First Baptist Savannah

NEW MISSION VIDEO

A new video entitled “Our Cuban Mission,”
produced by Lee and Ginger Heidel, has been posted
to the church’s web site. Go to www.fbc-sav.org

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Vacation Bible School will take place July 7-
11, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. In keeping with this
year’s theme of Power Lab, all Bible stories, music
and crafts will have a science lab theme. The mission
emphasis for the week will be led by Dr. Jane
Jennings and will feature the mission work that she
has been doing in Pakistan where she has been
instrumental in setting up a medical lab in a hospital.
The Vacation Bible School offering will go toward
her lab work in Pakistan. It’s not too late to register
children from age three through those who have just
finished the fifth grade for VBS. Please call the
church office to do so – 234-2671.

SUMMER FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

The next midweek fellowship event is a very
special meal and program, focusing on our ongoing
relationship with our sister congregation in Cuba. On
Wednesday night, July 16, the church family will
gather at 6:00 p.m. for an authentic Cuban meal with
all the trimmings, Cuban artwork and music, as well
as several special guests. This event is a fund-raiser
for the Baptist mission at Trinidad, Cuba, and is
sponsored by the youth members of our next mission
team, including Caroline, Curt and Smith Lewis,
Polly and Mary Stramm, and Stephen Thompson.
Our August fellowship event is planned for
Wednesday, August 13, when some of the children
from Savannah Baptist Center will be our guests for
a covered dish meal and brief program in Lewis Hall
beginning at 6:00 p.m.

MISSION OPPORTUNITIES FOR JUNE

June provides us with two opportunities to
participate in ministries outside our church walls.
First, the Missions and Social Ministries
Committee will be collecting school supplies,
children’s books, craft supplies, McDonald’s gift
certificates, paper towels, toilet paper, socks, gallon
size zip-lock bags, and personal items (soap,
shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion). These
items are being collected during the CBF General
Assembly June 19-20 and will be donated to Stories
on Wheels, a ministry in Helena, Arkansas, that
provides educational opportunities for children, and
to Together for Hope, a rural poverty initiative in
Nada and Owsley Counties in Kentucky. Carolyn and
James Cubbedge will be delivering the collected
items for us when they attend the General Assembly
in Memphis, Tennessee. Please drop items off in
Lewis Hall by June 15.
Second, it is time once again for First Baptist
Church to assist Wesley Monumental United
Methodist Church in hosting a family through
Interfaith Hospitality Network. Thelma Browne is
coordinating the meal on Tuesday night, June 24. We
are looking for one person to spend Wednesday night
and one person to spend Friday night at Wesley (June
25 and 27). There is always a member from Wesley
Monumental at the church with you. If you are
available to help with either of these nights or if you
have questions, please call Gaye Rountree or leave a
message in the church office.
Finally, a belated thank you to the twelve
people who participated in our blood drive last month.
The Red Cross was able to collect 8 units of blood.

2008 Cuba Mission

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TERRIFIC TUESDAYS

Summer is just around the corner which means it is almost time for Terrific Tuesdays to resume. The activities are open for any rising sixth grader through high school seniors, and range from just plain fun to missional events. We’ll kick off the program on June 10 with a pizza/movie night beginning at 4:30 p.m. The following week many of our youth will be at PASSWAYS camp, so the next in-town event will be
on June 24. Details are in process and as soon as they are complete, I’ll let you know. We have been working toward our young people becoming better acquainted with a wide spectrum of the congregation. Any of you who are willing to open your homes, pools, etc., or who have a special interest or hobby you would like to share, I would love to hear from you. Stay tuned!
– Janis Lewis

ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES

We have long had available in the narthex devices to help those with hearing difficulties during the worship service. While those have functioned quite well, with the new audio system we have new and improved devices in two different styles that are available to anyone who would like to try them. An usher will be glad to help you
locate one of the devices, as well as give you operating assistance, should you need it. Please take advantage of this facet of our new audio system if you have difficulty hearing the spoken word in the
sanctuary.

NEW AUDIO SYSTEM

A new sound system is being installed in the
sanctuary as this issue of The Calendar is being
prepared. If all goes well, installation should be
complete by Sunday, May 11. This new equipment is
a gift from Ginger and George Pruden in memory of
Ginger’s mother, Ethel Battershall. The system was
designed specifically for our sanctuary by Stage Front
Presentation Systems of Savannah. Please bear with
the company as they tweak the system over the next
few weeks, and with our operators as they adjust to a
new set of controls.

