Fee Fee Baptist Church

Author: Tara Smith

  • Music Musings – Vol. 61, No. 2

    Hymns Written During Pandemics in Biblical Times – Part I

    By Dr. Julie Barrier, Crosswalk.com

    Plagues and suffering have often produced the greatest hymns of hope and joy. This article will identify lyrics of songwriters who rose above the darkness, depression, and disease. Let’s see what we can learn from these songwriters who praised and thanked God during difficult times.

    Miriam, the sister of Moses, witnessed the ten terrible plagues of Egypt. God spared His people from disease and death. After the Jews’ divine rescue, Miriam sang:

    “I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation,” (Exodus 15:20-21, KJV).

    Satan cannot steal our song! In the second chapter of Job, Satan begs God to inflict a deadly disease upon Job to make God’s righteous servant curse God. Job sang, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord,” (Job 1:20, LB).

    King David in his arrogance, defied God by counting his soldiers. He commanded over 1.5 million troops. Because of the king’s disobedience, 70,000 Jews died of the plague in three days. Even in his deep remorse, David knew to sing to God.

    “I will praise You, Lord, for You have saved me from my enemies. You refuse to let them triumph over me, O Lord, my God.  I pleaded with You, and You gave me my health again.  You brought me back from the brink of the grave, from death itself, and here I am alive!  Oh, sing to Him you saints of His; give thanks to His holy name.  His anger lasts a moment; His favor lasts for life!  Weeping may go on all night, but in the morning, there is joy,” (Psalm 30:1-5, LB).

     

    Virtual Choir Update

    This project is being delayed because the recording is on back order. As soon as we receive the recording, we will resume preparing this project. Thanks for your patience!

  • Family Front – Vol. 61, No. 2

    Here are updates on in-person kids’ activities:

    Wednesdays: AWANA has started, 6:00-7:00 p.m.; be sure your child brings their books, Bible, and wears a mask.

    Sundays: Preschool care is provided for birth through pre-K during 11:00 a.m. worship. KidsZone has begun as well for kids K-5th grade at 11:00 a.m. The 4th Sunday of each month, K-5th grade kids will still worship with their parents.

    I hope you will get involved in our Grounded emphasis. There are family devotional booklets for families with kids with a focused devotion for each week to involve the whole family. Why is this so important? It’s God’s command (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Ephesians 6:4, and Proverbs 22:6). Be the example for your kids of how to love God and serve others. You can download the devotional booklets from our website or we can email it to you; we can also mail you a physical book if you prefer. Just let us know! Involvement in a T-group (transformation group) will help you grow deeper into scripture. Encourage your kids to use their devotional books that we send monthly with daily devotions. Get involved!

    Praying we will ALL be able to join together again in person very soon for Bible Study and other activities!  Let me know if you need any resources to help in discipling your children.

  • Bible Study Corner – Vol. 61, No. 2

    It’s not too late to join a virtual transformation group as we read through the New Testament using the Grounded reading plan. Contact Gloria or Pastor Zach if you are interested.

    Adult Bible Studies are available for men and women on Wednesday nights from 6:00-7:00 p.m. They are both in person and on Zoom.

    Sunday morning Bible Studies are also available in person and on Zoom. Contact Gloria (gloria@feefeebc.org) if you want to get plugged in.

  • Community Connection – Vol. 61, No. 2

    Blood Drive – February 26

    Our next Blood Drive with the American Red Cross is on Friday, February 26th from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. It is recommended that all donations be scheduled ahead of time. You can go to the Red Cross website (www.redcrossblood.org) and use the Sponsor Code “FeeFeeBaptistBridgeton” to find our drive and schedule your donation. You can also call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767). The drive will be held in the Family Life Center and everyone donating can drive around to the back of the church and park in the lot by the gym, and enter through the gym doors. On the blood drive page on the church website you can find some helpful info about donating, including who can donate and how to donate, and a link to sign up. If you have any questions about any of this please contact Andrew (andrew@feefeebc.org).

    Lottie Moon Giving

    We set a goal this year of $25,000 for our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We weren’t sure how this would go, being in the middle of a pandemic. You all continued to show that you care about taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth because you have so far given over $26,000! Thank you for your faithfulness to support missionaries all over the world!

  • Chi Alpha News – Vol. 61, No. 1

    Welcome to 2021!

