Thursday Thoughts

Each year, this church so graciously supports this Youth Ministry in our Chili Cook-Off fundraiser to subsidize travel costs for trips and events. This year you will be helping BOTH the Youth and Children’s programs grow their scholarship funds by participating in our combined Children & Youth Funds for Fun Chili Cook-Off!

I invite you to this important event that is always unlike any other Wednesday night. When you arrive for activities on Wednesday, October 16th you will not be attending your regular Wednesday night meal and programming. You will enter our Children and Youth Funds for Fun Chili Cook-Off! The Fellowship Hall will be transformed into a festive college-themed extravaganza, and I hope you will dress accordingly! Come decked out in your favorite team gear as you prepare to fill your bellies with the many delicious chilis that will be lining the room!  

On this fun-filled Wednesday you can expect to find great chili, tasty desserts and a whole lotta fun! While you are enjoying the event you can make donations in several ways. You can plan ahead and bring cash to vote for your favorite chili, write a check for your donations, and we will have donation jars on all the tables to make a private donation of cash or check if you would like. Also, we still have envelopes hanging on the board outside the main office! Our goal is to have all envelopes filled by the 16th. If all envelopes are filled, we will have just over $1000 to add to our cook-off total at the end of the night! 

We have a wonderful group of students and parents in our ministries, and I never want money to get in the way of students having an opportunity to be with their group, to build meaningful friendships, and engage in learning about their faith. Your donations help supplement the cost of the amazing activities we can continue to do. Thank you for being a church family who support our young people and the many opportunities that we can provide for our students to grow and learn in their faith. 

Grace and Peace, 

Sarah Laurence

I’m so thankful to have the pleasure of introducing a new development within our children’s ministry here at AFBC! When I entered my role a little over a year ago, one clear expressed desire from both our parents and volunteer Sunday School teachers was for a new curriculum that would not only better serve our grade-school students, but also include our preschoolers, toddlers, and their families both inside AND outside of the church on Sunday mornings. I am excited to let you know that after much discussion, research, and prayer, we are now beginning to implement a new curriculum called Orange!

The name “Orange” is intentional, and it comes from the organization’s strategy to align the church and the family. They describe their mission in the following way on their website: “The church is yellow, symbolizing light. It delivers biblical teaching and a formative environment for young people as they mature in their faith. The home is red, symbolizing love. Nothing influences kids and teens more than family. We’re Orange. Our mission is to create resources and experiences that help you bring together the church and the home and create a greater impact in the lives of kids and teens.” To read more about Orange’s mission, team, and goals, you can follow this link: https://thinkorange.com/what-we-do/.

This curriculum is also noticeably modern, and it does a great job of offering new ways of connecting and doing ministry together. Orange recognizes how valuable our time is and how, especially today, the church has fewer and fewer hours to take part physically in the spiritual development of your children and families. So, while their “in-church” curriculum is strong, they also offer much that allows families to stay connected with what is being taught inside the church as well as tons of resources to use in everyday life.

One such resource that I am in the beginning stages of setting up for us is the Parent Cue app. If you have children (whether they are participating in our programs at AFBC or not), I will highly recommend going ahead and downloading this app! This will be a great resource to you for many reasons, but I will emphasize two here. First, it will offer a way for you to see what your child is learning on Sunday mornings as well as to access supplemental tools and activities that you can use throughout your week to build upon what the children are learning at church. Secondly, this app offers tons of strong parenting resources such as newsletters, articles, age-specific guides, and a shop with fun and formational tools for the whole family. Just downloading the app and creating an account will get you some of this, but Orange even offers an affordable subscription that grants you full access to more resources for $5 a month or $49 a year! I know I pay more than that for other subscriptions that aren’t nearly as important or impactful as this! If you want to go ahead and download the app or even read more about it, you can follow this link: https://theparentcue.org/parent-cue-app/. Whether you pursue the subscription or not, I would encourage all parents to download the app and create an account for free. Then, click on the “Church” icon at the bottom of the screen and link your account to “Aiken’s First Baptist Church!” Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

As I said earlier, we are only beginning to implement this new curriculum, so please know that there will be more to come as I help to train our volunteer leaders as well as send things out on the app. For now, you can be on the lookout for take-home materials that your children will receive at the end of Sunday School each week. Thank you all for your continued support as we strive to be the best we can be for our children and families!

