March 2017

First Baptist Church Bozeman

‘Always in Beta.’

This was a phrase that Dr. Charles Revis, our Executive Minister for the American Baptist Northwest Region, used in a recent newsletter – and I thought it would be helpful to explore for our church. The word ‘beta’ is usually reserved for the technology world, speaking of a time in software development where the product is ready to be selectively introduced to the public. When a software developer reaches this point, they will allow customers to start using their product, with the caveat that the customer will provide feedback about ways the developer can change and improve the product. So ‘beta’ is a period of change and growth and experimentation – a time of constant tinkering in order to perfect the product.

Always in beta.

Dr. Revis believes, and I agree, that this is a helpful metaphor for thinking about church ministry. What if churches, and their leadership, were always in ‘beta’ mode – always experimenting, always seeking feedback, always improving, and always willing to do whatever it takes to be more successful and excellent in ministry? What if we did our best to produce meaningful, beautiful worship gatherings – but were always exploring how to better connect to the heart, mind, and will of God? What if we strove for deep, intentional community – but were always searching

for new and greater ways to connect with one another? What if we continually and significantly served and ministered to the Bozeman community – but were always seeking better ways to bless our world?

Always in beta.

Things at our church have changed quite a bit over the past couple years. We’ve grown. We’ve gotten younger. We’ve added ministries, and taken some away. And we’ve had some success in both growing our church and growing our outreach and ministry to the broader community. But the ‘always in beta’ metaphor reminds me that we can never rest on our laurels. We can never succumb to the status quo. There’s always room for improvement. There’s always potential for growth. There’s always more people that need to hear and know the good news of Jesus.

Always in beta.

So, I’m trying to be committed to growth and open to change – and I invite us all into this posture. May we relish our successes and thank God for our growth, but never be placated into stagnancy. May we always be searching for new and different and better ways to minister to the needs of our church and reach out to a world that desperately needs the gospel.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Jason

Always in Beta

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ABW Ministries- Pat Newby

Welcome to all women in our church to join us Wed. March 8 at 1:00 p.m. Grace Holiday will be sharing her ADVENTURES IN INDIA with us. A special invitation to anyone wishing to travel to India and see what shaped Grace’s heart for missions

to India.We will continue to work on our mission projects of

bandages and other supplies to international missions on Wed. Mar. 22.

Women’s Retreat —was held this past weekend (Feb 24-25) in Great Falls. Mandy Bowker, Bobbie Miller, Grace Holiday and Pat Newby attended and were blessed by new and indepth relationships formed with other women from all over Montana. If you want to learn of unplanned exploits, speak to the gals!

As a way of reaching to, and connecting with, our larger Bozeman community, we are hosting 3 Family Movie Nights at The Rock on Friday nights this Spring. The first movie night was a great success and a lot of fun, and we are excited for the next event on March 24. Join us…and invite your friends!

Mission Moment- Pastor Jason

Family Promise - We had a great week of Family Promise recently where we hosted 2 amazing families. Thank you to everyone who volunteered during this intense time of service. Your service is REALLY appreciated.

Water for Lent - We are once-again challenging ourselves to only drink water for Lent and to donate our savings to Charity:Water, a non-profit digging wells around the world. Last year we raised over $1000, and our goal this year is $1500. If you don’t think you can give up your beverage of choice, we are challenging you to match everything you spend on drinks with a donation to this fantastic cause.

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The Rock Report- Gary Cook

Here’s the lede: Eat at Colombo’s, Thursday evening, March 9th, and 5% of all food sales from that night will be donated to The Rock. It’s a great way to consume great food, commune with great friends, and support The Rock (also great). Four greats; hard to beat that.

On the grant front, in response to our letter of inquiry, The Murdock Charitable Trust has invited us to submit a request for a grant to fund a full-time development director for three years. Our contract grant professional, Julie Rodda, is currently working with The Rock board to craft the proposal. In addition she is helping us produce requests to the Gilhousen Family Foundation, the Gianforte Family Foundation, and is inquiring to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation.

