Joy Has A Bright Color!

Sunday afternoon, August 31, First Baptist of Sun Lakes, hosted a choir made up of Burundians. These folks, after much turmoil and persecution in their own country, made their way to the Phoenix area and now are a significant part of the fellowship of First Southern Baptist Church of Phoenix. According to Wikipedia encyclopedia, Burundi, (pronounced Bu' rundi), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Grreat Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda on the north, Tanzania on the south and east, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west. Burundi is known as one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Due to civil wars, Burundi has a low gross domestic product, an unstable population growth, and sparse resources. Cobalt and copper are among Burundi's natural resources. Some of Burundi's main exports include coffee and sugar. I hope this information will help answer some of the questions asked by our people after hearing these delightful people sing God's praises in their native language.

The Burundian women singers were dressed in bright colors of their native land along with the men in their very neat shirts and ties. While the colors of their clothes were certainly attractive, the most observable brightness was seen in the joy on their faces. Joy has a common language! Regardless of the language of the music, joy is understandable to all.

I commend First Southern Baptist Church of Phoenix for reaching out and embracing the Burundian people with loving acceptance. As many of folks from FSBC said of the Burundians, "They bring more joy and life to our church than we give them."

I think what we see in the Burundians and the folks from First Southern is what Jesus made so clear -- "For God so loved the world ..." They give us a kingdom picture. My prayer for our church is that we will see the kingdom picture and all that it involves. If our focus is on the kingdom of God then it will never be on ourselves.

Grace,
PB

Staying Cool!

Many have said to me in the last few days, "We knew it was coming --- but that doesn't make it any easier." Of course we are talking about the summer months of 100 degrees and more that are now with us. Those of us who grew up in the Arizona desert can tell about the days when we only had "swamp" coolers to give us any relief from the scorching temperatures. At least now we have refrigeration for our cars and buildings. Okay, enough whining!

Let's look at what's really "cool." First Baptist continues to operate regardless of the time of the year. We have folks just returning from a mission trip (Ev Hardee worked in Wyoming with a Valley Rim Association team) and a team will soon be leaving for Ireland. Then in September and October, we will have teams going to Thailand and Chile. All of this is in addition to the South American Summit that will be hosted by our church November 21-22. We are doing this in partnership with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. It will be a strategic event that will impact churches and missions in South America for years to come. There will be pastors and church leaders from the Western United States coming together to meet and engage about twenty missionaries from the varies areas of South America. The purpose is to enable churches to form partnerships with missionaries and people groups in South America. Dr. Jerry Rankin, President of the IMB will be the speaker at the Friday rally and then present a Bible study on Saturday morning on "Spiritual Warfare." Everyone can be a vital part of this meeting by beginning now to pray for the Summit and all the missionaries who will be traveling from South America as well as pastors and church leader coming to the meeting.

The summer months are also a time for planning for the new Bible Study year, budget planning and men's Fraternity of Men and women's Women Of the Word. There will be another Classic Car Show November 8Th. There is so much more that could be mentioned. All of this is scheduled between vacations for staff and church leadership. We must keep our focus on Him if we are to complete all that the Father has given us to do over the next several months. This will require personal discipline and devotion to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. There is no room for spectators, but there is a great need for those who will give themselves in prayer and service.

Now you can see how we at First Baptist stay cool during the summer months!

In His Grace,
Pastor Bill

What a Weekend!

Some experiences are best appreciated when we have opportunity to sit down and reflect back on them and see what God has done in our midst. That is what I have found that helped me realize what a great weekend that we have just experienced.

Saturday, with the Classic Car Show, was far beyond all expectations. The club said that there were 76 cars that were placed on display, we gave out about 400 hot dogs and drinks and around 250 New Testaments. It is so hard to place a number on attendance because there were people continually moving in and out of the church parking lot but a conservative number would be around 1200+ people during the day. We did have folks in church on Sunday as a result of meeting them at the car show.

Sunday afternoon was another "big crowd" activity. The choir presented the "I Love America" musical. There were 330 in attendance and the encouraging part of that was that at least half of that number were not attenders from our church. The music was well done and many expressed their appreciation for a very well performed presentation.

Put it all together with Bible study, Saturday activity, musical and worship, we had about 2000 people who were touched by our church. I appreciate those who made the weekend something very special. You worked very hard to represented our church and the Lord Jesus very well. What a church! What a Savior! What a people!
PB

Have You Noticed?

These questions are directed to the church family of First Baptist of Sun Lakes but they could be for any church.

Have you noticed how well attended our services have been in recent weeks? God is good.
Have you noticed the additions to our church family lately? God is good.
Have you noticed the increase in the number of visitors in the worship services all winter? God is good.
Have you noticed the faithfulness of our Bible Study leaders in ministering God's Word? God is good.
Have you noticed how effectively our deacons serve this body? God is good.
Have you noticed the spirit of celebration in our worship services? God is good.
Have noticed how we have a large number of our people who know the joy of bringing God's tithe along with a generous offering regularly? God is good.
Have you noticed the overwhelming emphasis on missions throughout the life of our church? God is good.
Have you noticed so many of our people who sacrificially give of their time to serve on committees to ensure that the life of the church functions well? God is good.
Have you noticed some of our people who have recently experienced major surgery and illnesses are now back in our fellowship? God is good.
Have you noticed how our people are faithful to undergird all that we do in the life of our church with fervent prayer? God is good.

