Covenant New Member Class

Welcome

Thank you for exploring God’s leading for you and maybe your family to join in His work here at FBC Gray.

There are three things for us to accomplish

Get to know you

Get to know us

See how you might plug into FBC-G

Before we begin, please tell us your name and one or two sentences about yourself and your family

FBC-G was originally chartered as Gray Baptist Church back in 1905.

Annie Greaves Stewart and Catherine Louise Morgan started a group in the one room school house that Miss Morgan taught in in Gray sometime before 1882.

Because in 1882, these two former members of Clinton Baptist invited Rev. E. W. Sammons to preach in 1882.

On August 2, 1905, they constituted the Gray Baptist Church.

So many people came that the schoolhouse wouldn’t hold them so they met under a brush arbor for a season.

They immediately started to build a traditional white frame church which was completed in 1907.

The original building was destroyed by fire in 1943.

They built back and that building is now our chapel where our students meet every Wednesday evening.

A question that has plagued me though, was why did these two women move from Clinton to Gray?

Were they missionary women?

Were they disgruntled members of the church in Clinton and decided to start their own church?

I don’t really know, but I have a good idea.

In 1886, a Congressman named James Henderson Blunt lived in a house right beside where the car wash across the tracks stands now.

He owned a good deal of land, and not surprisingly at all, when the Covington and Macon Railroad built their line from Macon to Covington, it passed right through his land.

For a minute the town was called Blountsville but somehow it ended up being called Gray in honor of James Madison Gray - he was a lawyer, framer and politician and the most prominent man in the area at that time.

Many of you remember that the depot was located right beside the Feed and Seed store.

The town city limits ran from about where Childs Street on the east (1st street on the right)

To Boundary street on the north (That’s the 3rd street on the left on Atlanta Road)

To Forest street on the south (That’s where the library is)

To the Highview Cemetery - that’s right beside us.

In 1905, a vote was held to move the county seat from Clinton to Gray, where the railroad tracks were and it passed in a landslide.

I think the ladies came to Gray to start the church because this is where the people were about to be.

Rev. Sammons, in a thank you letter, said to Ms. Sammons, “That is what the church must stand for, the saving of souls.”

So it makes sense, if you want to Make Jesus Known, you’ve got to go where the people are that need to know Him.

That’s what they did and that’s what FBC-Gray has been doing now for almost 120 years.

Think about what has happened since 1905.

There was World War I

A pandemic - the Spanish Flu

World War II

The Korean War

Vietnam

The Sexual Revolution, Desegregation and the Women’s movements of the 60’s and 70’s.

The Cold War

9/11

Afghanistan

The Desert Wars

Another pandemic - Covid

And still more wars

And yet, through it all, Jesus’ church remained

If you dig through our history, you’ll find sometimes we did a good job

And sometimes we didn’t

Not everything we did was done in a Godly manner

But many things were.

In the last 120 years, Gray has changed.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that Gray is about to change very rapidly in the next few decades.

To honor the legacy of those two ladies who started the Bible study and to be obedient to the Lord in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

FBC-Gray had to change too.

We need to be here 120 years from now Making Jesus Known to whatever this place will look like then.

So, we’ve driven some stakes in the ground.

We changed our church polity to Elders and Deacons.

This is the model you see in the Bible.

You still have a Lead Pastor who “shall have charge over the welfare and oversight of the Church.”

But we also have up to eleven men who are responsible to pray for, teach and shepherd God’s flock.

Currently we have 11 total including me and we are learning how to shepherd Jesus’ sheep as Elders.

We also have Deacons.

They are the guys who get their hands dirty.

They are responsible for the day to day, nuts and bolts functioning of the church.

In a nutshell, Elders lead and Deacons do.

But, and this is most important - the Congregation rules.

In order for the congregation to rule well, the body has to be a fellowship of regenerate believers.

Regenerate means we are called to salvation by the Holy Spirit.

That our sins are forgiven and we are justified before the Father by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

That our goal is to be sanctified meaning we grow everyday in the likeness of Jesus

Until the day we are glorified - when we are found to be with Jesus eternally in the new heaven and new earth.

So let’s talk about what we believe.

Our primary statement of faith is the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

It has 18 articles that you can read on your own.

But there are a few need to emphasize.

First, we believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.

It is truth without in mixture of error and it is exactly how God wants to reveal Himself to us.

We believe the Bible is about Jesus from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.

The Bible is God’s love story - it is the story of how a gracious King rescued His rebellious sons and daughters.

We believe in expositional preaching.

That means the Bible is our text and the preacher’s job is to expound the meaning of the text.

He is to explore the meaning of the passage and relate that to the congregation as best He can.

As you have noticed, we preach through books of the Bible so we can get the full counsel of God.

Sometimes that’s hard, but if the Lord didn’t have a purpose for it, it wouldn’t be in His Word.

We believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

These are the three persons of the One True and Living God - the Holy Trinity.

A big part of our faith has to be faith in the mission that the Lord Jesus has given us - and that is to Make Jesus Known among the nations.

We believe that every person born is born into sin.

We believe in a literal Adam and Eve who disobeyed God in the beginning thus breaking the relationship He wanted with them.