Spreading the word: On Monday evening, February 20th, I met with the Admin Council at Bozeman United Methodist Church at their invitation to tell The Rock’s story and to answer questions as they consider how to support The Rock. On Thursday the 23rd, Brianna Hawthorne (one of our student board members) and I had lunch with the United Methodist Women’s group at Christus Collegium. Brianna and I were invited there to be the luncheon speakers and to tell The Rock’s story again. We had warm and supportive receptions at both events. Word is spreading. By the way, the Methodist women graciously donated the lunch money they had collected to The Rock. Thanks to them for their hospitality and donation!

Other activities: We’ve begun our Baccalaureate plans. I have several seniors this year who are anxious to help. The Cross Club from the high school (an ongoing bible study group that formed about 8 years ago in my office at The Rock) continues to hold monthly worship nights at The Rock, the latest on the evening of February 21st. Wyldlife is still renting The Rock on Thursday evenings, and the Journey Church Middle School Youth Group has also continued to rent The Rock when needed. Journey Church youth leaders are also meeting high school students at The Rock during lunch one day a week now. And Kelly Ruby, youth leader for the Catholic parishes, continues to meet with her students during lunch on Thursdays.

Save the date!2017 Summer Camps

templedhillscamp.org

May 19-21 - Camp OpeningMay 26-29 - Cards and Gamers CampJune 9-10 - Women’s campJuly 11-15 - Junior CampJuly 17-22 - Junior High CampJuly 24-29 - Senior High CampAugust 3-6 - Voices in the HillsSeptember 1-4 - Family Camp

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The depths of the convictions of the Baptist calling can be found in Newgate Prison in 1612. Newgate was the Alcatraz of its day, a forbidding place of inevitable death for many unfortunate enough to be sentenced to its dark, dank confines. Here the most notorious of criminals were

housed.Into this hellhole King James I–the very king who

changed the course of Christian history in 1611 with the publication of the Authorized Bible, commonly known as the King James Bible–condemned one of the most dangerous criminals in his empire. The prisoner’s misdeed, however, was neither that of murder nor theft. Rather, for the crime of freedom the otherwise respectable Thomas Helwys had been cast into Newgate. Helwys’ crime, arising from his faith in Christ and the biblical New Testament, was his insistence that the king grant liberty of conscience not merely to him, but to everyone in the kingdom. The co-founder of the Baptist faith, in short, was imprisoned for advocating for equal freedom of conscience for all people, including persons of other faiths and no faith.

For early Baptists, an individual’s conscience was from God, and thus sacred. Writing on behalf of the first Baptist congregation, which he then led, Helwys had made the Baptist community’s convictions clear in a book he published earlier in 1612–A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity. In the book Helwys demanded freedom of conscience for all. “Our lord and king,” he wrote, “has no power” over human “consciences” and “no authority” over “religion.” People’s religion, he insisted, “is between God and themselves.” Kings could not “judge between God and man.” Whether “heretics, Turks [Muslims], Jews, or whatsoever,” he continued, no “earthly power” has the right “to punish them in the least measure. This is made evident to our lord the king by the scriptures.”

Treasonous though Helwys’ words were, he did not stop there. Boldly he sent a copy of the book to James, complete with a personally-written reprimand of the king. “The King,” Helwys said, “is a mortal man, and not God, therefore he hath no power over the mortal soul of his subjects to make laws and ordinances for them and to set spiritual Lords over them.”

For his treason, James immediately had Helwys

thrown into Newgate Prison, from which he did not emerge alive, his death occurring about the year 1616.

Helwy’s treason has been the hallmark calling of the Baptist faith ever since: Baptists have publicly been known as champions of equal freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all persons, no matter the cost. And the cost has been great: during their four centuries-plus of existence hundreds of thousands of Baptists have been persecuted by Christian, Muslim and other religious state authorities for their advocacy of equal freedom for all.

In the United States, the 1791 addition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting equal religious liberty to all and separating church from state, ended the persecution of American Baptists. Persecution elsewhere yet continues.

For Baptists faithful to their heritage, equal freedom of conscience for everyone transcends national rulers, political parties, ecclesiastical authorities and religious creeds. Theocracies remain in today’s world. Religious liberty is unknown or limited in many nations. Religious persecution is a daily reality for hundreds of millions of persons. Governments, churches and creeds disallow freedom of conscience to billions. And even in America, many evangelical Christians insist on using the power of government to force their religious beliefs upon others.

