Sunday Drive

I bet your Sunday wasn't as exciting as Joey Logano's. I am proudly a NASCAR geek and this happened during Sunday's Dover race. OUCH! The fact that no one was seriously injured in the wreck says a ton about the safety of those cars. My favorite Logano quote after the wreck was, "It was an exciting ride. You won't find any roller coaster that will do that." To that I say, "Thank goodness."



-- Peace, Jamie

Belle Mitchell

If you were at REVEAL on Sunday, then you heard me talk about Belle Mitchell. She is the youngest daughter of our Youth Pastor, David Mitchell.

Last Thursday (9/24) she went to see a neurologist for some strange symptoms that she was having and they admitted her to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte. The initial MRI results showed that she had a mass on the left side of her brain. The decided to operate on Monday morning (9/28).

The surgery went well yesterday, but unfortunately, the tumor was malignant and there are spots on her spine. It has not yet been determined if those spots are cancer. Belle will be having another MRI this morning (Tuesday). Her team of doctors will be meeting Wednesday to decide on treatment options.

Please pray that she responds well over the next 48 hours from the surgery.

Pray for her recovery from cancer and for her parents, David and Kelley, to experience God's peace. Also pray for her siblings (Taylor, Emily Beth & Jack).

You can follow the updates on Belle here.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger! (Especially in Belle's situation)

Will

Sunday Recap

Every Sunday seems to be busy these days. But yesterday may have been one of the busiest. Left the house yesterday morning at 8:30 and didn't walk back in the front door til almost 10:00 last night. Here are some of the highlights of yesterday's Marriage for Dummies worship gathering at Reveal:

• We kicked off the worship with a video from Worship House Media called "Now Is the Time." I thought it was a great intro to the gathering and got a lot of positive feedback from it.
• The band had a great worship set planned that wrapped up with a version of "I'll Stand By You" which I first remember from The Pretenders but was later covered by Carrie Underwood.
• We made a transition from music to message with a video that Hunter Platt did using the Plain White T's song "1,2,3,4." (See below). As always, he did a very good job, although he did get the length of my marriage wrong. For the record, Marjorie and I have been married 19 years, 9 months, 11 days, 21 hours and 10 minutes as I type this.
• Steve sermon focused on why men and women need each other using Genesis 2:18-24 as his text.
• "God was hands-on in Adam and Eve's relationship. He wants to be hands-on in our marriages and relationships."
• "Most of the problems in marriage are caused because we make marriage about 'me' instead of about our spouse."
• "If you care about your spouse, you don't use or deny your spouse out of selfishness or ignorance" - Willard Harley, His Needs Her Needs
• "Marriage is a relationship of mutual ministry."
• Steve also used Harley's book His Needs Her Needs to highlight the five most important needs of men and women in relationships.
• Men's five greatest needs - sexual fulfillment, recreational companionship, attractive spouse, domestic support, admiration
• Women's five greatest needs - affection, conversation, honesty, financial support, family commitment

We had another great Sunday at Reveal. Attendance has been very good this month which has led to some awesome times of worship. Next week, we will continue our Marriage for Dummies series. If you need to catch up, check out www.marriagefordummies.net.

-- Peace, Jamie

Couple Talk 09.27.09

His Needs
Sexual Fulfillment
Recreational Companionship
Attractive Spouse
Domestic Support
Admiration

Her Needs
Affection
Conversation
Honesty
Financial Support
Family Commitment

Get Started: Each of you take a moment and pick the two needs in the above list that are most important to you and explain why to your spouse.

Affirmation: Share with your spouse what he/she does that meets any of the needs listed above.

Sunday's Sermon: Pastor Steve mentioned during the sermon that marriage is a relationship of mutual ministry, in which each spouse has an unqualified commitment to be an instrument of God to meet the other one's deepest personal needs. What does this mean for you and how do you feel about it? Do you agree?

Learning: Share with your spouse the one need from the above list that you wish he/she did more to meet. Discuss the ways he/she could meet that need.

Discussion: Identify which issue listed below is the greater hindrance to you meeting your spouse's need and discuss it.

• I didn't know he/she really needed that
• I'm not convinced that what he/she says they need is a legitimate need
• I'm not sure how to meet his/her need
• I'm afraid to try...because...
• I'm waiting for my spouse to meet my need first
• I'm afraid my spouse will not return the favor and meet my need
• I'm the way I am and I'm not going to change
• I don't care
• Some other reason (what is it?)

Commitment: Based on this conversation, what will you do in order to better meet your spouse's need? Share your commitment with your spouse right now.

