Week 10

With the Thanksgiving Holiday many college students that went away for the semester returned for the week and stayed through Sunday. With Thanksgiving under our belts our minds now were focused towards Christmas. I met this the College Sunday School department and proposed a Christmas Project to them. It is called "The Power of Giving." It is a project that hones our change the world vision to a very specific people group. Over 25 students signed up to take part in the project, and many asked if they could invite other people to join. The Project needs no exclusivity, and all are welcome. I plan to propose the plan to a few more departments to enlist all that I can, hopefully we can give the gift of the good news to many who don't hear it.

Power to Give

As the Christmas season approaches I want to reevaluate the process of Giving. Christmas has moved away from giving and towards a circle of exchange, aside from “Angel Trees” or similar programs.

The Son of God did not just come to reveal to humans the circle of blissful exchanges within the Holy Trinity as the model for gift-giving between humans; he divested himself of heavenly wealth and became a Holy Child so that the fragile flesh of humanity could be taken up into the embrace of the eternal God. In both of these cases, the circle of intimates opened up, and the gifts left that circle to reach those in need. Gifts did not travel on a two-way street so that the closed circle of givers and receivers could delight in their exchanges; gifts traveled on a one-way street so that the needy could be helped.

Christmas celebration is about two kinds of gift giving, not just one. It is about reciprocal giving in a circle of intimates, an enactment of a provisional advent of God’s future world of love. It is also about unidirectional giving to those outside the circle of intimates, a small contribution to aligning the world of sin and need with God’s coming world of love. Mostly at Christmas, we practice the first kind of giving (that is, we practice it if we succeed in resisting the temptation to make Christmas into a large festival not of mutual delight but of common greed, a season in which we use faith to justify our greed).

…For Christmas is not the goal, the realization of the world of Perfect love. Christmas is the movement toward that goal, the endeavor of God to draw all people into the world of love.

-Miroslav Volf (Against the Tides, p.174-175)

I have observed on the youth mission trip to Mexico an odd occurrence. The youth will do crafts daily with the children in Mexico and, the children usually wish to give their completed craft to a student they care about. My first instinct was that the children must not really want the craft or do not understand that it is theirs to keep. But this odd occurrence happens too frequently for this to be the case. It is my theory that the child deeply wants to give a symbol of appreciation to the student he or she love, and the only thing they possess to give is that craft. We, without meaning to, have enabled them with the power to give, and with this power the children freely gave. (Howie has also observed this in Russia with the orphans.)

The Idea:

I want us to put together “Presents” for the Christmas season. The recipients of the “Presents” will be those in need, who are outside our circle of intimates. Most likely we will try to reach the homeless of Amarillo. The idea is to give them a gift this holiday season, and then to also give them a gift to give to someone. God is the ultimate giver, and he has bestowed blessings in our life so that we have the ability to partake in the blessing of giving. This project will not only allow us to give to those in need but also empower them to be able to give as well. The common adage “it is better to give, than it is to receive”, seems selfish to me if they are the ones only able to give. Included in the “Presents,” we will include a letter to the receiver about what Christmas means to you, and what we want them to do with the other gift. We will deliver together, personally give our “Presents” and then pray for them and wish them a Merry Christmas.

“Present” will include:

 

2 gifts both about $10 dollars each

2 Gideon Bibles (Provided)

1 Hand Written Letter

Cost: About $20

What I want from you:

I will not accept money towards this cause; I only want people who are committed. If you would like to participate, you are responsible for providing a “Present.” This means purchasing, wrapping, and delivering. (Partnerships can be done, but details will be handled by those involved.) I will set two dates that we can travel to purchase together and wrap together and then another date to deliver together.

Possible Questions:

Is it mandatory that they give the second present away? No, giving should come from their heart. We are only giving them an opportunity and suggestion.

I will be out of town on the delivery dates. Can I still participate? Every city has homeless people, and I suggest you give your “Present” wherever you will be.

Should I not do the Angel Tree? I do not want to prevent you from taking part in anything you typically do at Christmas; this is designed to be in addition to. It would be great to be able to give as much outside the circle of intimates as we do inside.

