Fee Fee Baptist Church

Category: A Word From… Forerunner Front Page News

All front page Forerunner articles.

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 20

    I heard a pastor once say, “We owe it to people to prepare them for adversity.”

    How true is that in our Christian community! While I do believe that “God is good, all the time…all the time, God is good,” I think our definition and gut reaction to that word “good” needs to be evaluated. What do we really mean when we say, “God is good?”

    I think that often, if we aren’t careful, the American church can give out the impression to the lost that with salvation will come the end of all struggles and doubt. We often neglect the whole sanctification part of salvation. That is why that quote really struck me.

    It is not enough for us to just talk about who we are in Christ (how we are victors, children of the King, etc.). We must also talk about the trials that surely await every believer, no matter how much faith they have. Salvation does not equal comfort or safety. I believe that Christ openly declared that in the world, we will have trouble. It is our job to prepare people for that trouble so they can weather the storm instead of drowning in it!

    Yes, God is good all the time. However, His goodness does not mean we avoid trials and temptations, it simply means He is enough during those rough times.

    That is one major reason why Peter wrote the book of 1 Peter. He wanted to help the early church understand that trials and tribulations were going to come. He wanted the church to know that God cares a lot more about our holiness than our comfort.

    As we walk through this great book together this fall, remember what Peter writes to us in 1 Peter 3:17: “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” In other words, there will be adversity in this life! Let’s live for God in such a way that we know that the adversity that we face is because we are doing good!

    Church, we need to be prepared for adversity…and we need to continue to live boldly for God and pursue holiness over comfort!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 19

    My article for this edition of The Forerunner is going to be a little different than usual. I’m still going to share about some things that are coming up in the life of our church. Specifically, how we are going to be walking through the book of 1 Peter together as a church starting on September 20. However, before we get into that, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the work of Ruth Thoma here at Fee Fee Baptist.

    If you haven’t heard, Ruth is retiring at the end of the month. She has served faithfully here at Fee Fee Baptist for nineteen and a half years! She has served in a variety of support staff roles and has been deeply connected to our church for nearly two decades. For the last year and a half, Ruth has served as my administrative assistant and has provided invaluable insight to me. I can’t tell you how many times I have gone to her to better understand different people and situations in the church. One thing that you can’t develop overnight is institutional knowledge. Ruth’s faithful service here at FFBC is something that gave her a knowledge base that I have repeatedly been able to benefit from.

    However, more than her institutional knowledge, Ruth’s heart for the Lord and her joy in serving Him is what stands out the most to me. I have been so encouraged by Ruth’s unshakable faith and her incredible servant’s heart. She has worked tirelessly in serving the Lord and serving this church for the last two decades. Additionally, I know that so many of you have benefited from getting to spend time with her over the years.

    The Bible says that we are to give honor where honor is due. Please take the opportunity to let Ruth know how much you appreciate the way she has served the Lord and our church. I’ve been so blessed to work with her! Please join me in praying for her as she makes this transition out of the workplace and into retirement. I know God is still going to use her in incredible ways!

    Ruth’s example of service is something that we want to emulate. There will be a few different opportunities coming up for us to do just that. Not only are we continuing with our Mobile Food Pantry, but we also will be hosting another blood drive on October 1-2. If you can sign up to donate, that would be great! Finally, we will be having a church workday on October 3. Would you be willing to come and help out and beautify our campus?

    Also, I want to encourage you to dig into 1 Peter with us. In this time of uncertainty in our world, it is a great reminder that we have a Living Hope! We are elect exiles who are here to proclaim the truth of the Gospel to a world that is needing hope. Studying this book together this fall will prayerfully equip us to be ready with a reason for the hope we have!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 18

    In Psalm 77:11, Asaph writes, “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.”

    Even during this time of turmoil and uncertainty in our country, we must remember that our God is sovereign and faithful. Just like Asaph, we must believe in God’s promises and remember His great and mighty works in tumultuous times.  In the song “Waymaker,” the bridge has a line that says “even when I don’t feel it, you’re working/you never stop, you never stop working!”

