Add this email address to your contacts list on your devices so that our staff and Pastoral Care Team can learn of your prayer requests as quickly as possible. And yes, you may still contact the church office directly at 828-586-2095 to share your prayer concerns, as well.
WNCBF Fall Gathering
Sunday, November 12
Canton First Baptist Church
5:00 p.m. Meal | 6:00 p.m. Worship
We will have our annual Fall Gathering on November 12 at Canton First Baptist Church. Following a fellowship meal, we will worship together as we remember the influence of saints around us and those who have gone on before us. Reverend Doctor Guy Sayles will be our proclaimer, and congregants will have an opportunity to light a candle prior to the worship service in memory of friends and loved ones. Child care will be provided.
Cost is $20 per person (12 and under eat free.) The meal is provided by WNC Baptist Campus Ministries (grilled chicken or pork chop, salad bar, potato bar, bread, and dessert.)
Click here to register now! Or register and pay in person. To register by phone and pay in person, please call 828-667-4541 (M – Th, 9 am – 3 pm).
We will be taking an offering that evening in memory of Rev. Dr. Tommy Bratton, to be given to CareNet Counseling in Marion, NC. If you would like to donate online now to that offering, click here.
We Need Candy for Our Treat Street Event!
We are in need of candy for our Treat Street event on Halloween. Help us prepare for the annual event that reaches our neighbors! Candy can be dropped off in our Loving Kindness Center.
WMU Leadership Team Meeting
After discussion, the Leadership Team voted to meet every other month. The next meeting will be November 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Table room. That will make it easier for Mission Circle members to meet following the Leadership Team meeting.
Bowling and Lunch Youth Event THIS Sunday
ATTENTION First Baptist Church Sylva Youth (6th grade - Seniors)... Please join us this Sunday for an afternoon of BOWLING and PIZZA at the UltraStar Multi-tainment center in Cherokee, NC!!!
Meet us in the back parking area following THIS Sunday's service. We will depart by 12:00 p.m. with plans to return to the Church no later than 3:15pm. Pizza Lunch and Bowling costs will be covered for you - bring spending money for extras i.e. snacks and games and feel encouraged to invite a friend!
In an effort to plan accordingly, please contact Rob Stokely (828.507.2783) if your Youth plans to attend. Please reach out if you have any questions. We very much look forward to connecting with your Youth this Sunday.
Next Men’s Breakfast is Saturday, Nov. 4
Men and boys, guests and friends, join us as we gather for some good food and fellowship at our next Men’s Breakfast on Saturday, November 4.
Hurray for Our Nursery Workers of the Week!
This weekend was a busy one for the nursery/child care. On Saturday night,
Autumn Burnes and Kristi Hill provided care during the choir rehersal.
Thank you for taking time from your weekend to help!
Sunday, Autumn Burnes assisted with nursery during Sunday School. For worship, Heather and Jeremy Ellenburg had a full house in the nursery. They report that they had a lot of fun!
We appreciate all of you!
There is still room on the schedule to serve “the least of these”
on Sunday mornings. It is a blessing to see their smiles and enthusiasm as you spend
time with our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Please contact Cheryl Beck (cabeck@ncsu.edu) if you would like to help.
Clothing Donations Needed
We have a clothes closet for our students in need at Jackson Community School and are currently in need of belts (both male & female), bras/sports bras in larger sizes (L, XL, 2XL). Also, hot weather clothing such as shorts, short sleeve tops, etc. in larger sizes.
I hope we can collect some donations of these items with the help of our congregation. There will be a collection box in the Loving Kindness Room. Thank you for your consideration. –Brooke Drum
Clothing Donations Needed
We have a clothes closet for our students in need at Jackson Community School and are currently in need of belts (both male & female), bras/sports bras in larger sizes (L, XL, 2XL). Also, hot weather clothing such as shorts, short sleeve tops, etc. in larger sizes.
I hope we can collect some donations of these items with the help of our congregation. There will be a collection box in the Loving Kindness Room. Thank you for your consideration. –Brooke Drum
Mission Moment 10.11.23
Carson and Laura Foushee
CBF Field Personnel, Japan
Growing up, I (Laura) do not particularly remember learning Rahab’s story or her example being highlighted as a “hero(ine) of the faith.” The story she is part of is a complex one; she makes her initial appearance in scripture in Joshua 2 as a part of the recounting of Israel’s violent siege of Canaan in Israel’s quest for the promised land. Her own background as a prostitute, though disputed by some modern scholars, may make her seem like a less-than-noble character. Yet for one who is mentioned just twice in the book of Joshua, she is noted three times in the New Testament. She is among three women mentioned in Jesus’ lineage in Matthew 1 and she, along with Ruth, accounts for one of two of Jesus’ non-Israelite ancestors. In James and Hebrews, she is heralded alongside those like Abraham who lived lives of both faith and good works. Hebrews 11:31 summarizes the model of her faith in her act of receiving, or welcoming, the spies in peace.
Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to preach in several Japanese congregations, including delivering one sermon that explores Rahab’s example alongside our call as the church to welcome others in peace. Her feminine and ethnicoutsider perspective challenges us to view hospitality not in terms of etiquette or politeness, but as an act of faith that may change both the one giving and the one receiving hospitality. The hospitality Rahab initiates because of her faith in the Lord God is mutually reciprocated to her by Israel as she and her family are saved during the fall of Jericho and taken to live among the Israelites. As she learns to live in a new culture, Israel is also changed as she becomes a mother in the line that would lead to the Messiah. The risk we take in offering true hospitality is that it may change our lives. The possibility of offering hospitality is that it will become an act of faithful peacemaking.
As a part of our call to cultivate beloved community in Japan, hospitality plays a central role in our day-to-day ministry. Rahab’s example has become a challenge for me and our partner congregation to engage in a similar model of mutual hospitality that brings about peace in this world. In working with our church on how to meet the needs of the internationals in our community so that they may lead full, healthy lives as minorities in a homogeneous society, we must be reminded that these relationships are mutual. We, too, can be recipients of hospitality as we open our hearts to one another. Hospitality is sharing meals together, worshiping together, supporting our congregation together and learning from one another. In this best kind of hospitality, no one leaves unchanged by the relationship, and we have a chance to sow a seed of God’s peace in the world.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.