Celebrating: Share with each other what you enjoy most about being married to each other.

Set List 09.27.09

Here is the music that we used for 09.27.09 - Marriage For Dummies (Week 3):

[Opening Song]
G - You're Worthy Of My Praise - David Ruis (Jeremy Camp Version)

[Worship Set]
G - Nothing But The Blood - Robert Lowry
G - All Who Are Thirsty - Brenton Brown (Kutless Version)
D - I'll Stand By You - The Pretenders (Carrie Underwood Version)

[Closing Song]
E - Hosanna, You're The King - David Bell

Once again we had a great crowd in worship. Loved it. Besides having no drums in the mix for the first song, I thought that worship went really well.

Steve's messages have been great during this series. If you have missed them, make sure that you check them out on www.marriagefordummies.net

As always, part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger!

Will

Marriage for Dummies

We are two weeks into our Marriage for Dummies series and are hearing some great comments about the series. In case you have missed one of the sermons, you can go to http://www.marriagefordummies.net/ to listen to sermons.

Also, the website has an evite feature that you can use to invite your friends to the service. If you haven't checked out the web site, let me encourage you to check it out. It's a very simple site but a great way to introduce someone to the series, to Reveal and to First Baptist Church.

This week's sermon is Men & Women - We Need Each Other. Hope you'll join us and bring a friend with you.

-- Peace, Jamie

Weekend Recap

Sunday capped off one of the crazier weekends that I've had in a while. Since you've stopped by the blog, you'll be lucky enough to hear my whole story. I ended up with tickets to the Clemson-BC game on Saturday thanks to Terri and Chuck Hood. So Saturday morning at 7:30, I hopped in the car with Elizabeth, Victoria and Sara Catherine Watts and headed toward Clemson. (My directions were to drive on I-85 till I smelled and turn right on Hwy 76 till I stepped in it, but they were wrong.)

Because I had plans on Saturday night, we knew that we would have to leave at halftime. For the first half, the weather was great - overcast with a nice breeze and very little rain. At halftime, we headed to the car. It started to rain as we headed out of the stadium and was raining pretty hard by the time we got to the car. Before we got back on I-85, the game was being delayed because of the weather. Very few times in my life have I felt smarter or luckier, which means you know what's coming next.

Our Saturday night plans were to go to Heath and Joy Dick's neighborhood for a cookout. My job was to bring a cooler of ice. When we pulled up, there were lots of cars parked on the side of the road, so I decided to drop the ice and Marjorie and the girls off and park further away. In the process of dropping ice and people off, I ended up locking the keys in the van with the van running. Yep, not so smart or lucky. Luckily AAA bailed me out because the coat hanger that Heath found for me was pretty useless.

With that as a backdrop, Sunday turned out to be a great day. Attendance at Reveal was close to the highest it's ever been. There were a number of new couples and college students visiting with us. We had lunch for our college students immediately following Reveal and had an awesome time hanging out together. I capped it off with a college Bible study on Sunday night at Heath and Joy's house. Our college Bible study for the fall is based on Lee Strobel's The Case For Christ. I have read The Case For Faith but this is my first time through TCFC.

While Sunday's can be long days, it's the day that I look forward to the most. So much cool stuff happens. I get to see people that I haven't seen all week. I get to hear stories about what's happening in people's lives. I get to see how God is moving and working in different areas of our church body. Plus, I got to tell my Clemson story coupled with my locking-my-keys-in-my-van story multiple times.

-- Peace, Jamie

Couple Talk 09.20.09

Read: Genesis 1:26-28 and 1 Peter 3:7
God obviously made men and women different, even though both are created in His image. Peter tells us to live together with understanding or knowledge.

Discuss:
How well do you and your spouse understand each other? Do you think your spouse really understands you?

How are the two of you different (not just physical differences)? Make a list of the top five ways you are different.

Are these differences a source of tension and conflict? If so, why?

Do you have negative attitudes toward these differences that prevent you from blessing each other and developing the oneness that God intends?

Have you allowed conflict over these differences to harden into inappropriate attitudes and behaviors that are damaging your relationship?

List the advantages of your differences. How can they bless your marriage? How can your spouse's uniqueness bless you?

Do you celebrate the positive contributions your spouse's uniqueness can bring to your marriage, or are you more focused on trying to change one another?

Husbands, do you ever try to make your wife act more like a man?
Wives, do you ever try to make your husband act more like a woman?

