 |
- Baptism of the Lord, January 10, 2016
- Worship 8:30 and 11:00am
- Ordination & Installation of Elders, 11:00am
- Congregational Covered Dish Luncheon immediately following
|
There is an old cliché you have heard or even spoken yourself. It often comes from parents to children and is intended to encourage and build self-esteem. Unfortunately, the reality is - it sometimes isn't true. Buying into it can lead to confusion and at times a sense of ongoing frustration. It's intended as a probing statement but often begins at the wrong starting point. Becoming your best self doesn't begin with deciding what you want to be. It begins with asking "Who am I created to be?" The cliché? "You can be anything you want to be!" At 5 feet 7 inches, 135 pounds I wanted to be a cornerback in college and hopefully in the NFL. I desperately wanted to be that person. It became very clear, in spite of my desperate desire and hard work, that I could not be anything I wanted to be. I was not going to play cornerback in high school, college or the NFL. I had begun from the wrong place. Desiring something and working hard doesn't necessarily mean you can be anything you want to be. Ultimately, I had begun from the wrong place.
You cannot be anything you want to be-but you can certainly be more of who you already are! A better starting point is to ask. Ask God. "Lord, who have you created me to be?" "Before I was born, before you poured the foundations of the earth-when I wasn't even a twinkle yet in my parents eyes-you were forming me. You knit me together in my mother's womb to be a unique creation of yours. You have blessed me with well-tailored strengths completely unique to me." This is the place to begin. Asking God who you were created to be, and then discovering your unique strengths to be that person, sets you up to develop into everything God created you to be. The results? Transformation into being more Christ-like. A life of incredible fulfillment. A deep sense of contentment that permeates your deepest being. A person in touch with the living God at work through you and in you using your God-given strengths for his purposes. No higher calling exists. A nobler task will never be undertaken. Think about it. Utilizing your unique, God-given strengths, to live out a completely fulfilling life of discipleship. How exciting!!!
On Wednesday, February 17, through Wednesday, March 16, 2016 we will offer the "Strengths Based Leadership" course as our WNL class. It will be a church-wide offering. Entire families, parents and children, will enter a course designed specifically to help each person identify their God-given strengths. We will learn how to live out of those gifts in everyday life. Imagine the potential of living everyday with the humble courage of knowing exactly what your God-given strengths are! It offers the potential to live in a transformational way as a spouse, parent, grandparent, friend, employee or child. Coming to each situation, more fully aware of your God-given uniqueness. The potential to be a blessing to someone else and them being a blessing to you.
Sheryl Fancher and Pastor Sam will facilitate this course. Sheryl has had extensive experience teaching this course. You will need to purchase a copy of the book, one for each attendee, from the church office. In the back of the book there is a code that will identify you for as long as you continue to grow in developing your strengths. You'll log onto the Strengths Based website, enter the code and take the survey. The result will be an accurate identification of your strengths, a description of them, and potential blind spots unique to those strengths. I hope you will make plans to be a part of this transformational study with your whole family. Parents-you make the judgment about whether your child is old enough and ready for such a study. Follow-up discussions, tailored for the youth and adults separately, will follow the study. Please feel free to call Pastor Sam (843.795.3111) with any questions you may have. God has positioned us and is equipping us to move into a new landscape of faith in 2016. Remember-you can't be anything you want to be-but you can be more of who you already are! Come and become!
I'm looking prayerfully forward to sharing this time with my James Island Presbyterian Church family! Please plan to join us for worship on Sunday, January 10. We will commemorate the Baptism of the Lord at both services. At our 11:00 worship service, we'll also Ordain & Install our elders. To top it all off, we'll have our first Congregational Covered Dish Luncheon of the year!
Click here for Sunday's Bulletin. Click here for Sunday's insert with all of our announcements. Sunday, January 10 Worship, 8:30 & 11:00am Reverend Cameron Smith, preacher Reverend Sam Martin, liturgist Scripture references:
Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Click here for our January calendar.
|
|
Looking ahead...
As we look forward to 2016, we encourage you to check out all our offerings through our Christian Education programs. Click here to see what's planned for this next semester.
We also encourage you to mark your calendars now for the following dates:
Sunday, January 10 Ordination & Installation of Officers, 11:00am & Congregational Luncheon at noon
Sunday, January 24 Pastor Sam's installation service, 4:00pm
Sunday, January 31 Annual Congregational Meeting
Wednesday, February 3 WNL Oyster Roast
Click here to see our January calendar.
Click here for JIPC's Shutterfly albums to see pictures from this year's Christmas Pageant and other pictures with JIPC. |
Sincerely, James Island Presbyterian Church
www.jamesislandpc.org 843.795.3111 |
|
|
|
|
|
