Fee Fee Baptist Church

Author: Tara Smith

  • Chi Alpha News – Vol. 59, No. 26

    2019 has been an amazing year for our youth department!

    We kicked off our year with our DNOW weekend and our theme of “Everlasting.” Through this we explored our theme verse of John 3:16, and how we can view that verse as a promise of hope, instead of just seeing it as the first verse you might memorize in church. Barrett Moore brought a powerful message throughout the week and our band, Guy Shaw, Maddi and Jon Yarbrough, Steve O’Neal, and Stuart Harrier, led us in phenomenal worship!

    In June we took a team of 31 students and adults to Houston, Texas to serve with World Changers for a week. This was a beneficial week to all who were involved to have the opportunity to help with Hurricane Harvey repairs serving alongside other churches. Trading in comfort for hard labor is never an easy transition for students but they all served faithfully and were great leaders in work ethic, leading bible studies, and Gospel presentations.

    It has been a blessing to serve the students here at Fee Fee over the last year. As a student at Missouri Baptist, it has been an amazing opportunity to learn first-hand what I am studying on campus. Many of my peers do not have the opportunities I have been given, so I am incredibly thankful to be a part of a church body that has come alongside me and poured their love into me while I continue on this journey. I am looking forward to continuing my education at school and my training towards licensure and ordination here at Fee Fee with Pastor Zach. Most importantly, I am really looking forward to building deeper relationships with our students and leaders as we continue to reach out to our local community. See you in 2020!

  • Family Front – Vol. 59, No. 26

    Looking at the past year, I am filled with thankfulness. It is a blessing to work with our families and walk alongside parents, as they are the best spiritual leaders of their kids.

    • Our 2019 VBS was a spectacular event! Our adults and students stepped up to take leadership roles that make the event fun and Gospel-centered. The sports camp we hosted that same week through the leadership of Sport Crusaders helped 3 children come to know Christ. That makes all the effort worthwhile!
    • We offered our children’s workers and teachers a Child Sexual Abuse workshop. We are thankful that we had a great turn-out for this valuable resource to make us even more aware of the task we have to keep our children safe.
    • We had a couple of administrative changes in our ministry: We moved the 6th graders back into the Youth Ministry. Although I miss those kiddos in our children’s area, I was excited for them to be led by our most capable youth leadership. Secondly, we launched a new child check-in system. I believe it couldn’t be done without our tech guy (Vance) and our volunteers who troubleshoot for us to make it better. Thank you: Sonya, Laura, Teresa, and Beth for your perseverance.
    • Our kids have led in worship a few times this year as they sang in worship services. Thank you, Mrs. Eva, for your prep with the children and helping them to lead. Our children have also served in the Singing Tree as they presented the nativity story, served at Loaves and Fishes, and at Feed My Starving Children event.
    • Again, we had a record crowd at our Trunk or Treat; so much so that we had to seek out parking at Weekends Only! We couldn’t do this outreach event without our people serving in all areas that night.
    • Through the generous time given by our volunteer, Linda Gisler, we were able to set up a sensory room for our families of children with disabilities. Jill Crook also painted and decorated our preschool and children’s areas to make them a bit more updated and brighter. Thank you both!
    • I am truly thankful being able to use my gifts at Fee Fee Baptist Church. But I couldn’t do what I do if it weren’t for the MANY teachers and workers we have in Bible Study, KidsZone, AWANA, and Children’s Committee. It literally does take a village (the whole church) to make this a ministry, which exalts our living Lord. Thank you, Church! I pray that many more children will come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and grow as His disciples through our endeavors.

  • Community Connection – Vol. 59, No. 26

    I am always impressed with Fee Fee’s willingness to support the Gospel being spread near and far! 2019 has been no exception to that. We continued in some great, loving, established partnerships and also explored some new exciting opportunities. Let me go over some quick stats for you of how you supported missions:

    • You raised over $3,000 to provide clean drinking water for our partner church in the Dominican Republic. In 2019, we made progress with the project: the initial hole was dug, the pipe was installed, the water was tested, and the first round of pump equipment was bought. Please continue to pray towards the completion of this project in 2020.
    • We sent 60 people on mission trips to Dominican Republic, Houston, Ukraine, Missouri, Mexico, and Windermere.
    • We sent over $12,000 to the North American Missions through Annie Armstrong giving and over $16,000 to International Missions through Lottie Moon giving.
    • Once a month we provided dinner to Loaves and Fishes Homeless Shelter and built relationships with the clients there.
    • We did our first Impact Week where we gave 455 volunteer hours to our surrounding community.

    This is not an exhaustive list but gives you a picture of some of the ways God used us in this past year for His glory. Thank you for lovingly caring that the Gospel message is shown and told to those in our neighborhoods and around the world. I can’t wait to see how God uses us to continue to share the Good News in 2020!

  • Music Musings – Vol. 59, No. 26

    Year-end is a powerful time of celebrating and gathering, a time for reflection, and a time for looking forward. This year at Fee Fee we review our accomplishments with a deep sense of gratitude to so many who have contributed to the mission and ministry of music in our church.

    This year more than ever, we have been able to schedule worship music to make a greater impact on our worship services based on scripture. Advanced planning has increased the excellence of our gifts.

    Our choir prepared a special music presentation, Closer to the Cross, for Palm Sunday.  This piece celebrating the Journey of Christ paved the way for a triumphant Easter Sunday.

