Category: A Word From… Forerunner Front Page News

Biblical Parenthood

As I write this article, Kenzie and I have yet to meet our son, Canon. He seems to be in no hurry, but Kenzie is very ready to get a bit of physical separation from him. If you’re reading this article, then you likely know much more information than I do. You may know when Canon was born, what he looks like, and how he and Kenzie are doing. The version of me you are reading in this article—an historical version trapped in a particular moment in time—does not have the luxury of knowing what you know.

This version of me, though, is on the precipice of parenthood. And as someone who has spent a lot of time contemplating biblical parenthood recently, I have decided to put a few of my thoughts to paper in this article. Don’t worry—I’m not arrogant enough to believe every other parent is doing things incorrectly and that Kenzie and I, as soon-to-be parents, have everything figured out. This article isn’t a “how to.” Instead, I want to drive home one biblical point: the goal of parenthood is to raise a child to know and love Jesus.

I have goals for Canon. I want him to be a reader. I want him to be athletic. I want him to acquire some measure of musical skill. But Canon could achieve none of those goals, and Kenzie and I could still prove faithful as biblical parents. The goal of parenthood isn’t to develop a well-read, athletic, musical, civic-minded, hardworking, financially literate, fun-to-be-around adult. The goal of parenthood is to raise a child to know and love Jesus (Ephesians 6:1-4).

That is incredibly freeing, since it relieves much of the pressure parents put on themselves. But it’s also terrifying, since Kenzie and I need the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to our child through us. Our marriage will paint a picture of the gospel to our child, and we need the Spirit in our marriage to paint that picture well. Our love for our child, our discipline, our commitments—basically every decision we make as parents will make Christ either enticing or malodorous to our child. We need God’s Spirit to raise Canon in Christ.

And not only do we need the Holy Spirit in us to raise our son—we need the Holy Spirit in you. As our local church, we need you to use your Spirit-empowered gifts and abilities to help us (and all the other parents) raise our children in the Lord. So many pastors’ kids leave Christianity because their parents and their local churches painted a poor picture of Jesus for them. I don’t want that to be Canon—or any other child. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to empower us and guide us as we shape the next generation.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Delighting in God

I love my wife. Even before we started dating, I realized I really enjoyed spending time with her. After our first few dates, I found myself on the car ride home looking forward to seeing her again. My heart overflowed with excitement and eager anticipation as we scheduled our next chance to be together. Thankfully, seven years later, I still have the privilege of spending time with her—and my love for her and my excitement to be around her has only grown.

In other words, I delight in my relationship with my wife. I don’t always approach her with an agenda—a list of things I’d like to accomplish with our time together; I just enjoy being around her. The privilege of being her husband is one of the greatest joys of my life.

Now, you might be wondering if I’m trying to work my way out of the doghouse with the last two paragraphs. You’re probably saying to yourself, “That was really sappy; I wonder what he did wrong.”

Nothing, actually. I’m trying to make a point: God wants a similar relationship with you. He wants you to enjoy your walk with him. He wants you to delight in him.

Does the above description match the way you think about God? Or does your “relationship” with him look more like a contractual arrangement? You fulfill your obligations (go to church, give generously, read your Bible, pray before meals), and God fulfills his (letting you into heaven when you die).

Trust me—your relationship with God can be so much sweeter. What would it look like if we as a church delighted in being the people of God? What if we freely honored him with everything we said and did simply because we think he’s worth it? What if we truly believed the best plan for our lives is completely surrendering to God? What if we studied our Bibles because we enjoy thinking about God and look forward to knowing him better? What if we prayed—I mean, really, truly, earnestly sought the Lord through prayer?

I don’t think we’d have to do too much advertising for Fee Fee. I’m confident our community will be able to tell the difference.

Will you delight in the Lord with me?

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Reflecting on Year 2

June 9^th marks the two-year anniversary of my time as Senior Pastor at Fee Fee. I find it hard to believe that Kenzie and I have already been here for two years, as it seems like yesterday we moved from Texas to join this wonderful church. In light of this anniversary, I want to take this opportunity to highlight again two areas of growth I have pushed for over the past two years and to encourage us to keep moving forward.

Relentlessly Focusing on the Gospel

Why do we exist as a church? Why do we gather on Sunday mornings? What hope do we have in this life and the next? As a church, the form of what we do (programs, events, weekly services) can sometimes steal our focus away from the reason behind everything we do—the gospel. We exist as a church because God, in his grace, has decided to save us through Jesus and bring us together into one body. We gather on Sunday mornings to celebrate what God has done, to remind each other of the power of the gospel, and to challenge each other to grow in the image of Jesus. Our hope—our only hope—is in the life, death, resurrection, present reign, and future return of Christ. As a church, my goal has been to relentlessly turn our focus to the gospel.