    The truth of the matter is that God is still on the move, even during this pandemic. We are walking through difficult circumstances, but our God is at work. We are going to have a special Sunday on September 13 to bring honor and praise to our Lord. To remember and celebrate what God is doing at our church. We are calling it “God Still Works” Sunday. It is easy in the midst of this pandemic to only focus on the negatives. However, our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And our God is still working!

    In 1 Samuel 7, after God delivered the Israelites from the Philistines and gave them a great victory, Samuel did something interesting. He grabbed a bunch of stones and piled them on top of each other to build a monument to the Lord. What did he name it? An Ebenezer. That word, Ebenezer, means “up to here the Lord has helped me.” Those stones would serve as a reminder to the Israelites of God’s faithfulness to them.

    In a similar vein, on September 13 we are going to acknowledge how God has been moving in our church during this pandemic. While we are still in the midst of difficult circumstances, it is still important for us to fix our eyes on Jesus and give Him the glory and honor that He and He alone deserves. We are going to do this not only in our Sunday morning services, but we are also going to have a special testimony service that evening at 6:00 p.m. I want to encourage you to be a part of these services as we give God the glory.

    Subsequently, by remembering God’s faithfulness we should be compelled to exalt Him in not only our words but also our deeds. John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

    As we worship God on September 13, and in the days and weeks ahead, let’s express our overwhelming gratitude to our Savior not only by remembering the great things He has done, but also by vowing to live a life that glorifies our God!

    Will you join me in praying that God will still move and work in and through our church in the days ahead?

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 17

    As our staff has taken time trying to evaluate how best to do ministry this fall and winter, I catch myself wishing for things to go back to “normal.” Normalcy has been pretty evasive, hasn’t it? I keep hoping that we have turned a corner on this pandemic, but we are still in the midst of this fight. As of the writing of this article, we are still operating under a 25% capacity mandate from St. Louis County.

    Regardless of the limitations, we still want to be able to offer some in-person Bible Studies on Sunday mornings and Wednesday night activities this fall. With the 25% capacity rule, we are having to get pretty creative, but I hope that you will be gracious towards the staff as we chart a course through these uncertain waters.

    With all of that being said, we are excited to be able to offer some in-person Bible Study options on Sunday morning during our normal Bible Study time starting September 6. From 9:45 to 10:45 a.m., we will have three different class options you can participate in on campus. These classes will be taught by Dave Potts in the Dining Room, Doug Monasmith in our chapel, and Gloria Fox in our Fellowship Hall. Dave will be teaching through the “Explore the Bible” curriculum from Lifeway. Doug is teaching from the book of Genesis. And Gloria will be teaching on the life and ministry of Jesus from a Jewish perspective. If you are interested in attending one of these in-person classes, please sign up through our website or call the office if you want to reserve a spot.

    We are going to offer these Bible Study options for six weeks and reevaluate after that time. These classes are not necessarily meant to replace your normal class meeting, whether it has been on Zoom or some other platform. However, we wanted to offer some classes on campus for those of you who are interested in attending a class in person.

    Additionally, starting Wednesday, September 9, right after Labor Day, we will begin our fall schedule for our Wednesday night activities. From 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., we will have our Men’s Fraternity, Women’s Bible Study, Youth Small Groups, and some kids’ activities, including games, Bible study, and tutoring. We are not going to have our normal Wednesday night dinners in September. In addition, we are going to continue having our Weeknight prayer time online at 7:00 p.m., so we will not have a prayer meeting in the Dining Room. Instead, we would encourage you to join in with our men’s or women’s studies, or volunteer with our kids and teens!

    Things will continue to look a little different around here this fall. However, in spite of all of that, I am comforted by the fact that God isn’t taken by surprise by any of this. He is still seated on His throne, and He is sovereign! Will you join me in praying to our Sovereign King that He will continue to work in and through our church this fall?

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

     

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 16

    Who’s your one?

    It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? What are we talking about when we ask that question? The Great Commission. Evangelism. Sharing your faith. Imagine if every member of our church could answer that question, “Who’s your one?” with the name of a person—a person for whom they’re praying and with whom they’re sharing the Gospel. How would it change our church? How would it change the world?

    Matthew 28:19-20 is very clear on what our responsibility is as believers. We are supposed to make disciples! Our mission is to be witnesses. To be ambassadors. To share the hope of the Gospel with a lost and dying world.

