad was in Skyland Care Center. Thank you to those who brought him the good chocolate candy which he sure enjoyed so much. The many cards and visits were lovely and he was glad to see each of you. Thank you to those who brought food to the house. Thank you to those who provided the good lunch after the funeral which our families enjoyed. Thank you to those who set up the fellowship hall. The prayers you said for us helped us face our everyday life so much better.
God bless each member of our church. You are so loving and kind. We will always remember how loving and kind you were to us.
Juanita, Karen, and Reagan