The First Baptist Times

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FBCSS NEWS

The totals are in ……. 6,428 shoeboxes

collected. First Baptist Church has been

blessed and been a blessing through the

ministry of Operation Christmas Child.

You have been gracious in donations,

packing shoeboxes, and giving of your

time and energy to share God’s love

through a simple gift-filled shoebox.

Please continue to PRAY for these shoe-

boxes as they are processed, shipped and

delivered to children worldwide. The

blessings are immeasurable as we serve

in this Amazing Kingdom Ministry.

First Baptist Church

P.O. Box 746 / 300 Hudgins Street

Smithville, Texas 78957

512-237-2176

512-360-5162 Fax

www.fbcsmithville.com

fbcsmithvilletx@gmail.com Michael Murphy, Pastor

Brad Williams, Administrator

Justin Williams, Pastor of Youth /Education

Tami Murphy, Children’s Director

Harold Owen, Traditional Music Leader

Laura Marcum, Church Secretary

Joyce Wolf, Financial Secretary

Jad Hubbard, Chairman of Deacons

Follow us on Facebook~ First Baptist Church Smithville page

FBC-Smithville Women's Ministry

page Also for church members, we have a

closed group at First Baptist Church-

Smithville, Texas

Operation Christmas Child

The Women’s Ministry team agreed to

try the December event on Wednesday,

December 5th. This will take place in

the Fellowship Hall beginning at 6:30,

immediately following dinner and end

at 8:00 with all other church activi-

ties. We will be making Christmas cards

for servicemen. I am not sure how much

the registration fee will be just yet, the

fee will cover the cost of the card

materials and postal fees.

There will be wassail, hot cocoa and

Chr i s tmas sweets p rovided.

I should be getting samples in the mail

via the church address to share after

church services.

Thank you

Fellowship Team, on behalf of your

FBC Smithville family, we want to

thank you for the amazing Thanks-

giving meal. Chantay- you and your

team were fantastic! Thank you to

each one of you.

Bro. Mike and FBC Church Family

The WMU met in its regular meeting on

Sunday, November 4th, with 11 members

present. We gave thanks for the $1,500.00

given by the generous members of our

Church for Global World Hunger

Relief. We are grateful.

Then, we voted to donate $75.00 for the

two children we sponsor plus one extra

child, at the Shalom Christian Missions

School in Kenya. It costs $25.00 for each

child to receive new school uniform and

new shoes. This will be given to them as

Christmas presents. Children in Kenya are

required to wear uniforms to school.

Because we also want to do local missions,

we decided to honor our policemen once a

month on the 2nd Wednesdays with a

baked treat in order to show our thanks and

appreciation for the job they do to serve

and protect.

Bags for the Smithville Food Pantry were

given out today and will be collected and

taken there next Sunday. (Update: Our

people generously donated 1,273 pounds

of food the 2nd Sunday.)

Our Call to Prayer this month is entitled

"Jesus…God's Perfect Plan". The verses

for today's passage are from Colossians

1:15-23, with the focus on Colossians 1:15

-17. God's plan from the beginning of

Creation was to send Jesus to the earth to

die for our sins so that we could stand one

day in His presence. All we have to do is

to trust Him, admit we are sinners, believe

that Jesus Christ is God's Son, and confess

with our mouths He is Lord.

Our prayer focus was on Middle Eastern

women who are learning Biblical storytel-

ling so that they can hide these passages in

their hearts and retell them as they go out

in their communities and other unreached

areas. May their words fall on ears and

hearts ready to hear. We prayed for our

missionaries who have birthdays today.

Our offering today was $235.00. The

beginning balance was $803.27 + $235.00

(offering) - $80.00 (Kenyan children) -

$75.00 (Christmas gifts) = $883.27 (ending

balance).

We prayed for: OCC Collection week, Doc

Holliday and Carolyn, Shirley, Doris (at

the rest home), Twana, Connie, Carolina

and Gordon, Lynn, Our Country, and C.J.

Lehman (policeman shot in La Grange).

Our next meeting will be the 2ND Sunday

in December, 9th, at 4:00 in the Parlor.

Women’s Ministry

Join us Sunday December 2, 2018

for a special “Hanging of the

Greens” service. The service will

take place in the sanctuary beginning

at 6:00pm.

Garland and tinsel and ornaments oh

my! If you happen to have any old

Christmas decorations, specifically

any greenery please consider donat-

ing it to the church to be re-fluffed

and used in our Decking of the

Halls. Contact Chantay Burleson

at Ctayburl@aol.com for donations.

SONshine school is participating in the

festival of lights parade! We will be

decorated as A Charlie Brown Christ-

mas!

Our Christmas program is 12-12-2018 at

6:00 pm everyone is invited! Cookies

and punch will be served in the fellow-

ship hall immediately after.

We are still enrolling in our Infants, Tod-

dlers and 3's class.

Spread the word!

Thank you and God bless!

2

Another year is coming to an end.

Amazing how time flies. 2018 is about

gone. I pray that you were able to ac-

complish all that you planned to get

done this year. If you didn’t, 2019 is a

new year. Tami and I pray that you

have a fantastic year in 2019.

As I look back, the Lord has been good

to FBC Family. I know as I write this,

some of you have faced many difficult

challenges this past year; loss of some-

one you love, health, job, child leaving

home for school, an unusual

event...Whatever it may have been–

2018 was rough. We as a church family

pray that God’s grace will be sufficient

and that you have a better year in 2019.

This year we were able to:

1. Baptize seven! That means that

seven people accepted Jesus Christ

as their Savior and will spend eter-

nity in heaven. Praise the Lord!