What types of gifts? Something that would improve their quality of life: socks, gloves, blankets, etc.

Can I spend more that $20? I would recommend not to do so. Jealousy and thievery runs rampant in homeless circles. We want to give equal gifts as a whole, so as not to feed the fire of infighting.

Why won’t I accept money? I have no intention of stealing the blessing that I feel this will be in your life.

Shawn Boyd

Week 9

A relatively slow week, but for a high point I received my business cards. I never felt the need to have some printed until Upward Football. There were a few times that I would be talking to a family and had to  give them my phone number verbally and then spell out my name. It was just an awkward ordeal, they would even have to note who I was, so that the next time they looked at my name it wouldn't be a random name. The original business card layout was created by 3Leaf, it was part of First Baptist Church's overall facelift. The Business Cards are well fitting part to our over all brand.

Week 8

It was a very busy week. Monday we had our annual halloween alternative at the Family Life Center. We call it the Fall Festival, which is probably the typical name of it at several churches around the US. It is an even that is open to the public, so it is a very good way to get people to walk into church, that would otherwise probably never enter our doors. We had over 750 people at fall festival, the number is a little bit down from last year but the weather last year was freezing.

For Fall Festival we hire Parties, Picnics, and Promotions to fill up our gym and game room with jump houses and games. We man every station with volunteers from church. In the weeks leading up to the event sunday school members have opportunities to sign up. It was a two hour event and we just asked for a commitment of one hour from each volunteer. So we had over 100 hundred volunteers sign up, it is a real testament to the involvement and devotion of our congregation.

The following night was Upward Football Awards night, It was a good night, coaches participated in competitive games on stage for the entertainment of the kids and parents. The games went over really well, and the crowd stayed very involved. We had a brief ceremony and gave the players their end of season gifts, and along with it received a dvd. On the DVD is a gospel presentation for the family to sit down and watch.

The rest of the week was filled with preparations for Upward Basketball and other weekly tasks. A good week but tiring.

Week 7

The final Saturday of Upward Football is at hand. This Saturday is sure to be a cold one, so I decided that instead of asking for volunteers from the audience to get up and help me during halftime, I will allow them to remain bundled up and do the halftime on my own. I am going to break script from the Upward provided material and I am going to provide a handout out for parents that may need help field questions about Christianity that their children may have. Our coaches were supposed to deliver the Gospel Presentation at their last practices, so with parents coming from all walks of life this might raise some anxiety for parents. The hope with the handout is to not only answer questions the kids may have but also some that the parents may have. The Gospel is simple but also the most important thing, sometimes with it being so important people confuse that with the Gospel being complicated.

It has been a good football season, and we hope ultimately that the Body of Christ grows from God's efforts through us. Football may be the reason why many sign up, but the league is centered around the teachings of Christ.

Week 6

Upward Football is drawing to a close, only two more weeks remain. I have had an interesting season as the Halftime Commissioner, from struggling with getting volunteers for help with devotion games, constantly dealing with smokers on the field, and last week I even split up a domestic dispute before it became physical. The relief of a season finished won't truly get to be enjoyed because Upward Basketball evaluations started this week. Evaluations will continue for a few weeks and then a few makeup times will be offered later on. Basketball practice will start shortly after Thanksgiving.

With Registration and Evaluations starting up I changed and hung up new in house signage. Along with all the Upward changes our church is into our annual Stewardship push. So with that came new posters. The new poster look fresh compared to last years. A church member took pictures of several peoples hands forming hearts. 6 different versions were printed, giving more visual variety as you walk the grounds of the Church.

Week 5

Last Night I attended a presentation for the College Group of FBC. The speaker was Officer Brent Womble, he has been a police officer for Amarillo Police Department for over 37 years. Officer Womble has been a detective and even in-charge of the Amarillo Sex Crimes Unit. The presentation was about how to deal with the homeless (or people in need), from a Christian stand point while also avoiding putting yourself in danger. Womble has been running Church Security here at FBC since 1976, thats from Dr. Winfred Moore to our current Pastor Dr. Howard Batson.