    I’m convinced that God’s people don’t merely need another method for evangelism. What we need is a white-hot passion to see people who are far from God experience the new life He offers through Jesus Christ. Everything else we do pales in comparison to evangelism. If we’re not intent on doing everything so that lost men, women, and children will experience the transforming work of God, we are missing the point of the Great Commission. Without a focus on evangelism, we fail.

    That’s why we’re launching this “Who’s Your One?” initiative. This effort is designed to mobilize every member of Fee Fee Baptist Church to identify one person in his or her relational network to pray for and share the Gospel with in 2020.

    Sometimes, in church, we have the tendency to talk about how we need to share our faith more than we actually go and do it. That is why we are asking every person to participate in this initiative. Grab a “Who’s Your One?” bookmark and write in the name of one person for which you are going to share the Gospel. In addition, we have prayer journals available online to download or in our Welcome Center that will give you ways to pray for your “one” every day.

    It’s not an elaborate or complicated idea, but this simple idea could lead to revival! What would happen if each of us had one person that we were intentional about sharing the Gospel with over the next five weeks? As we launch this “Who’s Your One?” campaign, we are praying for God to use each of us to reach those who are lost in our relational networks.

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 15

    Summer missions has looked a little different around Fee Fee this year. Other than the Potts still serving with Concord Builders, our other summer trips had to be canceled. Things have not exactly gone the way we expected them to go. However, in the midst of disappointment, there is still opportunity. That opportunity will be to serve others through Impact Week! Biblically, the call to serve others and live out the Great Commission still stands, even in the midst of a pandemic.

    The Bible talks frequently about the need to serve others. Here are a few examples:

    • Matthew 25:40 says, that when we serve those in need, we serve our Lord as well.
    • Isaiah 58:10 says, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”
    • Hebrews 13:16: “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
    • In Mark 9:35, Jesus taught us: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all,” (Mark 9:35).

    I am sharing those passages to remind us of the importance of serving others and being a light in our community. While we couldn’t do everything we originally planned for missions this summer, I am thankful we can still do some mission projects for Impact Week. From August 2-8, our church is going to step out and be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are going to do service projects, meet needs, and share the Gospel with our community. We want for our community to experience a true impact as we coordinate together to serve our city.

    Just like last year, we will have different service projects each day that week for you to choose to participate including: the St. Louis Area Food Bank, Loaves and Fishes, Meals on Wheels, and so much more. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to step out and serve in our community. In addition, we are capping off the week of service on Saturday, August 8, with our Free Market! You can host a table and give away things to people in our community! Finally, we also have recommendations on our website for ways to serve our community with your family, like making cards for first responders.

    We do know that things are going to look a little different this year. We are doing our best to make sure that our service opportunities are safe. You can go online to our website to sign up for any of these local missions projects that you feel comfortable participating in.

    I’m praying that, through Impact Week, we will be able to share about Christ in our community with our acts of service. Please join me in praying for Impact Week.

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 14

    As we enter month four of this pandemic, things can get frustrating. If I can be honest, I often feel frustrated. I miss seeing many of your faces on Sunday mornings. I miss sharing meals and studying God’s Word together on Wednesday nights. I miss hugs, handshakes, and high fives. I long for “normalcy,” and for our church to be full again.

    However, time and time again, as I have sought the Lord, I’ve been reminded of the need to persevere. To continue serving Him in any way that we can. Whenever I get frustrated, I turn my attention to Him, and I’m reminded that our mission hasn’t changed. Paul reminds us in Philippians 3 that we need to press on toward the goal! In addition, God has been incredibly gracious with little reminders of how good He is.

    Too often, I focus on the fact that three of our mission trips were canceled this summer. However, God has reminded me to stay focused and celebrate the one mission trip that is still happening. Right now, as I am writing this, Dave and Donna Potts are serving with the Concord Builders, on mission for Christ. Let’s celebrate that!

    Also, whenever I feel frustrated, I’m reminded of how we are being flexible and working to serve our community and meet needs. I am eagerly awaiting our Impact Week, August 2-8. I can’t wait to see how God moves and works in our church and in our community through that week. I’d love for you to go ahead and block that week off on your calendars and be ready to serve the Lord in a variety of ways, including: the St. Louis Area Foodbank, Loaves and Fishes, Room at the Inn, and so much more. We are going to have a myriad of opportunities for you to be the hands and feet of Jesus this summer.