Because Adam sinned, the fruit he bore, all of his children were tainted by that same sin

And because of that sin, without a rescuer, they would die and suffer throughout eternity in Hell.

We believe that Jesus was pre-existent with God and was sent by God the Father to be born of the virgin Mary.

He lived a sinless life.

He was crucified on a cross.

On the third day, He was resurrected by the power of the Father and 40 days later after being seen by over 500 people, Jesus ascended into heaven

Where He sits at the Father’s right hand.

We believe that those who repent of their sins to the Lord and who trust Christ and commit their lives to Him are saved.

They will always be saved and will never not be saved ever again

Being held fast by the love of the Lord.

We believe that every person who professes Jesus as Savior must, if at all possible, be baptized by immersion after salvation.

If you come from any other faith tradition that baptizes babies or baptizes by any manner other than full immersion, we would need to baptize you.

We believe the church is the body of Christ and that every person who joins that Body was placed there by the sovereign hand of God to fill a need in that body.

There is no one in the body by accident and that no member should be treated with any less or more dignity than any other.

The leaders may get the glory, but try going a few weeks without someone washing the dishes in the kitchen and tell me how life rolls.

Do you have any questions so far?

Is there something you are wondering about that we haven’t mentioned?

So let’s talk about members.

We have a member covenant which has a number of things that our members promise to hold in common.

The first expectation of a member is that you attend worship until you physically can no longer do it.

It really shouldn’t be a chore for us - although I know there are times when we don’t feel up to it.

But when we think of all God is and what He is doing, we can’t help but worship Him

And He wants us to worship Him together.

Number two - you commit to joining a group.

Listen, if you want to be a spectator Christian, either join a mega-church or watch on TV.

There isn’t anywhere in the scripture that supports this view of Christianity.

What is in the scripture is people forming a community

And communities are found in smaller groups.

You need to be in a group.

We have Sunday morning groups for all ages.

Wednesday evening groups, Sunday night groups.

We have organic groups that meet all during the week for prayer and fellowship.

There is no excuse for not being in a group.

This is where you grow a community and you gain strength from hearing everyone else’s faith walk.

We will help you find your place if you will let us.

This is critical to your sanctification.

No one walks alone before God, ever.

Even at the judgment, Jesus will be with you.

Number three is mission work.

We are created to serve others through good works.

For years FBC-G had a partnership with a community in West Virginia.

They did a mission trip there every year.

We had a thing called the Big A club

Where disadvantaged kids came to FBC for Jesus, fun, fellowship and just about anything a kid could need.

We’ve gone on mission trips to Zambia and Boston.

But mostly right now, we are on mission in Jones County.

We are working hard to be involved as much as possible with the schools.

We partner with Gray Elementary.

We’ve helped in their flower beds.

We give the teachers and staff birthday gifts and gifts for no reason.

We feed about every group in the school from the band to the football team.

We partner with DFCS to do a foster care banquet at Christmas

We do Angel Tree Gifts for the foster kids.

We have a dignity closet for when kids are put into care.

We do Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

And we do the Jesus’ Hands ministry where we provide 7 meals every week for about 90 kids for their weekend.

Their best meals are at school which kills me.

We send them something for the weekend.

We have Sunday school classes providing clothes for kids.

Our WMU is working on the same task - and they were the ones that got Jesus’ Hands going.

There’s a lot to do and yet, there’s a lot to be done to Make Jesus Known.

So - if you are led to join FBC-G, just remember, the Lord is putting you in this place in order for you to do what He has gifted you to do at this place.

Sitting on the sidelines watching is not your long range goal.

Fourth, It is the responsibility of the members to give.

You’ve probably heard that we are in a belt-tightening phase right now.

There are several reasons for that I expect, but I think the biggest reason is the Lord wants to make sure we serve more than be served.

It takes money to make the place roll.

My wife and I tithe - that means we give 10% of our income before taxes to the Lord.

That’s a worthy goal for you to work towards.

I know you might not be able to jump right in with both feet to do that and that’s ok.

But, as we studied in Exodus, the Lord moves His people to give to get His work done.

Members give cheerfully and abundantly.

Five, Six and Seven all orbit the body.

We seek unity in diversity.

We will guard the reputation of the Body.

We will pray for the church leadership and one another.

And we will serve first just as Jesus came to serve.

Do we do that perfectly?

Do pigs fly?

No we don’t - but we want to

And our heart is set on following Jesus and the better job we do of that, the better we’ll be the Church that Makes Jesus Known.

So, where do you go from here?

Whether you plan to request membership today or not, you need to get in a group.

We can help you find a group.

That is absolutely step one.

I truly believe you will never feel like you are a part of the church until you find a group where you belong.

Next, help us to know your gifts and abilities and we’ll hook you up.

There are a million things to do here and we need help.

And, help us - don’t rely on us to remember and ask all of the time.

Every now and then, say something to us - remind us if you don’t hear from us.

We are like you - a billion things are on our plates and sometimes we get side tracked.

If you request membership, the way the process works is

If you aren’t baptized, we’ll need to do that.

In our next conference, your name will be presented for membership and a vote taken.

After an affirmative vote, you’ll be considered a member of FBC-G.

Any questions or thoughts?

Break into groups.

Questions:

Explore their salvation story

Do they know what the gospel is?

Do they want to join FBC-G?