Worship God Equip Believers Build Community Share Christ

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1 Congrats, Grads! 2016 High School Graduates Clayton Davis David Mejias Alexa Duminski Zechariah Payne Miranda Georgeson Paco Randall Luke Horne Morgan Roper Jackson Kelley Madison Strachn College Graduates Sarah Davis Calvary Bible College, Missouri Children s Ministry Brittney Farrar Georgetown University Georgetown School of Foreign Service Master of Securities Studies Ashley Rowland Texas A&M University Bachelor of Arts in History Kimberly Ward Lamar University Master of Education Educational Administration In This Issue Behold Your God Prayer Gatherings Notes of Appreciation Men s Breakfast Benevolence Offering Sunday New Baby! May Calendar Dear Church Family, Worship God Equip Believers Build Community Share Christ Volume 122 Number 5 May 2016 From Our Pastor Unless other topics need to be addressed, I will use my newsletter space to continue preparing us for the presentations and discussions the Focus Team will be conducting in the near future. So, last Sunday I referred to these statements from the very helpful book the team is using entitled Comeback Churches. I will comment on each one separately hoping this helps you to begin to think about issues that will help us be everything God wants us to be! The cultural distance between our churches and our communities continues to widen, making it harder and harder to communicate the gospel. Being missional means moving intentionally beyond our church preferences, making missional decisions rather than preferential decisions. As I think about that statement I notice the challenge the church has always faced. In one sense, there should be a stark difference between believers and nonbelievers. Following Jesus throughout life should be noticeable and seen as different to the world. But, then, that difference should not result in the world seeing our backs as we walk away from them to pursue Jesus. Remember, Jesus was certainly different from the world He encountered. But, rather than see His back as He turned to follow the will of His Father, they saw His face, His Holy, glorious, loving face as He engaged them with the message of the gospel. Today, people, churches, and denominations desperately need to apply the lens of intentional missiology to North America, not just international fields. The most effective comeback churches will be those that intentionally think like missionaries in their context. I often get caught up in details that are not necessary to figure out. So, I am apt to stop at this statement and wonder: Did the church I grew up in as a child get it wrong? Did the First Baptist Church of Bay City have it wrong in 1948, 1958, 1968, etc in how they did church? And now we are getting it right? The real question is: Do I want to use all I now know about Christ, His mission, the significance of the Church, the truth about God and His glorious provision of salvation to reach the world in which I find myself today? That is the question. Incidentally, I thank God for the church I grew up in and for the church of 1958, 1968, 1978 for helping me to be precisely where I am today seeking to be with God in what He is doing in 2016! See you Sunday. Did You Know? Alan Nauman, who grew up here at First Baptist, has now taken on a new ministry position. Alan had been on staff at Lifepoint Church in Longview for several years. He has just moved to Forest Lake, Minnesota, to be Pastor of Small s at Eagle Brook Church. This is a huge church with several locations that utilizes Small s as a major component of congregation life. For those of you new to First Baptist, Alan s mom is Margaret Winkles and his dad is Barry Nauman. First Baptist Church, 2321 Avenue F, Bay City, TX Website:

2 Worship Ministry Praise be to God for a wonderful performance of Go, Go, Jonah! on Sunday, April 24. Cast and Chorus, you did an excellent job telling the story of Jonah through drama and song and reminding us all of God s call to love one another. A special thanks to our leadership, the crew, and children s choir parents! Thanks also to all who joined us for the musical your support means so much to the children and to all of us! We pray you were blessed! Thank you to the Children s Choirs, Ladies Ensemble, Journey with Christ, Praise Band, Pianists, Organists, Flautist, and Celebration Choir for a great day of special music on Sunday, April 24! You brought glory to our Strong God, Whose Strength Is Perfect, Who goes before us and Who stands behind, Who brings Showers of Blessing, Who provides His blessed sunshine, Who calls us to Go, and Who Send s us! First Kids Children's Ministry AWANA Awards Night Wednesday, May 4th 6 pm in the Sanctuary Come celebrate our children and their quest to put God s word in their minds and hearts! Reception to follow in the gym. Vacation Bible School June Plan to join us on the journey to find the TRUTH below the surface! How can you step outside your normal context and serve? Where can you teach or greet this year? Deep & Wide Student Ministry CentriKid Camp July For all Kids who have completed 2nd 6th Grade. Spots are very limited this year. Call the office and sign up soon! Breakfast at Diamond S Tuesday, May 10 9:00 am Lunch at Niner s Tuesday, May 24 11:00 am Mark your calendars for great fun and great fellowship! For more information, call Carolyn Hale at Graduate Recognition Sunday on May 22 Recognition & prayer in both morning worship services Lunch for grads and their families at noon in PMH. Reservation deadline = Sunday, May 8! You must make reservations for the Graduate Family Lunch. Your post-graduation info and 3 pictures are also due in the FBC office by May 8. Thank you to our FBC family for supporting the Youth Garage Sale. You donated many great items and bought a lot, too! Sun, May 1 6:00pm, Guys/Girls s Wed, May 4 6:00pm, AWANA Awards Sunday, May 8 Mother s Day Sunday School Sundays at 9:30am Youth Praise Band Sundays at 5:00pm Youth Encounter Wednesdays at 6:00pm Journey with Christ I have heard from many who have enjoyed your special music on Sunday mornings. Thanks for all your work this year to prepare such beautiful music that honors God.