Womble told us that he was a 19 year old police officer when Dr. Moore approached him asking, "You're that officer that joined 6 months ago, correct?" Womble said "Yes, Sir", and Moore asked him how he thought he was helping him by sitting up in the balcony, Womble has been doing security ever since. Womble graduated from the FBI academy and even received dignitary protection training from the Secret Service.

Officer Womble gave a history of the Evolution of Security at First Baptist Church, things that changed in the security because of what happened on our physical church property, and things that have happened in other churches that have changed ways we run things here. Some scary incidents have transpired in the past but all were handled with excellent care and a real mindfulness of God's good grace for all his children. Are doors are open to all, and we hope that people find our worship welcoming and comforting.

I am thankful for the responsibility that Officer Womble has taken on, God has put this work in his hands for good reason. He is a strong Christian man, who lives by the New Testament with all people.

Week 4

It was a slow week last week at work, which was good because my school week was busy with Mid-terms. It is nice to have a job that is extremely open to letting me do whatever school work I need to get done at work.

One of the points of the week that sticks out to me, all started when I had some DVD's on my desk. Our Pastor has been doing an evening service series entitled Interpreting the Bible. It has been a very good series so I get a copy of either a DVD version or CD version every following week. A church member noticed it on my desk and asked to borrow the copies I had. I of course let him borrow the discs, but all inquired why he didn't attend evening worship, he had no real reason. So he has made a commitment to attend evening service regularly. It was good to see an opportunity to help someone further their church involvement, and for them to bite on it. PR is easy to do here at First Baptist because I am completely behind what we do here at church.

Praying for Vision for opportunity in all aspects of my Christian Walk.

Week 3

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the annual budget committee. My boss had an engagement that evening that prevented him from attending the meeting so I was sent as a representative for the Recreation Ministry if any questions arose on our proposal for the 2012 budget. Luckily I did not have any questions come up. It was good to be able to just sit and listen and learn a little more about church procedure and what all has to take place.

On sunday, the sermon was entitled "How to run a Marathon", Dr. Batson mentioned the annual race called the Mike Roberts Memorial Run, he participated last year in the race. One of the Primary Functions of my job is too organize and execute this race. It was good to have it mentioned in the sermon, even though the race is the first weekend in May, I like the idea of running with the Pastor to resonate with the congregation, so that we might increase our numbers for the 2012 MR MR.

Week 2

This week at church we have reached our halfway mark of Upward Football. If you aren't aware Upward is a national organization that helps develop christian sports leagues in communities. They provide resources from Director to player. This is our first year to partner with Paramount Baptist Church with Flag Football. It is a very small league, only 7 teams. I personally serve as the halftime commissioner for the league, my responsibilities along with announcing the players as they run out on to the field are, do the halftime game and devotion. The halftime game is a quick "minute to win it" type game, with a scripture that correlates with the game. Upward in the past has done halftime devotions in a different fashion, Directors were in charge of finding a volunteer for every week, every halftime to deliver a devotion of the volunteers choosing. First Baptist has been involved with Upward Basketball leagues for over a decade so we are quite familiar the varying types of devotions that will be given. Every devotion became a gamble, you could get a 20 minutes sermon or a 1 minute prayer, all that is supposed to fit in a 5-7 minute time slot. The new format of halftime commissioner with pre provided activities is much easier logistically.

Speaking of Upward Basketball, flyers will go out today, and brochures are already available on site. Chaos follows Chaos in Church life.

God is the peace, amongst the Chaos.

Week 1

The title "week 1" is a deceptive title for I have been employed by First Baptist for quite sometime now, but it is true however in that this is the first time I will have blogged about my time here at FBC.

First Baptist in recent months has been in collaboration with Three Leaf Creative on designing several  changes such as bulletins, business cards, website, etc. Recently however they have been working on our new television commercial. Our new church motto is "Many Faces, One Faith", the motto is trying to express the expansive diversity that is represented at First Baptist Church of Amarillo. I got a chance to get to preview the rough cut of the commercial and offer suggestions to be taken into account before the commercial goes over the airways. 

I am excited to see what the final cut will look like, and for our church to move away from shooting our commercials in house. It is good that we are working with professionals. Though the content of First Word may be good, getting it in a 30 second spot is too rushed.