Frank and to the Point

by Dr. Frank Lewis, Pastor

Do you ever get the feeling that there are too many traffic lights in Nashville? And have you noticed that when you are in a hurry, the lights are not? Is there a sign on your car that reads, “Feel free to pull in front of me, and then slow down to a speed that safely allows you to compose and send a text message on your cell phone, while stopping (not slowing down) to make that right turn at the corner up ahead?” I’ve checked, the sign isn’t there, but somehow my car is a magnet for drivers who obviously mistake me for a man who has no particular place to go and certainly is in no rush to get there.

And why is it that my computer is always in a deep sleep when I need something accessed quickly? Once it wakes up, why is it that it has to upgrade a security program right then? I’m in a hurry; I’ve got things to do. If I wanted to watch a tiny hour-glass on my computer screen, I would have installed a program to bring such delight on demand!

Not long ago I was visiting a school. Just as my business was over and I was patiently pretending to enjoy the obligatory small talk I was enduring, the Principal’s voice came over the intercom to announce an emergency lock-down. Three hours later, the school was open. Luckily I was able to make a legal escape, but only by the skin of my teeth. I left in a hurry, and raced to my next appointment.

If there is a pattern in my life lately, the common theme seems to be waiting. This is not the kind of waiting I preach about in Advent. This is the door-closed, forced time-out kind of waiting. I feel its un-welcomed invasion in the daily rush I’ve grown accustomed to calling “life.” I don’t like it. The words of an old friend haunt me at times like this. “What is your life trying to tell you?” he would ask in response to such self-centered whining. “Do you think God is trying to get your attention?”

I think He is. Maybe it’s coincidence—but nonetheless, I hear the repeated refrain like a song stuck in my head. Slow down. Wait. Breathe. Don’t move so fast.

I’m a firm believer that if I’m not willing to slow down, God can certainly step in and help me ease into a slower pace. I really don’t want Him to have to do that.

So, let me invite those of you who took the time from your busy life to read this far to join me. This month I am committed to pray more, and do less. I’m talking about the Psalmist’s kind of slowing down, the “be still and know that I am God” kind of pace that, with excellent intentions, is easy to ignore.

With so much to do, and so many opportunities in front of us, it would be terrible to discover that we busied ourselves into oblivion because we skipped the most important thing.

Breathe deeply!

A Holy Conversation

You Are Invited to Participate in
A Holy Conversation
Hosted by the The Minister of Music Search Committee

As we begin a series of Listening Sessions your Minister of Music Search Committee hopes that you will join us to share your hopes and dreams for our congregation.

Please join the groups that you are a part of on the dates indicated below.

Student Ministry	Wednesday, February 13	6:10 P.M.	East Building Room 300
Sanctuary Choir	Wednesday, February 13	7:00 P.M.	Choir Room
Married & Young Adults	Sunday, February 17	9:15 A.M.	Room 370
Chapel Choir	Sunday, February 17	5:45 P.M.	Choir Room
Churchwide	Wednesday, February 20	6:15 P.M.	Fellowship Hall
Churchwide	Sunday, February 24	5:00 P.M.	Sanctuary
Children's Graded Choir Workers	Wednesday, February 27	6:25 P.M.	Room 440

Your Minister of Music Search Committee wants to hear from every member of this congregation as we begin the search process. Please join us!

Click here to .

Sunday School Xtravaganza Follow-up

About 125 Sunday School leaders spent Super Bowl Sunday at the February Sunday School Xtravaganza! Terry Turner did a fabulous job in challenging us to go from good to great in Sunday School! WE CAN DO IT! Leaders received several good reminders and ideas to implement in their respective classes.

What Can You do?

1) Impact Prayer — Leaders will distribute Impact prayer cards to Sunday School members. These help classes identify, pray for and invite friends to church. Especially consider inviting those who are searching for Christ and need to hear a clear Gospel presentation Easter Sunday, March 23.
2) Pray for Revival!
3) Ladies — Identify and invite female friends on Mother’s Day May 11, when the church gives all women in attendance a gift book.
4) Men — Identify and invite male friends for Father’s Day June 15, when the church gives all men in attendance a gift book.
5) Spiritual Growth — Participate and encourage friends to participate in Life Change University discipleship classes.