2. Seen thirty-three people join our

church. That means that thirty-three

people acknowledge that they know

Jesus personally as their Savior and

that they will also be a part of

heaven’s crowd for eternity.

3. Call Justin and Jennifer Williams

as our full-time Youth and Educa-

tion Minister. Look forward to

God’s great plans for FBC and the

Williams.

4. Many, many other exciting times

we celebrated as a church family.

Hope to see you often in December.

May God Bless You,

Bro. Mike

P.S. Tami and I pray you have a Merry

Christmas!

Happy Holidays from Team M.O.M.

The months of November and Decem-

ber are certainly our busiest times of the

year!

On November 11, 2018 M.O.M.

hosted our first annual Veteran’s appre-

ciation luncheon. With over seventy

people in attendance, great food, fabu-

lous conversation and beautiful music

I’d say it was a huge success! Thank

you again Veterans for your service.

And a heartfelt thank you to all the vol-

unteers who helped with this special

event.

As December rolls around we are

gearing up for several happenings. First

M.O.M.’s Mailbox will be open for

business by Sunday, December 2.

M.O.M.’s mailbox is a postage free way

to send Christmas cards to your FBC

family! Simply place your cards in the

outgoing M.O.M. mailbox located in the

foyer. Your cards will then be sorted

and placed in the pick-up box for the

recipients. Kindly consider donating a

portion of your postage savings to

M.O.M. so we may continue our mis-

sion.

In addition, as in years past M.O.M.

will be delivering cookies to Soldiers

and Veterans both local and abroad!

Brown Primary has once again came

through with over 300 dozen cookies

for us to distribute! Thank you Brown

Primary for your kindness.

Lastly M.O.M. is asking for your help

in helping us update our records. If you

are a Veteran please send us your con-

tract information. If you have a family

member that is Active Duty, please send

us their name and mailing address so we

may include them in our outreach.

May you all have a very Merry

Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

From all of us at Team M.O.M.

WELCOME

By Letter David & Rena Richey

By Baptism Brinkley Brueggman

By Statement Kelly Bruegmman

Dowell, Nicole, Layton &

Makenna Garrison

If you purchased a poinsettia to

add to the church display, you may

take your poinsettia home after the

morning service on Sunday, Decem-

ber 23.

If you would like to donate your

poinsettia to a shut in or to one of

the nursing homes, please let me

know. ~Chantay

Ctayburl@aol.com

Youth & Education M. O. M. Military Outreach Ministry

Being in Smithville has been a refreshing

new start for my spirit. I have been blessed

with the pouring out of love from our

church family, both physically and

emotionally. It is an honor and a blessing to

have the privilege to serve the Lord in a

church filled with such wonderful people

who are willing to be used by Him.

As the month of December is upon us,

I’d like to take a moment to let you know

what is on the horizon for the youth group

as well as our church family as a whole.

The youth will be exploring a 2 week

study titled “SHIFT, I have written and pre-

pared, where we will be taking a look at the

things in our lives that need to be shifted or

adjusted in order to experience this life the

way that God intends us to. We will also be

having a Christmas party on Saturday,

December 15th, from 6-8pm that will be a

great time of fun, games, and food!

Currently, as the “Pastor of Youth and

Education”, please know that I will be doing

much more than simply working with the

youth. I have begun planning and organiz-

ing a strategy to roll out Family Groups here

at First Baptist Church. These groups will

exist to draw us together as a family and

empower us to live in community with one

another as we further advance God’s King-

dom here on the earth as it is in Heaven.

These Family Groups will meet weekly in

host homes where they will study God’s

Word together, serve our community to-

gether, and because we are Baptist.... eat

together! Be on the lookout for more infor-

mation as I finish up the groundwork and

roll these groups out early 2019.

Sincerely,

Justin Williams

Pastor of Youth & Education

3

December 2018

December Events

2nd- Deacon 5pm/ Church Council 7pm

2nd-9th– Lottie Moon Week of Prayer

5th– Women’s Fellowship 6:30-8pm

6th– Senior Adult Fellowship 4pm

9th– WMU 4pm /Business Meeting 6pm

12th– FBCSS Christmas program 6pm

13th– Men’s Game Night 6pm

15th– Youth Christmas Party 6pm Y-Hall

16th– Christmas Cantata 10:30am / Church

Family Christmas meal at 11:30am

20th– Senior Adult Fellowship 4pm

24th-25th– Church Office Closed

25th– Christmas Eve Candlelight 5pm

27th– Men’s Game Night 6pm

31st– Jan.1st– Church office closed

...to everyone

celebrating this

month!

We have so many wonderful and

exciting things happening at FBC ~

Come join us for some fun

and fellowship!

Please join us for a

casual gathering

on Sunday De-

cember 16 at

11:30am follow-

ing our combined

worship service.

Kindly contribute

the following

based on the first

letter of your last

name:

A thru M: One dish casserole of your choice

N thru Z: Dessert item

A salad bar and beverages will be provided by

the church.

This will be a casual event with lots of good

food, great company and music!

Plus there will be prizes for the ugliest Christ-

mas sweater and the Craziest Christmas hat.

Please contact Chantay for more informa-

tion. Ctayburl@aol.com

First Baptist Church

Purpose Statement

Praising Jesus Christ together,

Providing for our Smithville community,

Personalizing Jesus to our neighbors, and

Partnering with each other to

Produce effective followers of Christ.

Come Connect With Us

It Matters!

Christmas Cantata

Dec. 16 10:30am