First Light
First Baptist Church - Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Vol XXXIX - No. 03
Website: www.fbcoakridge.org ` Email: [email protected]
January 27, 2015
TRANSITION TEAM WORKSHOP
Saturday, January 31, 9:00 AM / Upper Room-202
MISSION ACTION OPPORTUNITY
Join our Baptist Women on Mission as they bring blankets (old or new) to
give to the Ecumenical Storehouse. Their supply during this cold weather
is very low. Put the blankets in one of the Agape boxes.
Join in the season of unison prayer
for our church, the transition team we
commissioned last Sunday, and the
future of First Baptist. Come forward
and get a prayer guide at Sunday’s
service. (See “Before His Presence with Singing inside.)
FIRST LIGHT (008286) is published weekly except Christmas and July 4
by First Baptist Church, Oak Ridge, TN. Periodicals Postage Paid,
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Interim Pastor’s Column
same, they do come from the same Spirit. We read in 1
Corinthians 12:7-11,
The Transition Team was commissioned last
Sunday and will begin their assigned task with a
workshop guided by consultants from the Center for
Healthy Churches this weekend. We are thankful for
these lay leaders who are willing to go "the extra mile"
in service as they evaluate the past and present of the
church and recommend a new vision and plan for the
future.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8 in the Sermon on
the Mount, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and
you will find, knock and the door will be opened to
you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks
finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened." I hope the members of First Baptist Church
will have the faith and determination to discover the
door God will open and walk through it. Be in prayer
for the Transition Team and the consultants who will
be facilitating the process as they develop action
plans to be recommended to the church.
Every member should be actively involved in
this process. On Sunday, February 1st, Prayer Guides
will be made available for members who will commit
to praying daily for this process over the next two
months. My hope and prayer is that we will have
100% participation of members praying daily for their
church and the Transition Team. I look forward to
seeing you Sunday.
Dr. Larry Fields
Interim Pastor
Discovering our gifts is the just the first step on
this journey. As in all things, these are from God, not to
horde or store for ourselves, rather to be shared and sewn
into the community. It is in that sharing, in the blessing
of the community, that the Kingdom is grown one soul,
one neighbor, one family at a time. For as we read in 1
Peter 4:10 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one
another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.”
May God bless our coaches with knowledge and
patience to bring us to the Throne as we discover God’s
dream for our church. May God bless our Transition
Team with ears to hear and wisdom to share His word.
May God bless our church with hearts to embrace this
new vision and the changes which will come along the
way.
God’s grace and peace be with you all,
Rev. Gary Nistler
Family Life Moment
Upcoming Meetings
Pablo Picasso is credited in saying, “The
meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life
is to give it away.” There’s wisdom in this for all
Christians, and especially for our church. As we
begin our season of discernment through the transition
team and coaches, our staff and congregation are
listening for God’s guiding word and are looking for
the light which He shines before us. We search to
know His will, His dream for our church here in Oak
Ridge, in essence, to find our gifts.
The Holy Scripture is filled with passages and
stories about God’s people on a journey to find
themselves. When we were in bondage in Egypt, we
journeyed with Moses across the desert. The physical
journey was to reach the Promised Land. The
spiritual journey, however, was to find who we were
as God’s people: In essence, to find the gifts of faith
and obedience to Him.
As we listen to God, as we search for our
gifts, we remember that while not all gifts are the
TRANSITION TEAM WORKSHOP
Saturday, January 31, 9:00 a.m. / RM 202
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for
the common good. For to one is given through the
Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the
utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of
healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of
miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability
to distinguish between spirits, to another various
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of
tongues. All these are empowered by one and the
same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually
as he wills.”
SUPER COMMITTEE MEETING
Family Life Committee, etc.
Sunday, February 1, at 3:45 a.m. in RM 206.
PERSONNEL MEETING
Sunday, February 8, 2:00 p.m.
DEACONS MEETING
Monday, February 9, 7:00 p.m.
TRUSTEE MEETING
Wednesday, February 11, 6:00 p.m.
CHURCH COUNCIL MEETING
Wednesday, February 11, 7:00 p.m.
LIBRARY TEAM MEETING
Monday, February 16, 6:30 p.m.
WOMEN ON MISSIONS
Tuesday, February 17, 10:30 a.m.
Before His Presence with Singing
We have commissioned a team of Spiritfollowing, forward-looking, self-giving church saints
to set a course for God’s church at First Baptist that
will honor Him, and propel the legacy that is First
Baptist into the next generation. But the church they
seek to propagate must not sink down into the
cushions of the pews and wait for the outcome of
their meetings; we must pray. We must pray with
them and for them, and for the church.
To that end, a prayer guide will be made
available to the church this Sunday, February 1st. Not
casually, but purposefully. Prayer warriors will be
invited to come get a prayer guide from the altar area
at the end of the service. Those who accept the
privilege and discipline will be bound together in
unison prayer. Each day, for the 50 days between
February 1st and March 22nd, we will pray for specific
aspects of our church, focused on this time of
transition. Individual ministries, committees and
other aspects of the church will be matters of focused
prayer.