Passionately Promoting Evangelism

Just as the gospel is our only hope in this life and the next, the gospel is the only hope for the people outside our church. Our community needs Jesus. Lost people around the world need Jesus. And as people who have experienced the truth of the gospel, we need to share that truth with the world. I will continue to encourage each of us to grow in gospel proclamation.

We have plenty of room to grow; no church, no matter how healthy, can every say they have “arrived.” In our case, over twenty years of plateau and decline has left us with a lot of room to grow numerically and spiritually. But I’m thankful for all the Lord has done over the past two years—and the two centuries before that—and I’m looking forward to all God is going to do in the years ahead!

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Summer in the Psalms

As you already know by now, we have started a new sermon series titled, “Summer in the Psalms.” It’s a bit cliché, but I found it difficult to come up with something catchier. Thus, we are following in the footsteps of hundreds of other pastors with our series title.

One aspect of our Summer in the Psalms series that differs from similar series you may have encountered before is that we are not just picking our favorite psalms. In fact, if I were to put together a list of my favorite psalms, the vast majority of them would not appear in this series. That is because we are preaching through Book 3 of the Psalms instead of hopping around the psalter.

The large book of Psalms is composed of five books. Book 3—the one we will walk through—stretches from Psalms 73–89. Side note: in case you were confused as to why we started our Summer in the Psalms series in April, we did so because Book 3 of the Psalms has more chapters than we can cover in June and July.

Why cover Book 3 instead of preaching our favorite psalms? Thanks for asking—I was just wondering how I was going to fill the rest of this Forerunner article.

We chose to preach through Book 3 because the psalms we would typically pick all strike the same note. We like happy psalms. We like psalms that tell us to make a joyful noise. We like psalms that sing of God’s goodness to us. We like psalms that directly talk about Jesus. Since the psalms were accompanied by musical instruments, we could say we like major key psalms.

But not every psalm is in the major key. Many of the psalms are minor key psalms. They contain references to depression and oppression. They deal with weighty theological concepts. They sing of God’s goodness while describing heartbreaking circumstances.

Part of what makes the book of Psalms so enriching for believers is the intermixing of happy songs with sad ones—the triumphs of life interspersed amid tragedy and tribulation. We need a well-balanced diet of major and minor key songs. We need to know how to handle both the highs and lows of life. We need to see God’s character in our best moments and in our worst.

That’s why we’re going through an entire book of psalms. We will become experts on both the major and minor keys. And above all, we will come to appreciate the goodness of God.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Missing Christ

As an avid reader, every now and then I will stumble across a book that provides me with language that perfectly describes a phenomenon in our culture. Recently, I read just such a book: Michael Horton’s Christless Christianity, a nearly twenty-year-old book that’s just as relevant today as it was when it was written. In it, Horton highlights a subtle shift in American Christianity away from the gospel and toward something else—moralistic therapeutic deism.

The “American gospel,” in contrast to the true gospel, is moralistic. It teaches that God wants us to be good people. He wants us to treat other people fairly. He wants us to be kind. He wants us to avoid sin. And, ultimately, he will reward good people with eternal paradise. In fact, the “American gospel” doesn’t really care if you’re a Christian, as long we you’re a moral, kind, generous, benevolent person—because at the end of the day, isn’t that what religion is all about?

Additionally, the “American gospel” is therapeutic. It teaches that God ultimately wants us to be happy. He wants us to be at peace with ourselves. If you’re theologically liberal, you achieve this peace when you stop troubling yourself with the notion of sin, realize that you’re a good person, and become your “authentic self.” If you’re theologically conservative, you achieve this peace when you “invite Jesus into your heart.” In either case, the outcome of the “American gospel” is supposed to be inner peace. God wants you to be happy, so the goal of Christianity is to achieve that happiness and peace.

The problem with the “American gospel,” however, is not that it’s entirely wrong. God does want us to be generous, kind, loving people. And God does want us to be happy and at peace. The problem with the “American gospel” is that it’s all about us. It’s missing Jesus! It’s a Christless Christianity (hence the title of the book).

Christianity is all about the Son of God leaving the joy of heaven, dwelling among us, living a perfect life, giving his life on a cross as a sacrifice for sin, rising again from the grave, ascending to the right hand of the Father, and—eventually—coming back in judgment. In other words, the gospel is all about Jesus! And sure, the gospel has the power to transform our behavior and to give us peace—but it does so as we focus on Jesus.