WOMEN OF THE CHURCH

Recently some of the Women of the Church
treated the staff at Spencer Elementary School to a
reception in recognition of the good work they are
doing for the children we serve through the Savannah
Baptist Center. We received the following note of
thanks:
We, the staff of Spencer Elementary
Children’s Engineering Academy, would like to
express our sincere appreciation for the wonderful
dessert luncheon that you so graciously provided for
us last week. You really brightened an otherwise very
stormy day. We also thank you and will always be
grateful for your recognition of the progress that
Spencer has made this year. You are always invited
to visit the school, read to or mentor the students.
If you have some time you could devote to
these students, please see Ashley Williams for more
details.
– Carolyn Hale Cubbedge

ELIJAH GOD'S FAITHFUL PROPHET

We told you that you would enjoy it, and all comments indicate that you did! I would like to thank all the
cast – young people and adults – for excellent singing and acting throughout. It takes a special talent to make
characters come alive, and that certainly was in evidence on Sunday. Thanks to Doyle Foxx for all the magnificent
costumes. A few were “recycled” from our wardrobe closet, but every one of the young people’s costumes were
brand new creations! Janis Lewis and Paula Hunt did the costumes for the ravens, letting the children of First Steps
do much of the work over the past several weeks. Frances Mills is responsible for the backdrop of Mount Carmel,
the desert, the altars, and the palace. She was assisted by Sarah Davis and Steve Gavigan, and the children and
youth spent a Sunday afternoon creating and painting lightweight boulders that we would be able to move. Helping
with props and the considerable effort required to put the set up and take it down twice were Bill Roberts, Milton
Newton, Joe Wade, and Alan Pritchard. Richard Lewis and Caroline Creaser assisted with rehearsals of the chorus,
and the parents made sure that their young people were diligent in attendance all through the learning process. I
hope I haven’t left anyone out, but thank goodness for a lot of helpers. A production such as this is dependent upon
lots of cooperative people. And one last word of thanks – to you, the audience, for being present, for exuding
enthusiasm, and for sitting near the front. The young people could feel that their efforts were really appreciated
when they saw the many smiling faces that had turned out to hear them.
– James Richardson

ELIJAH - GOD'S FAITHFUL PROPHET

We’ve been telling you for some time about
the upcoming music drama to be presented by our
music ministry. The time has finally arrived, and we
hope you will bring family and friends with you to
enjoy it. “Elijah – God’s Faithful Prophet” will be
presented in the sanctuary at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday,
March 30. The ten children and youth who have been
faithful attenders on Wednesday nights since last fall
will make up the chorus. They are Andrew Durden,
Katie Durden, Claire Johnson, Emma Rountree, Betsy
Sutton, Rebecca Sutton, Will Sutton, Jack Willhite,
Beth Wright, and Walker Wright. Katie, Betsy, and
Rebecca have a solo part; Andrew, Will, and Jack will
portray the prophets of Baal; and Claire will be the
palace guard. The ravens, sent by God to feed Elijah
in the wilderness, will be the children of First Steps:
Wilson Johnson, Katie Kleinpeter, Jillian Wade, and
John Foxx Willhite.
Adult soloists will be Christopher Hendricks
as Elijah, Amy Durden as the widow, Carol Anne
Richardson as Jezebel, Doyle Foxx as Ahab, and
Richard Lewis as Obadiah. Janis Lewis will be the
narrator, and James Richardson will conduct and
accompany the presentation. Parents, members of the
Music and Arts Committee, and other volunteers have
helped construct scenery, props, and costumes that
will make the story come alive.
In preparation for the drama, read again I
Kings 17-18, possibly using a modern translation.
And when you come to the sanctuary, please sit near
the front, where you will be able to hear!
– James Richardson