    Speaking of flexibility, that has become a way of life around the church recently. One way that we are asking you to be flexible is with our July Business Meeting. We need to go over some financial reports and approve scholarships, along with other important business. We would ask that you join us on Sunday, July 19, at 2:00 p.m. as we conduct this meeting. We know it’s not the regular time that we have business meetings, but we are asking for you to be flexible and attend, if possible. There are two ways to attend. You can either come, in person, to the sanctuary. Or, you can attend online through our website. You can go to www.feefeebc.org/businessmeeting. There, you will have to enter the password: business. This password protected site will have the video stream of the building, an online ballot for you to use to vote, and a PDF copy of our minutes and reports. We need to have a quorum to get these things taken care of, so we would love for you to participate!

    Please join me in praying for our church. We want to avoid falling into an attitude of frustration. Instead, I am praying that we will persevere and stay on mission for Christ. Our community and our world need the hope of the gospel. Let’s be God’s hands and feet and share that hope!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 13

    If you remember, back in January, we launched a new vision for the church. Our mission statement is that 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. We boil down that mission statement to the simple phrase, “Build and Pursue.”

    Since that whole series took place pre-pandemic, I thought it would be helpful for us to evaluate how we are doing as a church in aligning with that mission during these last few months. I think it is incredibly humbling to see how our church has been so flexible and creative in our mission to build and pursue during these last few months.

    When it comes to building our lives on Jesus, we had to really go digital. I am thankful that Fee Fee was more prepared than most churches. We already had the capability to stream services, so we were ahead of the curve among the majority of Evangelical churches. Additionally, I was so thankful for how our different Bible study leaders were incredibly flexible in switching to meet over Zoom, Facebook, or even email! We even had a digital choir! Also, I have really enjoyed our times of prayer each day, Monday through Thursday, on Facebook. Digital discipleship hasn’t always been ideal, but it has been such a blessing to see our church body adapt and respond. We are truly building our lives on Jesus in a number of ways.

    However, we didn’t just look inward and only focus on our church body and growing internally. We have taken on major initiatives to make sure that we are pursuing the good of our community. Here are just a few of the ways that our church has been meeting needs in our community:

    • We had 23 people sign up to volunteer to serve our community through our website to meet various needs that have arisen.
    • We partnered with the St. Louis Area Food Bank and have had nearly 80 volunteers work so far. Also, we have had 682 cars come through our mobile food pantry, which represented 2,717 people!
    • We have had over 20 students and volunteers serve on “Mission Mondays,” where our youth go around and help in our community doing yard work and meeting other needs.
    • We partnered with the American Red Cross and had volunteers donate blood; with another opportunity to do so July 22-23!
    • We have our Meals on Wheels crew that have been faithfully preparing meals and delivering them week in and week out.
    • We served a meal to one of the COVID-19 floors at DePaul Hospital.

    Not only that, but our church has also been exceedingly generous as we talk about missions. Your contributions to the benevolence fund have been so helpful in our efforts to provide for different people in need, including paying someone’s rent and providing work clothes for another person.

    Additionally, I was blown away that we exceeded our goal for the Annie Armstrong offering and have received $12,050 at the time of this writing.

    Now, I am not saying all of these things so we can rest on our laurels. We all know how much need there still is in our city, our nation, and our world. Instead, I want to encourage and inspire each of us. If you haven’t volunteered yet to serve, there are going to be other opportunities.

    One big change we are making is that we are moving our Impact Week to August 2-8. We gave 455 volunteer hours to our community last fall. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could do something similar this summer, even in the midst of a pandemic?!

    I can’t wait to see how God works in and through our church in the days ahead. It is a joy serving alongside you as we get to proclaim the truth of the gospel through word and deed! Let’s continue to “Build and Pursue” for the glory of God!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 12

    2020 has been an interesting year, hasn’t it? Honestly, interesting might be too kind of a word for what 2020 has been…it has been absolutely ridiculous! It seems like the story that I thought might dominate the first half of 2020, the horrible wildfires in Australia, happened years ago. In reality, it was dominating the news cycle just months ago. If there is one thing that 2020 has taught me, it is that any illusion of control that humanity has tried to assert has been rendered useless.