As a church, let’s abandon moralistic therapeutic deism. Let’s base our lives on Jesus.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Looking Forward to Easter

I’m going to break the illusion for a moment that The Forerunner is some “hot off the press” news source with breaking stories for our church by admitting that I am writing this article in the middle of February. It’s cold. It’s wet outside. Maybe those things are still true when you’re reading this; maybe they’re not. But here’s what I do know: We are getting closer and closer to Easter, and I could not be more excited.

As usual, I’m excited for Easter Sunday for two primary reasons. First, Easter serves as an annual reminder of the most significant event in human history. Without exaggeration, the fact that Jesus walked out of the tomb after offering his life as a sacrifice for our sins is the only reason we can have hope and life today. No other event in the history of the world comes close to matching the impact of the resurrection. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus’s resurrection gives a foretaste of what’s to come for those who place their faith in Jesus. The fact that Jesus is alive provides assurance for those of us who die while clinging to our hope in Christ that we will join him in resurrected life one day.

We celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. We talk about it. We sing about it. We pray in reference to it. The resurrection is the central event of the gospel—so, yeah, it’s going to come up a lot at our church. But we set aside a special time each year to really focus on it—and it’s my favorite thing we do.

The second reason I’m excited for Easter is the opportunity it presents us in connecting people outside the church with the power of the gospel. Easter is one of two events each year—the other being Christmas Eve—where non-Christians will routinely join us for our gathering, often for the sake of tradition or curiosity. While inviting an unchurched friend or family member to join us on a Sunday morning isn’t very hard, Easter presents an even easier opportunity than normal. And if we will all be ready for an influx of unchurched people in our building on Easter Sunday, then we can expect the Holy Spirit to use us to help unchurched people come to know Christ and become part of our local church.

I’m excited for Easter. I hope you are, too.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

What Stays the Same

This has been a busy month for our church. From voting on a NextGen Pastor candidate to a business meeting in which we covered a lot of ground, many things are happening at Fee Fee. And to top it all off, we have launched an initiative to invite 10,000 unchurched people to join us at one of our gatherings this year. As the Holy Spirit moves through us in our gospel conversations, more things are likely to change at this church. We’ll see more people in our gatherings. We’ll expand our Sunday school and small groups. We’ll have logistical issues to figure out. And while change is not inherently good or bad, at times it can feel overwhelming.

In exciting but change-filled times like these, we need to hold on to two truths as a church: our God never changes, and neither does our mission.

God repeated the idea that he never changes multiple times in Scripture to several different audiences. Through the prophet Malachi, God reminded the Israelites that he doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6). In Psalm 102:27, we see that God is constant and that his years have no end. In Hebrews 13:8, we learn that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you’re somebody who doesn’t like change, then I have good news for you: we serve an unchanging God.

Additionally, while our church looks very different today than it did in 1807, we have an unchanging mission. We have always existed as a church to connect people to the unifying and life-transforming power of the gospel. We may not have used those words, but for over two hundred years, we have been a gospel witness to the Bridgeton area and beyond. It’s never been about the programs or the “way we do things”; God placed us and has sustained us for centuries so that people in our community and around the world can learn of the salvation available to them through Jesus Christ.

While change can cause us to feel disoriented and uneasy, we can stand firm on the unchanging nature of God and our unchanging mission as a body of believers. Moreover, our unchanging God has done some amazing things over the past two hundred years through our church, and I cannot wait to see what he does through us in the coming months and years as we continue our unchanging mission to connect people to the gospel.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Looking Forward to 2026

I love the start to a new year. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the past twelve months and to establish habits and commitments for the future. As I reflect on the past twelve months at Fee Fee, the growth I have seen in our church excites me. In addition to numerical growth, I have also seen people grow in their faith in Christ, their confidence in the gospel, their understanding and application of Scripture, and their boldness in sharing the good news with lost people around them. All of the positive developments I have seen in 2025 make it hard to turn the page to 2026.

The good news is that God is just getting started at Fee Fee. Over 200 years in, and God is still just getting warmed up. And I firmly believe 2026 will be even better than 2025. However, if 2026 is going to be better than 2025, then three things need to happen:

1. We need the Holy Spirit to develop within us a profound consciousness of God’s presence and an abiding commitment to the power of the gospel;
2. We need the Holy Spirit to convict men and women in our community of sin and draw them into a saving faith in Jesus;
3. We need the members of Fee Fee—each and every one of us—to be faithful in God’s call to connect people to the gospel.

