This past week at First Explorers summer camp, we got to go on so many fun adventures! We went to Green Energy Park and watched people create beautiful things out of metal and glass. We drove to the movies in Cherokee. We walked to the library several times for fun events in the children’s section. We splashed around in the public pool. We traveled to Darnell Farms. We played in several parks. Overall, it was a fun-packed week at First Explorers summer camp!
Mission Moment 6.17.26
Anna Beth Cross
Associate Minister for Students and Digital Discipleship, Greystone Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC
A Blessing to Do Nothing
Blessed are you
when you reach a moment
after a chaotic season
or a busy week
and find just a sliver of time
to do nothing.
Instead of looking for a chore to check off or a task to complete,
Pause. Breathe. Rest.
Instead of searching to fill half an hour of your day,
Pause. Breathe. Rest.
Instead of turning on the news and being inundated with noise,
Pause. Breathe. Rest.
Instead of feeling the urge to keep doing, keep working, keep striving,
Pause. Breathe. Rest.
Our world wants us to keep going until we can’t,
to pour ourselves out until we are empty.
Our jobs and lives require so much of us,
our weeks and days are never ending.
But when a moment of pause sneaks up on you,
Take it.
Breathe deeply.
Close your eyes.
It’s okay to do nothing.
It’s okay to take a moment for yourself,
To breathe and be filled,
To rest and find peace.
You need it;
your body, soul, mind and spirit need it.
Blessed are you when you do nothing,
even if for just a few minutes.
I am going to be honest, I am the last person who would take this blessing to heart. I live by my calendar, to-do lists and outlined plans. In fact, I enjoy all these things. I am always thinking months in advance and love checking off things on my many checklists. My family would probably laugh at the fact that I chose to write this blessing because I am not one to stop and do nothing. I always feel the need to do something.
But this year I am learning the importance of rest and renewal. Colleagues and friends have challenged me to find moments to pause in my own life. Our congregation has even engaged in a season of rest during a time of transition and transformation. The idea of rest or sabbath is countercultural. Our society tells us to do the opposite, to focus on work, success, accomplishment and doing. Either we fill our schedules full, or they are filled to the brim for us.
As we read in Genesis 1, God created and then God rested. We too were created and called to rest and experience sabbath. Pausing during our chaotic day allows us a moment to be filled with God’s presence and allows our bodies and minds to be renewed. Moments of pause may surprise us; they aren’t often scheduled, and sometimes they randomly show up after a few busy hours. Rather than going to the next task or seeking out something that can or should be done, we can choose to do nothing. The idea of doing nothing can make us fearful or even guilty, feeling that we should be doing something. But doing nothing is restful, and we need to rest and be filled, because those moments are few and far between. God is still present in those moments of nothing, so give yourself permission to do nothing for a moment today.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
Mission Moment 6.10.26
Brooke
Field Personnel in Waco, Texas
“He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. He will rejoice over you with singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17
My mom is a singer. She’s been a music minister since the 1990s, a time when only a handful of women served as Baptist music ministers in Texas. Our home was always filled with singing, and maybe that’s why I love this verse so much. I love my mom’s singing, and I love what it represents. My mom worships our Lord through singing.
To rejoice is to feel or show great joy and delight. I cherish the image of God delighting in me through singing. What will that be like, one day, when God Himself sings over me? I know the joy I see on my mom’s face when she sings. How much more joy will there be when the Lord sings over me?
“He will quiet you with His love.”
My life is anything but quiet right now. With two teenagers in the house, there’s rarely a dull moment. But I crave quiet. I crave silence. I long for stillness when the weight of the day starts piling up. God can give me that peace. He can give you that peace. He can calm and quiet us with His love, if we let Him. I need that reminder. I need to let God quiet my heart with His love.
To be quieted by God’s love means to rest in His presence, comfort and peace, even in the middle of chaos. It reminds me of a mother cradling her newborn, gently soothing him as he cries. Imagine the love on that mother’s face as she quiets her child. How much greater is the love of our Heavenly Father as He quiets us?
As we move through our days, let’s remember this beautiful truth: God rejoices over us, and He quiets us with His love.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
First Explorers Summer Camp Recap 6.10.26
We had a blast to start off the first week of First Explorers summer camp at FBC Sylva! We played at the parks, traveled to the library, watched movies, 4H and Cooperative Extension taught us about plants, we made fun crafts, made new friends, saw old friends, ate good food, and learned about all sorts of cool things! It was a fantastic start to kick off summer camp here at First Explorers FBC Sylva!
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
Mission Moment 6.3.26
Matt Norman
Field Personnel in Barcelona, Spain
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. – Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)
A Blessing for Everyday Life
inspired by Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
May you wake each morning
not with haste,
but with holy attention…
to the breath in your lungs,
the light stretching across your walls,
the soft ache or quiet joy that reminds you
that you are alive, and you are loved.
May your coffee, your routine,
your conversations and calendar
become altars of offering…
not perfect, or polished,
but placed freely before God
who delights in your ordinary.
May you slow down enough
to truly listen
to the rustle of leaves,
or horns from the street,
the tone behind the words,
the still small voice
nudging you toward love.
May your eyes
be trained by grace
to see wonder again:
the sacred stitched
into sidewalks and dishes,
emails and errands,
the Divine hidden in plain sight.
When the world tells you to speed up,
consume more,
dislike,
give up,
fit in and blend,
may you dare to fix your gaze
on the God who beckons you toward
relationship and transformation.
And in your everyday life,
may you hear how God
whispers your name,
with deep gladness.
And may you respond
not later, not someday,
but now,
in the quiet trust
that this life,
just as it is,
is where holiness begins.
Amen.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
Mission Moment 5.27.26
Kim Wyatt
Field Personnel in Raleigh, North Carolina
A Blessing for Emeritus Field Personnel
You have been faithful in both the small and the large responsibilities. We celebrate with you many years of your faithful service! As we consider all the ways that you have shown love, devotion and obedience towards God, we are grateful. For the plethora of ways that you show love for your neighbors due to the welling up of the love for God deep within you, we are forever indebted.
For the tireless joy with which you have served others and the continuation of this service that will follow beyond your tenure with CBF, we are thankful.
As you go, you go with our love and our admiration. You go with our abiding appreciation for the costs of your discipleship to serve among “the least of these” which often took you far from your extended family and your country of birth. Yet always, even on the rough, uncertain days, you continued because of the call of Christ deep within you.
So again, I say, well done good and faithful servants. Your light shines so brightly that you will not be deterred by retirement, but will continue to serve our glorious Lord out of your deep abiding love for God and your neighbor.
Words of blessing and appreciation to our field personnel who retired in June 2025 (and to all those that have retired before these):
Anna Anderson
Chaouki and Maha Boulos
Steve Clark
Mary
Lynn Hutchinson
Jenny Jenkins
Karen Morrow
Mary VanRheenen
Cindy Ruble
Greg Smith
Sue Smith
Marc Wyatt
“I pray that the Lord will bless and protect you, and that he will show you mercy and kindness. May the Lord be good to you and give you peace.” —Numbers 6:24-26.