    While that might seem incredibly discouraging, I actually think there might be a silver lining in the storm cloud that has been 2020. Humanity has to come to grips with the fact that it is not in charge. This is one reason why I think studying the “I Am” statements that Jesus makes in the book of John is so helpful for our church this summer. It is a reminder that He is the one who is in control. He is the one who we should rely on.

    Pastor Louie Giglio wrote a book titled I Am Not But I Know I AM. In that book, he says, “As we will soon discover, admitting we are not God—not in control, not running anything, not responsible for everyone’s well-being, not the solution for everything and everyone, not at the center of all things—doesn’t belittle us; it frees us.”

    He absolutely hits the nail on the head. When we admit we aren’t in control, it isn’t belittling…it’s freeing! We are free to trust God and not try to figure everything out on our own. We are free from trying to be perfect and are led to trust in Christ’s perfection instead. 2020 has shown us that we don’t have all the answers. But the good news is that we know the One who does!

    Throughout the book of John, Jesus makes seven “I Am” statements that reveal to us different aspects of His character. He calls Himself the following: the Bread of Life; the Light of the World; the Gate; the Good Shepherd; the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the Resurrection and the Life; and the True Vine.

    Each of these “I Am” statements are packed with truth that give us a clearer picture of who Jesus is and what He came to accomplish during His time here on earth. It is my prayer that an in-depth look at these different statements will be an incredible source of encouragement for us as we continue to navigate through this pandemic.

    2020 has shown us our limitations as a society. However, even though we are so limited, we serve a limitless God! God is sovereign, on His throne, and He will be our Solid Rock. We can all say with confidence that even though we are not, we know “I AM!”

    Please join us this month as we read through the book of John together and find encouragement in who Jesus says that He is.

    Finally, it was so encouraging for us to be able to gather again for corporate worship on June 7! I was thankful to see many of you, but I also know this pandemic has made it where many of you are still worshipping with us online from home. I miss you and can’t wait until it is safe for all of us to worship together again!

    I’m praying for you, church! I can’t wait to see how God works in and through us in the days ahead.

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 11

    I hope that you have received our letter about our regathering plan. Phase 1, which will be two worship services at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. will begin on June 7. There will not be any childcare or Bible Study classes at this time.

    I think it goes without saying, but things are going to be different as we regather for corporate worship. We want the focus to be on Jesus and worshipping and glorifying Him when we gather. For this reason, we have developed these four simple guidelines to help smooth our transition as we hold services on our campus again.

    So, in the heart of both love for God and for our neighbor, here are our four guidelines as we regather:

    1. Extend Grace – People have a lot of opinions on what we should and shouldn’t be doing as we navigate through this pandemic. Let’s extend grace to those that are doing things differently than we might be. Also, let’s extend grace to our leadership and be flexible as things might change and look different than we are used to.
    2. Give Space – We need to be conscientious about maintaining proper social distancing between family groups. Think of it this way….6 feet is basically two adult arm lengths.
    3. Allow Time – We need time to move people in and out of our building for our services, and to clean between services. Please don’t come into the building until 15 minutes before the start of the service, at the earliest. Also, allow time for ushers to dismiss you at the end of service and leave promptly when it’s your turn. Feel free to fellowship outside!
    4. Use Wisdom – If you feel sick, stay home. If you’ve been around someone who is ill, stay home and join us for worship online through our website or Facebook Live. We recommend wearing a mask, and will have some available if you need one. We want to use common sense for the common good.

    As a reminder, the church campus will remain closed for any other activities during Phase 1 of our Regathering Plan. We will still have people in the office to help with emergencies and day-to-day operations, but we want to ensure that our campus is clean and safe. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we navigate these uncharted waters.

    With all that being said, we can’t wait to worship together on June 7! If we just keep in mind those simple guidelines of extending grace, giving space, allowing time, and using wisdom, I believe we can honor God and our neighbor as we worship together corporately.

    We are praying for each of you and we are confident that God is still at work!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach