Pastor Ricky Powell

The Staff Core Values of Fort Caroline Baptist Church

Calling: We must posses an assurance of God’s call to ministry and to this place of service.

Integrity: We must reflect the character of Christ in word and deed. We must be trustworthy.

Excellence in ministry: We must always strive to give Christ the best we have to offer.

Proficiency: We expect our staff members to be the experts in their field. This requires that we remain life-long learners and network with others in our ministry specialty to remain fresh and culturally relevant.

Teamwork: We expect our staff to support the entire ministry team objectives and goals. We will be supportive of one another’s ministry.

Loyalty: We will be loyal to the Senior Pastor and to one another within biblical guidelines.

Servant-Leadership: We expect our staff to meet the needs of other staff members if they have the ability and look for ways to assist them in meeting their ministry goals.

Communication: We will seek to understand before being understood. We will develop listening skills, communication skills, and conflict resolution skills.

Why Do We Value Praise and Worship at Fort Caroline Baptist Church?

This is the message I preached yesterday on the core value of praise and worship. Our church also celebrated the many ways God has blessed our church over the last few months. To God be the glory!

 

6/26/2011 from Fort Caroline Baptist Church on Vimeo.

7 Qualities of Successful Life-Group Leaders

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT)

A Christian should always be growing, striving, and pursuing excellence in service to Christ. There are seven qualities that I expect from our Life-Group leaders.

1. Be Real.

Group leaders do not have to be perfect. Otherwise none of us could serve! But we need to be real, honest, and genuine in our relationship with the Lord. It begins with a personal relationship with Christ. Have you experienced the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation? Have you trusted Him as your Lord and Savior? You cannot lead others to Christ if you have not come to Him yourself. Let me remind you that you cannot be saved through your good works. We are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10). Have you experienced grace? Allow me to ask you another question; Are you experiencing growth? Believers are called to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Are you striving to learn of the Lord and live for Him daily? People are turned off by hypocritical leaders who do not practice what they preach. How you live outside the group setting is just as important as what you say and teach in the group setting.

2. Be Ready.

A football team has practice. A Baseball team has Spring Training. A public school teacher prepares a lesson plan. An army draws up a battle plan. A choir rehearses. And a Life-Group leader should prepare! You should prepare your lesson plan. You should prepare your heart and mind. You should prepare your meeting space.

• Prepare prayerfully. Spend time each week in prayer as you study the Scripture lesson. Pray for your members. Pray for understanding and strength to lead. Pray for the needs of your group members. Pray for those who are not yet believers to trust in Christ.
• Prepare promptly. Don’t wait until the night before your group meets to begin thinking about your lesson. If you don’t take the lesson seriously enough to prepare it, your members will not take it seriously enough to hear it and apply it.
• Prepare Proficiently. You ought to know your content and your class. What are their hurts, habits, and hang-ups? How can this lesson be applied to their lives? What questions might they ask when hearing the truths of Scripture?

3. Be Reliable.

Reliability is as important as capability. Can I rely on you to be in your place each week? Can I rely on you to arrive early? (In my book, to be on time is to arrive 15 minutes early!). Can I rely on you to be prepared, enthusiastic, and supportive?

4. Be Relevant.

Someone quipped, “The Bible is a very ancient book, yet it is always relevant to our lives. People in it have the same problems we do. Think of Noah…it took him forty days to find a place to park!” You do not have to make the Bible relevant. You have to show people how it is relevant to their daily lives. God’s Word speaks about the issues of life and death, morality and ethics, religion and salvation, good and evil, pain and suffering. Help your people to see how God’s Word speaks to their lives as they grapple with these issues.

5. Be Relational.

Howard Hendricks wrote in The Seven Laws of the Teacher, “When God wanted to communicate with us, He wrapped His message in a person. And that is exactly what we are called to do.” People need relationships that flesh-out the love of God in their lives. I depend upon you to serve as an extension of my ministry. I cannot meet all the needs of the congregation alone. I need you!

John Bisagno is the former pastor of First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas. He was asked how he could pastor such a large congregation and meet all the needs. He described the value of his small-group leaders when he wrote, “I have hundreds of associate pastors called Sunday School teachers, and each one of them is in charge of a small class of fifteen to twenty people. They know each member individually, pray for them daily, visit in their homes regularly, and minister to them personally. That’s the only way I can do it.”

It has been said:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

6. Be Resourceful.

Take advantage of the training, resources, and encouragement your church affords you.

7. Be Receptive.

Change is a part of life. You should seek to be open and receptive to the changes that will invariably come to your church. If the methods of ministry are biblical and ethical you should be supportive.

E-Giving @ FCBC

Give through the Electronic giving Option of Fort Caroline Baptist Church.
The e-giving is a flexible giving option that allows you to set up one-time or periodic gifts to Fort Caroline Baptist Church. You can visit the site directly at www.givetofcbc.com or link thru our website at www.fcbcjax.com. If you are a church member or regular giver use your assigned envelope number as your ID. E-giving is easy, safe, and convenient! Thank you for supporting Christ-honoring and life-changing ministries!

The Family's Responsibility For Raising Godly Children

This is the Father's Day sermon I preached from Deuteronomy 6:1-9.

6/19/2011 1030am from Fort Caroline Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Does NBC Have A Problem With Using The "G" Word?

