Telling Our Story – Page 3

This Sunday we finally got back together. At long last we were able to worship in the same place rather than scattered all over the community and beyond. It was something wonderfully new in a season that has gotten pretty stale. Appropriately, then, we started a new teaching series. For the next few weeks as we rediscover what it means to be the church, we are going to immerse ourselves in the story of the very first church to see just what wisdom we can glean from their experiences for our own. In this first part we are reminded of just how big the task before us really is. Fortunately, that’s not the only reminder we get. Read on to find out about the next one.

A Big Task

When the first Frozen movie came out a few years ago, it was an unexpectedly big hit. The mixture of compelling storytelling, classical Disney animation, not one, but two new Disney princesses for young girls to idolize, and truly terrific music (“Reindeers are Better than People” was my personal favorite) turned out a film that became one of the most successful animated films of all time. As a matter of fact, only one animated film has done better than it did in terms of box office receipts: Frozen 2.

Read the rest…

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday! We celebrated our risen Lord together by telling the incredible story of which we can be a part if we will receive Him as our Lord. We celebrated our part in this great story as individuals, but also as a whole community as we finally put together the three key pieces of our identity into one clear and compelling idea: First Baptist is a place where people can connect to grow in Christ and reach out for His kingdom. Keep reading to see how this all unfolded.

Telling Our Story

Three weeks ago, we started a journey together. It was a journey that came out of a conversation about who we are as a church; what our God-given identity is. The idea here is that while each individual person has a unique, God-designed identity, so do whole churches. The church is the body of Christ and we are individually members of it. That means we each have a specific role to play in the body, but one local church does not by itself comprise the whole body of Christ. That means that each individual local church is itself part of the larger body of Christ and thus has a specific role to play as a community in that larger body. Read the rest…