In truth and love,

Matt Waller

(704) 466-2321

mwaller@fbcaiken.org

Below you will find information pulled together by leaders of both Second Baptist and First Baptist about the upcoming Repair Conference we are hosted jointly on November 8-9. I want to invite you to prayerfully consider being involved in the conference and the meaningful conversations that we hope will take place throughout the weekend. You will find a link at the bottom of the email to register, or you can find the event in our church app and register there.

Grace and Peace,

John

Aiken Churches Hosting Conversation Around History and Hope, Continuing Work of “Repairing Breaches” in the CSRA

Aiken’s First Baptist Church and the Second Baptist Church of Aiken are taking a new step in their longtime journey of serving the community together. On November 8th and 9th, the congregations are gearing up to host a symposium of conversations surrounding the history of race in Aiken from the perspective of faith leaders, with an eye toward healing historic hurts and bridging individuals and communities as Aiken moves into the future. The event is titled Repairing the Harms of Racism: Why This is a Work of the Church. Featured facilitators for the weekend will include the Rev. Dr. Prince R. Rivers, Senior Pastor of the Union Baptist Church of Durham, NC and a faculty member at the Duke Divinity School, as well as Rev. Dr. Bill Leonard, Founding Dean and Professor Emeritus of the Wake Forest Divinity School.

Heavily inspired by the Scriptural mandate for believers to become “repairers of the breach” (Isaiah 58:12) within society, the weekend of activities aims at facilitating courageous conversations and intimate communal experiences to foster true openness and unity among Aikenites of goodwill. Within the immersive weekend, participants will hear others’ stories, have open conversations about the past, and strategize on how to build a fair and hope-filled future.

For years the two congregations have engaged in mutual ministry opportunities, including hosting a GED program along with ChristCentral, worshiping jointly twice per year, leading out in a cohort of churches taking racial harmony seriously within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina, among other projects. This next step is meant to further unity and understanding among citizens.

Registration is required for the two-day event which includes meals on both Friday and Saturday. The registration fee is $20 to help defray the costs of the event, but if the cost is prohibitive to participation, then individuals are encouraged to register through either church office where the fees may be waived. The event will be held at Second Baptist Church of Aiken and will run from 5:30 to 8:30 pm Friday and 9:00 am to 3:30 pm Saturday. Registration is currently open to all and interested parties are encouraged to register now at: https://subspla.sh/s4ytvtr.

We wanted to take a moment this week to encourage individuals to use our excellent church app! The app is a hub for many of the wonderful things going on at Aiken’s First Baptist. Our livestream and all previous worship services can be viewed there, our podcast can be listened to there, all events and registrations can be found there, and there are groups for various Sunday school classes and committees in which communications can be sent out. That is only scratching the surface! If you already have the app, feel invited to dive back in and see what is going on. If you don’t have it, please invited to download and register for it!

We have prepared a tidy guide for getting the app which can be found below. We also suggest everyone view this guide, as it discusses how you can best be sure you are getting all notifications from the app!

Click here to view the app guide!

Toward the end of last year, our Church Council made the decision to participate in an initiative of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) called Thriving Congregations. For those who might need a refresher on what that is, CBF defines it well in the following way: “The Thriving Congregations Initiative exists to equip churches to fulfill their unique call, and by extension, thrive, in today’s chaotic world. The organizing thesis of this work centers on the belief that thriving congregations exhibit capacities around five key traits: Compelling Clarity, Holy Tenacity, Faithful Agility, Rooted Relationships, and Dynamic Collaboration. The Thriving Congregations Initiative’s signature ministry is the year-long, incubator-style learning community to equip congregational leadership teams to develop practices that lead toward the embodiment of the five thriving traits. Through this process, congregations will engage in Holy Experiments to accelerate learning and uncover pathways that lead to transformation.”

Since our decision to take part in this initiative, the six-person team put together to participate in it (Randy Duckett, Lindsey McCullough, Rose Ann Pistole, Josh Pniewski, Matt Waller, and John Carroll) have been hard at work learning about and acting out the process named above. We have now participated in two different retreats, monthly Zoom calls with Chris Aho (along with other groups taking part in this initiative), monthly sessions with our “Wise Guide” (Mike Smith), and several other meetings with just our team.

