Officers Meeting

February 4, 2025

Scripture: Psalm 118: 1 – 7

Psalm 118:1–7 KJV 1900

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: Because his mercy endureth for ever. Let Israel now say, That his mercy endureth for ever. Let the house of Aaron now say, That his mercy endureth for ever. Let them now that fear the Lord say, That his mercy endureth for ever. I called upon the Lord in distress: The Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: What can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me: Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.

Now as you read this Psalm

All 29 versus

You read, About the mercy of our God

And the psalmist

Finished this Psalm

By proclaiming

(Psalm 118:20 – 29

Psalm 118:28–29 KJV 1900

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever.

So This afternoon

I want to give you the opportunity

To give thanks and to the Lord

Because truly

He is good

And

Who will be first this evening

________________________

Let’s pray together

And seek the mind of Christ

For this meeting this evening

(Pray)

Agenda Item 1:

Missions trip

This past December

At our annual Officers meeting

I asked you

About my taking a missions trip

And

The consensus seemed to be

That, that was okay

And

Just a couple weeks ago

I received an email

From the pastor of the church

That Tina and I started in Kenya

This pastor

Was just a boy

While we were there

I had the privilege

Of leading his late father to the Lord

he

Became a deacon in the church

And was a great asset

But John Njoroge Is the pastor

Of the Bible Baptist Church, of Nyahururu

he

Asked me to come and preach

For the congregation there

And because of my health

This

May very well be my last missions trip

That I ever get to Take

And with that in mind

I’ll need to take Tina with me

To help me get around

It is a 24 hour trip, One way

And I’ll need some help

I

Hope you don’t mind that

Two round trip tickets would cost: $2,674

I

Will provide for our lodging

And our food, For the entire trip

Food and lodging Will cost somewhere between $600-$800

And

Let me reiterate that

This is a missions trip

It will not be a leisure trip

So

May I go ahead and buy these tickets

_______________________________

Agenda item 2: Confidentiality reminder

From time to time

There are confidential matters

That must be discussed together

As officers of the church

So

I would remind you

When those times Come up

It is very important

That

We not speak of such things

Outside of this group

Because doing so

Could

Be very hurtful

To individuals

That we are trying to minister to

It could undermine our efforts to properly minister to them

So

Please help me with that

So that we can minister effectively

To the people

God has placed in our charge

Agenda item 3: The Jobes

Scott and Julie Jobe

Will have a two year anniversary

At their church in Palmyra

On Easter Sunday morning

It’s hard to believe

That it has been that long

But

That being said

As of today

They still don’t have

Any other members

Besides themselves

Who have officially joined the church

And

In order to organize the church

By law In the state of Virginia

They need three trustees

A treasurer

And a clerk

Now

Trustees can serve

As both a treasurer and a clerk

But at this time

They don’t have any man

Who has even joined

They

Have two men

Who come every Sunday morning

But they don’t come Sunday evening

Or Wednesday evening

And the one

Who has been more churched

Told Scott that

He wanted to see

If the church was going to be successful

before he joined

Likewise

Their Church offerings

Are somewhere around $2000 a month

And between rent and utilities alone

There won’t be much left out of that

And at the same time

Scott could potentially

Lose several hundred dollars more Monthly support

During this calendar year

and when he and I met

A week ago today to Look at his budget

He was still $350 Underwater

In terms of his overall income, And expenses

And that is without losing any support/offerings

Additionally

Palmyra is a very small town

With maybe a hundred people

and the County of Fluvannah

Has about 29,000

So

Being that it is a very small community

That in itself, makes it very difficult

To get people to come

Then

Being a very conservative church

Makes it even more difficult

So

All of these factors together

Have the potential

Of leading to discouragement

For both the Jobe family

And Foundations Bible Baptist Church

Agenda item 4: Albemarle Baptist Church

And then

There is Albemarle Baptist Church

And as you know (With the exception you brother Donnie)

I have been praying All of last year

For God to open another door for me

To be able to administer elsewhere

In a place where I can be more effective

I’m concerned that

The longer I stay here

I could be a hindrance to the church

And just as a reminder

Let me tell you why

A healthy church Needs all age categories

It needs...

