Waiting Is Hard

 I recently had a conversation with a friend about the ridiculous attitude I have when I have to wait for my faucet; you know, the one in my house that I didn't have to pump or even go out to the well to draw up, just the regular faucet in the comfort of my own kitchen when it takes so long to fill up a pot of water.  Silly, right?  But I find in this world where we have access to pretty much everything in a flash that this idea of waiting seems almost unheard of.  So when my husband recently lost his job after 9 1/2 years we thought, "Certainly he will get another one in no time."  God has other plans.
                 Here we are several months later and still no new job.  Psalm 27:14 has come to mind many times:  "Wait on the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  What does this look like in this world?  Am I a person who is really willing to wait on the Lord?  I have to admit that God has been consistently teaching me patience, from my children, to homeschooling, to trying to learn submission.  It all seems to boil down to waiting on God to work and me not trying to push things through in my time.
                 I have been challenged this past year to not just wait on the Lord but to trust Him.  I suppose that's a part of waiting, isn't it?  Trusting that God has everything in control and that He will "work all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose."  But that's just the thing, it has to be according to His purpose, not mine.  I think we sometimes miss that part.  We love the first part of that verse, but it's really the second part that drives the first.  According to HIS purpose.  Whatever that purpose may be, however inconvenient to my personal preferences, however hard, wherever it may take me.  His purpose, not mine!  So, I need to wait.
                God is good.  He is faithful.  He is the Almighty!  The Maker of the universe, the One who holds all things together!  The One who knit me together and knew the number of my days before one of them came to be!  I don’t want to miss the blessings He has planned because I failed to trust Him.  I want to say, "Yes, Lord, Your will be done and I will wait on You because I know Your way is so much better than anything I could have ever imagined! I don't want anything apart from Your perfect will!"  Because if it isn't from His hand, it isn't worth having.
                And so, I wait and I trust and I remind myself of who He is, of His promises.  I remind myself of the fact that He is forever faithful, He is perfect, He is good, He is just and He loves me with a never ending love.  He loves you like that too!  Why would we doubt or ever want to rush something that Awesome!  Lord, take my heart, my mind, my life!  They’re yours!  Your will be done!

Still waiting in Him,
Charity Jenkins

Building A Chapel...Bonding Families

During college and medical school I went on medical missions to Malawi, Africa and Brazil. As there were no medical or missionary types in my family, they were eye-opening experiences. After residency, I started my medical practice, got married and had a family. I thought my next mission would have to wait until retirement.



Then last October, Pastor Jeff announced a “family mission” to the Dominican Republic open to kids 8 and older. My youngest would be 8 in the spring! That was a sign. All three of my children wanted to go, and they rarely agree. That was a sign. Then my husband expressed interest. Sign us up God…here we come!



My children gave their own $50 for the deposit. At times they complained they wanted it back, then they would get into donating competitions, each trying to out donate the other. They gave up Christmas money and helped plan and work many fundraisers in the ensuing months. Weston turned 8 and asked for donations instead of gifts and hardly complained.

The kids heard that the showers were cold, and that the food was different. The trip that originally sounded so interesting began to be a source of anxiety and now they wanted out. I wondered if we were doing the right thing as we stressed about the fundraising, packing, and planning. We began to pray about our worries each night.



Then we left.



During the prior months of planning and working together we had forged new and stronger relationships with the other families. On the trip I experienced true community as we parented, taught, and took care of each others children. We relied on and looked out for each other. We worked together to spread God’s word and create a new chapel for a community we didn’t know.



The last day of the mission, God spoke to me through each of my children. After we finished building the chapel, Weston sat on my lap and thanked me for bringing him. That night Samantha completed the survey for Time Ministries. On the question, what was your favorite part? She answered “everything.” And during our celebration dinner that night Sean said he wanted to stay another week and build another chapel. When we left on the mission, our family still had a significant deficit in our fundraising account. When we returned, Pastor Jeff notified us that because other families had raised extra support, our deficit was almost gone. All of our prayers answered, period.

-Erin Hurley

 

 

                            First Baptist website: www.fbcsalem.org

Wild Game Dinner

PTL Success!



When our  team first started talking about having a wild game dinner many people asked what kind of games we were going to play. I would often say that we will play blindfolded twister, Pachisi without using your hands, etc. In reality, we wanted to create an outreach event that would connect men and the outdoors. This venue would be an opportunity for men to get together to see some nice mounts from hunts, hear hunting stories, eat some great food.


Let me give you a small overview of the evening. Upon entering the CLC doors, our guests were greeted by two ATV’s, a duck blind, and the sounds of duck calls and elk bugling.  Continuing down the hall, they received a ticket for the evening and their choice of many styles of pocket knives. Walking toward the banquet room we had name tag table and different animal skins for touch and feel.


The banquet room had tables for the 120 men, nicely decorated by Carol Hanna and her friends. There were center pieces with a duck decoy on every table. The front of the room looked like a wild life museum. We had elk, buffalo, mountain lion, deer and antelope. Set up amongst the wildlife mounts was the podium.