Husbands, what do you do to make your wife feel like a woman? Ladies, does it work? Does he make you feel like a woman often enough? Do you have any suggestions for your husband?

Wives, what do you do to make you husband feel like a man? Men, does it work? Does she make you feel like a man often enough? Do yo have any suggestions for your wife?

Decide:
Share with each other the one thing you will do differently because of this discussion.

This discussion probably identified something each of you does that hurts your spouse. If so, ask his/her forgiveness.

Set List 09.20.09

Here is the music that we used for 09.20.09 - "Marriage For Dummies" Week 2:

[Worship Set]
D - We Have Overcome - Israel Houghton (Elevation Worship Version)
Bb - You You Are God - Walker Beach
B - Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down) - Robbie Seay Band
B - Collide - Howie Day

[Closing Song]
F# - Come Ye Sinners - Robbie Seay Band

We had a great crowd today (~85). I truly believe that people are hungry for truth in regards to their marriages/relationships and this series is giving them exactly that. PRAISE GOD!

Worship went really well today. I decided to bring back "We Have Overcome" for a second week since it was new and I think that people responded better to it this week having heard it last week. The Elevation Worship version is a great rockin' version of Houghton's tune. "Collide" was a great fit for the sermon "Men & Women: As Different as Night and Day"

As always, part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger!

Will

Forgotten God

I read Francis Chan's book Crazy Love earlier this year and enjoyed it immensely. So I was excited to see Chan had written a book on the Holy Spirit and subtitled it "Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit." The book is really divided into three parts. The first deals with how the theology of the Holy Spirit has been neglected and abused. The second deals with who the Holy Spirit is and what His role is in our lives. The third is a challenge to overcome the obstacles in our lives so that the Holy Spirit can lead us.

The book is a good primer on the theology of the Holy Spirit as well as challenging call to yield to the His leading in our lives. If you liked Crazy Love, I think you'll enjoy Forgotten God.

Here are some of the quotes from the book that caught my attention.

• The Spirit is more obviously active in places where people are desperate for Him, humbled before Him, and not distracted by their pursuit of wealth or comfort.
• We are not all we were made to be when everything in our lives and churches can be explained apart from the work and presence of the Spirit of God.
• The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn't normally want or choose to do.
• The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christlike, and this can be painful.
• A sure sign of the Holy Spirit's working is that Christ is magnified, not people.
• It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But it's absolutely vital to grasp that He didn't call you there so you could settle in and live out your life in comfort and superficial peace.
• Nowhere in Scripture do I see a "balanced life with a little bit of God added in" as an ideal for us to emulate. Yet when I look at our churches, this is exactly what I see: a lot of people who have added Jesus to their lives.
• It is impossible to live in the power of the Spirit and sin at the same time.
• I don't want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit.
• What disturbs me most is when we're not really bothered that God living in us has not made much of a noticeable difference.

-- Peace, Jamie

Set List 09.13.09

Here is the music that we used for Sunday 09.13.09 - Week 1 of "Marriage For Dummies":

[Opening Song]
D - Forever and Ever, Amen - Paul Overstreet (Randy Travis Version)

[Worship Set]
D - We Have Overcome - Israel Houghton (Elevation Worship Version)
D - A Love Song - Stellar Kart
D - Rescue - Jared Anderson

[Message]
Marriage For Dummies - Rev. Steve Hogg

[Closing Song]
F# - We Fall Down - Chris Tomlin

This week kicked off our new series called "Marriage For Dummies". We are going to try and do a secular song each week that has something to do with relationships and/or the sermon topic for the week. I am looking forward to this series. I believe that it is going to impact our church and community in a powerful way.

As always part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger!

Will

Couple Talk 09.13.09

Spend a few minutes together as a couple doing the activities described below. Begin with one of you reading aloud the following piece of prose titled "Marriage":

"When God made light, the angels drew near to let the refractions roll over their faces like a symphony. When God made earth, the poked their fingers into its moistness: they put a fleck to their nose and smiled. When God made a rose, they parted it's petals and passed it among themselves saying, 'So fragile, yet how it grasps the soul'. When God made a giraffe, they touched the strange hide and murmured to themselves that God was up to something magnificent. When God made man, each one retired to his chamber and peered into the writings, looking for some clue to the mystery. When God made woman, they came back out of the chambers and gazed, their jaws slack with awe. When God joined man to woman and said, 'Let them become one flesh,' everything suddenly made sense. And the cheering still shakes the galaxies..."

Answer This: Does our marriage make the universe cheer? Does it make me cheer? Why or why not? Talk about it!