Six-Lane Strategy Toward an Inviting Sunday School

• Invigorate — develop a healthy congregational self esteem
• Incorporate — use good visibility, signage, name badges, etc.
• Intercede — pray, pray, pray
• Invest — develop a culture of invitation
• Invite — learn the ways to invite and do it
• Involve — involve more people in outreach in inviting

NEXT Training

All Sunday School leaders should mark their calendars for Sunday, August 24, noontime, for the next general Sunday School Xtravaganza featuring David Francis of LifeWay’s Sunday School Division. He will share the next of our I-6 strategies, DISCOVER. Also plan to attend the Sunday School Leadership training event at Ridgecrest, N.C. on July 11-15 details will follow soon.

Your Island Awaits...

Get ready to wax your surf boards and ride the waves. First Baptist is gearing up for Vacation Bible School (“Outrigger Island”) and we need your help. We are enlisting “island guides” (teachers) now!Adventure awaits us as we prepare to help our “wave riders” (kids) become unshakeable in the knowledge of God’s truth. Make VBS a part of your plans this summer, June 23 – 27, as we hit the waves and get ready for Outrigger Island. Can we count on you? Please call Sarah Galloway (750-3986) or email (gallowaysx4@comcast.net) to volunteer and join our island adventure!

Singles Ministry Conference

In today’s society, it is difficult to remain steadfast to Biblical principles and be found obedient and faithful to God’s Word. If you are a single adult who finds yourself desiring to be more obedient and faithful to the Word of God, we invite you to join us Sunday, March 9, at noon as we welcome Dr. Moses Caesar to First Baptist Nashville for an afternoon that is sure to both challenge and uplift. Conference includes lunch, and tickets are free. Contact Bonnie Holmes or Tim Morrison to make your reservation – 664-6008 or bonnie.holmes@firstbaptistnashville.org.

Away College Student?

Do you have a college student who is away? Share his or her updated mailing address and contact information with the Student Ministry Office – 664-6008 or bonnie.holmes@firstbaptistnashville.org.

Crow's Corner

by Tom Crow, executive pastor

Praying for Revival

What does Revival mean? How should we then pray? We pray with confession. We confess our wandering hearts and selfishness and ask to be revived. Our need is desperate! We pray for purity in thought and deed. We pray for the Lord to melt us, break, mold and remake us.

We pray for the Lord to do what only He can do, which is turn our hearts to Him and revive us again.

Pray daily for revival.

Sam Sanders’ 20th Anniversary

Remember when you could get a gallon of gas for $1.12? A loaf of bread for $0.59? and the top three songs in the nation were “Faith,” “Got My Mind Set On You,” and “Need You Tonight?” If you remember any of these items you may also remember that was the year that Sam Sanders joined the staff of First Baptist Nashville. Sam has provided excellent leadership in our Recreation Ministry and in our Senior Adult Ministry for the past 20 years.

The week of February 24 to February 29 will be officially declared “Sam Sanders’ Week” in recognition of Sam’s 20 years of devoted service. You are invited, and encouraged to express your appreciation to Sam with cards and letters during this special week of recognition. Plan to join us Wednesday night February 24 when our midweek meal will “roast” more than just the meal. On Thursday evening the JuniorSenior group will gather at the Piccadilly cafeteria in celebration of Sam’s ministry.

Calling All Racers ... Father/Son RA Lockin

The Lock-In begins Friday, Feb. 22, at 6:00 p.m. and ends after the 9:00 a.m. RA Racer Competition on Saturday. (Moms and siblings are invited to come to the race Saturday morning.)
Dinner and Breakfast will be served. Bring your sleeping bag, pillows, etc. For more information contact Bill or Sherri Greer at 292-4212 or sherrigreer@comcast.net.

First 2008 Mission Trip to Canada

A team made up of Mike and Brenda Harris, Bill and Annette Howse, Bob and Beth Taylor, and Roger and Kay Thiele will travel to Oromocto, New Brunswick, on February 21 where they will lead an interactive marriage enrichment retreat, sponsored by Hope Community Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The retreat is expected to reach 40 couples from across the Atlantic Coastal provinces of Canada.

The marriage enrichment retreat is the first of about a dozen mission projects First Baptist has planned in its working relationship with the New Brunswick Province and the other Atlantic Coastal provinces. The scope of these projects is broad, including not only marriage enrichment, but also VBS, a sports camp, a Bible conference, leader training, ministries with university students, construction, evangelism, senior adults, parenting, and children’s features. Also, the projects are age-inclusive, using the full age span of First Baptist members from high school students to senior adults.