What are Baptists who are true to their faith heritage called to do in today’s world? As did Helwys, we are called to demand freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all, rather than merely for ourselves. The “other” of whom we are to be advocates includes even Muslims and atheists. While we may not face imprisonment, spending our energies standing up for the rights of the “other” may lead to public condemnation by persons from within Christendom who scorn equal freedom for all.

Yet freedom work is merely the starting point of the Baptist calling that demands action on our part. Beginning with freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all persons, the Baptist calling compels us to live in community, strive for human equality, and work for the redemption of the world.

Bruce is executive director of the Baptist History and Heritage Society (baptisthistory.org), a non-profit organization devoted to the communication of Baptist principles and identity.

The Baptist Calling: Freedom for All Persons (Part 2 of a Series)- Bruce T. Gourley

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to greet and usher, helping with audio-visual duties, or helping with the Children’s Ministry downstairs. These are just a few ways to become integrated into the FBC community as we all work together as a ministry team. Let Pastor Jason know if you would be interested in helping out in some way.

Pastor Jason and our teenagers painted the Youth Room upstairs where the group meets on Sunday mornings. Take a moment to check out their special little nook upstairs above the music room.

The first Family Movie Night on February 10 at The Rock went well with the showing of The Peanuts Movie. The next movie will be Ratatouille on March 24 at 6 pm. Mark your calendars and invite your friends.

The new summer schedules for Templed Hills Camp are available on the back table in the sanctuary. FBC will be organizing Family Camp again this year over the Labor Day weekend.

Regretfully, FBC has lost two staff members. Kayla Hunt, our Administrative Assistant, resigned as of 2/24 to pursue her music education career, and Alea Williams, our childcare worker, resigned due to illness. We hope to have replacements for these two positions very soon.

Maintenance Update - Austin Beard repaired the leaky and loose kitchen faucet and replaced the ballast in the kitchen light. Austin and the plumber are also investigating various boiler issues, dealing with water temperature and pump pressure, which may involve major work. Carl Fahlstrom fixed the handle on the men’s toilet. Many thanks to Austin and Carl for their care of the church building.

Remember to keep Pastor Jason and his family, the church, and The Rock in your prayers daily as we all work together to discern God’s will and direction for FBC and The Rock. Pray that the Lord will help to meet our needs and that we will be a faithful church in all that we do. Also pray for your Leadership Team as they seek God’s wisdom and guidance for FBC. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to speak with Pastor Jason or members of the Leadership Team. Leadership Team members are: Gary Cook, Grace Holiday, Austin Beard, Robin Moore, and Carl Fahlstrom.

The Leadership Team reviewed the First Baptist Church (FBC) January financial report at our meeting on February 15. The Non-Designated General Fund balance as of 1/31/17 was $69,563.95. This balance reflects the transfer

of $19,500 from the American Baptist Foundation Endowment Account in January to cover the Sr. Pastor expenses for the first quarter of 2017 (January-March) and also the transfer of the remaining balance of $4,725 in the Unencumbered Reserve Fund which was closed on 1/18/17.

The Pledge & Plate giving for January was $3,992 which does not include the fifth Sunday offering from 1/29. The January giving was lower than the average monthly offering from September-December of 2016 which was $5,474. January expenses (General Fund + Escrow Fund contribution) were $6,033 (No Sr. Pastor). These expenses reflect a high heating bill and the cost of snow removal during the cold, snowy weather. The January Pledge & Plate giving was short about $2,000 in covering these expenses. The January expenses including the Sr. Pastor were $13,089.

We have collected $500 for The Rock Special Offering since November 2016. Donations to The Rock may be given through FBC at any time.

We have raised $125 for the ABC Retired Ministers & Missionaries Offering (RMMO) from December through February. This offering is now finished. We will be collecting for the America for Christ offering throughout March and April.

Gary Cook reported that he is working with The Rock’s fundraiser/development person as she seeks funding sources and prepares to write grants. He had two meetings in February with the Bozeman United Methodist Church regarding possible funding for The Rock. The Rock continues to receive small donations from various churches and individuals through the mail. Several groups are using The Rock building as a regular meeting place and are paying small rental fees. These include the Wyldlife middle school group on Thursday nights and the Journey Church middle school group on Friday nights.

Pastor Jason would like to invite more people to participate in the Sunday morning worship services by leading the communal prayers or readings, helping

Leadership Team Meeting Report- Robin Moore, Secretary

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