Read: 1 Peter 1:7
Wives: Share with your husband what he does that makes you feel like he honors and respects you. Share what he does that makes you feel "put down" instead of honored. Talk about it!

Read: 1 Peter 3:4
Husbands: Part of a wife's inner beauty is her ability to be a calming and restful influence in her husband's life. Share with your wife what she does that brings a sense of peace and calmness to your life. Share with her what she does that creates turmoil and frustrations for you. Talk about it!

Read: 1 Peter 1:7
Discuss: We have the same eternal destiny and share equally in God's grace. What are we doing to support each other's relationship with Jesus Christ? Are there ways we discourage each other's spiritual growth?

Decide: What changes are we willing to make to improve our marriage?

Pray: Thank God for each other. Talk with God about the changes you decided to make. Ask God's forgiveness for actions that hurt each other. Don't forget to apologize to each other as well.

Plan: Agree to attend worship at First Baptist Church next Sunday.

The Acts 11:29 Project This Saturday 9-19-09

"A ministry that gives of our extra time, talents, resources and labor to those in need in our community."

This Saturday (Sept. 19th), we need your help. We are serving a family in Edgemoor who has a leaking roof. We need people who will follow instructions to repair parts of the roof. We also need folks who would be willing to help with cleaning in and outside the house. Also, if your gift/talent is to minister to people, we would love for someone to be available to just hang out and talk to the family members who are there. Please sign up at Reveal or email loribeaty@gmail.com to let us know your planning to come.

Who: Anyone willing to serve, and others who are gifted in construction
What: Repair a roof, serve a family and their needs, fellowship
When: This Saturday, September 19th (9:00am - 1:00pm)
Where: Meet at the Church in "the Rock" parking lot at 9:00 (possibly earlier for roofing crew)

Winthrop BCM

Life can get busy and last week was one of the busier weeks. Between getting ready for Refresh and a singles conference at Ridgecrest, I got to spend all day Thursday cooking supper for Winthrop University's BCM. Then on Thursday night, I got to hang out with and speak to the coolest BCM in the state.

For the uninitiated, BCM stands for Baptist Collegiate Ministries. It's the college ministry of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. It's a place where Christian students from all across the state and the nation can connect and grow in Christ and, hopefully, impact their campus for Christ.

This year, the leadership team at Winthrop chose Colossians 4:5 as their theme verse. I had to pleasure of speaking on making the most of every opportunity in college.

Here are the highlights of the night:

Cooking and serving supper with Heath and Joy Dick was a blast. I didn't get a chance to taste Joy's spaghetti bake but I am sure that it was better than mine. I'm glad I got a bite of my famous (at least at my house) dessert. It's oreo cookies soaked in milk and covered in whipped cream. After a couple of hours in the fridge, it's a goey, delicious mess.

The Reveal band led worship. It's great to have people who are committed to Christ and willing to give up their time to serve him. You can check out their set list here. Suffice it to say, they did an awesome job.

I committed to driving the church's van on the Winthrop BCM spring break mission trip. I wonder if anyone will ride with me after my stories from last year's trip to Baltimore. For the record the thirty minute detour in West Virginia was Ross's fault.

The talk centered on what you should do at college so that when you walk away from the campus for the last time, you've been a hero to someone. I gave them eleven ideas and challenged them to come up with their own list. Here are some of the ideas that I gave them - get involved in Student government whether by serving or connecting with the leaders and praying for them, be a summer missionary, take a road trip with a group of friends, go on an international trip (either mission or international studies), make cookies for someone (a residence hall, office, fraternity, sports team, etc), serve a staff or faculty member for a year.

All of us can come up with ideas that will help us make the most of the time that we are given. We can find people to serve, ministries to support, places to go. What is God calling you to do today to make the most of the opportunity He is giving you?

-- Peace, Jamie

Connect

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be in Charleston for Connect, a conference aimed at helping churches reach and keep young adults. At one of the sessions, Sam Rainer spoke about why 18-22 year olds drop out of church. Here are some of the interesting takeaways that Sam gave us.

The dropout problem begins at age 16. Spending 18 years in student ministry, this didn't surprise me. I think this has a lot to do with the freedom that comes from getting a drivers license and a car. They may already be looking for a way out of church because they are bored, are not challenged, have friends who don't attend a church, sense hypocrisy, or get busy with school, job, etc. The freedom that comes with a car allows them to make the decision to drop out of church.

Many drop out because they become tired of 'doing church.' They don't see faith as an important part of their families' lives. They are not given a reason for being at a building on Sundays other than it's what we do as a family.

