Weekly Happenings

We were blessed this past weekend to have Pastor Jim Roberts fill in for Pastor Bill as Pastor and Vicki took the weekend to visit family. While we miss Pastor and Vicki when they're gone, it is always a joy to have Pastor Jim here. In addition to Pastor Jim, God blessed us again with the return of Gerald. This time, however, Gerald tells us he is home for good. Gerald it is good to have you back on the praise team. Pastor Jim, thank you for your service to the Lord. We enjoy having you. To hear the messages Jim gave on Sunday morning and Sunday evening, click here. 

What an exciting weekend:

 April 23rd and April 24th, was the Beth Moore Live Simulcast. The event was hosted by Living Waters and put together by the Pastors' Wives of Mesquite. This was a milestone event. The first time in the history of Mesquite churches in the area got together for a major event. April 23rd was the opening night with 3 speakers;

 April 25th - The church family voted unanimously to assign Bob Pistner, Joe Story and Sam Ramos as Trustees for the church.

 March 28th - Another wonderful week at FBC. The prayer vigil saw 50 family members sign up to pray for one hour. The 24 hour vigil started at 6PM on Friday night and ended Saturday at 6PM. The focus of this prayer vigil was to pray for all the Christian churches in the community while lifting up to the Lord the needs of the family. The churches participating in the prayer vigil and the churches prayed for during the 24 hour period was wonderful. The Churches showed unity in the community to join together for focused prayer. The Lutheran Church, The Presbyterian Church, The Methodist Church, Christian Community, Graceway Alliance, Living Waters and FBC. We ask every person praying to lift up the pastors and there spouses, the ministries for each church, and the upcoming Easter services. God answers prayers and we know that God will be glorified in the upcoming days. 

 March 21st -The evening service saw one of our children, who has grown to be a man, come forward for a laying on of hands by the family. Virginia Luesse's son Steven is going into the Navy and today was his last day to be at church before leaving. We had a wonderful turnout of people who came to encourage and pray for Steven. As part of our evening service we celebrated the Lord's Supper together after a time of dedicated prayer for Steven. 

March 20th - Saturday we had a family day of prayer walking parts of our community. We joined 6 other churches in our community in walking the streets of Mesquite to pray for each household. The weather was great and we were blessed with the fellowship of coming together for such a worthwhile effort. 

  March 7th - What a wonderful week. We started the paper work to finalize the purchase of our building, 10 people finished and signed the membership covenant on Saturday and 10 children took part in the new children's choir that met and rehearsed on Saturday. Sunday was a day of celebration, both services were well attended and as we move toward Easter, we are getting excited about this wonderful event in the life of the church.

Another exciting weekend began Friday as we signed the closing documents for the purchase of the building. It continued with our Mother's Day Celebration  on Sunday.  Pastor Bill started a new tradition of giving corsages to the oldest mother and the youngest mother in each service. We celebrated with Fernando (aka Junior) as he was baptized during the 10:45 service. Then after our music worship we were treated to a special music performance by our Kids' Praise Team as they sang Everybody has a body and Little Miracle by Mary Rice Hopkins and wished everyone a Happy Mothers Day. At the end of service all the women were given a beautiful change purse for Mother's Day. On the outside it reads, Woman of God, with the scripture Romans 16:20, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. I pray everyone had a wonderful Mother's day.

February 28th - a historical day in the life of our church. The church met for a family meeting immediately following the 2nd service and voted to purchase the building we are in. God has opened doors for us to be able to do something that we have prayed about for 5 years. Coming into this meeting we prayed for unity in the body as we take this step of faith. The  vote  was 100% yes for the purchase of the building. Praise the Lord. It was an emotional time of reflection as we looked back over the last 10 years as we have seen God's hand on First Baptist Church.

 January 31st was our first "Potluck and Music Night" of 2010. God was glorified  as 60 people gathered to eat and get to know one another. After filling ourselves with some wonderful food, we  went into the sanctuary and praised God through song. Eight more people came to sing praises bringing the total for the evening to 68.  Pastor Bill and Sue Solstad led the music with guitar and vocals, while Joy so graciously and beautifully played the piano. After some coaxing by Pastor Bill, the kids came up on stage and sang "How Great is Our God", and Melody Pemberton blessed us with a song she had written. A wonderful time was had by all and God was definitely glorified. A special "Thank you" to those who brought the food, drinks, and desserts as well as to those who led the music.   

 2010 has started off with a "shout out to the Lord". Our focus for the new year once again will be Prayer. We continue the statement "We don't pray before we work, prayer is the work, and then God works" Putting legs to this statement, we have sectioned the sancuary into six sections, including the stage and the sound booth and ask for people to sign up to come in before the service and pray for each empty seat and for the praise team and the media team. I believe that God will honor this dedicated prayer time and fill the seats of His church to overflowing. We have seen growth in the first month of the new year. God brought many first time guests and those living in the community have returned for 2nd and 3rd visits. We will continue to pray that God will grow their hearts and minds as they sat before Him. 

 Last Year saw two milestones in the life of FBC. First on Wednesday, December 2nd, three men were ordained at a special service. Bill Montgomery was ordained and will become the Executive Pastor, with duties from Finance to coordinating the "running" of the church. JP Solstad was ordained and will become an Associate Pastor of Education and will be responsible for the education, small groups and coordination of outreach. Don Johnson was ordained as Deacon and will continue the Deacon duties he has been so faithful at in the past. As the church continues to grow, I believe the foundation is becoming stronger as men like these step up to the calling of serving the Lord.

The second milestone was a wonderful night of celebration as the woman of the church held their 3rd annual Christmas Tea. The woman know how to "throw a party". We had record attendance of over 100 and we were please to see many from other churches including four pastor's wives, the mayor and two councilman's wives. The community came out in force and all had a great time. The men of the church served the ladies again and the woman kept asking me "how do you get the men to do this?" My response was "they were asked and accepted the invitation to serve."

I am excited about what God is doing at FBC and look forward to a wonderful 2010.