Words from William

It happened again! Last week we were contacted by a church in Illinois interested in reproducing our reading camp and a church in Kentucky wanting more information about how they could do a free laundry day. Since COVID, this has become a regular thing for us. Over the last few years I’ve had people want to copy our COVID regathering plans, know how we did certain aspects of our digital Bible studies and worships, seek guidance as their church navigates questions about human sexuality, learn more about the Helping Hands Payday Loan Program, use our liturgies from various special services, rethink their budget communications based on our Annual Budget Booklet, and know how their church can have a partnership with a school like we have with Southern Elementary. Now we can add free laundry day and reading camp to the list. (Although this isn’t the first time someone from out of state has asked us about reading camp.)

I love getting these calls. It’s fun to talk with pastors and congregants as they share dreams for their church and how they have been inspired by us. It’s also a good reminder how lucky I am to be at a church like Faith. In the church world, Faith is like a laboratory, exploring ways to meaningfully connect with God and others that other churches can learn from. We aren’t trying to be unique or cutting edge; we are just trying to love God and love other people. But, your sincere yearning for God, your patience, your willingness to approach the problems of the world creatively, your willingness to share your gifts, these things allow us to do some pretty cool stuff! It is simply incredible how our sharing of God’s love in a spirit of hope impacts far beyond our own congregation!

This posture as a laboratory church that is helping to develop practices, programs, and perspectives for the benefit of other churches as well as our own isn’t going away any time soon either! The Energy Stewardship Committee recently started their work by setting short and long-term goals. Their long-term goals are:

1) Learn about and test energy efficiency measures in such a way that other churches can apply what we have learned in their own context.

2) Create connections and educational opportunities that address energy sustainability on a city wide and potentially systematic level.

There is a spirit of cooperation and mutual growth in this church. We don’t see other churches as competition, but as fellow workers in bringing about the Kingdom of God. I love our curious and caring nature. I am so happy that I get to be part of a church that is worth copying and willing to share!

Every year the church takes time to prepare ourselves before Easter. This period is called Lent. This year Lent will start on February 22, with Ash Wednesday and continue until Easter on April 9. Lent is traditionally a time when people focus on spiritual practices like prayer, scripture reading, fasting, and giving as we seek to follow Christ more fully. It can be a time for us to repent and reset, refocusing ourselves on Jesus before we celebrate his resurrection on Easter morning. Our church encourages people to observe Lent in personal and communal ways. We will be sharing several resources throughout February to help you personally observe Lent through different spiritual practices.

Communally, we will start Lent with an Ash Wednesday service on February 22 after the Wednesday night meal. Additionally, each Sunday during Lent we will be sharing our faith stories by sharing our favorite hymns. Each week a member of the congregation will tell us what their favorite hymn is and why, and then we’ll sing it together. During the sermons, we ’ll be sharing the story of God and how that connects with our own stories. Leaning into all of this story time, we’ll also hold a Lent Workshop on storytelling on Saturday, March 19. Congregants will share their storytelling gifts and insights so that we all might communicate our faith (and just communicate in general) better. Finally, we will once again gather as a community on Good Friday, April 7, at Georgetown College for a Community Good Friday Service.

Let Lent be a time of renewal for you and our family of Faith this year by leaning into spiritual practices that we might have started neglecting, so that we will all be ready to truly celebrate the gift of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter!

100% samples of detergent. Torie Hundley, Southern’s Family Resource Coordinator, asked families to complete a survey and asked if Laundry Day was helpful. Here are some of the responses she received:

“Yes I don’t have a washer or dryer and I have 3 kids. So I always have a lot of dirty laundry to do every weekend. If I can get help at least 1 week a month to do it, it would really help me out a lot. I’m very grateful

Faith Baptist Church

Goal: $5,000

Total Given: $8,119.50

Thank you for your generosity!

The Missions Committee is excited to report a total of $8,119.50 given for Offering for Global Missions. We had a goal of $5,000 and are thrilled once again to have gone well over our goal thanks to the generous giving of our Faith family. We invited Scarlette Jasper to worship with us in December since she was one of the missionaries featured in the video series and she is supported by the OGM. She had COVID and couldn’t come! We missed her and look forward to another time when she can come to worship with us.

We greatly appreciated Sharon Felton and the youth taking the Christmas shoe boxes from Faith to Corbin and helping Scarlette organize boxes and extra items in December. Scarlette reported that she served approximately 2800 people through the shoe box ministry in 2022!

The Missions Committee is hopeful to offer at least one mission opportunity each month in which our church family can participate and volunteer. One opportunity is helping move appliances and cabinets from apartments in Louisville that Keith Stillwell told us about during worship on Sunday, January 15. We are not sure how long volunteers will be needed to help with this project, but we will let you know. As the committee becomes aware of mission needs, we will keep the church updated.

The first Laundry Day was a success as several Southern Elementary families were able to get $15 worth of free laundry! While the laundry was going, our ministers chatted with the adults and played with the children. We provided lunch for the families and someone from Scott County Cooperative Extension handed out information about green cleaning and free

Yes my washer broke so this gave me a chance to wash mine and my three kids laundry while in the process of replacing my washing machine”

We look forward to seeing how this program grows and from 2:45 to 4:30 p.m. in the Faith gym starting February 28 and going through April 27 with a week off for Spring Break. Volunteers are especially needed on Thursdays this spring. No experience or preparation is necessary. Contact Elizabeth Sands Wise to sign up or get more information.

The church staff had a planning day in January to think about what our summer events will look like and put dates on the calendar!