Activity does not equal active. In other words, being involved in church programs and events will not keep someone active in his/her faith. It is not wrong to have students and children involved in stuff at church but it is NOT enough.

There are three markers for keeping a student active in his/her faith. The first is having a family that regularly discusses spiritual matters. The second is having a family that serves together in and through the church. The third is having a family that prays together. If a student's family is not spiritual or intact, the key is to get other adults involved in the lives of the student.

Great info and ideas. I'll share some more in the coming days.

-- Peace, Jamie

Set List 09.06.09

Here is the music that we used for 09.06.09:

[Opening Song]
G - Creed - Rich Mullins (Third Day Version)

[Worship Set]
B - Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin
B - Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

This week, our church held a service called "REFRESH". It was a chance to look back over the last year of ministry and look forward to this upcoming year. The Reveal Band played the three songs above and then the 10:30 band played two songs and the choir/orchestra played two songs at the end.

Last Thursday Night, the Reveal Band also had a chance to lead worship for Winthrop's BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministry) meeting. Here is the music that we used:

D - When Love Comes To Town - U2 (Todd Agnew Version)
C - Everlasting God - Brenton Brown (Lincoln Brewster Version)
E - Undignified - Matt Redman (David Crowder Version)
E - I've Always Loved You - Third Day
G - Nothing But The Blood - Robert Lowry
E - How Deep The Father's Love For Us - Stuart Townend

As Always, part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger!

Will

Refresh

Another reminder that there will be no Reveal this Sunday, September 6. We will have one worship gathering at 10:00am in the main worship room upstairs. We are calling this worship gathering Refresh. We are focusing on the 8 passions of FBC, how they have been vital to our church for the past three years and how they will help direct us in the coming year.

Refresh is going to be an amazing time of worship. Don't miss it. There will also be a picnic at the church following Refresh. For more info, go to www.fbcrockhill.org.

Have a great weekend. I will see you Sunday morning at Refresh!

-- Peace, Jamie

Links

The past two weeks have been crazier than normal and it doesn't look like things are slowing down any time soon. Here are some links that have caught my attention lately. Enjoy.

-- Peace, Jamie

Perry Noble says you're not crazy.

Ed Stetzer gives some practical advice for accountability groups.

Sam Rainer observes a new way to reach new guests.

Seth Godin tells us to get creative with our invitations.

Finally, a video to remind you to persevere.

Sunday Recap

As Will stated below, it was a crazy weekend for our pastor so I volunteered to give him a much-needed break by preaching at Reveal on Sunday. Here's what we learned:

• I HATE lines. I know hate is a strong word, but that's how I feel about lines. They make me wanna punch things.

• I will go to great lengths to avoid lines. I skip drive-thrus. I leave restaurants. I drop people off to wait in line for me. I go to Disney during the off-season. Yes, I will spend time thinking of ways to avoid lines.

• Traffic jams are basically lines in cars. I will drive an hour out of my way to avoid sitting still for 15 minutes in a car. Can't tell you how glad I am that I don't live in a city like Atlanta where traffic is unavoidable.

• I used the story of a mission trip to Zambia. In 2004, twelve of us were flying out of Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa on the way to Lusaka, Zambia. A strike by South Africa Airways left me standing in line at the airline counter from 6am to 1pm for four straight days. Needless to say, I was READY to leave the Atlanta airport. Once we did get on the plane, I got bumped to a first class seat for an 18 hour flight. Nice, very nice.

• My Zambia experience taught me a few things. First, the journey prepares us for the destination. Joshua spent a lot of time waiting to take possession of The Promised Land. But he wouldn't have been ready to take possession if he had not spent those 40 years remaining faithful to God.

• Second, the God of the journey is the same God at the destination. Read Revelation 21:1-7. That's the God that we serve. Too often we doubt God or place more faith in our abilities. The God of Revelation wants to invade our lives with His power today, right now. What's keeping you from letting Him do it?

• Third, God has a passionate desire to have an intimate relationship with you. Joshua 1:9 says that God is with us wherever we go. He's waiting for us to engage Him every moment of every day. Why would we pass that up? End of sermon wrap up.
  

• Pray for Steve. I know that most of you pray for your pastor everyday. Make a special time this week to pray for him to be refreshed, strengthened, and inspired. He faced a lot last week because of deaths and other emergencies.

Just a reminder that there will be no Reveal next week. We will have one worship gathering at 10:00am in the main worship room followed by a picnic upstairs.

Have a great week!

-- Peace, Jamie