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• January 19 - Ordination Sunday
• January 20 - Evening Women's Bible Study Begins

We did it!! We hit our $2,000 goal. Way to go, FBC Weston! Lottie Moon is a special Christmas Offering that goes directly to international missions. Click here for more information! 

Zane & Katie are officially married! Please pray for them as they enter into this next season of life, marriage, ministry, and military together. Katie will be with us for a few more weeks. We look forward to celebrating her and sending her off near the end of January. 

The last Family Meeting of 2024 was another one for the history books! We welcomed in 5 new members and threw new children as well as voted on the FBC Weston 2025 Ministry Budget. In that budget we approved the hiring of a second Part Time Staff Pastor. At the conclusion of the meeting we affirmed by unanimous vote to extend that call to Daniel Heidtbrink. Daniel will be joining the Staff of FBC Weston in January and will help Pastor Ricky with day to day administrative duties, share in the shepherding of the church, and have specific oversight of the music and audio/video ministries of the church. 

Daniel & his family visited the church several times before officially joining us in 2023. Daniel has served the church in a number of ways; Sunday School, Children's Ministry Music, Preaching & Teaching, and over the last year predominantly leading music on Sunday mornings. Daniel has a heart for the Lord, loves the local church and specifically FBC Weston, and has surrendered to the call of ministry and is currently one of our Elder Candidates. He has served the local church leading music for nearly a decade and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Sociology and a Master's Degree in Counseling. We look forward to his experience and giftedness playing a role in his expanded leadership here at FBC Weston!

Though Daniel enjoys Folgers and Maxwell House Coffee, he and Pastor Ricky have managed to maintain a friendship that goes back more than a decade. As they spend time at FBC Weston Church Office together he intends to disciple this out of him. He covets your prayers! They have had the privilege of serving together in a previous church and are looking forward to taking that to the next step as we officially ordain him to the Gospel Ministry with the other Elder Candidates on January 19th. 

As many of you know there were issues with the law and the texting service. Breeze had to opt everyone out that had given us permission to opt them in. The law now requires that everyone opt themselves in. After months of work Breeze/Tithely has set up a way to send out a mass text from the church to allow folks in our system to opt-in themselves. You do not have to opt into the texts to receive the emails we send but you do have to opt-in to receive the texts. A text is scheduled to send out tomorrow asking you to opt-in. The texts serve as short reminders over of upcoming events and/or cancellations. Emails serve as long form communication. Please opt-in if you would like to receive texts from the church. 

Brothers & Sisters,

I know I said that last week's "Life at First Baptist" was the final of the year but I'm actually in the Office the next day or so and there's just too much to not celebrate with you! 

On Christmas Eve Autumn and I were getting things ready for Christmas morning with the kiddos when I grabbed Autumn's stocking to begin stuffing it and I felt something tucked into the toe. I pulled it out thinking that it was a bonus gift that may have been forgotten from the previous year. I pulled it out and found the above tucked inside.

I am still as speechless today as I was the night we found it. All that comes to mind is, "Thank you." I have already began the conversation with John & Tessa and will honor every last penny of this blessing. With that said, I wanted to share an encouragement with you that I think about nearly every year around this time. An encouragement that was inspired from something John said in 2021.

"Many want to say, 'Look what this world has come to! People want to say that 2020 is the year to be forgotten. People who study such things tell us that people in in our day are more miserable than they have been in years past. The happiness quotient has plummeted and we could make a list and we could mope. We could decide that we are going to be miserable with the rest of the world. Look what this world has come to! We see sadness, we see it everywhere. But I want to tell you something. I refuse to be defined by bad news. I want to be defined not by 'look what this world has come to' but by 'look what has come to this world.'"

Friends, refuse to be defined by the bad news of the world but instead be defined by the good news of God.

The Good news that He sent forth His only Son that whoever would believe upon Him shall inherit eternal life. That is our message. That is our hope. That is our peace. That is our joy. That is God’s love manifest in His Son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whom we just celebrated these last several weeks.

The birthday party is over, the twinkly lights are coming down, the trees are being tucked away into boxes and stored safely in the basement or garage, and the calendar is rolling over a new year. 

What now?

In a very natural way we are going to shift our focus elsewhere. We will go from “turn your eyes upon Jesus” to weight loss goals, budget building, book reading goals, drinking less, kicking a nicotine addiction, and drinking more water. Perhaps some of us will set a goal to volunteer more, declutter, start a new hobby, sleep more, play on our phones less. Maybe even, in an effort to win some brownie points with the Pastor, some of us will set a noble goal of reading all the way through the Bible this year or resolve to pray more. 

To that I say, “Yes and amen!” But, I have to ask… “why?” Of all the questions one can ask the most vexing for the Christian is simply, “why?” What motivates the New Year’s Resolution? The author of Ecclesiastes offers a warning I would like for us to consider before resolving to better ourselves. 

“The words of the Preacher, the song of David, King in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:1)

Vanity, the author cries out in chapter 1, verse 1. He spends the remainder of the book unpacking the pursuit of anything outside of God Himself as a means of finding joy as absolutely meaningless. Take a look at his resolve at the very end of the book. 

“The end of the matter: all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

So, am I saying not to set a New Year’s Resolution? No, in fact I have a few goals I’d like to achieve in 2025 (a big one is hopping the pond to visit the Gillespies in the UK!) However, I do encourage you to examine the what and why of your resolution should you choose to make one. By all means set Godly goals to His glory but don’t fall into the trap that achieving these goals will bring you the joy you’re longing for. After all, “…the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8)

The fullness of joy is found only in the Lord!

May we all go forward with this at the forefront of our minds and hearts as we sprint into 2025.

Happy New Year!