Seniors, Families, Couples, Singles, Youth And Children

But in order to get those Groups of people

Outreach is essential

Unfortunately

My legs don’t work very well anymore

So my ability to To go out and knock on doors

To enlist new people, Is very limited

And at some point, will be impossible

And last year

When I shared this with you

I told you we have two choices

We can either all get involved in outreach

Which is what God wants us to do

Or

We can hire someone to Become copastor with me

Who I could work with for a Year or two

Who would eventually become the pastor

I would then leave

And this group of officers

Made the decision

That yes, let’s hire someone, Who can become the copastor

And eventually the pastor

And you requested of me

That I speak to missions boards,

About the possibility of engaging a missionary Who is leaving the field

who could become a potential Copastor with me

and I’ve been doing that without success

But as I’ve been praying

For God to open a door for me elsewhere

Somewhere, where I can be effective

Because I feel like I’m being ineffective here

I’ve been asking God

If it is His will

To put it upon Scot’s heart

To eventually become our pastor

And by the way, Please don’t discuss any of this

With others outside of this room tonight

At least not right now

But anyhow

until recently

I haven’t been willing to To even discuss this with Scot

Because I didn’t want to sway him In any way

But

After seeking advice From Dr. Don Forrester

He doesn’t believe that it would be a bad idea

To have this discussion with Scott

That

If Scott’s church doesn’t Gain any momentum

Between now and the end of the year

Maybe he would be the perfect candidate

To pastor our church someday

And there are several things

To consider along these lines

and the first one is Scott’s confidence

If the church In Fluvannah Doesn’t succeed

That could be a confidence killer

for Bro Jobe

And not only that

But That community (Fluvannah) Needs a church

That’s true

Additionally

As Scott’s support Diminishes

The likelihood of working a job

Will become imminent for him

Because he has a mortgage, A family to feed, Insurance is to pay, Utilities, Etc.

But

If Scott works a secular job

It will cripple the church (Grace in Orange)

It could also lead to Scott’s Becoming discouraged in ministry

And he could become a dropout

And as an example

On August 2, 1998, 2 Churches got started

Both were from independent Baptist churches in Fredericksburg

One in Albemarle County

And the other one North Of Richmond

The one in Charlottesville

Has survived And is financially solvent

The one north of Richmond did not survive

The pastor of Albemarle is Still in ministry

but the pastor of the other one, Became discouraged, And dropped out

Because he worked a full-time job

And tried to do ministry full-time

He could not get the church to grow

And he became discouraged in ministry

So

My concern is

Particularly for Scott

If he has to pastor full-time, Which is around 60 hours a week

And if he has to Work a full-time job, For an additional 40 hours a week

He only has 68 hours Remaining in that week

And in those hours

He has to find time to sleep

Drive back and forth To work

And spend time with his wife and children

Doing that

For a prolonged period of time

Will be very discouraging

Physically,Mentally, And even spiritually

And could lead To not only the failure of the church

But to Scott’s dropping out of ministry

So here’s what I recommend

We sit down with Scott

We ask him to pray about The possibility that

If by December 31 of this year, The church in Palmyra

Doesn’t gain any traction

He consider coming on Staff At Albemarle

As a copastor, for one year

Because see

God has a way

Of opening and closing doors

In fact, Let me read a passage in the book of Acts

Chapter 16:6 – 9 (Acts 16:6-9

Acts 16:6–9 KJV 1900

Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

*now

I know that

The circumstances were different there

But God’s Holy Spirit

Closed the door, In Asia

And opened the door in Europe

And God could be doing that here

I emphasize the word could

And although

I don’t know the mind of Christ

In any of this

I would like to recommend that we start thinking this way

I would like to talk to Scott, And ask him to pray

About the possibility of this

Because frankly

In terms of ministry

I don’t want to lose Either that church

Or that pastor

To discouragement or failure

But

If Scott gets discouraged

To the point where he drops out of ministry

We will lose both

So

What are your thoughts

With regards to these things?

Agenda item 6: A church sign For the Palmyra church

Now I know that

Their church was $21,000 over budget

Last year

But the fact is

They have a new building

Which is something they needed

And they do need to sign

So that people know that they are there

The sign

Will cost approximately $394

And will be installed by Chris Tignor (Julie’s brother)

And I know that the church will want to vote on this

But what are your thoughts?