    We are so excited for what this year is going to bring and what God is going to continue to do in our ministry! We will be restarting IN-PERSON (WOOHOO!) Bible Study on Sunday morning and Small Groups on Wednesday night beginning January 17. We will still be offering an online option if you are choosing to worship from home. If you need the new Zoom links, please let me know and I will get that sent your way.

    This year is going to bring a lot of newness and changes, but I know that God is still in control and He knows what the future holds. I can’t wait to see you up in The Rafters soon!

  • Family Front – Vol. 61, No. 1

    I hope you had a wonderful Christmas season celebrating Christ as a family and a hopeful new year.

    I hope you will get involved in our GROUNDED emphasis. There are family devotion booklets for families with kids. There is a devotion for each week to do with your family to involve the kids in this emphasis of reading through the New Testament. Why? It’s God’s command (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Ephesians 6:4, and Proverbs 22:6). Be the example for your kids of how to love God and serve others. We can send the devotional booklets digitally so you can get the devotions each week; or we can mail to you the booklet or you can pick one up in the Welcome Center or foyer. Just let us know how we can help.

    Involvement in a T-Group will transform your life. Get involved! Encourage your kids to use their devotional books that we send with daily devotions from their Bible study teachers.

    Updates on kids’ activities:

    Wednesdays:  AWANA will start up again on January 20, at 6:00 p.m.

    Sundays: Preschool care is provided for birth through pre-K during 11:00 a.m. worship. KidsZone has begun as well for kids K-5th grade at 11:00 a.m. The fourth Sunday of each month, kids will still worship with their parents.

    Praying we will ALL be able to join together again in person very soon for Bible Study and other activities! Let me know if you need any resources to help in discipling your children: kathy@feefeebc.org.

  • Music Musings – Vol. 61, No. 1

    The Ease of Virtual Choir

    We are learning how to make participation in the virtual choir more accessible for everyone. One of the biggest hesitations for many has simply been the recording aspect. Our own Andrea Jennings has made this an easier process by setting up appointments and recording your session for you. Now when you record you do not feel you are singing alone! Instead, it will sound like you are singing with a choir. We have also started using accompaniment tracks where we can highlight different vocal lines – soprano, alto, tenor and bass. So, learning your part is a snap! Thanks to Vance for engineering this process. I will also make myself available to assist you in learning the music.

    For our next project we will sing a beautiful piece that our choir has sung a few times. The piece is entitled This Must Be Grace, and at one point incorporates the old hymn Grace That is Greater Than All Our Sin.

    It is hoped in addition to our regular choir members we can expand this project to include younger singers and those less young (multi-generational) who have not in the past committed to the regular choir rehearsals but would be willing to take the opportunity to lend their voice to this short term project. If you have EVER sung or NEVER sung in a choir, come give this a try. You may be surprised at your own talent for singing! Stay tuned for more specific information.

    Do NOT Hide Your Talent!

    Sharing our talents with others can create more lasting fulfillment. It is actually a win-win situation. We get to exercise our talent and others receive a blessing.

    Do you sing? Do you play an instrument? Would you like to be part of an ensemble (vocal or instrumental)? Would you like to lead an ensemble of any kind? Please tell us about your talents or talents of a friend so we can provide opportunities for you to bless others. All ages and levels of performance welcome! We need you. Please send information to Ronna@feefeebc.org.

    “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV).

  • Devotional Corner – Vol. 61, No. 1

    Taken from Mrs. Charles E. Cowman’s “Streams in the Desert,” Vol. Two

    “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: for thou art my rock and my fortress,” (Psalm 71:3).

    Near the Capitol in Rome there stands an ancient building, built when Christianity was still very young in the world. In one of its corridors is a stone bench where the little pages sat waiting calls from their masters. On the wall, right over the bench, is scratched a rude cross with an outstretched figure on it. Beneath it the mischievous artist had cartooned one of his companions, and had written, “Silly Aleximos worships Christ.” The other boys thought it strange that Aleximos should look up to Jesus Christ as his King. For, as someone has pointed out, the world had never seen a King who had no possessions…

    At His birth Jesus was born in a borrowed manger. He preached a sermon in a borrowed boat. He rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed beast. He ate His last supper with His disciples in a borrowed room. He was buried in a borrowed grave. Yet He stands, the Living, Risen Son of God, stripped of all earthly possessions, saying, “All authority has been given Me in heaven and earth.”