Much of our work has revolved around understanding and assessing our church’s abilities when it comes to the five key traits (listed above) to highlight some areas that our future Holy Experiments might address. You might be glad to know that many of our church’s strengths have been easily identified both by those participating as well as those leading us through this process. However, as with any system, there are areas that have been identified where we have a large capacity to be better. The trait of Compelling Clarity stood out as one that fell into this category. Becoming clearer on who we are as a church and the specific mission God has called us to live out in our unique context has also been a large part of the work we have been doing. Fortunately, our church is already taking steps to improve clarity through things like our recent Bold Faithfulness Initiative, and that is just one of the ways we are moving toward thriving together!

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “That sounds great and all, but this is so much new vocabulary and I’m not sure I’m following along!” That’s okay! Our team has put in the work learning this process so that we can continue to pass it on to one another and continue to provide you with some clarity. In fact, there are two main ways that you can expect to hear from us very soon and learn more about the Thriving Congregations Initiative. The first is by tuning in to our podcast, Rooted and Grounded. The members of our team are already meeting up to record some conversations on the five traits, design thinking, holy experiments, and the work that is ahead of us to become a thriving congregation! The second is by tuning in to worship on Sunday mornings. Throughout the months of September and October, the sermons will also be addressing these topics as well as their deeply theological bases. You won’t want to miss either, so please join us as we seek to find a more excellent way of being God’s hands and feet in Aiken.

Lastly, I would just like to thank you for your continued prayer and support of our team and the work they are doing. As is anything worth doing, this is not easy work, but I can attest to the fact that it is deeply fulfilling, honest, and transformational. May we all pursue a more adventurous spirit as we continue our journey to be obedient to God’s will. Amen.

In truth and love,

Matt Waller

Christmas Cantata!

Greetings and salutations to you, church family!

Much like Hobby Lobby, we here at Aiken’s First Baptist Church are already looking ahead to Christmas! Yes, although it seems very early, it is time to start preparing for this joyous season. This is particularly true for the music ministry, so much so that we will be having our Christmas Cantata Kickoff on Sunday, September 8, from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm. This event serves as an opportunity for those interested in singing in the Christmas Cantata on December 15, 2024 during our 11:00 am worship to come together and become accustomed to this year’s music. The first part of the kickoff will be spent running through the entire work but beginning at 5:00 pm we will transition to a wonderful Italian dinner in the fellowship hall. If interested in joining us, please follow the registration link below so that we have an accurate count for the meal. Please do consider singing with us as it is a wonderful opportunity for fellowship and leadership in worship. After the kickoff, the first 30 minutes of regular Wednesday night rehearsal beginning at 7:30 pm will be devoted to cantata work. Even if you can’t make every rehearsal, or even the kickoff, you are invited! We would love nothing more than to fill our choir loft for this very special service.

Cantata Kickoff 2024 – Aiken’s First Baptist Church (subsplash.com)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Zach Derr

Earlier this year, the discipleship committee began working on Bible studies for this fall and next spring.  As they were working on these, they decided to pick one overarching theme that various short-term Bible studies could fit into. Eventually, they landed on Micah 6:8:  

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; 

   and what does the Lord require of you 

but to do justice, and to love kindness, 

   and to walk humbly with your God?  

Now, not every Bible study in the fall, winter, and spring will touch on this theme exactly, but most of them will in some form or fashion.  For instance, our Wednesday night study on our Baptist identity may seem distant from this theme.  Yet, it will touch on what it means to be a Baptist church that ordains and affirms women in all levels of church leadership—definitely an issue of equity and justice in our day.  

Below you will see a full list of the offerings for the fall, winter, and spring, and we hope you will make plans to join in some or all of these studies.  We especially hope this will be true for those of you who do not yet have a regular small group you belong to.  If we truly want to grow deeper in our faith and closer in our walk with Jesus, we need to do so alongside others who enrich us by their words and their walk of faith.  

Speaking of regular, ongoing small groups, you will find a full list of our Sunday morning and weekday small group listed below.  There are some new offerings there as well, including a Friday morning offering for men, so we hope you will check those out and join us as we grow together! 