There were elk sausage appetizers cooked out front on the grill, and we enjoyed wild fish tacos for dinner.  Over 70 door prizes were given away during the evening. The men enjoyed some fellowship time before the men were challenged by Pastor Jeff Beltz who spoke on predators. Predators are prowling around looking for what they can devour and destroy. The predator can do damage and devour your wild game if you are not alert and quick to your prize. As men, we have to be alert and quick to defend ourselves and our families from spiritual predators that are looking to destroy. Satan the devourer is out to destroy our spiritual life, testimony, joy and peace. We have to ask ourselves if we are prepared to stand against those attacks? If not, our men’s ministry would like to help you develop a strong defense against your predator.  

We had several men attend this event that do not go to our church. The best part of the evening was that several men checked a box on their response card that said that they had prayed to receive Christ.  Hallelujah!


Thank you to all the men who had a part in this event. All the hard work and time you put into this event was rewarded by the response by our visitors, especially those who prayed to receive Christ.  We had an extraordinary team that put it all together--thank you!  We also appreciate all the men who attended. The fellowship was great. We had men arriving a little after 5:00 and staying until almost 10:00. We look forward to the next Sportsman dinner.

- Pastor Leon

 


18-38 year olds--we need your opinion

Take the Gen2Survey and you could win an i-Pad mini.  For any person 18-38--parent, single, married this survey will ask about how you were raised, your beliefs and your current lifestyle.  Salem First Baptist is participating in this national survey for the purpose of sharpening our discipleship of families and our children.  Thanks for participating. 

 

                            First Baptist website: www.fbcsalem.org

go to SFB prayer wall

Everyday Extraordinary

Everyday Extraordinary
My mom would tell you that she is not unique or different from lots of other moms. She would tell you that she just loves her family and wants to see us happy. Even though I have learned many times not to disagree with my mom, I am going to have to disagree with her on this point. It’s not the tasks that make her special; it is her relentless, persistent, day-in day-out commitment to doing those things that makes her so extraordinary.
                My mom had 3 boys, 3 BIG boys. Growing up we were about as rough and hungry as 3 boys can be. She stayed at home rather than work which was a financial sacrifice, but one that she wanted to make because she wanted to spend as much time with us as possible. She did so many things for us; here’s a small list of the amazing things she did as she raised us:  She cooked big dinners for big boys, went to thousands of games (and she doesn’t really enjoy sports), kept the house standing and looking good, picked us up from school, helped with homework (mom is the smartest, sorry pop), washed our stinky clothes, loved our stinky friends, knew where to find everything we lost, gave us hugs, asked how our day was, showed us a loving marriage, gave us an example of a confident woman, protected us from girls, laughed with us, laughed at us, loved our animals, and, oh yeah, she beat cancer like it was a dirty rug. That’s a special list, she is a special woman. With those things being said, here are the top 5 things my mom has always done for me:
1.       She prays for me. Every. Single. Day. You know how I know she does? She tells me all the things she prays for me and how God is going to do something. I have long joked that God answers my mom’s prayers first because when she prays something, it always seems to get done. I know that her prayers have brought more blessings on my life than I can count.
2.       She speaks Truth into my life. She seemingly knows the perfect Scripture for every situation because she reads her Bible every day. When I was 18 I was hanging out with a girl who my mom had a bad feeling about; one afternoon I walked into my bedroom to find a note card with a verse written on it. It said this, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion,” Proverbs 11:22. I couldn’t believe my mom would think this about a girl I liked. I was offended. I was also wrong. Like with most everything, she was right about the girl. Moms are smart like that.
3.       She believes in me. My mom has always told me that when she was pregnant with me, she would pray for me and God gave her a special feeling. In fact, she has told me since I was young that God made me to be a Pastor and she would list all the things she saw in me and made her believe so. If ever it were suggested to my mom that I would be something less than great, she would scoff at the notion because her boy is special. It’s that kind of confidence and support that makes me believe that God created me to do great things.
4.       She has always listened to me when I have things to say. There have been lots of times when I have said things she didn’t like to hear, and she still listened. She has always been safe to talk to because I know whether I’m saying something smart or stupid that she will respond with compassion, grace, and my best interest at heart.
5.       I think my mom did the hardest thing a mother can do. She let me go. She let me move away to live in a city 2 ½ hours away rather than 10 minutes away. It would have been easy to encourage me to stay close to home but she knew that if I stayed home, I would never reach the potential she so believes I have. It was hard but it needed to be done. Who better than a mom to take on that kind of task?
I love my mom very much. I haven’t always expressed that love to her very well. I mean, I am a boy and a lot of boys just don’t quite know the right way to say “I love you” or “Thank you” to mom. Many of you are moms who are in the midst of raising your children and, even if they don’t tell you this often enough, I want you to know something: your children love you more than they can express and God is so pleased with you. You might not think that your prayers are being answered, but they are. You might not think your kids hear what you’re saying, but they do. You might not think they care what you say about them, but they do. You might not think they want to talk to you, but they do. You might not want to let them go, but sometimes it’s what’s best. Keep doing those things that seem mundane and ordinary; because if you do those ordinary things consistently enough, they become extraordinary.

-Patrick Frost, Middle School Pastor