Fee Fee Baptist Church

Category: Forerunner

This category contains everything pertaining to the Forerunner.

  • Prime Time – Vol. 62, No. 12

    Summer is speeding by. Hope you are enjoying vacations, BBQ, and friend and family get-togethers.

    We are not planning any activities in July but have a full schedule for the rest of the year! Here are some dates to add to your calendar:

    Wednesday, August 3 OmniMax theater with lunch at the Fountain on Locust.
    Monday-Thursday

    August 22-25

    		Adult VBS –  9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
    Monday, September 12 Tour of the log cabin church, Holy Family Catholic Church in Cahokia. Lunch destination TBA.
    Wednesday, September 28 Lunch and movie, The Insanity of God.
    Saturday, October 15 Storytellers at the JCCA presented by the St. Louis County Library.
    Friday, October 28 Money Museum and lunch at Crown Candy.
    November – Date TBD Presentation by the Missouri Baptist Foundation for senior adults.
    Thursday, December 1 Big Joel’s Safari Winter Wonderland. Bring your family!
    Monday, December 19 Our Lady of the Snows Christmas display and dinner.

     

    Put these dates on your calendar and invite others to come with you! A personal invitation is a very effective way of connecting others to our church.

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 62, No. 12

    Church Family,

    Do you ever get a song stuck in your head and you just can’t get it out? As I’m writing this article, there is a children’s song on repeat in my brain. What makes it really odd, is this is a children’s song in Spanish!

    Yo tango gorzo, gorzo, gorzo, gorzo en mi corazon,

    Donde? En mi corazon?

    That song, “I’ve got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” is one of the many songs that our Dominican Republic missions team is familiarizing ourselves with as we prepare to head out on July 9.

    It’s not just music that we will be doing. We have a packed schedule to look forward to. We will be leading a Vacation Bible School for our partner church and also doing the same at a local orphanage. In addition, we will get to participate in an evangelistic outreach night at the church as well as services dedicated to equipping men and women in the church and community. Further, we will be doing prayer walking in the community and ministering however we can. Finally, we will get to check out the water well that Fee Fee has funded for the community. And the well was put in right beside the local church!

    I’m so thankful for our church’s commitment to missions. Our youth had a great time serving in our nation’s capital. We have a college student just wrapping up his time in southeast Asia. We have a couple who will be working with Concord Builders. We have a recent college graduate heading back to the Pacific Northwest to go to advanced leadership training so she can help lead overseas trips. We have another recent college graduate serving as a journeyman missionary in North Africa. The list just goes on! I love our commitment to the Great Commission!

    I want to ask for you to continue to pray for our different mission endeavors. Also, I want us to make sure that we aren’t just doing missions in Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. I want us to be on mission here in Bridgeton! One of our deacons, Chris Fisbeck, is going to start leading some prayer walking right here in our community. Join him and let’s be missional here and now! Or help be a driver with our Meals On Wheels program on Tuesdays. Or serve in our Mobile Market the second Monday of each month. Or sign up to serve a meal to Loaves and Fishes.

    We have a litany of missions opportunities right here. Let’s take the Gospel to our neighborhoods and the nations!

    Please be praying for our Dominican Republic Mission Team and look for ways to be on mission for God right here!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach Crook

  • Family Front – Vol. 62, No. 12

    Father/Son Fishing Day Recap

    Our Father/Son Fishing Day was great! We had a small crew but thanks to Joe Copeland and Dave Potts it was a success! Congrats Jeremiah and Cyrus on your trophy fish – now you have a fishing story to tell!

    VBS 2022 & Soccer Camp – July 18-22, “MOMUMENTAL – Celebrating God’s Greatness”

    Registration is open for VBS and Soccer Camp for kids that have completed Kindergarten through 5th grade. Our prayers for Soccer camp leadership team were answered and we have 3 coaches ready to lead.  If you have some soccer experience we can use your help, too.  Let me know if you would like to volunteer. Soccer camp is full, but we are still taking VBS registrations.

    Please register online: www.feefeebc.org/free-vbs-fee-fee Registration forms for preschoolers of workers can be turned into the church office.

    Here is one of the verses kids will be learning in VBS: “Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people!” (Psalm 66:5).

    Come be a part of this event and other family events at our church! You will want to be part of the awesome miracles God does and has done!

    VBS Volunteers

    Set aside time now to help with VBS! Please see Kathy to volunteer! There are lots of ways to be involved! We need you! Pray with us for kids to hear clearly who God is and the salvation he provides and that kids will respond. Thank you!

