Leadership Survey's

On any given Sunday we will have 150 to 250 people in church. The majority of those folks are members of First Baptist Church of LaBelle and other dear friends of our church. For a church to work the way the Lord wants it to work it needs each member using the gifts they have in the work of the church. Each year we ask each member and friends of the church to fill out a leadership survey, which tells us which areas you are willing to serve in. Each year we are lucky if we it 25 surveys back from our members. With our building program under way and other new ministries in our church we need to you to work in our church.

We ask each member and friend to fill out a leadership survey and turn it in by Sunday, August 10th. If you don't have a survey to can get one in foyer of the church sanctuary or go to our church web site at www.fbclabelle.org and fill out the survey on line. I hope you understand that we need each member and friend of First Baptist Church.

Please be in prayer for our Nominating Committee as they fill the leadership positions of the church.

Jamaica Praise Report

We returned from Jamaica last Friday evening. The Lord truly blessed us in our trip. As we reflect on our trip, we are thankful for all the supporters who prayed and gave sacrificially so we could go to Jamaica. Those who gave to this cause was a vital part of this trip.

This year we served at Emanuel Missionary Church in Mandeville, Jamaica. This church has lost its last two pastors to cancer and is presently searching for another Pastor. We had 173 children enrolled in VBS at this church and this is the most they ever had. We average 169 children each day. At the end of the week we had 63 of those children accept Jesus Christ as there Lord and Savior.

Different members of our team preach at the night services that we had for the teenagers of this church. I preached Sunday night, Paul Martin preached Monday night, Preston Long, Jr., preached Tuesday night, Jeremy Peery preached Wednesday night and Patrick Mylmount preached Thursday night. Each night our mission team sang praise and worship songs under the leadership of Larry Luckey.

The Lord worked in each member of our team and the Lord gave us a blessed week.

Brian and Pearl Williams

Last Sunday night we had the privilege of having Brian and Pearl Williams share about their work in Vienna, Austria. We started supporting Brian and Pearl last year at this time. We are currently supporting them at a $100 a month and we praying if we should increase this amount for the coming year.

Brian and Pearl work at a Christian school where International Students come to be taught. For most of these students they are there for two years. In those two years the teachers at this school have a opportunities to share Christ with these students. Many of these students have accepted Christ.

Please be in prayer for Brian and Pearl as they will be flying back soon to start a new school year.

Teen Challenge of Southwest Florida

Sunday, June 29th at 11:00 A.M., the Men's group of Teen Challenge will be here to share music and testimonies of what God is doing in there lives. Kevin Cummings, the director of Teen Challenge for Southwest Florida will be our presenter. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about their ministry. First Baptist Church supports the men's group of Teen Challenge for Southwest Florida by giving $100 a month to their ministry through our Local Missions Program.

Everyone is invited to come to this special service this Sunday, June 29th at 11 A.M. After the service our College and Career Class will be providing lunch for the Teen Challenge group. I am grateful for the College and Career class and their willingness to prepare this meal.

Hope to see you this Sunday.

JAMAICA - Let's give thanks!

In two weeks we will be going to Jamaica with 21 people from our church. For the last 6 months we have been asking for donations and having yard sales. As a team we would like to thank everyone in our church and our community for their help for us to go to Jamaica. For many of our friends you have gone above and beyond in your giving to our Mission Trip. I know God will bless you for your giving.

I ask of you that you will be praying for us as we leave for Jamaica on July 11th. We will be serving at Emmanuel Missionary Church in Mandeville, Jamaica. This church has recently lost their pastor to cancer and is in need of encouragement. We will be conducting VBS in the morning and having services each night. Please be in prayer for these services.

We are still in need of $4,000 to complete our trip. I believe God has someone who has been waiting and now is the time for them to give. This is all in God's hands. Amen!

Vacation Bible School - Outrigger Island: Living God's Unshakeable Truth!

The Lord has truly blessed us this week at VBS. We enrolled 153 students and 58 workers for the week. On Tuesday we had 153 students present. We had 11 children come to know the Lord for the first time. Please pray for these children as they grow in the Lord.

The children gave $219.55 for missions through their offerings each morning. This money will go to help our missionaries in North America and across the world. I ask that you say a special prayer for our missionaries.

We would like to thank all the people who helped in VBS, who donated items for VBS and prayed for us this week.

Our dates for VBS in 2009 are June 15- 19th! Hope to see you there!

Church votes for New Youth Director

In a Special called Business Meeting the church heard the recommendation from the Search Committee to hire Preston Long, Jr. as our New Full-Time Youth Director. Seventy nine votes were cast and there was 75 votes in favor of the recommendation to hire Preston as our new youth director and 4 votes no.

Preston will officially begin work on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. Preston has already been on the job working to get prepared for youth camp and other things. Please be in prayer for Preston and his family as he begins his work as Youth Director.

I hope each of us would look how we can help and support our youth ministry here at our church.