Community, Compassion, Service
Love Shelby By Stan Anthony, Mayor of Shelby Philippians 2: 1-11 As I was preparing to write today’s devotional, this passage of scripture from the second chapter of Philippians truly spoke to me because of how succinctly these words define our lives as Christians. If there is one passage of scripture that provides the answers of how we are to live, this may well be it! The values we all cherish are there… love, obedience, […]
“All You Need is Love” — Eph. 3:14-19 By Dr. Jim McConnell In 1967 the Beatles released their “Magical Mystery Tour” album. One of the songs on that album was “All You Need is Love.” Folks of my generation know this song well; the refrain, which is the song’s title, is repeated over and over (and over). There is a line in the song, though, that at least to me was until recently not as […]
A different kind of love by Katie Graves I hate to brag but I’m pretty good at loving others! Especially those I love. And with those I feel deserve it. And especially those that have loved me well. And those who deserve it. And those whom I feel have been treated unjustly and been dealt a raw hand in life. And especially those I feel deserve it. (Did I mention that?) I’m not proud of […]
…..Potatoes! And, white potatoes too! Regardless of the type and the time of year they are harvested, the ministry of the Cleveland County Potato Project has been a sweeeeet blessing to the people of our community. Co-founded by Doug Sharp, Bill Horn and the Holy Spirit, the Cleveland County Potato Project came into being in order to help feed needy people in Cleveland County. During its first year – 2010 – 30,000 pounds were harvested […]
25 May 18 After Sunday’s vote, what happens next? This past Sunday, at a Called Church Conference, the members of First Baptist Church voted by an 88% margin to press ahead with the future staffing proposal recommended by the Personnel Committee, the Future Story Steering Committee and the Board of Deacons. That being so, this blog post is a brief description of what happens next, but before we get there, please embrace the call to […]
By Tony Tench Years ago when Janet and I were in college, we were worshiping at Central Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee. We were thankful for the congregation and our Sunday School class and we were interested to serve in some way. This was the first time either of us had been active in a church other than the one in which we grew up. There, in Bristol, we knew everybody and what the […]
By Tony Tench April 2018 First, please plan to come for a Town Hall Conversation to address your questions on Sunday, April 22 at 6:00 PM in the Gym. Now, let me say, thank you, FBC Church Family, for your prayers as you have heard me describe a proposal for our ministerial staffing. This proposal has been discussed and refined and prayed over by the Job Search Super Committee of the Personnel Committee, the Future Story […]
By Carol Ann Hoard Tuesday, thirteen members of our FBC Youth Group and I, along with our Student Ministry intern, Holly Strother, set out for a Mission/Service Day. We planned to cut flowers from the community garden, bake some cookies, make greeting cards, and take them to five people. We divided our preparation time into three groups: flower cutting and arranging, cookie baking, and card making. The flower group had many, many flowers and only […]
By Tina B. Still Tonight our Sunday school class volunteered to serve dinner at the men’s homeless shelter in Shelby. This simple experience is a humbling and especially rewarding mission. Over the past five weeks, author, Max Lucado has led our class through the first five verses of the 23rd Psalm. How appropriate that our lesson today focused on Psalm 23:5—“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” We discussed at length what […]