NBC is under fire for omitting the words "under God" from the pledge of allegiance during the U.S. Open. The network has apologized to anyone who may have been offended. You can judge for yourself if the omission was a mere oversight and if the apology is sincere. But I can understand why many Christians are skeptical of the claims it was simply an oversight. Many people in the media and liberal circles don't like using the "G" word in public discourse. Either way, this is a good time to be reminded that our founding fathers did believe that our nation was under the watchful care of God. July 4th is just around the corner. Our nation’s Independence Day celebration serves to remind us of our declaration of independence from Great Britain. It should also remind us of our declaration of dependence upon God. On July 4, 1776, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress gathered to hear and approve the reading of this historic document. The declaration began by acknowledging the laws of nature and Nature’s God. It then boldly stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness …” The Declaration of Independence concludes with these words, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

These men skillfully, bravely, and sacrificially declared more than our nation’s independence from Britain. They declared our nation’s dependence upon God. Each of these men knew that he was putting his life on the line by signing this document. He knew that he could be arrested, tried, and hung for treason. Yet, each knew that God was with them and that if they would cast themselves on Him, God would bless this nation. John Adams declared his intentions to the delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that day with these words:

“Before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it. And I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment. Independence now, and Independence for ever!”

On March 19, 1981, in a Proclamation of a National Day of Prayer, President Ronald Reagan spoke of our national dependence upon God:

Our Nation’s motto—“In God We Trust”—was not chosen lightly. It reflects a basic recognition that there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes homage.

Throughout our history, Americans have put their faith in God, and no one can doubt that we have been blessed for it. The earliest settlers of this land came in search of religious freedom. Landing on a desolate shoreline, they established a spiritual foundation that has served us ever since.

It was the hard work of our people, the freedom they enjoyed and their faith in God that built this country and made it the envy of the world. In all of our great cities and towns evidence of the faith of our people is found: Houses of worship of every denomination are among the oldest structures.

While never willing to bow to a tyrant, our forefathers were always willing to get to their knees before God. When catastrophe threatened, they turned to God for deliverance. When the harvest was bountiful, the first thought was thanksgiving to God.

Prayer is today as powerful a force in our nation as it has ever been. We as a nation should never forget this source of strength. And while recognizing that the freedom to choose a Godly path is the essence of liberty, as a nation we cannot but hope that more of our citizens would, through prayer, come into a closer relationship with their Maker…

Let us as a nation join together before God, fully aware of the trials that lie ahead and the need, yes, the necessity, for divine guidance. With unshakable faith in God and the liberty which is heritage, we as a free nation will surely survive and prosper.

---President Reagan

When we forget God we will give our rights away by electing people to office who want to play God in our lives. “In Government We Trust” is not the motto or philosophy that made America great! General Omar Bradley is said to have commented, “America is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America.”

It was for this reason, the danger of national forgetfulness, that the phrase, “one nation under God,” was added to our Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge was adopted by the 79th Congress on December 28, 1945. The words “under God,” taken from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, were added to the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the pledge into law and stated:

“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”

An Open Letter To Our Deacons

The deacon body of our church sends a monthly report to me outlining the number and types of ministry contacts they have made. It is always a blessing to me when I see how many phone calls, cards, and visits they make to our church family. They are wonderful partners with me in ministry. I decided to write them a note expressing my gratitude. I also took the opportunity to remind them of the importance of their ministry and how they fit into the over-all strategy for providing care to the flock. While I was at it, I decided to reiterate our mission statement. I thought I would share the note with you as well.

Deacons,

Thank you all for your partnership in ministry. I know this report represents a lot of time and love. I also know there is so much more that you do that is not reflected here. However, I hope you know that it is beneficial for me to see what you are doing so I can make sure our spans of care are adequate and that our people are not falling through the proverbial cracks of our organization. It is also encouraging to see how you are making a difference in people’s lives. A member recently told me how blessed they were when they received a card in the mail from a deacon they did not know. They were touched by the show of love. Additionally, your efforts are helping me to free up some time in my schedule to spend in prayer and the Word (Acts 6; 2 Timothy 4:1-2), and in administrative matters that are vital to the health of our church.

Let me give you a brief overview of the major components of our congregational care organization and strategy.

The Ultimate Priority of the Preacher

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ” (2 Timothy 4:1–2, NKJV)

It may seem strange to think of the ultimate priority of the preacher, yet the Apostle Paul deemed it necessary to instruct the young preacher, Timothy, about the order of his priorities. Evidently in Timothy’s day, as in our own, there were many options vying for the preacher’s attention. There were many things that could distract or detour the man of God from his holy calling. Paul, therefore, reminds Timothy of his primary calling when he writes, “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 4:2a). The apostle issues this solemn charge to Timothy by reminding him that he stands before God in this life and will stand before Him in the life to come. With this knowledge Timothy should be diligent to show himself approved unto God as a worker in the Word who faithfully preaches the truth (2 Timothy 3:15). The ultimate priority of the preacher is not to please the audience; It is to so faithfully preach the Word that God is pleased!

Questions for Preachers:

1. Do you acknowledge that your only text for preaching is the holy, inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God?
2. Are you reserving time in your schedule to get alone with God and study the Scriptures?
3. Are you aware on a daily basis that you minister before the Lord’s watchful care and that you will give an account of your preaching ministry at His Coming?
4. Are you teaching the Scriptures in context?
5. Do you help people apply the Scriptures to their lives in practical ways?

Questions for Church Members:

1. Are you praying for your pastor as he studies the Word this week?
2. Are you protecting his time so he can devote himself to prayer and the Word?
3. Will you come to the preaching service with an anticipation that God has a message for you?

Just Some Summertime Fun From the Powell's!!

Staring Joshua, Casey, Caleb, Ricky, and Donna!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The Lordship of Christ

2011 6 5 1030am from Fort Caroline Baptist Church on Vimeo.