Fee Fee Baptist Church

Tag: 2021

  • 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!

  • 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

  • Chi Alpha News – Vol. 60, No. 25

    A year in review? Huh…that honestly seems kind of strange to write about this year, given the circumstances. 2020 has been quite the whirlwind, and not always in the most positive way. This year just seems to be so clouded by the negatives in the world. We are still in the middle of a pandemic. Our church has been struck by this, infecting our members, staff, and we mourn those who we lost along the way. We have seen the unjust deaths of black men and women this year come to center stage as racial division in our country is more prevalent then ever before. Our country recently held one of the most important elections in date, and we see that our country is more divided than it ever has been. Many people today are exuberant about the results and many people are worried and scared about what the future holds. We had to cancel holidays, birthdays, graduations, weddings, and may other events; things that we look forward to in anticipation.

    So, what hope do we have going forward? What happened this year that we can cling to in positivity? Well let’s rewind to January. We held our annual Big Chill event, and it was one of our biggest in recent years. Not only did we get to play awesome games like Demolition Ball, Laser Tag, and Underground Church, but we put on a massive concert led by myself and some college students from Missouri Baptist, and 60+ students got to bring in the New Year by worshipping our Savior. In March we held our biggest DNOW weekend to date by partnering with Chesterfield Community Church and Hazelwood Baptist Church. Leon Douglas brought us the word through the story of the Prodigal Son, and the Spirit moved and won the battle, because two students that weekend dedicated their lives to Christ! Finally, while we were shut down, we had to do ministry a little different. Through our Mission Mondays, students got to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus in our community. And they got to heavily involved with our Rafters renovation project.

    What hope do we have going forward? There is a new life in the Rafters. Not just because of the fresh paint on the walls, or the new logo, or fancy lights…there is a new direction. Our new mission statement of “Real Community, Real Purpose, Real God” will be the forefront of all that we do in ministry moving forward. I can’t wait to dive deeper into what that looks like in 2021 and see how God will provide for us going forward.

    We live in a broken world, and it is easy to get lost in the distractions of what that looks like. However, we serve a real and living God. He has not left us, and He will walk through the storms with us. I leave you with this, 1 Corinthians 10:13 (GNT) says, “Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.”

  • Community Connection – Vol. 60, No. 25

    New Year’s Resolutions

    I love getting to set New Year’s Resolutions. They give me some joy in the possibilities of good things to come in the next year. Will I achieve all of my resolutions? No. But will some good things happen because of my attempts towards these resolutions? Absolutely! For example, this past year I set a goal to read two books a month. As of writing this I’m only at 22 books. Just because I didn’t reach my goal of 24 doesn’t mean those 22 books were a waste. I count that as a win!

    So what resolutions are you setting for yourself this year? I have a suggestion: set a resolution that helps you “seek the good of our community for the glory of God.” That’s the last half of our mission statement. What is a resolution you could set for 2021 that involves you doing good for your community that brings glory to God? We have a lot of opportunities that you could volunteer here at church: providing food for Loaves and Fishes once a month, serving as a part of our Mobile Market team, giving more financially towards benevolence, or serving at our International Community Food Pantry. And it doesn’t have to be something organized through the church. Find a ministry or organization that you are passionate about and volunteer for them. We want Fee Fee to be known as a place that cares about our community and that happens when we will get out in our community and love people for God’s glory. So, what is a resolution you can set for 2021 that will “seek the good of our community for the glory of God?”

  • A Word From Pastor Zach – Vol. 60, No. 25

    2021 is right around the corner. After what we have endured this year, I know many of us our ready to put 2020 in our rearview mirrors! With the new year coming, it is always a great time to set some goals for the new year. While we often talk about losing weight or exercising more, I’d love for you to consider what spiritual goals you would like to set for the next year.

    How would you like to have 228% higher odds of sharing your faith in 2021? How about having 231% better odds in discipling others? Or how about 407% better odds in memorizing Scripture this year?

    What if I told you that academic research has been done and has shown that those percentages to be true, based on one particular factor: reading Scripture at least four days a week!

    The Center for Bible Engagement (CBE) calls it the “power of 4.” The study they conducted found that reading your Bible at least four days a week increased your chances of sharing your faith and discipling others and memorizing Scripture by those incredible percentages!

    Also, when it comes to changing negative behaviors, reading Scripture at least four days a week made a huge difference as well. It lowered the odds of getting drunk (by 57%), sex outside of marriage (by 68%), pornography (by 61%), and gambling (by 74%).

    However, and this is key, they found there was NO statistical difference in behaviors between Christians who read or listen to the Bible two to three days a week and those who do not engage Scripture at all or only once a week. In other words, there is astronomical change at 4 days a week, but not much change at all if you read the Bible any less than that.

    This study is a reminder to all of us about the importance of reading God’s Word! It is going to be a major emphasis for our church in 2021. We are having a special initiative to kick off 2021. We are calling it Grounded: A Study through the New Testament. We have developed a reading plan where we will read through the New Testament together over 18 weeks. There will be daily readings every weekday (Monday-Friday), and the weekends will be a grace period where you can catch up on your reading. What better goal is there to set for 2021 than to read through the New Testament with your church?!

    We are committed to providing resources and accountability to help as we take this challenge together. We have a free digital devotion that goes along with the daily reading that we can send to you. We are starting virtual transformation groups where you can have accountability and share what God is teaching you. We are providing weekly family devotions so discipleship can happen easier in the home. I will be preaching through the New Testament as we read through it together as well.

    The key is engaging with Scripture at least 4 days a week. The studies show how that can revolutionize your spiritual life. Would you commit to joining with your church in doing that this year?

    In Him,

    Pastor Zach