Our desire is to be a Christ-centered Summer Care Program. This calls for excellence in our staff, facilities, and curriculum. In keeping with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:31 when he says, “Do all things for the glory of God,” we strive for excellence in everything that takes place here at our center. Our goal is to teach our children to lead the way in the days ahead.

Our center provides a comprehensive Christian program for children having completed kindergarten thru 5th grade during the summer school break only. This program’s goal is to reflect and meet the needs of the many different children in our community. We believe this may best be done through offering a variety of age appropriate activities and experiences in a comfortable and noncompetitive environment. It is the goal of these experiences to produce physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual opportunities for growth and development.

Each summer, our CDC offers a summer camp program for school-aged (K-5th) children. The camp runs May 13th-August 12, 2013 from 7:00 AM-5:30 PM (M-F). Cost is $75/week. For more information or enrollment, email Beth Boyd at bboyd@fbcjackson.org or call the Childhood Development Center at 731-423-9317 (ext. 15).

Sunday, April 21, 2013
Reflecting on God’s Two Great Books
Psalm 19:1-14 | Justin Wainscott
 

May
6th  6:30 & 7:30
13th  8:30
20th  6:30 & 7:30

June
10th  8:30
13th  6:30 & 7:30
17th  8:30
24th  6:30

Billy Graham is calling pastors and church leaders from across America to pray and prepare for a nationwide evangelistic outreach, which will culminate in a message from him in November 2013. My Hope America with Billy Graham is designed to help people in your church share the Gospel with those around them. Come join us to learn more, receive key materials, and be equipped to lead your church in reaching others for Christ.

April 30, 2013
9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
First BaptistChurch
1627 North Highland Avenue
Jackson, TN 38305
731-423-9315

Please RSVP today for this free session.

RSVP ONLINE FOR THIS EVENT

You can also call 1-877-7MY-HOPE (1-877-769-4673).

April 14, 2013
Assurances from the Ascension
Acts 1:1-12 | Aaron Kennedy
 

Sunday, April 7, 2013
Break Forth into Joyous Song and Sing Praises
Psalm 98:1-9 | Justin Wainscott
 

Join us Sunday evening on April 21 for a music program featuring our childrens choir, handbell choir, and youth ensemble. The night of music will begin at 5 and is perfect for the whole family.

Guest Preacher, Dr. Roger “Sing” Oldham
Sunday, April 28
9:00 AM

Dr. Roger “Sing” Oldham serves as Vice President for Convention Relations of the Southern Baptist Convention. Before serving in this role, he was Pastor of First Baptist Church, Martin, Tennessee, for more than twenty years. He is better known to First Baptist Jackson as the father of Lauren Kennedy and the father-in-law of Aaron Kennedy, our Minister to Children and Families.

Guest Preacher, Dr. Timothy George
Sunday, May 5
9:00 AM

Dr. Timothy George has been the dean of Beeson Divinity School since its inception in 1988. As founding dean, he has been instrumental in shaping its character and mission. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, George teaches church history and doctrine. He also serves as senior theological advisor for Christianity Today, and is on the editorial advisory boards of First Things, Harvard Theological Review and Books & Culture. George is the general editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, a 28-volume series of sixteenth-century exegetical comment. A prolific author, he has written more than 20 books and regularly contributes to scholarly journals. His recent books include Reading Scripture with the Reformers, The Great Tradition of Christian Thinking: A Student’s Guide (with David Dockery), and Our Sufficiency Is of God: Essays on Preaching in Honor of Gardner C. Taylor (with James Earl Massey and Robert Smith, Jr.). His Theology of the Reformers is the standard textbook on Reformation theology in many schools and seminaries and has been translated into multiple languages. An ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention, George has served churches in Georgia, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Alabama. He and his wife, Denise, have two adult children.

Join us on Saturday, April 13, beginning at 8:00 AM for our next Serve the City effort. We will have the privilege of working alongside our brothers and sisters from First Baptist Church on MLK Drive, and all our teams will be working on Butler Street in Bemis. We have been assigned four homes, all within a short distance from one another, so we will all be able to work together.

There should be something for everyone, so plan to be a part of this day, whether you have specific skills or not. We need people who can scrape, paint, hammer, saw, and do yard work. But we also need people who can talk with those who live on the street, who can provide drinks for those working, and those who can help with food. Whatever you can contribute, it will be appreciated.

Please sign up at the Welcome Center. And whether you can stay all day or just part of the day, come on. Whether you can be there at the beginning or not until later, come on. We’ll meet in our church parking lot at 8:00 AM (or you can meet us there).

For further information, see Jeff Oakley or one of our deacons.

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013
Born Again to a Living Hope through the Living Lord
1 Peter 1:3-5 | Justin Wainscott
 

Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013
Christ the King
John 12:12-16; 18:33-19:16; Revelation 19:11-16 | Justin Wainscott
 

Sunday, March 17, 2013
A Song that Sounds Simultaneous Notes
Psalm 127:1-2 | Justin Wainscott
 

CAVEATS

Before presenting the language of the mission that we, the pastoral staff, have been working to craft and shape, there were a number of caveats that we felt were necessary to mention and explain:

1. General not specific – the mission is intentionally general; the specifics will be fleshed out in the months and years to come; the purpose of this gathering was not to present detailed strategies
2. Basic not best-selling – we recognize that this mission is something that any church that believes the Bible should be able to affirm; it’s not intended to be “the next best thing”
3. Descriptive not prescriptive – there is no desire to prescribe the exact means of carrying out this mission; our purpose was simply to describe the kind of mission to which we believe God has called us
4. Sharpening our focus not changing our direction – we believe God is doing some really good things in our midst, so we have no desire to change everything; rather, we want to sharpen our focus on what we see as most important
5. Mission and vision – this was really more about mission than vision, and the reason is because we believe vision ought to be shaped by mission; we want everyone to be on the same page about our mission before any kind of specific vision is cast
6. Verbal and visual – we wanted to try and communicate this mission in both words and in pictures so that something of a collective mental image would remain in our minds as we seek to carry out the mission
7. Lengthy yet complete – we recognize that the mission statement is lengthy (and we recognize that it will likely get shortened to just the first line, which is okay with us), but we also wanted to present as close to a complete picture as we possibly could (even if that meant it was a little lengthy)

MISSION

So, here is the language we have crafted to communicate the mission we believe God has given his Church:

Making, maturing, and multiplying disciples

who are rooted in the gospel,
watered with the Word,
and nurtured by the church –

for the bearing of much fruit,
for the good of all nations,
and for the glory of God.

The language we chose is intentionally grounded in the Scriptures; even the imagery of a well-rooted, well-watered, well-nurtured, and fruit-bearing tree is something we intentionally incorporated due to its prominence in the Bible. (To see the biblical basis of this mission, see the following passages: Matthew 28:18-20; Colossians 1:28; Psalm 1:1-3; Jeremiah 17:7-8; John 15:1-5, 8; Matthew 7:17-18, 20.)

Based upon the Great Commission, we believe the primary task that the risen Lord has given his Church is to make, mature, and multiply disciples. This making, maturing, and multiplying of disciples includes the inter-related activities of evangelism, missions, discipleship, teaching, training, church planting, church revitalization, etc. Therefore, we want to see these activities prioritized in the life of our church and in the day-to-day lives of our members.

But we also believe that for disciples to be healthy (and truly mature), they need to be rooted in the gospel, watered with the Word, and nurtured by the church. Just as a healthy tree that bears fruit has deep roots, a steady supply of water, and someone to care for it, we believe the same is needed for the mature and fruit-bearing disciple of Jesus Christ. We believe that gospel roots bear gospel fruits, so we want to do all we can to ensure that we are making, maturing, and multiplying disciples who have deep gospel roots – disciples who clearly understand the gospel, who are confident in the gospel, and who can faithfully communicate that gospel to others. For that to happen, we know that the Word of God must be the steady source of growth and nourishment for such disciples. And we know that the church must be the place where they are cared for, loved, and taught the Word of God. A church-less disciple of Jesus Christ is a biblical anomaly, so we want to do all we can to prevent that from being the case with any disciples we see made.

Finally, the purpose of making, maturing, and multiplying such well-rooted, well-watered, and well-nurtured disciples is so that they will bear the fruit of the Christian life. We want to see them growing in holiness and giving evidences of the work of God’s grace within them. And in accordance with the Great Commission, we want to see this happen beyond the walls of First Baptist Church and to the ends of the earth. This mission, therefore, is world-wide; it’s intended for the good of all nations. Of course, ultimately, the purpose behind all of this is the glory of God.

VISION

That is the mission we want to seek to carry out as a church. There are certainly details and specifics to be fleshed out in the future, but we want them to be fleshed out in light of this mission. So, we want this to be the picture that is before us and the mission that drives us forward. We want to staff according to this mission. We want to budget according to this mission. And we want to plan for the future according to this mission.

So please join with us by beginning to pray this way for our church. Pray that we would be obedient to this mission. And pray that we would have the wisdom to know how best to carry out this mission in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.

PALM SUNDAY WORSHIP, March 24 at 9 AM
Palm Sunday commemorates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem where he was met by crowds who were there to celebrate the Passover, waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the Messianic King. This year’s Palm Sunday service will emphasize Jesus Christ as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Easter Egg Hunt at the church for children and families at 4 PM. Regular Sunday evening activities at 5 PM.

MAUNDY THURSDAY (LORD’S SUPPER), March 28 at 6 PM
Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, where he instituted the Lord’s Supper. The term “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum (from which we get our English word “mandate”). The term is usually translated “commandment” in the account of this Thursday night in John’s Gospel, where Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment after they had finished their meal together (John 13:34-35).

This year we will have a Tenebrae service on Maundy Thursday, consisting of songs, Scripture, prayer, silence, responsive readings, and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Tenebrae means “darkness” or “shadows,” and the service itself is one in which lights are continually extinguished to remind us of the ever-growing darkness that surrounded Jesus as he went to and suffered on the cross.

GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE, March 29 at 12 AM
Good Friday commemorates Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, suffering, death, and burial. It is a grave reminder to us of the cost Jesus had to pay to save us from our sins. This service will consist of songs, a series of Scripture readings, and a time of meditation and prayer. It will not last beyond an hour, allowing you to come on your lunch break.

EASTER SUNDAY WORSHIP, March 31 at 9 AM
Easter Sunday is the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! It is, in many ways, the most important day of the entire year for believers. On Easter Sunday, we will celebrate the joy and victory we have through the risen Christ.

There will be no evening activities.

Sunday, February 17, 2013
From the Depths of Sin to the Heights of Salvation
Psalm 130:1-8 | Justin Wainscott
 

Sunday, January 27, 2013
Where Trust and Trouble Dance
Psalm 142:1-7 | Justin Wainscott
 

Sunday, January 27, 2013
A Joint Celebration of our Unity in Christ
1 Peter 2:4-10 | William Watson