This call to prayer is not unique for us.
Rather, it is an essential for any body of believers
intent on securing a lasting legacy of Godly ministry.
Even Paul pled with Timothy for prayer (I Timothy
2:1ff). I defer to Fred Pratt Green to challenge us and
exhort us to our task, and may God bless our
diligence in the days and weeks ahead.
The church of Christ, in every age beset by change, but Spirit led,
must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead
Then let the servant church arise, a caring church that longs to be
a partner in Christ’s sacrifice, and clothed in Christ’s humanity.
Fred Pratt Green
FIRST BAPTIST FITNESS ROOM
Come one, come all. Help us furnish the new First Baptist
Fitness room. We are going to use the Children’s Church room
downstairs (CC will be moved upstairs) where the floor is good and
sturdy for lots of pedaling and walking-in-place and yoga-ing. (Is that a
word?) Let’s work together to make this a really fine place for us to get
our bodies in shape to serve our living God. The healthier we are, the
more we will feel like getting out there and spreading the gospel. We
will feel better in more ways than one. But before we can do anything
we have to accept, with well wishes, the benevolence of those who
care to share. Sometimes we get something we THINK we will use,
and it just does not suit our needs. Pass it on to us, somebody will find
it useful. Now accepting donations!! And thank you in advance.
Remember Our Friends
Sympathy: Earline Banic passed away January 22. Services were held
Sunday, January 25, 2015 at First Baptist Church.
Jeannette Kelley passed away January 13, 2015.
Fannie Ruth McBrayer, former FBC member passed away December
12, 2014, in Alabama. A memorial service is planned in the spring.
Immediate: Tracie Kennedy Richardson (Pat Powell’s daughter). Doris
Borchert. Mark Davis (Laura Davis’ husband). Amanda Seiber (Diana
Giles’ sister). Gerrit Dolislager (Miriam Griffin’s grandson). Jessie Short
(visitor Tammy Walls’ mother). Wanda Hughes. Abby Hull (Mary Ann Hull’s
granddaughter). John York. Shelby Roberts (friend of Diana Giles).Mary
Lou Crutcher (friend of June & Clark Huffman). Mikey Carter (Larry Carter’s
grandson). Jim & Audrey Smith. Rex Brittain (Nena Moss’ brother). Ray
Walker. John McCall (Jim McCall’s brother). Sandra & David Glover (Jenny
Rule’s daughter & son-in-law). Amy Cooper. Billy Wilkinson (Mary Dowdy’s
brother). Rachel Donavan (Mary Ann Hull’s granddaughter). Chuck Baker
family (friends of Ginny Bowers). Amanda & Todd Allen (friends of Sally
Hutson).
Long Term: Hank Hodge (Shirlene Dale’s son-in-law). Jennifer Huddleston
(friend of Amber Slessinger). Billie Taber (Teresa Myrick’s mother). Earl
Geske (Lois Scott’s brother). Todd Rush (Amber Slessinger’s father).
Theresa & Jerry Bowers. Nell Dedwylder (Frank Janous’ sister-in-law).
Amy Vincel (Margaret & Don Scott’s granddaughter). Robbie & Bernie
Kotarski (friends of Jim & Wanda Walls). Janet Hill (Karen Baker’s cousin).
At Home: Willie Alexander. Gladys Arthur. Mildred Clark. Dana Creech.
Peggy Ethridge. Fay Hale. Frankie Faloon. Ralph & Frances Ford.
Madeline Gamble. Mary Henry. Lily Howard. Jeanne McCoy. Willard
Norton. Janice Pearson. Louise Reynolds. Don & Margaret Scott. Tsumeo
(Tammy) Tamura. Julia Terry. Pauline Thompson. Christine Weems.
Nursing Homes & Health Care Centers:
Ben Atchley Veterans Hospital: Esther Manning.
Briarcliff: Wanda Hughes, 108. Dorothy Midkiff, 105.
Canterfield of Oak Ridge: Betty Beard, 110. Pat Campbell, 226.
Betty McClain, 304. John York, 339. Jack Young, 303.
Clarity Pointe, Knoxville: Oveda Pearson, B-14.
Emeritus, Oak Ridge: Dot Poteet, 167. Jean Soard, 117. Mary Lucille Tigue, 111.
The Courtyard, Oak Ridge: Anna Kate Teague.
Morning Point of Clinton: Inez Tucker, 416.
NHC, Oak Ridge: Mary Dowdy, 116. Mildred Young, 208.
Windwood Golden Living Center Clinton: Tracie Kennedy Richardson, 119.
Volunteer Reminders
Sunday Volunteers - February 1
Children’s Sermon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert May
Children’s Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ginny Bowers & Sally Hutson
Nursery 11:00 a.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linda Bunton
Patty Crunkilton, Brenda Story, Jim Walls
Deacon of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert May
Trustee of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Ray
Sunday Volunteers - February 8
Children’s Sermon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patty Crunkilton
Children’s Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brenda Story
Nursery 11:00 a.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim/Diane Qualls
Diane Williams
Deacon of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Karen McCall
Trustee of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Stephenson