Well, I want you to know that I notice!!! God is really good to me allowing me the opportunity to serve a great church.
Thank you Father,
PB

What Joy!

This past weekend we celebrated the heart of what makes us Christian. We celebrated the resurrection of our Lord! First Baptist of Sun Lakes knows how to celebrate!! Beginning with the Friday evening Good Friday service then the Sunrise service (which was superb) followed by the worship service Sunday morning, God was so present. Everything that took place involved the cooperation and participation of a lot of people. The choir and those who sang solos permeated each service with uplifting music that honored the Father and was such a blessing to all of us. It would be very difficult to experience the moving and inspiring services that we enjoyed without these wonderful and devoted musicians! The Social Committee prepared a beautiful Continental breakfast for everyone following the Sunrise service that really was welcomed after time out in God's beautiful (but cool) outdoors. Bill Westberg, and those who helped him, moved quickly and efficiently as the set up for the service outside and then quickly moved equipment and chairs inside for the breakfast and then Bible Study time. The Easter decorations made such a beautiful atmosphere for our celebration. Thank you Joan and Don Hart for all that you did to make this possible. I know that we come together most times and don't realize all the folks who serve faithfully to make every service go smoothly. Ushers, greeters, sound men and office staff seldom receive their just recognition, but I want them to know that we all appreciated them very much. I know their pastor does!

Sometimes I reflect on all that God has done in the past through so many faithful people and then He reminds me, "Bill, I'm not finished yet." We have so much more to do and yet we don't want to be ahead of what the Father is doing in the life of our church. But it is very important that we make ourselves available for Him today. Yesterday has been good. Tomorrow is going to be better!! HE IS ALIVE! HE IS RISEN! We serve a RISEN LORD!
In His Grace,
PB

The Purpose of Revival

Sunday, March 2, FBC Sun Lakes begins revival services with Dr. Jimmy Draper as our evangelist. If you have any knowledge of LifeWay, which is the producer Bible study materials and support services for Southern Baptist churches throughout the world, Jimmy retired recently as President and CEO. But this is not what attracts me to him. Jimmy Draper continues to express a pastor's heart in his care and and passion for the local church. His preaching carries this passion for God's people as well as a great concern for those who do not know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.

Not many churches still set aside time for revival services. That's unfortunate because the greatest need in churches today is revival. We have allowed a "church culture" do emerge over the past many years that has marginalized or even moved away from an intentional effort to inspire people to personal renewal and commitment to reaching the lost. O that we might hear again that great old hymn that was usually sung as a part of every revival ---- "Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power, that sinners be converted and thy name glorified!"

God is bringing miraculous opportunities to our church. We are experiencing a growing heart for the world that stirs the heart beyond the ability to comprehend. But remember this, God always sees the world in need of Jesus. Anything less on our part only limits the blessings that the Father has for us. We need that "Pentecostal Power" to respond in submissive obedience to the call of God to each of us. It will never happen with business as usual. It will take a church that will only be satisfied with God's power being evidenced in every area of the life of that church. This is why the revival before us is so important. I'm praying that each of us will open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to do what ever He wants to do in us. This must happen before God will do the miraculous work He has prepared for us.

Let's make this our song --- "Lord, send the old time power, the Pentecostal power, that sinners be converted and thy name glorified!" That's the purpose for revival!

PB

Faith Promise Missions

It began with the "On Mission Celebration" when we heard from missionaries from Uruguay, Thailand, San Francisco, Indiana and yes, right here in Arizona. The missionaries were representative of International Missions and North American Missions of our Southern Baptist Convention. We heard each missionary share how they were able to serve on there particular mission field because of the support of churches, like ours, that give regularly through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program. What we experienced was the joy of putting a face on the financial support that we provide through our church budget.

Now, we are in our Faith Promise Missions emphasis. The missions committee has done an excellent job of arranging for us to hear from various representatives of the ministry and mission items in the Faith Promise Mission budget. This is just a continuation of the overall mission strategy of our church. The difference in Faith Promise missions and the Cooperative Program missions is that FPM is directed to local ministries and involves our own people going on mission projects. January 26 will be very important to all of us. This is day that we will participate in the Faith Promise Missions Fair sponsored by the missions committee. We will have opportunity to meet representatives of each of the ministries that are in the FPM budget and will be fed by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention disaster relief team. They will have their disaster relief mobile unit set up for us to see and will prepare and serve the food from that unit. I'm sure many of you remember that during the hurricane Katrina, we gave generously to support the ministry of the Southern Baptist disaster relief teams that went to New Orleans. My prayer is that once we have seen this unit and how efficiently this Arizona team serves, we will have some of our people desire to be a part of this very important ministry.

Well, God called us all to be on mission with Him and the challenge that we all must face is how do we respond. It will be different for each of us. I want to be and do what God has called me to do. Will you join me with your commitment?
PB