The majority of our students have already begun a new school year, and our college students will return to classes in mid-August. Think about all that a new school year brings – new teachers, harder subjects, new friends, peer pressure and new school campuses for some of our students. Add to that the concerns about safety on school campuses. College students will face the challenges of making important life decisions during their collegiate years. Our students need the prayer support of their church family. We were so blessed last year by the response of our church family that we were able to pair all of our students in 3-K through college with prayer partners. We hope to do the same again this year. We hope that families with students will consider being prayer partners for other students. This will be a great opportunity to teach your students the importance of praying for others. We are asking prayer partners to pray at least once a week for 3-4 students. When you receive your list of students with contact information, we ask that you let them know that you are their prayer partners for this school year. We would encourage prayer partners to send a few cards during the school year, but that is optional. If you would be willing to bless the lives of our students by praying for them, please contact Sara Adams at 803-292-8551 or at barry_adams@bellsouth.net. There will also be sign-up sheets in the Sunday School packets. Thank you for being a loving, caring church family as we entrust our students into God’s care this school year through our prayers.

The Prayer Ministry Team

My Summer at a Glance  

I want to start by saying that my time here at Aiken’s First Baptist has been another great summer, and I might even add that it was one of my favorite summers yet! For those who might not recall, my name is Emily Berry, and I am an Intern here for Sarah, our Minister of Youth and Pastoral Care. This is my third summer interning with the Youth and my fourth overall at Aiken’s First Baptist. Somehow, we fit so many fun and exciting activities and events into the eight short weeks that I have been here for this summer. We planned a movie day for Inside Out 2; we ate yummy food and talked with the youth during our Prayer Breakfast and Lunch club events. We went to a baseball game, did a night of late-night bowling, helped with VBS, got wet at the kickball slip-n-slide, and had a blast going to the pinball arcade and eating ice cream together! It was a jampacked summer, and I enjoyed every second of it. Along with everything we did, I also participated in worship in many different positions, whether by reading scripture, doing the call to worship, or writing a pastoral prayer. I was able to immerse myself in ministry work. On top of everything I could do here, I was also allowed to participate in the General Assembly. I was given ample opportunities to network and see old friends at this CBF-organized conference. At the end of the week, I was blessed and commissioned along with my fellow interns during the final worship service.   

Since the biggest summer event is Unidiversity, our summer camp, the prep took up most of our time this summer. Sarah and I spent countless hours in the office working to make this short week at Maryville a week to remember for the Youth. And not to toot our horns, but if you ask any youth, I think we accomplished just that. Camp week has always been my favorite time during the summer; as a youth and even as an intern, my sentiment is the same, maybe even more so than that of a camper. I had the opportunity to help at camp, teach a Bible Study (this year being 7th and 8th graders), and lead the volleyball elective, which I particularly enjoyed this year. The cool thing about these opportunities is that I get to work with and be surrounded by kids, not from our church; these youth are sometimes strangers, yet you can make connections with them that have the potential to last years and years to come. 

Along with connecting with youth from other churches, I am always excited to see what new things I experience with our youth. What new personality traits will they feel more comfortable showcasing during this week? What funny stories are they now willing to share during our late-night talks? How will they show how much they have grown compared to last year, not only in their faith but also in who they are? It’s such a privilege to see them grow in so many ways, seeing that I have known so many of these youth since they were babies.  

As my summer and internship are quickly coming to an end, I want to give a shoutout to the AFBC staff, who are such a great group of individuals, who work well together, and strive to do what is best for everyone. I am honored to be able to work with them for such a short amount of time in the summer. They make it hard for me to go back to Clemson and make me wish I could stay year-round! More specifically, I need to give an even bigger thanks to not just my boss but my friend, my partner in crime, Sarah. You are amazing at what you do, and I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would want to do this work with. You guide and inspire me in many ways, making my summers valuable and gratifying! 

Dear Church Family,

Earlier this week, Paul Baxley, the Executive Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, sent out an encouragement and challenge in the light of the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump. I share it below so that you also may be encouraged and challenged as you continue in your prayers for all of our leaders, for all those grieving, and for our nation. May we at Aiken’s First Baptist Church continue to discover and to live out God’s more excellent way.

Grace and Peace,

John Carroll

July 15, 2024

On Saturday’s Violence and the Call to be Bold Peacemakers

By Paul Baxley, CBF Executive Coordinator

Saturday evening brought an act of horrific violence, as a gunman attempted to take the life of former President Donald Trump.

