Pastor Ricky Powell

Celebrate Recovery At Fort Caroline Baptist Church

Hardly a week goes by that I do not hear the story of someone whose life has been changed through Celebrate Recovery (CR). Therefore, I thought it would be a good time to re-post an article I wrote a while back about CR. Please read it because CR just might be what you are looking for as you deal with hurts, habits, or hang-ups! You can read the article about this Christ-centered recovery group here.

Sign Up for the Weekly E-Newsletter of Fort Caroline Baptist Church

 
The weekly e-newsletter started on Friday, March 18^th. This newsletter provides information about upcoming events, especially what will affect you during the next week. This will allow us to free up space in the bulletin to communicate items we are currently not able to provide. This will not replace the monthly newsletter. If interested in receiving this weekly e-newsletter, please check the appropriate box on the communication card and fill in your email address or email Sheila Barber at [email protected]. If you decide you no longer wish to receive the e-newsletter you can simply unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of the newsletter. You can also forward it to your family and friends to keep them informed.

Jacksonville is sure to be a much quieter and more peaceful place in the future. The reason: 70% of the people did not vote in yesterday's elections, so surely they will not complain about the government!

God, the Government, and You (Transformed in Submission To Authority)

Transformed In Your Submission To Authority

Romans 13:1-7 

I.             Submission to the Government

¹ Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:1-2)

    A.           The scope of our submission

    B.           The significance of our submission

 II.           Service of the Government          

³ For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. ⁴ For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. ⁵ Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. (Romans 13:3-5)

    A.           To promote and reward that which is good.

    B.           To punish and restrain that which is evil.

III.          Support for the Government

⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. ⁷ Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:6-7)

    A.           Resources

    B.           Respect

"Disciplemaking Teachers" Seminar with Josh Hunt is Coming To Fort Caroline!

It is my prayer that every LifeGroup leader at Fort Caroline Baptist Church will join me on March 25^th as Josh Hunt comes to share with us his love and desire for small groups. He will share how to make disciples with those in your LifeGroup. The meal and seminar will begin at 5:45 p.m. through 8:30 p.m. If you only want to attend the seminar, it will start at 6:30 p.m. Make your reservation on the Communication Card in your bulletin on Sunday. You may also make your reservations on the sign-up sheet in your LifeGroup rolls or email Kirsten Montenari. This Sunday, March 20^th, is the last day to register for this class. Let's have 100% of our leadership in attendance! Thank you for helping us fulfill our mission to Love God, Love Others, and Serve the World!

What Will We Learn?

Howard Hendricks said, "The goal is not to make smarter sinners; the goal is to make disciples." Teachers are not dispensers of information, they are shapers of lives. The reason many of our churches are not thriving has nothing to do with an efffective program for growth. It has everything to do with how we make disciples. Disciplemaking Teachers has two parts: What is a disciple? Josh provides a 9 part outline spelling out the word D.I.S.C.I.P.L.E.S. How do we make a disciple? In this section we deal with how the teachers prepares and teaches to make disciples. Considerable attention is placed on the art of asking Good Questions in order to make disciples. This clear, practical guide equips teachers to have impact–and produce disciples eager for spiritual growth and ministry. You get a Bible-based, proven process that's achieved results in churches like yours–and comes highly recommended by Christian leaders like Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, Findley Edge, and Robert Coleman. Discover what needs to happen before class in preparation, in class during teaching, and after class in service to turn your classes into disciple-making classes. You'll explore disciple-making topics such as discipline in daily life, building intimate friendships, self-image, corporate worship, lay ministry, and more! Josh Hunt is the author of You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less and speaks nationally on the subjects of church growth and adult education.

 

"Are we going to allow a church to be held captive to the personal preferences of a few in our attempt to bring salvation to the many?"