    Other kings have always needed to be propped up; have needed to lean against many supports: gold in the treasury to buy men’s souls; a host of marching legions to destroy all opposition; games in the arena to keep the crowds in good humor; bread to feed the hungry to keep them from becoming dangerous.

    But Jesus Christ leaned on none of these supports. He leaned only on the Eternal God, the unseen and everlasting Father. And, while the supports of other kings had always crumbled in the end, the Supporter of Jesus stood firm as Pilate growled, ‘Behold your King!’; stood unshaken as the mob yelled, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’

    Then Easter came, and the centuries began to file by; and the world began to see that true Kingliness needs no gold or armies to hold it up. Men began to see that a Kingly Spirit stands unbroken, unbreakable, before all the blows of life, because the Spirit of the Living God within a man is stronger than any enemy there is!

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 61, No. 1

    I want to start off 2021 by letting you know that I am praying for you. I am praying that you are reading through the New Testament with us during our Grounded initiative. Also, I am praying that you are part of a virtual transformation group to discuss God’s Word with others. I think God’s Word is something that we need more of this year!

    Besides God’s Word, I’d love to pose a question to you: What is something else that we need more of in 2021?

    I think there are a lot of pretty good answers. I bet a lot of you thought we need more vaccines, and you’re not wrong! However, our staff just finished reading a book together that gave me a different perspective on what we need more of in 2021. That book, Christians in the Age of Outrage, shares some challenging statistics as the author, Ed Stetzer, encourages the church to be a positive influence in our increasingly divided culture. The final chapter of the book begins with these two alarming statistics:

    1. Only 14% of people with no friendships with evangelical Christians describe Christians with one or more of these positive descriptors: compassionate, principled, charitable, and/or ethical.
    2. Only 46% of people who have friendships with an evangelical Christian describe evangelicals with one or more of these same positive descriptors.

    What does that mean? Simply put, the majority of lost people don’t see Christians as being kind. Over 80% of lost people who don’t have a friendship with a Christian don’t see us as being kind. And, maybe even more alarming is the fact that over 50% of lost people who have a friendship with a Christian still don’t see us as being kind. That leads me to what I think we need more of in our country this year: kindness!

    It breaks my heart that the majority of lost people, even those who have a friendship with an evangelical Christian, don’t see believers as being compassionate or charitable. We know that Scripture tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance! I think that His church showing kindness to others could make a huge difference in 2021.

    We all know that last year was incredibly challenging. And while there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, it is still going to be quite some time before this pandemic is behind us. So what can we do in the midst of this storm? I think we can start by simply committing to being kind to others around us.

    For my family, one of our goals for 2021 is to do six different “random acts of kindness” during this year. We want to set aside specific times where we will intentionally be kind to our neighbors and our community.

    We know that Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What do you think our church can do this year to show God’s love for others and to demonstrate kindness to the lost world around us? It’s my prayer that our church will be full of kindness this year!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • Prime Time – Vol. 61, No. 1

    On a recent Live Prayer time, I was encouraged by the number of you who had accepted the challenge of reading through the New Testament in 90 days together. It is exciting and encouraging to think that God can transform us through the power of His Word.

    I’m sure there will be days when we get behind. Saturdays and Sundays are a great day to catch up since there are no assigned readings on the weekends. If you are like me, some days are just busy. I just finished reading Matthew 5-7 and it is 10:38. That is p.m. – not a.m. As I finished today’s passage, I was struck by what it must have been like to hear Jesus teach the radical concepts He taught His disciples in the sermon in the mount. Yes, I just said the disciples. I think we often think He was teaching a crowd but reread 5:1. He started with just His disciples who He was preparing for the days and mission ahead. It quickly becomes obvious that God’s way of living usually contradicts the worlds. I’m sure by the end of chapter 7, great crowds had gathered to hear the radical way of living that God expects of His followers as He said, “You have heard it said, but I say to you.” Imagine their surprise when He concluded by commanding them to be perfect!

    If you would like to talk with others in the church who are reading through the New Testament, please consider joining a Transformation Group. You can join at any time. A different person will be the leader each weekday and will share their take on the Scripture reading for that day. Others in the group can then comment or just give it a thumbs up. All you need is a smart phone or tablet and the Marco Polo app. Let me know if you are interested.