  • College & Outreach – Vol. 62, No. 12

    But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me,” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

    The Apostle Paul would have had good reason to boast in his own abilities. A faithful Jew before his conversion, Paul knew the Law and Prophets like the back of his hand. Paul followed the law as best he could, dotting his I’s and crossing his T’s. Even his persecution of early Christians was believed to be faithful to the Scriptures as the Jews understood them. Upon his Damascus Road experience, Saul became Paul and lived a life devoted to Jesus Christ and the spread of his Gospel. Virtually every church in the East had Paul’s fingerprints in their founding. Nearly two-thirds of our New Testament was authored by the Apostle. So why is it this man who chooses not to boast in his own deeds for God?

    Because Jesus Christ was far better! The human Paul pales in comparison to the Godman that is Jesus. In verse 8, we see that Paul is afflicted with a “thorn in the flesh,” so that he would not revel in his own deeds but fully rely on Christ. Consider your thorn in the flesh, that sin you just can’t seem to shake. We all have them, no one is immune to a “speck in their eye.” I’ve lived most of my life as a perfectionist, never satisfied with my work and always striving for better. I know my weaknesses and they haunt me almost daily. Maybe some of you relate to my “thorn in the flesh.”

    What are we to do? Consider Paul’s response: “So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10, emphasis added). When we are made weak, that is when God’s grace shines brightest in our lives. Confess sins, admit your weaknesses; step out in faith and be made strong in the grace of God. I pray you will join me in boasting in the sufficient grace for you, for God’s power made perfect in weakness.

  • Devotional Corner – Vol. 62, No. 12

    From Billy Graham’s Daily Devotion Archive

    “Love one another, as I have loved you,” (John 15:12).

    As I study the subject of “separation” in the Old and New Testaments, I discover that the weight of Scripture lies in the direction of fellowship rather than separation. What is the great overwhelming evidence that we have passed from death unto life? It is love! Jesus Christ clearly was speaking of visible unity, such as can be seen by the world. His motive for praying was that the world might believe and the world might know. He prayed for unity among believers. God, who wills man’s unity in Christ, is a God of variety. So often we want everyone to be the same—to think and speak and believe as we do. Many Scripture passages could be called to witness that love is the real key to Christian unity. In the spirit of true humility, compassion, consideration, and unselfishness, we are to approach our problems, our work, and even our differences.

    Prayer for the day: In a world needing Your love, let me not judge those who love You too. You have made us all so different, Father. Teach me, by Your loving Holy Spirit, compassion and true unity.

  • Announcements – Vol. 62, No. 12

    Sympathy

    Our love through Christian sympathy is extended to

    … Keith Jenkins on the passing of his uncle, Kenneth Jenkins, on June 15.

    … Family and friends on the passing of Lucille Shrimpton, on June 16.

    … Sue Chadwick and family on the passing of her husband, John P. Chadwick, on June 23.

    Thank You

    The church has received a Thank You note from John & Thelma Hopkins.

    Mobile Market

    We love partnering with the St. Louis Area Food Bank to get free groceries into the hands of families in need in our community. Anyone is welcome to come get groceries on the second Monday of each month, at 10:00 a.m. (until the food runs out).

    Our upcoming 2022 dates will be:

    • July 11
    • August 8
    • September 12
    • October 10
    • November 14
    • December 12
    DR Mission Trip

    Our mission team will be heading out on July 9 for their much anticipated trip to the Dominican Republic.

    As they prepare over the next month, we ask for your help. They are collecting supplies for use during a kids VBS they will be hosting while there. Some of the supplies they are requiring are:

    • Flip Flops of all sizes/colors
    • Colored Sharpies (for crafts) 
    • Suitcases with wheels

    These items may be dropped off in the Donation Center across from the Connection Center, in the DR Mission Trip collection box.

    Scholarship Applications

    Fee Fee Scholarships applications for the 2022-2023 academic year are available online or in the Connection Center.

    All Fee Fee member’s that are going to be enrolled in college in the fall, make sure to fill out a Scholarship Application and get 2 letters of reference.  Scholarship applications and all required documents are due by Sunday, July 3. Contact Gloria if you have any questions: gloria@feefeebc.org.

     

  • Chi Alpha News – Vol. 62, No. 12

    Middle School Mini Golf Night!

    On Tuesday, July 12, all current middle schoolers and incoming 6th graders are welcome to join us for our Middle School Mini Golf Night! We will be heading to Aloha Mini Golf and Shaved Ice in Valley Park for a fun night of all-you-can-play mini golf (and obviously some shaved ice, too)! We will leave the church that night at 6:00 p.m. and will return at 9:00 p.m. Cost is just $5/person for this super fun night! Sign up in the Rafters so we know you’re coming. We hope to see you there!

