July 2024

Second Family,

It is the month of July, and we have had a wonderful beginning to the summer! We just finished VBS, where we had 39 children come to play games, make crafts, eat snacks, and learn about the never changing truth of the gospel! At VBS, we also had a healthy competition between the boys and girls to raise money for missions. At the end of the week the children raised $293.76, and I (the boys team representative) got pelted with water balloons and dunked with water. To finish it all off we invited all of those families to our first Summer Sunday Fellowship of the summer. It was a great week, and I just want to say thank you to everyone who served to make that happen.

But that was just the beginning of our summer! This month the students and children are both going to camp on the week of the July 8th, so please keep them in your prayers. And on July 28th, we will have our second Summer Sunday Fellowship, so be sure to plan on that. On top of those events, we have people meeting in Discipleship Groups (D-Groups) throughout the weeks, and the student and children’s ministries planning ways to have relational discipleship during the summer.

This brings my heart joy, because recently I shared with the church that our vision for the future is to “focus on discipleship and investing the gospel in the younger generation.” And the part that brings me joy is how ready and willing the church is to embrace this vision. I believe the reason why is because this vision is really just a summary of the heartbeat of our church. Second Baptist loves seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus, and we love seeing young people come to know and love Jesus. That is what we love to see, and this vision simply articulates what we love and gives us a direction to intentionally pursue.

The best part is that this vision encapsulates what God has instructed us to do in His Word. Deuteronomy 6:4–7 says, 

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” (emphasis mine)

And 2 Timothy 2:2 says,

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

These are just two verses that clearly express our vision to focus on discipleship and invest the gospel in the younger generation. What I love the most about our church is that when we see what God’s Word says, we take it seriously and do our very best to obey Him out of love and devotion.

Thank you, Second Family, for loving God’s Word and loving each other. Let’s keep praying for all that God is doing in our midst this summer!

Sincerely,

Pastor Brian