Contact Us

fbccasper@gmail.com 307-234-6946

514 S Beech St Casper WY 82601

Pastor: John Marshall

ELDERS Doug Neubert Michael Miller Shane Harkins Scott Gamble Kent Neubert John Marshall Jim Fuhrer John Spear

Ministry Coordinator: Charity Harkins Operations: Ron Sucher

Youth Ministry: Beau Gamble

Children’s Ministry: Diane Shaffer

Our Facebook page:

First Baptist Church of Casper Website: fbccasper.com

Church App: FBC Casper

Church Blog "Enter In" Go deeper with our interactive

conversation relating to Sunday's sermon. enterin.blog

Note: If you would prefer to receive the

First Focus by email, please send an

e-mail to fbccasper@gmail.com.

It is also available to view on our

website fbccasper.com

First Baptist Church 514 South Beech Casper Wyoming 82601

This past semester, many of you have spent hours studying scriptures and apply-

ing them to your life. No doubt there has been at least one time when the Word of

God said something different than what you had previously believed. This chal-

lenged you to let go of old thinking patterns and embrace a new truth. Spiritual

growth may not always be easy, but the results of this growth are always good!

The Freedom Conference on June 2nd/3rd is a culmination of all that you have

studied and you do not want to miss it. The weekly teachings have been strategic

to prepare you to have a powerful encounter with God. Here are three ways to

prepare your heart to receive everything that the Holy Spirit has for you:

Be expectant. In your prayer time, confess to the Lord that you believe He can do

anything. Allow the Lord to fill you with hope that this is the season for miracles in

your life. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace

because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of

the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Maintain an attitude of worship and praise. Set aside time each day leading up

to the retreat to worship the Lord. Whatever your comfort level may be, allow

yourself to go one step deeper in the waters of worship. Come, let us worship and

bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Psalm 95:6

Shut out the world. In the days leading up to the retreat, limit your exposure to

secular activities such as television, newspapers, social media, etc. Use the time

to spend in prayer and reading the Bible. This media/social fast will allow

your spirit to become sensitive to the voice of God. Come close to God and

God will come close to you. James 4:8

Recently I asked the question: "What is God doing in our world today"? I was trying to make sense of the events that are happening politically and spiritually in our nation and throughout the world. The media we see and the news we hear can be extremely confusing and discouraging. I don't know if you feel the same, but if you, do I want to offer a word of encouragement and also a challenge to you.

You've probably heard the phrase, “I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future.” If we can rest in the truth of that phrase, it can help us as we look toward the future. We live in the tension between knowing that God is in control of the future, and the world appears chaotic to us. My typical response to that tension is I want to know what tomorrow holds. I want to know because I assume I would find comfort in the knowing, but that really isn’t true. If I knew what God knows about tomorrow, would I really find a sense of peace, a sense of comfort? I suspect not.

Think about this for just a moment with me: I am already anxious about what could happen, but what kind of anxiety would grow in me if I really knew. If I knew I was going to go blind, or if I knew I would be battling a disease, or if I knew what was going to happen economically in our world, would I actually have a sense of peace? I suspect that our response to knowing would be to experience even more anxiety as we struggle to prepare for what we know is coming.

The scripture teaches us not to worry about tomorrow. In the New Living Translation it says this in Matthew 6:34 - So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. Not worrying about tomorrow means trusting God today.

I can’t begin to fully understand why God simply doesn’t tell us the details so we can be prepared for what we know is coming. That seems to me to be the best way to make sure we are fully prepared. Oh, but wait. If God

told us everything that was going to happen, what would that do to our relationship with God? I suspect we wouldn’t be as dependent on God and we would focus on our preparation and what we can do in our own strength. We would live in the knowledge of what the future holds instead of the One who holds the future. We would be less concerned about staying in close relationship with the One who holds the future and more concerned about securing our own future. Maybe that’s why we are simply encouraged to live in the present today with the One who will be present tomorrow.

So no matter what tomorrow holds, God invites us to spend time with him today, and He promises to be with us always, so that no matter what comes our way, we are grounded and secure in Him.

June 2017

Volume 13 Number 6

Bible 101:

How to Get More Out of the Bible

a four-week study beginning

June 7th at 6:30PM

I would like to personally invite you to join us

for this class on how to get more out of the

Bible. I have found that many of us simply

need some tools to know who to study God’s

word. The Bible is incredibly amazing and has

the ability to offer our lives insight, wisdom,

guidance and correction and I also know it can

be a little intimidating. I want to give you some

tools and tips and we will also put these tools

into practice. Please join me for an hour on

Wednesday’s. It will be very practical and

encouraging!

Please call the church office at 234-6946 to

sign up for this special study led by

Pastor John Marshall.

3-5PM Games Food

FUN!!

Dunk a Youth fundraiser! Donations for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes are

being collected.