    Underground Church

    I am so excited to bring back one of my favorite events this summer, Underground Church. Not only is this night a fun, intense game to play, but it is also an immersive experience for our students to see what it is like to be a Christian in a country that is closed to spreading the Gospel. There are more than 50 countries all over the world that are closed off to the Gospel, so it is important to not only understand the freedoms that we have, to worship, but also to realize that it is our job as Christians to spread the Gospel to all ends of the earth. Underground Church will take place Friday, July 22 from 8:00-11:00 p.m. here at the church. There is no cost to this event, but we will be taking donations to fill Action Packs to send to missionaries in these closed-off locations through Voice of the Martyrs. Here is a list of some items we will be collecting:

    • Blankets
    • Jackets (adult or child sizes)
    • Light sweaters (adult or child)
    • Gloves or mittens
    • Knit hats
    • Socks (adult or child)
    • Solid color t-shirts (adult or child)
    • Twin size bed sheets
    • New tarps
    • Packs of zip ties
    • Towels
    • Bars of soap
    • Sponge or foam balls (for children)

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 62, No. 11

    Church Family,

    “Renovation in progress” should be a sign that we permanently hang up around our church. From the youth area we updated recently, to our Welcome Center, to our Media Center update, to the lighting in the parking lot, there always seems to be something that is being updated around our campus.

    Don’t get me wrong, these renovations are good things, and necessary. We constantly want to improve and update our campus, so we make a great first impression to visitors and our community.

    These physical renovations are important (and it makes me so thankful that we have Mike Bayles working his magic!). However, we also need to allow God to renovate us, the body of Christ. We want to be molded and shaped into authentic Christians that reflect the love of Jesus to the world. What does the word “authentic” mean to you? Merriam-Webster defines it as “real or genuine: not copied or false.” I would argue that in our day and age, our country needs authentic Christians now more than ever.

    Scripture challenges us to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Allowing God to renovate us means that we allow him to give us a biblical perspective on our world today. We look at things from a Christ-exalting lens and we willingly die to self. It isn’t easy, but we set aside our own desires and live to magnify Christ’s Kingdom here on earth.

    It is my prayer that as we continue walking through the parables of Jesus together as a church family, we will all truly know what it means to live as Christ’s ambassadors in this fallen world. I pray that our understanding of God’s Kingdom will grow, and we will allow the Spirt to work in our lives and we will undergo renovations in our hearts!

    Let’s commit, as a church family, to see through the physical renovations on our church building and the spiritual renovations that our hearts all need as we continue our study on the parables of Jesus. These spiritual renovations are how we can truly build our lives on Jesus.

    Also, let’s make sure to take time this week to pray for our student ministry. They are currently pursuing the good of our nation’s capital as they are on their summer mission trip in D.C. Let’s pray that God is working in and through them this week!

    I can’t wait to hear stories of how God is moving, both here at Fee Fee and through our missions team in D.C. I know God is going to be on the move this summer!

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach Crook

  • Bible Study Corner – Vol. 62, No. 11

    As COVID subsides, I would like to encourage those of you in T-groups who have been meeting on Marco Polo, to start meeting in person again. There is something so special about meeting together – a connection that cannot be made using a screen. I currently have a new group of 3 women looking for 2 more women to join. I would love to get flooded with so many requests from new members that we have to have multiple groups!

    For those who may not know, T-groups are groups of 3-5 men or 3-5 women who meet together weekly, to talk about what God is showing them in Scripture, encourage one another, hold each other accountable, and pray for one another. Your group chooses a time and place to meet weekly. Get creative!

    I would also like to encourage formation of new small groups or the resurrection of old ones. Again, we need the support of in-person interaction with other Christians, and if you meet in homes, it’s a great place to invite your neighbors. Let me know where you are planning to meet with your group: gloria@feefeebc.org.

  • Music Musings – Vol. 62, No. 11

    Honoring Our Fathers – Heavenly and Earthly – Here is a play list of beautiful music to honor our Heavenly Father and earthly fathers. You will notice that much of the music parallels attributes of our Heavenly Father and earthly father. Enjoy this tribute as we approach Father’s Day when we honor Fathers.

    Good, Good Father

    Casting Crowns

     

    Cinderella

    Steven Curtis Chapman

     

    Goodness of God

    CeCe Winans

    Faith of Our Fathers

    Fountainview Academy

     

    Look Up Child

    Lauren Daigle

     

    What He’s Done

    Martha Munizzi

     

    How Deep the Father’s Love For Us 

    Celtic Worship

     

    Child of The King

    Gaither Vocal Band

     

    Abba Father

    The Acappella Company

     

    You Raise Me Up

    BYU Vocal Point

     

    I See a Hero

    Shawna Edwards

     

    Father’s Eyes

    Amy Grant

    Please enjoy this beautiful music as you get set to celebrate Father’s Day. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3MyUW0N

    Happy Father’s Day to all you dads!