On Sunday morning, believers gathered for worship in congregations across our Cooperative Baptist Fellowship family and far beyond. Prayers were offered for President Trump, for the family of Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore who died, for the others who were injured, for all who witnessed this horrific act and for our nation so badly torn apart by a bitter partisanship that too long has paralyzed us and now threatens to destroy us. These are the prayers that I have been offering since learning of this terrible act and encourage us to continue praying in the days to come.

As these horrific events unfolded Saturday, I was among hundreds of Baptist leaders from all over the world who were returning home from the Annual Gathering of the Baptist World Alliance in Nigeria, in which we considered our common calling to be peacemakers in a world of violence.

Today our nation is entering an even more intense phase of the 2024 election cycle as the Republican Convention opens today and next month the Democrats will follow suit. The debates will be intense, and the differences will be stark. I believe we Cooperative Baptists are called to be bold peacemakers in this difficult time. Can we insist on a politics that respects the image of God even in those with whom we disagree? Might we model an approach to difference that speaks the truth in love and conviction rather than in fear and domination? Can we encourage one another, and all our fellow citizens, to enter this season not by speaking destructively but rather by voting from our deepest places of conscience and insisting that this freedom and responsibility be afforded to all?

As I shared in our General Assembly just weeks ago, even as our world is becoming more and more fearful of difference and is even more likely to retreat into echo chambers of sameness, God is in the process of making our Fellowship more diverse. Most of our partner congregations have been politically diverse from our earliest days. I believe this diversity equips us uniquely to model a more excellent way and be instruments of God’s peace. Let us do so not only for the sake of this nation but even more for the mission of Christ in the world.

June 27, 2024 

The Southern Baptist Convention Takes Steps to Distance Itself from Aiken’s First Baptist Church 

For at least four decades, the Southern Baptist Convention has been engaged in internal power struggles between fundamental conservatives and moderates.  This has spilled out into public fights, razor-thin majorities in key SBC elections, and an unswerving commitment by the conservative winners to shift the focus of the entire body.  This has been accomplished through years of finetuning the membership lists of key committees to ensure a common focus for member churches in a denomination which prominently lists “independence” as one of the key tenets of their Baptist faith.  These struggles have come at a time when church participation nationwide is declining, and young people in particular are engaged at the lowest levels ever as they find these institutions irrelevant and out of touch.  

This spring, John Carroll became aware of a troubling development which could very well impact our church and will require our due diligence to educate ourselves and to take action as deemed appropriate.  First Baptist Church of Richmond, on May 19, voted to separate from the Southern Baptist Convention by an overwhelming majority, ending a 179-year relationship.  Like us, at FBC Aiken, they had been dually affiliated with the SBC and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a breakaway group from the SBC formed in 1991.  This action was taken “in response to the SBC’s proposed constitutional amendment requiring pastors and elders of its cooperating churches to be men.”  A statement issued by FBC Richmond characterized the vote as necessary  to “…get ahead of the inevitable process that would have the church expelled from the denomination, as has recently happened to other churches with female ministers on staff.  If the SBC’s constitutional amendment passes, hundreds of churches are expected to depart the SBC or be kicked out.”    

A year ago, at the annual meeting of the SBC, this proposed amendment to its constitution was passed by more positive votes than the required two-thirds majority, but by laws requires it be approved by two consecutive votes.  The New York Times described the action taken last year:  

“Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in New Orleans approved an amendment to their constitution that their churches must have “only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”   

Even before the second vote at this year’s meeting for ratification, churches have been, and are being, disassociated for including women in their ministerial staff.  A notable case is Saddleback Baptist Church (founded by Rick Warren) voted out last year and several other churches.  This week, the participants in the annual SBC meeting voted on this amendment but fell just short of the 2/3 majority needed to pass it.  That failure, however, did not hinder the SBC’s collective decision to disaffiliate another church for having a woman in the role of Associate Minister for Youth.  

Our church has called women to serve in key roles since 1960, when Sara Posey began  twenty years of service in professional support for Christian Education.  She was followed ably by Vicky McCullough and Ellen Looper as consecutive Directors of Children’s Programs.  Women were hired as Ministers (or Pastors) beginning in 2000 when Rev. Sheree Jones was hired as Associate Minister (2000-2006), and then Rev. Mary Carol Anderson (Associate Minister for Student Programs 2008-15),  Rev. Amy Sterz (Associate Minister in Christian Education, 2008-15), Rev. Megan Doud (Minister of Students and Missions, 2016-21), and Rev. Sarah Laurence (Minister of Youth and Pastoral Care, 2021-Present).    