    Our Summer Concert series is presented each year as a gift to our community.  It is increasingly well attended, drawing in more than 800 people over the five weeks in July. In 2019, we featured familiar favorites: The Lesters, The Harris Trio, The Assurance Quartet, Timothy Noble, and Erica Lyles. As always, each concert attracts different audiences with varied musical tastes.

    The Friendship Choir attracts members who have a heart for sharing the love of music and the rich message of God’s love, especially with those who are unable to get out. One of the highlights of our season was our trip to the Baptist Home in Ironton. It was delightful to visit with old Fee Fee friends and share our music program.

    Last, but certainly not least was our traditional Singing Tree program. This year our Tree Singers were a multigenerational group ranging in ages from 11 years to Octogenarians. Our music was a little different this year bringing in a unique Celtic style called, Have You Heard. We always love the involvement of children in the Children’s Nativity.  All the characters are represented along with various animals and even an angel and a star! This year more than 1,300 people were in attendance over the three performance times.

    This was just some idea of the activities our music department took part in this past year. Maybe you could find a way to join us in 2020. You would be warmly welcomed!

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 59, No. 26

    I can’t believe that 2019 is already coming to a close! I am so excited about what God has in store for our church in 2020. We are going to be launching a new vision and mission statement for Fee Fee Baptist and the first sermon series that I will present will be based around this vision. I pray that you can join us as we look at this new vision.

    Our mission statement is now: Fee Fee Baptist Church exists to make disciples who build their lives on Jesus and pursue the good of our community for the glory of God.

    Every Sunday in January we will unpack what it means to build our lives on Jesus and pursue the good of our community. Additionally, I want to invite you to join a Bible Study class in 2020. Each of our classes, during the eight Sundays of January and February, will be looking at different vision markers that we have established as a church. This will be a great way to get a deeper understanding of what we are going to focus on here at FFBC.

    However, before we unpack exactly what God has for us in 2020, it is important for us to step back and remember what God did in 2019. It can be easy to just focus on what is next, and not spend enough time celebrating what God has done. That is why this issue of The Forerunner is going to be a special “Year in Review” issue. In this final issue of 2019, you will read the many ways that God worked in our midst. I pray that it won’t just bring back fond memories, but it will lead each of us to give glory to God for the great things that He has done!

    There’s a great story in 1 Samuel 7 about an Ebenezer. In this passage, the Israelites are at war with the Philistines, and they go to Samuel for help. He implores them to get rid of their idols and confess their sins and repent to God. They gather together at Mizpah and cry out to God. Meanwhile, the Philistines hear that the Israelites have gathered together and they attack. The Israelites cry out to God and He gives them an incredible victory.

    At that point, Samuel took a stone and named it Ebenezer, saying that “up to here the Lord has helped us.” That Ebenezer was a reminder of God’s faithfulness and the victory he had given the Israelites. Samuel never wanted the Israelites to forget that it was God who won the victory, not them.

    Think of some of the ways that God has worked in our church. We had 492 people worship with us at Easter this year. We gave 455 volunteer hours to the city of Bridgeton during Impact Week in September. We sent 61 different people out from our church to serve on mission trips. And that is just the tip of the iceberg!

    This issue of the Forerunner is going to serve as an Ebenezer for our church. We want to remember God’s faithfulness and give Him credit and glory. As you read these articles, join me in praising God for His goodness and grace. He has been faithful to this church since 1807! And we know His past faithfulness is a great indication of how He will work in the future!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • Bible Study Corner – Vol. 59, No. 26

    We will kick off our vision lesson series on Sunday, January 5 at 9:45 a.m.  You will not want to miss these lessons teaching us how to put our vision for our church and community into action.

    The Gospel of John Precepts study will start back up at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 5. We will be resuming this 32-week study in Chapter 7. You can pick up your book from Gloria.

    Both Women (WOW) and Men’s Fraternity will resume on Wednesday, January 8 at 6:15 p.m. The men will continue their study of Ephesians and the women will be starting The Patriarchs study by Beth Moore. Hope you can join us!

  • Prime Time – Vol. 59, No. 26

    Another year is about to come to an end. It went by fast, didn’t it? It has been a very good year for the seniors at Fee Fee. God gave us a new pastor, whom we all love, and he brought with him a precious wife and three adorable children for us all to love and grandparent.

    We have been on many memorable outings and eaten some fantastic food. We have seen some great movies, learned a lot of history, seen some great plays, had our eyes opened to the horrors of the holocaust, toured Busch Stadium, took a day trip to Hermann, seen our cities new fountains, and had a lot of laughs and great fellowship.

    In May, we celebrated the seniors at our annual banquet and were entertained by the Queens of Swing. At the end of September, we saw that the seniors were still doing a great deal of ministry as we gave of ourselves during Impact Week. I’m pretty sure that the seniors contributed at least half of those many hours given to our community.

    I know you will continue to be a vital part of the ongoing ministry of this church and I thank God for each and every one of you willing to serve both your church and community.

    Have a great New Year!

    Upcoming – One final thought, on Thursday, January 9, we will watch the movie Overcomer, which has finally been released, and have sandwiches and dessert in the Rafters at 11:30 a.m.  Sign up so we will know how many plan to attend. The cost will be $6.00 for lunch.