Dear FBC family,
As always, I am meditating on God’s Word and thinking deeply about our church family and discovering some things about us that make us unusual to the typical church goer. When people come to visit us, they see wonderful things like joy, genuineness and a love for one another. Often they are greeted, welcomed, plus they hear the Word taught in context seeking the authors intended meaning, a valuing of biblical principles and a minimizing of cultural preferences and more. Our first impression is often pretty HIGH. I hear new visitors say, “I love this church,” “I am coming here” or “we are making this our church home” almost every week. As a result, you would think we would be a VERY large—potentially a mega—church [not our goal, but you would think that might happen with that kind of regular response].
BUT THEN SOMETHING HAPPENS. Continue Reading →
One might think that this problem is created by the contrast between John and Jesus on the one side, and Paul on the other. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Similarly Jesus tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts,” with the same frequency as “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:12).
Over the past year, I had the painstaking privilege of watching my dearest friend, Noelle, trust in the Lord through the loss of 3 babies. Although the world considers these losses to be simple “miscarriages,” as Christians we know that life is much more precious than a simple collection of tissue. I have watched the painful and unthinking words wash over her as people have tried to comfort her — “don’t worry you’ll have another” or “at least you already have a child.” I have seen her grow in her faith as she continually seeks the Lord, desiring to make biblical decisions based on God’s grace, and not fear in all the medical treatment she has received. But what I have struggled to see and understand has been God’s sovereignty. 
You may have noticed that the bottom of our 
Far from the Bible belt of my valley, I have found myself in a culture where people are raw and open about their sin, but still not willing to turn away from it. Standing on corners smoking marijuana and stumbling through the streets with a can of beer… They are lost. That’s when I met Jeff. He is a Vietnam vet living on the streets drinking his life away. It would have been easy to ignore him and turn away—after all my husband and I are on a trip celebrating our anniversary not on a mission trip—but how can I ignore the call to proclaim the gospel just because it was inconvenient?