More than a Song

Ephesians 5:19 encourages us to “speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” Our First Baptist Family enjoys outstanding music in worship services and concerts throughout the year. But in August, the rafters ring as we share in worship and as we host our annual August Concert Series.

To me, the music of the church is the most inspirational music in the world, primarily because of its powerful message. The music of our faith transcends style and performance as it nurtures and fuels the soul.

The theme of our sermon series in August is More than a Song. Each Sunday we will consider some of the Bible passages that inspired the songs we sing and we will sing songs that bring faith, hope, and joy to our lives.

In addition to our August Concerts, we are looking forward to Back to School Sunday and Blessing of the Backpacks on Sunday morning August 22. On that Sunday afternoon, we will share in our annual Beach Baptism Service at 4 p.m. at 501 Panferio Drive. If you or a member of your family have recently made a commitment to Christ, please contact me or one of our ministers to begin preparing for baptism.

August is a time of re-connecting after the busyness of summer. Invite a friend to join you as we gather for worship, Bible study, and More than a Song.


Sermon Series: More Than a Song
Aug 1 All Other Ground Is Sinking Sand Matthew 7:24-29
Aug 8 You Raise Me Up Isaiah 40:28-31
Aug 15 Press On! Philippians 3:12-16
Aug 22 Outrageous Grace Ephesians 2:8-10
Aug 29 More Than a Song Psalm 98

When in Rome

Later this week it will be my privilege to travel to Rome to join our Go Ye Choir and Orchestra for the final four days of their tour. I have already heard great reports of their travels to Munich, Venice, Florence and Pisa.

I was a teenager when I began to realize the significance of the multiple missionary journeys of Paul. I was in seminary when I began to grasp the impact of Ancient Rome on world history. This will be my first visit to Rome and I am looking forward to exploring its remarkable history and unique culture.

On Wednesday evening, our group will share in midweek worship at the Rome Baptist Church, a church that has hosted several groups from FBC Pensacola across the years. On Thursday, we will tour The Vatican, and then our choir will sing during mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. Later that evening our group will share a full concert at The Artists’ Church at Piazza del Popolo.

Our Go Ye Tour Group returns to Pensacola this Saturday. Amanda and I will remain in Italy for a few days of vacation and an early celebration of our 25^th wedding anniversary which is coming up September 7. We will return on August 5.

While I am away, Dr. Bob Greene, our Director of Missions for the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association will be preaching on July 25. Jean Ingram will also be leading us in a time of Parent-Child Dedication this Sunday. Rev. Paul Hood-Patterson, who has served as our Ministry Resident for the past two years, will be kicking off our new series, More Than Music, as he preaches his final sermon with us on August 1.

Our Russia Mission Team and our Costa Rica Mission Team will both be sharing stories and testimonies in our Midweek Service on July 28. Our next Congregational Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday August 4. That evening we will hear testimonies and updates from several of our local mission partners that we support throughout the year.

Thank you for your faithful support of our church and its missions and ministries during the summer months. I hope that you will make it a priority to be in worship and Bible study this Sunday.

Beginning Year Six with Courage and Hope

Last Sunday I officially began my sixth year serving as pastor of our First Baptist Family. As I look back on the last five years, I find myself grateful for your partnership in this ministry and hopeful that we will embrace our current challenges and opportunities with courage and commitment.

Five years ago Amanda and I were welcomed to Pensacola with a hurricane warning and evacuation orders. As we rolled into town, almost everyone else was traveling north. My first official action as pastor was to cancel Sunday worship services. Then on our first Sunday, a handful of storm refugees who were helping us look after our campus, much of which was still under repair after Hurricane Ivan, gathered in Pleitz Chapel for an impromtu worship service just before we were hit by Hurricane Dennis on Sunday afternoon.

As many were still rebuilding after Ivan, and as others were involved making repairs after Dennis, another storm named Katrina began churning across the Gulf of Mexico. Although we avoided a direct hit, our neighbors in Mississippi and Louisiana did not. And just as many had come to Pensacola to help our community with cleanup and repairs after Ivan, our First Baptist Family mobilized our resources and our energy and almost 300 of us traveled to Gulfport, Gautier, or Biloxi during the next year and a half to participate in Disaster Relief.