In recognition of those three needs, I want to invite you to join me in two initiatives. First, I want to invite you to join me in prayer and fasting in January, asking God to move in us and in our community this year. We will meet Sunday, January 4th, 11th & 18th at 5 pm in the worship center for prayer. We will also be fasting the last week of January; I invite you to give up something specific during that week and devote time to prayer, but I also invite you to give up food (if possible) for at least the last two days of January as we seek God’s power among us.

Second, with nearly 100,000 people in a 10-minute drive of our church, we have a lot of ground to cover if we are going to connect lost people in our community with the unifying and life-transforming power of the gospel. To that end, our goal this year is to personally invite 10,000 people to join us in worship on a Sunday morning. That’s one invitation per week for each person in our church. Will you invite people to join us this year? If so, I’m excited to see what 2026 brings for our church and for our community.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

Biblical Generosity

I know what you’re probably thinking…“Oh no, Britton’s talking about money again!”

And you would be wrong. Technically, I’m writing about money this time. Specifically, I’m writing about the ways I’ve seen our church model biblical generosity over the past month.

In case you missed it, the government shut down this year. While I’m hoping it’s operating again by the time you’re reading this, the shutdown and its consequences, such as delayed SNAP payments, affected many people. Needs increased. But where needs increased, our church’s generosity abounded all the more. The food and money you donated helped dozens of people each week feed their families. They kept kids from going hungry, parents from skipping meals, and struggling community members from going into debt just to put food on the table.

As we discussed on Sunday, November 3^rd, biblical generosity consists of both compassion and wisdom. It’s seeing the needs of the people around us, caring enough to do something about it, and operating with wisdom to maximize the impact of our generosity. When it comes to our community’s needs during the government shutdown, I want to celebrate Fee Fee for seeing the needs, caring enough to give, and managing your money in such a way that enabled you to give to this cause at a moment’s notice. Praise the Lord for your generosity!

I also want to mention the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. At the time of writing, I don’t have any totals for how many boxes our church filled. But I know it’s more than zero, so I will once again celebrate your generosity.

I haven’t even mentioned your generosity regarding our weekly offering, through which all the operations of our church take place. Thanks to your generosity, our kids ministry is flourishing, our student ministry is growing, and we are connecting more and more people to the unifying and life-transforming power of the gospel.

As we approach the Christmas season, we will have many more opportunities to practice biblical generosity. The Lottie Moon offering for international missions. Angel tree for local families. Not to mention all the normal costs associated with the holiday season at Fee Fee. I’m constantly blown away by our church’s generosity, and I know God will use every donation to the praise and glory of his name. I can never say it enough—thank you for your generosity.

In Christ,

Pastor Britton

When God Feels Distant

Sometimes God feels close—so close we can literally feel his presence. We stand on a mountaintop, faith-filled experience, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is real and that he loves us. Camps, retreats, random Sunday mornings, sometimes expectedly, sometimes not—at different times God shows up in tangible ways, and his presence envelops us.

At other times, the opposite feels true. He feels distant, cold, unresponsive. Life hurls unrelenting pain and sorrow upon us, wave after wave. We witness injustice, but it seems like God doesn’t see it. We experience tragedy, and it feels like God doesn’t care. The mountaintop experience is gone; the darkness of the valley now surrounds us.

Maybe that’s how you feel today. Maybe you’ve felt that way in the past week, month, year, or decade. Maybe you haven’t—but maybe you will. When we’re experiencing the lows of life and God feels distant, we need to ask two important questions:

What is true? Is God actually distant?

How should I feel at this moment? Is my anger, frustration, anxiety, or sorrow justified?

Thankfully, the Bible provides answers to these questions. As we study Habakkuk together in November, God will reveal to us what is true—a solid bedrock upon which we can stand firm through life’s difficult moments. He will also reveal to us how we should feel, both when we’re experiencing those mountaintop moments, and when we feel stranded in the valley. Through God’s teaching in the book of Habakkuk—this little-studied and under-appreciated book—we can gain the perspective we need to deal with the moments when God feels distant.

I hope you will invite people to join us as we gather together to learn from God’s Word. Everybody has had, is having, or will have moments when God feels distant. Let’s gain a greater appreciation for who God is and what he’s doing in the world as we study this book together. And as always, feel free to reach out if you need somebody to talk to (314-739-1525; Britton@feefeeb.org).

In Christ,

Pastor Britton