Faith Rewarded

My wife, Shannon, and I have been transitioning into a new phase of life. Over the past year and a half, our two oldest have graduated high school and moved to college. Our daughter graduates in a few months, and our youngest will have completed his freshman year of high school. Honestly, I am filled with mixed emotions. Facebook will show pics on my Timehop that do nothing but thrust memories into my mind that make me long for when they were younger. I even saw a Disney commercial the other day, and I started thinking of our vacation there. I did not cry, but I wanted to. I am just a mess. However, I also find myself celebrating as they live out their faith. As parents, we have tried to teach them how to walk with Jesus, but you never know how they will fly until you push them out of the nest.

I am reminded of Psalm 127:3-5, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate." I know to even use the phrase "my children" is incorrect. They are not mine but they belong to the Lord. They are His, and I have been given the blessing of raising God's children. My job has been to raise up God's children and then release them like an arrow. That's scary to think about, and what an incredible responsibility! I know the enemy wants to discourage, tempt, and draw them away, but I have to entrust them to the Lord. Honestly, that is difficult. As a parent, I want to rush in and help, but I know they have to live out their faith and follow Him. I definitely find myself praying for my children now more than ever. I pray God's blessing and favor on them. I pray God protect them, raise them up as leaders, and that He keep them, and their future spouse, pure. God has been faithful.

It has been fun, exhausting, and stressful in recent days to watch them take their own steps of faith. I want to share one brief story of my oldest, Caleb. He completed basic training a little over a year ago, and he was attending a local college. However, the National Guard benefits were better in an adjoining state, and he felt led to move five hours away to another city to attend college. Like many college students, he was trying to figure out financially how everything would work. On top of that, he was trying to transfer to a different military unit and transfer to another school. He was confident this was God's leading, but all the details between finances, school, and military were not coming together. Let's just say we all felt the stress and anxiety.

For me personally, God has often called me to take a step of faith before He works out the details.  Moving my wife and two kids to seminary with no job, a small place to live, and a few bucks in my wallet is just one example. I believe these moments are a test to see how much I really trust Him. As we talked with Caleb, I felt the same thing was happening in his life, but I also know he had to take that step on his own. Faith works that way. Others can't do it for us. Each one of us must take that step and trust when our foot comes down that we will feel solid ground underneath. And that's what happened. Caleb moved, and shortly after he took that step of faith all the details came together. I know in his life it has been a moment he won't forget. It was a moment where God again proved His faithfulness. That's a lesson one only learns from experience, and I'm thankful to see my children walking by faith.

Let me leave you with 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We live by faith, not by sight."

In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR

Building Committee Presentation

Church Family,

In the early Fall of 2017, our church elected a Building Committee to evaluate, research, and recommend the next steps for our church's building plans. This process has been working simultaneously as the Envision 20/20 Stewardship Campaign; which we are a little over a year into. After a great deal of prayer, discussion, visiting other churches, and refining the design, we are ready to report to our church on March 3, at 5pm in the sanctuary. The meeting will consist of the committee sharing a plan with our church, and then we will allow time for questions. This night is not a business meeting where we vote. We simply want to share and give our church time to process and ask questions. The committee will then have follow-up meetings with several smaller groups. After that, we will have another all-inclusive meeting to give everyone one final chance to ask questions. Once done, we will have a business meeting to vote on the steps to be taken.

I do not want to go into great detail here, but I want to share a couple of thoughts to prepare you for the meeting and give you a direction for personal prayer. First, the committee has spent a great deal of time in prayer both together and individually. We visited three churches to see their design, and we took a video tour of another church. We have tried to take into account what they did while focusing on what we believe will work best in our context. During our first meeting, we asked two questions. Why do we need to do this, and what are our greatest needs? We will share those answers during the meeting, but I want you to know that the answers to those questions are what have motivated and shaped what we are going to present. In addition, we looked at the ministries we are doing here regularly. We do not believe it makes sense to let ministries that are outside of our church and use our building to dictate what we do. Neither does it make sense to design a building based on things that happen once a year.

Remember that what is presented is a balance of our greatest needs, a step of faith, and also stewardship of God's resources. Please be in prayer for unity in our church. We know this will be an opportunity for Satan to divide us. So, be in prayer for yourself and our church that we work together through any differing opinions in a Godly manner. Pray for yourself as well that you will be willing to think out-of-the-box, sacrifice personal preference, and honor the Lord with how we steward His resources.

In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR

Something a Little Funny

Laughter. Laughing is one of my favorite things to do; even if it is at myself. Lord Byron has said, "Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine." I'm no Lord Byron, but one of the things I find myself often saying is, "You just have to laugh." People are funny. Sometimes they do/say things that make perfect sense to them. However, when you are on the other side or watching from a distance, it leaves you scratching your head. I can't think of a place this happens more often than in the church.

I love the blog that Thom Rainer writes. Occasionally he will blog about something funny. So, if you click the link below you can read, "20 Really Weird Criticisms Pastors Receive." I hope as you read these, even if you are guilty of saying them, you will laugh a little. I know I did.

20 Really Weird Criticisms Pastors Receive

If you have time, it is worth reading the comments below the blog. Some of it is funny, but in reality most of it is truly sad.

In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR