Farmville Baptist Church

This past Sunday (Oct. 28) we brought back a church tradition, The Children’s Haunted Hayride. It was a great success!!! There were about 31 children there (not including adults or the “haunts” our youth.) We served a total of 86 hot-dogs! One hot-dog per-person and I hear that there were guests left wanting more! I want to thank Wayne Wallace and his wife Carrol’s family for being the instrumental key to this event. Not only was the hayride located on Wayne’s father in-law, Dr. Wilson’s, farm but Wayne also provided the tractors, the grill, and contributed greatly to the organization of the entire event. Farrah Schmidt, Katrina Dunn, and the Children’s Committee also deserve a great deal of thanks for providing organization and food.  And let us not forget our “spooks” the ten brave souls in our youth group who hid in the woods, in the cold, and worked faithfully to provide an exciting ride for everyone to enjoy. So thanks Bob Agee, Charlotte and Sarah Cave, Liz and Carter Chassey,  John Copeland, Mat Covington, Jewel Moore and her friend Ashley (our adopted youth for the evening), and Alesha Jackson.

I am so excited about the success of this event. I hope everyone had a blast! I’ve all ready started taking notes for next year for an even more successful time of fellowship. Thank you for supporting our youth and children; and for coming together as a church to celebrate a wonderful fall evening.  

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Pastor’s Column in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter) – published September 2007

Do we know what we’re about as a church? In my May newsletter column this year, I mentioned that I’ve recruited a team of church leaders to begin discussing and discerning our church’s identity, core values, and mission. We met many times over the summer, and using Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger’s book, Simple Church as a launching point, we are beginning to identify the major things that Farmville Baptist Church should be about. Following Jesus’ “Great Commandment” (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27) and his “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:19-20), we believe that God is leading Farmville Baptist to be a church that makes disciples by focusing on three things: 1) Worshipping God, 2) Growing Together, and 3) Serving Others.

As the “temple of God” (2 Cor. 6:16), we aim to encourage and facilitate people to worship God corporately and individually every day of the week. As a “body of believers” (1 Cor. 12:12-26), we aim to grow together in the knowledge of our Lord through Bible study and the sharing of our lives within a community of care and trust. And as a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9), we aim to serve others as a channel of God’s blessing to our community and the world.

There’s nothing “magical” about these three things, nor are they what we should be about from now to eternity. But in the coming years, these three things will hopefully provide us with some clarity regarding our mission. We hope these three things will provide the process of moving us to become more mature disciples of Jesus. We hope these three things will help us align our ministries so that we may be focused in our mission.

Practically speaking, what does this mean for our church? In terms of pastoral leadership, it means that while I have the responsibility to oversee and lead the whole congregation, I will pay special attention to the “worshipping God” aspect of our church. Amanda Johnston, our new Associate Pastor for Congregational Care and Growth, will focus on the “growing together” aspect, especially in facilitating small groups, age-graded ministries, and Bible studies. Finally, our Deacons, with their newly formed Ministry Teams, will (together with the staff) provide leadership in the “serving others” aspect of the church. In terms of the congregation, it means that we want to challenge and encourage each member of Farmville Baptist to set aside time each week to worship God, to be a part of a small group growing together in community, and to serve others. Let us all take the first steps in becoming the church and the disciples that God wants us to be!

Yours in Christ, Michael

We experienced another day of celebration and thanksgiving as we officially installed the Rev. Amanda Johnston as our Associate Pastor during our Sunday morning worship. Dr. Curtis Freeman (pictured above with Amanda), Director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, and one of Amanda’s former professors, preached in our service and issued a challenge for all of us to follow the higher calling of Jesus Christ. After the service, members of our social community outdid themselves with a wonderful reception for the whole congregation and Amanda’s family and friends.

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The Reverend Amanda Johnston will be officially installed as Associate Pastor of Farmville Baptist Church this Sunday, October 7 at the 11:00 a.m. worship service. The Reverend Dr. Curtis Freeman from the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School will be the guest preacher. After the service, there will be a reception in the Fellowship Hall honoring the Rev. Johnston. The public is cordially invited to attend both events.