3 Behold Your God From our study in the Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically Daily Devotional Workbook : What do we think of the work of the Holy Spirit? Do we think of Him as the useful Person of the Trinity who exists for special events like revivals or evangelistic crusades? Perhaps we think of the Spirit of God as a divine servant who comes to make our church services emotionally satisfying. Perhaps we shun any significant consideration of the Holy Spirit because of the abuses which we see in other denominations. However, a more telling response to the Spirit of God is our tendency not to consider Him at all. When our views of God are small and our views of ourselves are large, we think there is little need for the work of the Spirit in the salvation of the soul. We still have the biblical categories for His work in our minds to convict, to indwell, to help but we have lost the significance of His Person and work as a whole. Today, you will be looking at passages which describe what God must do in you to make you His child. It is interesting that in most of these, it is the Spirit who is the major Agent. He has been entrusted by the Father and the Son with applying all that the Father has planned and the Son has purchased for His church. Thus, what you are studying today is the activity of the Spirit in your salvation. As we considered earlier this week, your view of God (and the Spirit is God) will affect your view of the gospel. Likewise, your view of the gospel will affect your view of God. As you continue to read what God tells us about Himself, remind yourself that you are watching the powerful and kind labors of the Spirit of Holiness. Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically; by John Snyder; Copyright 2013 John Snyder; Published by Media Gratiae, New Albany, MS; p. 93. Come be a part of this powerful on Sunday evenings at 6 pm in Pearl Morton Hall. Prayer Gatherings in May Prayer for the Nations Tuesday, May 3 Prayer Gathering Tuesday, May 17 7 pm in Pearl Morton Hall With Heartfelt Sympathy The FBC Family extends sympathy to the following members and their families in the loss of their loved ones: Dear Church Family, Note of Appreciation Thank you! Young Lives of Matagorda County and myself, Teresa Bowman, would like to thank you for allowing us to use the gym for our painting frundraiser. Our family, the Body of Christ, has again opened our arms to show Christ s love. There are people now that know that this is and can be a place for them to come and feel welcomed and loved. Thank you for joining in on God s work! Dear FBC Church Family, In Memoriam John Rex Moore April 24, 2016 Barbara Moore loss of husband Thinking of You and Sharing in Your Sorrow Love, From all of us at Young Lives Thank you so much for your generous donation of delicious foods. This helped to feed 8 adults and 12 children. We appreciate all of you. Thank you. Genevieve Burrell Shelter Director, The Crisis Center New Babies! To Allen & Janet Cumbie on the birth of their grandson! Christopher Derek was born to Derek & Emily Cumbie on March 22 and weighed 7 lbs. and 12 oz. Men s Breakfast Bring a friend and your appetite and come enjoy the fellowship!

4 Information Center Sunday School Report Date Enroll Attend Mar April April April April Scholarships Needed for CentriKid Camp It s time to prepare for this summer s CentriKid Camp. This is a very special, often lifechanging camp for kids who have completed grades 2-6 this year. Since the camp cost is $200 per child, some children may not be able to go to camp without scholarship assistance, so a gift of any amount will help. Simply mark your offering envelope and/or check with Kids Camp and turn it in through a worship service or Sunday School offering. Your support can make a difference in the life of a child. The Radical Challenge ipray for the entire world. Pray together for the entire world over the course of a year, using the resources provided by Operation World. iread through the entire Word. Read through the entire Bible using the chronological Bible reading plan provided by the Radical Experiment ministry. icommit your total family budget for the purpose of glorifying God. For the next year make specific decisions that result in gaining financial freedom to give more for the sake of the glory of Christ in His church, among the lost and among the poor. ispend time serving the Lord outside your established routine and familiar surroundings. Commit to give of your time in Gospel ministry outside of your routine; your comfort zone. This might be a local ministry project, a church ministry with which you have never served, or it could be a mission trip away. icommit yourself wholeheartedly to the church. Take a really close look at your church involvement to see if there is room to deepen or strengthen your connection with the church. See if God is calling you to participate in a Sunday school class, a small group, or to begin to serve in a particular ministry. The church is the body of Christ. What you do individually, will affect and enhance the body as a whole. What will be your part this year in the radical challenge as we move forward together with the Lord? Average Sunday School Att. YTD = 217 (through Week 34) Tithes & Offerings Report Date Given Mar 27 $18, April 3 $15, April 10 $18, April 17 $18, April 24 $12, YTD 2016 Needed: $300, YTD 2016 Given: $320, Designated Gifts Benevolence Love Gift Texas Port Ministry Annie Armstrong Wednesday Night Supper May 4 Spaghetti, Green Beans, Garlic Bread, Extreme Salad Bar, Fresh Fruit, Dessert & Drinks Serving: Charles & Judy Koenig Cleaning: Bart Brown & Billy Mann Family Supper Resumes in the Fall Benevolence Offering Sunday Thank you for donating to the benevolence ministry of FBC! Because of your generosity, FBC is able to help many people in need in our community. Sunday, May 29 is your opportunity to support our Benevolence Ministry. Donations are greatly appreciated and very necessary for the continuation of this ministry. Please give so we may continue to meet the needs of people in Jesus name. Please mark your check or envelope Benevolence

5 May 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 6pm Church Conference (Sanctuary) 8 Mother s Day 9 7pm Deacon Council 3 5:30pm King s Ringers (BB 106) 7pm Prayer for the Nations (PMH) 10 9am Breakfast (Diamond S) 5:30pm King s Ringers (BB 106) 4 5pm Family Supper 6pm AWANA Awards (Gym & Sanctuary) :30am Jubilaires Ministry (Bay Villa) :30am Men s Breakfast (Gym) pm Finance Cmte am Jubilaires Ministry (Mat. House) 4:30pm CDC Cmte (Conf Room) 7pm Prayer Gathering :30am Jubilaires Ministry (Mat. Rehab) pm Graduate Family Lunch (PMH & Gym) am Lunch (9er s) FBC Office & CDC Closed 31