As we completed our partnership with friends on the Mississippi Coast, another storm was brewing. This time, it was economic turbulence. Even as our community was experiencing economic challenges in the aftermath of consecutive storms, our nation’s economy began to experience a decline, which further complicated the economic climate in Pensacola.

Now, this year just as we began to see an improvement in the market, we are dealing with the Oil Spill Crisis in the Gulf. While we are hopeful that the gusher will be contained soon and that cleanup will be thorough, coastal residents have once again been called on to rise to the occasion with courage and hope.

During the past five years we have shared many diverse experiences as a church and community, including joyful moments and tough times. Though challenging, tough times have a way of forming character and forging courage. Mother Teresa once said that, “"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

I am grateful for your friendship, your partnership and your prayers during these first five years. And I look forward to a stronger partnership as we embrace the opportunities and the challenges of the future with courage and hope.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we continue our series, Doing Good Everywhere We Go, as we look at Proverbs 27:17 and focus on “Bringing Out the Best in People.”

“Here Ye!” “Here Ye!”

During July our church family is emphasizing Connecting with Missions. Our sermon series this month is about “Doing Good Everywhere We Go.”

This summer members of First Baptist are putting the Great Commission in to action, literally traveling around the nation and around the world to participate in missions. This past March one of our teams traveled to India to do missions in an extremely remote location. This past spring Rev. Mark Dahn spent a couple months doing mission work in his native country of Liberia. On June 27, our Chapel Choir returned from their “More Than Music” tour in California. Last Tuesday evening another one of our mission teams returned from an effective week of work in Russia.

Last Sunday a group of our Middle School Students departed for Mission Fuge in Jackson, Mississippi. This week Dr. Lou and Lisa Valbracht are doing medical missions in Equador. This Saturday our Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra depart for their “Go Ye Tour” which will take them to Munich, Florence, Venice, and Rome. Next Wednesday, July 14, we have a team of 26 leaving for a mission trip to Costa Rica. On July 19, a group of our high school students will be traveling to Franklin, North Carolina to work with World Changers. And we are now assembling a team that will depart for Haiti on October 30.

In addition to these groups, some of our FBCP students are doing missions in Costa Rica with East Hill Christian School. Claire Stubblefield is working in North Africa with Jason and Beth Davis. And three of our retired couples, the Bookers, the Logsdons, and the Minchews, are working at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly this summer.

Every four years when our choir and orchestra are away on their Go Ye Tour, Bob Morrison emphasizes the importance of both the “Go Ye Choir” and the “Here Ye Choir.” The “Here Ye Choir” are those who form the choir that leads us in worship at home while others are on mission.

Having a large group of individuals participate in national and international missions this year is a tremendous blessing. However, those of us who are here in Pensacola have an even greater responsibility while larger numbers are away. Some of us may be called to fill the shoes of those who are traveling by greeting guests at the Welcome Center, teaching a Bible study group, driving a cart on Sunday morning, working at Samaritan’s Hands, or singing in the choir. But all of us can strengthen the summer ministries of our church by faithfully participating in worship and Bible study during July.

This Sunday I will be sharing a message from Psalm 82 on “Rooting for the Underdog.” We are glad that Amy Roby will be leading the Worship Team in our Early Service this week while Tina is on tour and Mike Richardson will be leading the “Here Ye Choir” in our Mid-morning Service while Bob is on tour.

I hope to see ye in the “Here Ye” Congregation this Sunday.

A Prayer for Independence Day 2010

Freedom-loving and grace-giving God, you have given us the privilege and the responsibility of living in the most resourceful land in the world. From sea to shining sea most of us enjoy unprecedented freedom, comfortable homes, regular meals, preferred vocations, and unique religious liberty.

As we give thanks for the numerous blessings associated with living in this great country, we are aware that we live in a season of heightened anxiety. Our military men and women are engaged in multiple international conflicts. Our economy is slow to emerge from the recent recession. Many are unemployed. We are facing an oil spill crisis in the Gulf. And we are lacking consensus on major issues.

