Looking Ahead by Jason Edwards

There are so many great things happening right now in the life of our church. I hope you’ll take time to read this February Monthly as a way of tuning into many of them. I’d like to highlight just four in this brief note:

  1. Gwen Phillips, our beloved Children’s Pastor of nine and a half years, has just retired. I wrote about this in my own love letter to Gwen on the front of our January Monthly, and I hope you are writing your own love letters to Gwen now. We will celebrate Gwen on Sunday, February 2. There will be a come and go reception for her from 9:00 – 10:30 that Sunday morning, and we will also recognize her at the end of our 11:00 worship service. If you haven’t yet, please find the note cards located at our Welcome Center desk and in the children’s areas marked “notes for Gwen” and write a note of affirmation for Gwen today.

  2. We just received some very good news regarding our Pastoral Residency program. The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation have awarded us a $200,000 grant to grow our Pastoral Residency Program. The grant’s purpose is to support us adding a second Pastoral Resident, starting this fall, so that we will have a first and a second-year Pastoral Resident serving together. Special thanks to Kim Kankiewicz and Connie McNeill, who collaborated in writing the grant proposal. We’re so energized by this great news.

  3. During February, we will have a three-sermon series in worship based on our church mission statement. The series, entitled “We’re Committed,” will explore what it means for us to be “committed to fostering meaningful, Christ-centered community, whole-life faith, and a transforming, missional presence.” We hope you’ll plan to worship with us on February 2, 9, and 16 for this important mission focus in worship.

  4. This weekend we had a wonderful whole-life all-church retreat, led by Hunter Mobley, focused on learning more about the enneagram. We hope the enneagram can become a helpful resource for spiritual and emotional growth at Second Baptist, as well as a tool for strengthening the way we work together in ministry teams. Some of you may be wondering: What is the enneagram? Why the enneagram? You’ll hear a bit more about that today from Hunter in worship, and Emmitt Drumgoole has also written an article reflecting upon his experience with the enneagram. I commend that article to your reading now.

Janet Hill