From our monthly CrossCurrents newsletter
Happy New Year!
I hope this letter finds you after a holiday filled with as much joy and love as you could experience. I know that seeing family was a sweet and wonderful experience for Will, Elena, and me these past few days.
We have entered a new calendar year – and a new decade! What will this new decade bring First Baptist Church of Martinsville? I hope we can start to vision those possibilities together in the weeks and months to come.
We have a couple of upcoming dates to put on your calendar:
First, beginning with our Ash Wednesday service on February 26, 2020, we will kick off our new (& improved!) Wednesday night midweek check-in on Wednesday evenings, beginning at 5:30PM. We will be offering ways to pre-pay for Wednesday dinners (which will be some GREAT food), and we will have a time of learning together around the tables. By our next newsletter, you will receive more information about how to sign up for dinners and commit to study together during the Lenten and Easter seasons. I look forward to our journey together!
And yes, that means we will have to take January and the first part of February to be intentional about checking in together individually and at other church events during the week. But this change will be worth the few weeks of extra planning – guaranteed!
Second, in the midst of our Lenten journey, we will also begin to vision together the future of FBC and its ministries in Martinsville and Henry County. As most of us are aware, the world (and especially this area) has changed. We are not getting any younger, and the time has come to think deeply together about what Jesus would have us do here with this wonderful group of people, this wonderful location, and all the many ways we could reach this community with Christ’s message of love.
To that end, we will be joining with multiple churches across the area to learn together about how we can best be Christ’s church in this changing world. We will meet at Starling Ave. Baptist on Saturday, March 14, 2020 to hear from speaker and church coach, Mark Tidsworth from Pinnacle Leadership, about new ways to understand our mission and role together. This conference, called ReShape, will talk about moving from member identity to disciple identity, attractional to missional church, and consumer church to sacred partnering. We will also have breakout sessions on everything from overcoming grief of what was “church,” to how to have good conversation about faith and church with the wider community.
Mark will also come that following Sunday, March 15, to our church to speak with us during Sunday School and worship. Please make plans to attend these important visioning events! This weekend will be the first step in an important journey together.
Also, please keep our personnel committee in your prayers as we seek our next Minister of Music. Interviews are underway, and we hope that God will lead us to the right person – for us, for the minister, and for our mission and vision together.
Thank you all for your love and support – and I’m excited about our future together serving God and our neighbors!