These concerns remind us of our need to confess our sins, individually and collectively, and to follow your plan for living with purpose and integrity.

We confess that we have too often taken our freedom for granted and we have too frequently neglected the responsibilities of our citizenship.

We confess that we are often too quick to criticize and too slow to intercede.

We confess that our selfish interests have too often taken priority over our interests in the common good of our nation and for our world.

We confess that we have been negligent in our stewardship of health and wealth, often expending and consuming carelessly when we should be managing carefully, investing wisely, and sharing generously.

We confess that we have too often trusted in our own initiatives and ingenuity more than we have trusted in you.

We pray with the psalmist, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” (Psalm 51:1-3)

Therefore, as we prepare to celebrate this Independence Day, we ask you to, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

On this day, we pray for our President and for all of the leaders of our nation, our state, and our community that they will lead with moral courage, bipartisan cooperation, and astute wisdom.

We pray for the men and women who serve in our nation’s military that they will perform their humanitarian mission with effectiveness and precision, complete their assignments, and return home safely and soon.

We pray for our enemies that their swords, and ours, will be “turned into plowshares.”

We pray for the churches, cathedrals, and temples of our nation and our community that we will be dispensaries of grace and mercy, living our convictions with consistency, engaging in our discourse with civility, and fulfilling our ministries with hospitality.

Because you are the freedom-loving and grace-giving God, lead us to exercise our freedom responsibly and to pursue “liberty and justice for all” your children around the globe, especially the “least of these.”

We present our prayer in the strong name of Jesus, the one who personifies the truth that makes us free indeed. Amen.

Celebrate July 4th: Exercise the Freedom to Worship

July 4^th falls on Sunday this year. The last time this occurred was 2004. The next time July 4^th falls on our designated day of worship will be in 2021.

While many of us have appropriate plans in place to celebrate our nation’s independence with picnics, barbeques, ice cream, and fireworks, one of the most fitting ways to celebrate Independence Day this year is to exercise our freedom to worship.

Our Baptists ancestors were among the many who contended for religious liberty for all faiths. The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States confirms that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As citizens of these United States, we enjoy greater freedoms than any people group on earth, but these freedoms came with a price. We celebrate our freedom by exercising our freedom. This Sunday is Independence Day. I hope you are making plans for a fun day of celebration with family and friends. I hope you will take time to give thanks for our heritage and to pray for our nation’s leaders and country’s future. Most importantly, I hope you will celebrate July 4^th by exercising your freedom to worship.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday morning as we gather for worship and Bible study.

The following prayer was written by Dr. Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia:

A prayer for the Fourth of July

O God, you who birthed a nation from a barren womb

And made your covenant with a band of runaway slaves;

You who have watched over the rise and fall of every nation

Great and small, near and far, before and since;

You who were in that stuffy room in Philadelphia

when this nation declared its independence;

Be with us now.

Help us see things as you see them.

From your point of view there are no national boundaries,

No ugly black lines on the face of the globe.

From your point of view the greatness of any nation

Is not measured by its gross national product,

Or its military strength,

But by the way its people embrace your truths

And love the things you love.

And so, even as we strike up the band

And join the parade,

As we light the fuses of firecrackers

And celebrate our cherished independence,

We ask that you would teach us the discipline of responsibility

So that we may use our freedom in ways that help and heal

Rather than hurt and destroy.

As the Apostle Paul has said, “let us not use freedom

As an opportunity for self-indulgence

But rather, through love, let us become servants to one another.”

On this Independence Day we pray especially

For the United States of America and for her president.

We ask that you grant to him and to all our elected officials

Extraordinary wisdom, unwavering compassion,

and a clear sense of your kind of justice.

We pray that as a people we may become what you promised to Abraham:

A nation by whom all the nations of the world are blessed.

May the people of Asia and Africa, Europe and South America

Soon be able to say, if not already, “Thank God for America,”

Even as we thank you, O God, for what is,

And look forward by faith to what will be

When your kingdom comes, and your will is done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Amen.

—Jim Somerville © 2010