LENT: PREPARING FOR REBIRTH

In her book The Book of Common Power, Donna Schaper wrote about her dismay when she learned that her good friend did not compost. She could not imagine how anyone would not revel in the way that decaying matter would become the hotbed for growing new things. She knew that in order for life to come from a seed, it had to be planted into the
darkness of the earth, where its own decay would give way to a new green shoot that would make its way to the surface, growing toward the light that would bring it to full maturity and productivity.
This past Sunday I participated in the morning worship service at Memorial Baptist Church here in Savannah. On Sunday, her forty-nine year history as Memorial came to an end as the congregation dissolved the church. It was a bittersweet time for me and for others. We
remembered significant events that had taken place inside its walls – births, professions of faith, baptisms, baby dedications, weddings, and even funerals. It was there I found my call to the pastorate realized. It was there I met and married James. It was there I baptized our oldest grandson and dedicated our youngest grandson and
granddaughter. There was much work for the Kingdom of God in that place. And now, Memorial Baptist Church as she was known is no more.
Dissolving Memorial is significant, not because it brings a wonderful institution to its death, but because of the potential that can rise from its own decay. On Easter Sunday morning, the congregants that once called themselves Memorial will begin again as New Day Fellowship, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation.
The difference for them is that they will begin with the desire to be a missional church whose mode of operation will be intentional involvement in understanding the needs of the people in its world. And it will be in that understanding that they will reach out to minister to those God will allow them to encounter. Theirs is, I believe, an Easter story. There is sadness now. The Church they loved so well is gone, but God is doing a new thing with them, and he is their hope. The disciples on the road to Emmaus following the death of
Jesus said “We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” They would soon learn that he was. Thanks be to God for the Light of Life that redeems and makes all things new.
– Carolyn Hale Cubbedge

LENT: GOD DOES A NEW THING

This text, by Susan Palo Cherwien, offers another contemporary way of looking at the Lent/Easter story.
The choir will sing the text, as set to a lovely tune by Robert Buckley Farlee, during the Maundy Thursday Service
on March 20 at 6:00 p.m.
Rich in promise, rich in present, dry as dust and desert sand,
Buried in the potent land, deep and dark the grain lies dormant:
Behold, God does a new thing, through death God brings new life.
Running river in the desert, water meets the wilderness,
Transformation, more from less, swollen seed sends newness skyward:
Behold, God does a new thing, through death God brings new life.
Parable of grain and greening, paradox of death and birth,
Story of our wait in earth for the sacramental raining:
Behold, God does a new thing, through death God brings new life.
So we move from seed to ripeness, so we move from grain to green,
Letting go of what has been, we embody God’s great promise:
Behold, God does a new thing, through death God brings new life.

A LENTEN MEDITATION

When we assemble here to worship God,
To sing his praises and to hear his word,
We will walk softly.
With purity of heart and with clean hands,
Our souls are free, we’re free from Satan’s bands,
We will walk softly.
While we are passing through the sacred door,
Into the fold where Christ has gone before,
We will walk softly.
We’ll worship and bow down, we will rejoice,
And when we hear the Shepherd’s gentle voice,
We will walk softly.
– Early Shaker text

LENTEN THOUGHTS - FEBRUARY 27, 2008

LENT: A TIME FOR PARING DOWN
This year I began my Lenten preparation a few days before Ash Wednesday by loading up my car with
things to take to Goodwill and the Baptist Center. Perhaps this sounds like an unusual way to begin the forty days
and forty nights that take us to Easter, but the older I get the more I understand Lent as a time
for paring down. In a culture awash in “stuff,” what better way to begin preparing for this
season than by reducing clutter and sharing useful things with others?
Giving away my excess hardly qualifies as self-denial, a traditional component of the
Lenten observation, but I’ve been thinking this year about how to live more simply and how to
reduce what I purchase and consume. One of my resolves is to invest in “permanent” grocery
bags to use in place of the plastic ones that contribute to fouling the planet. Another resolve is
to install some of the new energy-saving light bulbs.
Not surprisingly, many Christians have begun incorporating environmental goals into
their plans for Lent. Some of you may have read about the two Anglican bishops who have
recommended a “Carbon fast” this year (instead of a chocolate fast!). Their list of useful suggestions can be found
at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/05/tearfund. An especially compelling recommendation from
the list is to observe an “embrace-the-silence” day: “No TV, no radio, no ringtones,” the bishops suggest. In the
words of Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.”
A few weeks ago I had a note from one of my college roommates, now a minister in North Carolina. “Hope
you and your family have an especially purposeful Lent this year,” she wrote. Amen!
– Ashley Williams