This morning I received a thought-provoking and convicting e-mail from Walter Bennett who is serving as the interim Director of Missions for the Jacksonville Baptist Association. I have posted the entirety of his e-mail to pastors below. I love and respect Walter more than he knows. He has spoken into my life in so many ways over the last few years. As I reflected on his question I realized that I have often been guilty of focusing more on those I am trying to keep rather than those I am trying to reach. I know there has to be a healthy balance between reaching out to the lost and ministering to the saved, but most of the time our church is too focused on the latter group. Try changing "the way we have always done it" (what ever "it" is) and you will raise the ire of many who care more about their preferences than reaching the lost. Don't misunderstand me. I am not one for railroading changes in the church for the sake of being trendy. I am not one who acts quickly without first trying to communicate the how and why of the changes. But I am increasingly convicted that the world is going to Hell too quickly for us to drag our feet before getting serious about reaching the lost. That is why I will never apologize for asking the members of Fort Caroline to remain committed to our common Master (the Lord Jesus Christ), our common message (the Gospel of Jesus Christ), and our common mission (to reach the lost by sharing the Gospel, and to disciple the saved so they will increasingly love God, love others, and serve the world). Here is Walter's e-mail:

??? A Penetrating Question???

Steve Furtick is lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C. which has experienced an incredible blessing of God. In a recent article, he noted that people often ask him what he has done to be able to reach so many people.

Listen to his response: "I could tell you a lot of things that we have done. But none of it will help you until you make the decision we made in the early days of our church. That was the decision to be more focused on the people we are trying to reach than on the people we are trying to keep. As others have said, TO BE FISHERS OF MEN, NOT JUST KEEPERS OF THE AQUARIUM."

That response caused me to do some serious thinking. We talk about our desire to reach people, but are we more focused on keeping than reaching? When we look at our church calendar, budget, and what we enlist and train people to do, what does it say about our priorities? Is our vision and ministry shaped by the people we now have or by those we are trying to reach?

Furtick speaks to those who would pit evangelism against discipleship. He responds, "I believe true disciples should care more about making disciples than freeze-framing the church the way it was when they became a disciple.
...if the mark of Christian maturity is a bunch of people who want to create a museum glorifying and preserving their personal preference, and then sanctify it by calling it a church, count me out."

The penetrating question: "Are we going to allow a church to be held captive to the personal preferences of a few in our attempt to bring salvation to the many?"

Steve set me to thinking, and I know he does you. Wasn't it Reggie McNeal who said "the church does not have a mission, the mission has a church"? My prayer is that God will give each of us a compelling vision of His work in our lives and the passion for it that will ignite every person around us!

Walter Bennett, Interim DOM
Jacksonville Baptist Association

Transformed In Your Love

Please Pray and Give For Japan's Recovery

 
IMB missionaries and BGR assess damage in Japan

3/12/2011
By IMB staff

RICHMOND, Va.—IMB missionaries are on the ground in Japan and working closely with Baptist Global Response and Japanese Baptists to assess the damage following an 8.9 earthquake and tsunami that hit the country March 11.

The magnitude of the disaster continues to expand. According to recent news reports, hundreds remain unaccounted for and more than 1,000 people are feared dead. In one report,  9,500 in Minamisanriku — a town of 17,000 — remain missing. Since the earthquake and tsunami struck, an explosion at a Japanese nuclear power plant has caused further concern.

As relief efforts continue, more information will be reported as it is available.

To assist the Japanese people, relief funds are needed. Please send gifts to Office of Finance, International Mission Board, 3806 Monument Ave., Richmond, Va. 23230. In the memo line write “Japan Response Fund.” Or click here to give online. For further information call the IMB at (800) 999-3113.

I received this update from our International Mission Board (IMB) representative concerning the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Thankfully, all of our IMB personnel are safe.
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Japan earthquake, tsunami assessment underway
March 11, 2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southern Baptist relief workers are assessing needs in the aftermath of an earthquake that struck Japan March 11, spawning a 23-foot tsunami that crashed into the country’s eastern coast and moved on out across the Pacific Ocean.

Police said at least 60 people were killed and 56 missing, according to news reports. The death toll is expected to continue to rise. A complete picture of the destruction in Japan has yet to emerge, and tsunami-related damage in other countries also could cause significant damage.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters.