Since 1995, our church has affirmed the right of women to serve as Deacons, with a change in the By Laws to that effect in September, and the election of Jane Talbert as the first woman in December of that year.  A number of women have ably served in that role in the ensuing years, and currently seven of our eighteen Deacons are women.  

Given our history and traditions of honoring the contributions, leadership, and ministry of women, both the Church Council and the Deacons have asked that we begin a conversation about severing our ties to the Southern Baptist Convention rather than wait for them to act to ‘disassociate’ us from their organization.  Such a conversation must consider our current relationship with the group.    

As far back as 1991-92, the church leaders were concerned that SBC policies were becoming more proscriptive on key issues, and many churches found that the freedom to live out their Biblical mandates as they deemed best were being challenged.  In 1993, the decision was made at FBC Aiken to reach out to a new and emerging group which ultimately evolved into the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  Church members were offered the opportunity to make their mission gifts to SBC or CBF programs as this change was implemented and continuing annually, but the number of gifts designated to SBC programs has steadily declined, with no such requests last year.  

Ties to SBC were maintained at minimal levels to retain access to staff benefits programs under the Guidestone banner, open only to SBC churches at that time.  Now, with the actions contemplated at the SBC General Conference, our ability to continue the health insurance and retirement plans currently available to us is in significant jeopardy.  The church staff are exploring alternative sources for these services and the Personnel Committee will be reviewing them in the near future.  

With that background, we will hold a congregational meeting on Wednesday, July 24 at 6:00 pm to discuss this matter further.  If deemed appropriate at that time, we may move forward with a called business meeting at a future date to consider a formal proposal to separate from the Southern Baptist Conference.  

Additional resources may be found at: https://fbcaiken.org/background-documents 

Last week, our church had the incredible opportunity to minister to over 100 children (and their families) during Vacation Bible School. It was only because of your generosity and the faithfulness of our volunteers that we were able to do this. I can confidently say that God’s love was made known in a big way, not only to the little ones, but to the adults as well. This year’s theme, “Scuba: diving into friendship with God,” focused on five main truths about God: that God is real, a friend who loves, a friend we can trust, a friend forever, and a friend for everyone. I am proud of the way that our volunteers not only taught these truths last week, but more importantly, embodied them to the ones in their care.  

I am proud of and humbled by the many people who helped to make V.B.S. a success this year. We genuinely wouldn’t have been able to do it without each and every one of the following individuals:  

Stage Construction and Design: Vicky and Jim McCullough 

Crew Leaders: Diane Addis, Elizabeth Anderson, Emily Berry, Margaret Campbell, Casey Carroll, Alan Hicks, Nancy Holmes, Gretchen and Patrick LeGrand, Melanie Pniewski, Heather Thurmond, & Penny Young 

Station Leaders and Support Staff: Rob Addis, Francine Alsbrooks, Allison Basile, Cathey and Tom Braziel, Susan Carr, John Carroll, Zach Derr, Gabe Gainey, Katherine Hicks, Sarah Laurence, Ellen Looper, Marion Mobley, Susan Myers, Marcy and Tom Reid, Kami Rice, Debbie Sessions, Karen Wilson, & Marilyn Winn 

AFBC Youth: Scott Campbell, William Fishpaw, Isabella McComb, Jack Nation, Caden Pniewski, Ali and Kingsley Rice, & Justin Wilson 

And all those who showed support in other ways (prayer, encouragement, advice, set-up, clean-up, and/or snacks, supplies, and monetary donations)  

Please continue to be in prayer for the lasting impacts (seen and unseen) that V.B.S. might have on the lives of those in our care last week. Whether we ever see them again or they are prompted to continue engaging with our church further, may we continue to be examples of God’s deep love for them. Just as we encouraged those last week to look out for “God sightings,” may we be a people whose hearts and eyes are always attentive to seeing God in both the ordinary as well as the not-so-ordinary. May we also never grow tired of giving thanks and praise to God for the many ways we have been blessed!  

If you didn’t get a chance to serve during V.B.S. this year, don’t worry! I would love to get you plugged in next year! Again, thank you all for your continued investment in the children’s program here at AFBC! It is vital for the continued life and growth of our church!   

In truth and love, 

Matt Waller