Please pray for the marriage enrichment team as they lead the event that inaugurates First Baptist’s mission work in Canada for 2008. Trust God to bring them together with couples whose marriages have become distant or are in danger of collapse. Please pray also for FBC’s expanding ministry with and among the churches and people of New Brunswick and the other Atlantic Coastal provinces of Canada.

Singles Love Nashville Predators Hockey!

The Singles Ministry invites you to join us in cheering on the Preds in their battle against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, February 23rd! Meet in the Fellowship Hall at 6:30 p.m., and walk over to the Sommet Center for the 7:00 p.m. game. Cost is $31, which covers the cost of your ticket. Contact Bonnie Holmes or Tim Morrison to reserve your ticket by Sunday, February 17. 664-6008 bonnie.holmes@firstbaptistnashville.org

Seminary Student Says Thanks

by Bob Bunn, FBC member

I spent a long time in seminary. My wife, Mary, would call that an understatement.
For a little perspective, until recently my eight-year-old daughter had never seen a day that I wasn't in seminary. In fact, I was already a student when my family joined First Baptist in April 1999.

So, it took me a while to travel that road--first working on my Master of Divinity, which I earned in 2004, and then my Doctor of Education, which I received in December. And while certain things had a roller coaster quality during that time, other things remained stable.
The biggest of those things was the support of my wife and kids. At the same time, the support of my First Baptist family also stood near the top of the list.

Unlike many students, I actually got to worship in my home church every week. I got to teach on Sunday mornings. I got to hang out with teenagers on Wednesday nights. And I regularly got to experience the blessing of friends asking, "How is seminary going these days?"

I was blessed with scholarships and other financial aid--often at very critical junctures. I received cards and books. I probably set some kind of record for being seminary student of the week more than anyone else. I was able to pick the mind of Pastor Frank and others for papers and projects. All those things were wonderful, but it was hard to beat the feeling I got when someone took the time to ask about my schoolwork and to let me know that they were praying for me. (By the way, I'll still take all the prayers I can get!)

Thank you for walking with me all these years and for picking me up when I stumbled. Your support has meant (and continues to mean) the world to me.

Building Bridges Update

In Business Meeting recently, the church affirmed a number of 2008 Building Bridges initiatives and funds with which to support. These are noted below. If you find any projects in which you would like to volunteer and serve, then please get in touch with the “contact person” listed. Because of your faithful gifts to the Church and Building Bridges, these initiatives are launching and helping to impact lives for Christ. Thank you for your generous and faithful gifts of service to the Lord!

Task Force	Project/Event	2008 Budget	FBC Primary Contact
1	Sunday School Training/Events	$5,000	Brad Dunn
2	Servant Ministry School Partnership	$1,500	John & Linda Osborne
2	Evangelism Training	$3,000	Jim Shull
3	FBC Banner for Use at Multiple Events	$300	Jim Bryson
3	Arts Festival	$20,000	Paula Barnes
3	CEO Roundtable Outreach Bible Study	$3,000	Jim Bryson
3	Country Music Marathon	$3,000	Jason Rogers
3	Sommet Center Sports Events Outreach	$1,000	Rick Baumgartner
3	State Employees Bible Study	$2,000	Jim Bryson
3	Nashville Christmas Parade	$3,000	Kim Williams
4	Global Missions Conference	$10,000	Rus Roach
4	Missions Challenge Celebration/ Banquet	$2,500	Rus Roach
4	Arab Seminary Partnership	$17,000	Jerry Burden
4	Murmansk, Russia Partnership	$15,000	Tom Crow
4	United States Partnership TBD	$7,000	Rus Roach
	Steering Team Minister of Outreach (Reserved from 2007 budget)	$42,000	Frank Lewis
	TOTAL	$135,300

Tornado Disaster Relief ... How You Can Help

1. Pray for families that are grieving the loss of loved ones who were killed. Praise God for sparing the lives of so many who might have been killed and were not. Pray for the people who are ministering to the survivors.

2. Give to assist missionary kids who are students at Union University who lost everything in their dorms and whose cars were damaged in the parking lots. Checks should be made out to Tennessee Baptist Convention designated for “MKs at Union” or you can donate online with a credit or debit card at www.tnbaptist.org.

3. Volunteer by calling the disaster relief ministry assistant, Elizabeth Holmes (1-800-558-2090 ext. 7926). Clean up crews have been deployed to Gallatin; watch the website for other opportunities to assist with disaster relief.