Baptist Global Response has partners in the affected region who are moving to assess the damage, said Ben Wolf, who with his wife, Pam, directs work in the Asia Rim for Baptist Global Response.

“We hope to have someone on ground tomorrow for an initial assessment and contact with Baptist partners there,” Wolf said. “We have great Baptist partners that we will contact and see how we can initially support them with resources and expertise in the response.”

Concerned individuals are asked to pray for families affected by the disaster and for humanitarian workers who are mobilizing assistance, Wolf said. Prayers should be offered that God would move through these circumstances so people would experience his love and discover the abundant life he wants them to enjoy.

Whether Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers will be needed remains to be seen until the assessment is complete and a relief strategy has been defined, said Jeff Palmer, BGR’s executive director.

“We hope to have someone on ground tomorrow for an initial assessment and contact with Baptist partners there,” Palmer said. “We have great Baptist partners that we will contact and see how we can initially support them with resources and expertise in the response.”

If disaster relief specialists are needed, Baptist Global Response will mobilize teams from the Baptist state conventions on call, Palmer added. “We have notified our call-out states to be on standby,” Palmer said. “Alabama is the first on call for the month of March.”

Updates on Baptist Global Response relief efforts can be monitored on Twitter (www.twitter.com/gobgr), Facebook (http://on.fb.me/hKaE6J), and www.gobgr.org . what's interesting to you

Have We Forfeited Our Right To Exist As A Church?

  "…He showed them His hands and His side…Then Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you'" (John 20:20-21).

 

 

The work of Calvary is complete, but the WORD of Calvary is not complete. There are untold millions yet untold! "…All authority has been given to Me…Go…make disciples of all the nations…" (Matthew 28:18-19). Out of His divine and sacrificial authority Jesus commissioned His disciples to their own mission in the world. Fort Caroline Baptist Church, hear your pastor well. We have a mission from Christ. Our mission is not to be a country club for comfortable Christians! Our mission is to be a lighthouse in a darkened world, a lifesaving station on the seas of sin, and a hospital for the hurting. God has called us to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium! Every decision we make as a church must be motivated by a desire to fulfill our God-given mission to reach the lost! George W. Truett, the late pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas used to say, "A church that is not missionary does not deserve the ground upon which its buildings stand." (Building An Evangelistic Church, Paul Powell, p. 65). If we refuse to live as missionaries in our culture and community then we will forfeit our right to exist as a church! If we are not living as "sent-ones" in our daily lives then we have missed the imperative of the Great Commission.

Church, please hear my heart. I know that I do not always make decisions that please all of you. I have never intentionally tried to antagonize you or change things for the sake of change. I do not want to be trendy. I am not trying to make our church like some famous pastor's church. Every decision I make as your pastor is motivated out of a deep desire to lead our church to fulfill our mission of reaching the lost. Christ has called us to communicate the Gospel to our generation. Like a missionary who serves overseas, we must communicate the unchanging message of Jesus in a way that the people we are attempting to reach can understand. The MESSAGE never changes, but METHODS often do. Jesus did not die for our methods; He died for men. He did not hang on the cross for our preferences; He gave His life for people. He did not sacrifice His life for styles, but for souls! I know that you will not always like my methods, but at least you can appreciate my motives! A lady once complained to D.L. Moody, "Mr. Moody, I don't like your methods." Moody reportedly replied, "Well, my dear, I don't care for some of them myself. What are yours?" She replied, "I don't have any." Moody then responded, "In that case, I like the way I'm doing it better than the way you are not doing it." The point is, if I made all my decisions based on what I like or only on what Christians like then things would be a lot different. We would never change anything. We would do things like we used to in the "good-ole days." But Christ has not called us to turn inward and do things only for ourselves. He has turned us outward towards a lost and dying community! I have no problem calling Christians to sacrifice their preferences in the name of the One who sacrificed Himself for the world. Our church is trying to reach your neighbors, your co-workers, your friends, your family members and your grand-kids. Help me as I follow Christ on this mission!