What a great week of VBS at First Baptist Gallatin! Thank you to each one of our volunteers who worked so hard all week to make sure our kids were loved on and taught the Gospel. It was great to see our First Baptist children as well as children from the community. Even still, I want to thank Savanna for doing a great job along with her VBS planning team! Our job as a church is to continue to pray that the seeds planted during VBS might take root, and our prayer is that our children might accept Christ as Lord and Savior.
I also want to thank you as a church for enabling me to go to the Southern Baptist Convention as a messenger from First Baptist. For those who may not be aware, we as Southern Baptists hold an annual meeting in a selected city every year where there is a Pastor’s Conference that begins on a Sunday night, and it continues all day on Monday. The PC is a time for Pastors and those in fulltime ministry to recharge, as there is praise and worship as well as numerous sermons where men speak into our lives as Pastors.
Then, all day Tuesday and Wednesday we conduct the business of the Southern Baptist Convention. I know, you may be thinking that such a meeting sounds as fun as watching paint dry. Contrary to what one might envision, these two days actually are quite engaging with reports and testimonies given from the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, Lifeway Resources, the Ethics Religious Liberty Commission, as well as our six Southern Baptist Seminaries. As a Convention of Southern Baptist Churches, we own and support all of these entities. Even still, a certain percentage of our overall church budget at First Baptist goes to the Cooperative Program, and a percentage of Cooperative Program giving Convention-wide, is used to support all of the aforementioned entities. I love how we as a convention of autonomous churches can come together to cooperate in Kingdom ministry for the cause of Christ. We can do far more together than we can apart.
One final thing I want to mention is the fact that you will not want to miss Father’s Day at First Baptist! We are planning a great morning of worship, and you will have a chance to hear from some of our own First Baptist fathers during the service. And the word on the street is we dads along with our children are going to be able to leave with something that is an old Southern tradition during the summertime months! Your taste buds will be glad you came!
Grace and peace,