Women’s Ice Cream and

Game Night

June 23rd

6:30-10PM in the Fellowship Hall

RSVP if you need childcare

Please sign up to bring an

ice cream topping!

RSVP to the church office or

text Angela at 259-1896

Summer seems to have come so fast this year. I clearly remember the fall and thinking that I couldn't believe that the school year had

already begun. Here we are....facing another summer

ahead and behind us, another year gone.

We will be meeting throughout the summer on a semi-regular basis. Our schedule will look different however. We will all be meeting on Wednesday nights. We will resume separate nights for Middle school and High school in the fall, but for the summer, we will all be

together. We will have some breaks as well. We will not be meeting again until the 14

th of June. We will also be

doing some fun activities! Youth Camp this year is July 16th-21st. It is for youth entering 6th grade this fall

through the recent graduates. We will also have a Lake Day but that date is to be determined.

Keep your eyes open for those coming dates.

Thank you for letting us minister to and love on your kids. They are a BLESSING!

Beau Gamble Youth Pastor

Table in the Wilderness

Youth Camp

July 16th - 21st

for youth going into 6th grade thru high school The Justice Group Project We are collecting

PEANUT BUTTER during the month of June for our

Food for Thought project. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Guys, sign up for our

FISHING AND RIDING

RETREAT June 22-24th

This year we are combining fishing and cycling. Desmond

Tutu once said, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach

a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle

and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring." JUST

KIDDING! We are really wanting all the men to join us for

camping, fishing or cycling! (if you are cycling, please drop

off your bike on Wednesday, June 21 and we will transport

it for you on Thursday morning.) We will be camping at

Guernsey Reservoir. Bring all your own gear for whatever

activity you would like to participate in.

The cost is $25 per person for food and we ask that you call

the church office to reserve your spot before June 21st.

Men’s Retreat Schedule

Thursday, June 22

Gather at the church around 5:30PM to caravan to our Campsite

Evening Devotions 8:30PM

Friday, June 23

Breakfast

Recreation time (Cycling, fishing, hiking or just relaxing at camp)

Lunch

Rest and Recreation.

Dinner

Evening Devotions 7:00PM

Saturday, June 24

Breakfast

Morning Devotions

Preparation to return to Casper

(Lunch on the road)

FBC Financial Report

April 30 $5,993.23

May 7 $9,520.95

May 14 $4,792.00

May 21 $6,443.36

May 28 $4,037.00

Sunday Worship 8:30 and 10:30AM

Youth & Children Classes and

Nursery at 10:30AM

The Bridge between services -

brunch, coffee and fellowship

Online Giving: To give online

using your smart phone, send

'fbccasper' to 77977

and you will receive a one-time reply

containing a link to give to FBC-

Casper. There is also a link on our

website to give using our new giving

site: Pushpay.

Please be aware that msg & data rates may

apply to texts. For full terms & conditions please

visit https://pushpay.com/terms. For the privacy

policy please visit https://pushpay.com/privacy.

For help reply HELP or STOP to cancel.

It’s almost carnival time - Sunday, June 11

th from

3:00-5:00PM! Don’t forget to bring your dollar bills to dunk a youth – let’s help send them to camp! We will also be collecting items for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. The items needed are on the posters in the foyer. We will have several games to test your skills along with prizes, cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn.

Our Wednesday night programming came to an end for the summer. All of us enjoyed each episode. The teachers and I were amazed at how much we learned. If your child wants to watch any of the episodes again, just go to our church Face-book page and search for the links I posted throughout the year. I am looking forward to staying connected with all of you through our summer events.

Sunday, June 11th all the kids will be

moving up to the grade they will be attending this fall. As this can be a big change for some kids, please talk with them ahead of time so it does not catch them off guard. You might ask them what they are excited for or if they know who their teacher will be. If your child is three and potty trained, they are now able to join us in our preschool.

Enjoy this fun idea for your family to use for a prayer time:

Skittles Prayers: Choose a skittle at random, say an appropriate prayer and then eat it!

Red: family Purple: friends Green: leaders Yellow: the world Orange: school/work

I think I would use M&Ms - they happen to be my favorite.

Blessings, Diane Shaffer Children’s Minister

June 11th:

All children will move

up to the grade they

will be attending

in the fall.

MOPS Mother’s of Preschoolers

We will meet here beginning again

on Sept. 7th (1st and 3rd Thursdays)

Sign up now (by May 31st) and get a

discounted registration. Contact Janae

at 258-8926 for more information.

SERVE DAY On July 15th we

are having our first official SERVE DAY

at First Baptist Church. What’s a Serve

Day? It’s a day where we form different

teams to go into our community to serve

others. We are seeking to focus on

ministries in our community that we could

simply serve on that Saturday morning.

So mark your calendars for this event

and join us!

It’s a great way to make a difference in

our community and in your life!