Dearest Friends,
In some ways it feels like I have been pastor at Whiting Community Baptist Church for a very long time. Actually I have – 19 ½ years! I measure the length of my time by Leah Bowers. Leah was born the month after I came to WCBC. This coming fall Leah will be a sophomore in college! 19 ½ years is young for a person, but a long time in many other respects. Did you know that the average length of a pastor serving a church is around four years?
At the same time it seems like only yesterday that I began my ministry at WCBC. However, all I have to do is look at pictures of myself back then and compare them to the present time to know that it has indeed been almost 20 years. Where has the time gone? And what happened to that mustache? . . .and the brown hair?
I remember preaching at WCBC long before I was called here to be your pastor. It was in 1983, and I was a potential candidate for another church. I never dreamed that nine years later I would be called to pastor the Whiting Community Baptist Church. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways.
I consider myself extremely blessed to have been called to be your pastor. I have been in ministry since 1980 – 31 years. Well over half of those years have been at WCBC. I am amazed. And I am grateful. Thank you for granting me the privilege of being your pastor!
A pastor’s role is very unique. Preaching and teaching are a big part of it, and I have certainly enjoyed that aspect of my ministry. Thanks for listening all these years! But more important than the preaching and the teaching are the relationships that develop over the years. I think of the many ways that I have been invited into your lives. I have had the great privilege of dedicating your children, baptizing your youth, officiating at your weddings. I have had the holy privilege of sitting with you during hospital stays for yourself or for a loved one, being with you in times of crisis, and walking with you through the death of one you held dear. You have let me into the most intimate circumstances of your lives – in times of joy and sadness, in times of grief and pain, in times of celebration and thanksgiving. I do not take these privileges for granted. I hold them in awe and thank you for trusting me with such experiences. They were a blessing to me.
You are a very special congregation. I will forever hold you in my heart with joy and thanksgiving. We have shared many special times together. I have been truly blessed and honored to have served God with you through the Whiting Community Baptist Church. Thank you for that honor.
I now pray that God will bless and encourage you as a congregation; that you may always know how special you are in his eyes. Continue to trust in God and follow God’s leading. May God’s peace and hope fill your hearts in this present time and in the days ahead.
The words of the Apostle Paul at the end of his first letter to the Corinthians are also my words to you as I conclude my ministry with you: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.”
Love,
Pastor Jim
In some ways it feels like I have been pastor at Whiting Community Baptist Church for a very long time. Actually I have – 19 ½ years! I measure the length of my time by Leah Bowers. Leah was born the month after I came to WCBC. This coming fall Leah will be a sophomore in college! 19 ½ years is young for a person, but a long time in many other respects. Did you know that the average length of a pastor serving a church is around four years?
At the same time it seems like only yesterday that I began my ministry at WCBC. However, all I have to do is look at pictures of myself back then and compare them to the present time to know that it has indeed been almost 20 years. Where has the time gone? And what happened to that mustache? . . .and the brown hair?
I remember preaching at WCBC long before I was called here to be your pastor. It was in 1983, and I was a potential candidate for another church. I never dreamed that nine years later I would be called to pastor the Whiting Community Baptist Church. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways.
I consider myself extremely blessed to have been called to be your pastor. I have been in ministry since 1980 – 31 years. Well over half of those years have been at WCBC. I am amazed. And I am grateful. Thank you for granting me the privilege of being your pastor!
A pastor’s role is very unique. Preaching and teaching are a big part of it, and I have certainly enjoyed that aspect of my ministry. Thanks for listening all these years! But more important than the preaching and the teaching are the relationships that develop over the years. I think of the many ways that I have been invited into your lives. I have had the great privilege of dedicating your children, baptizing your youth, officiating at your weddings. I have had the holy privilege of sitting with you during hospital stays for yourself or for a loved one, being with you in times of crisis, and walking with you through the death of one you held dear. You have let me into the most intimate circumstances of your lives – in times of joy and sadness, in times of grief and pain, in times of celebration and thanksgiving. I do not take these privileges for granted. I hold them in awe and thank you for trusting me with such experiences. They were a blessing to me.
You are a very special congregation. I will forever hold you in my heart with joy and thanksgiving. We have shared many special times together. I have been truly blessed and honored to have served God with you through the Whiting Community Baptist Church. Thank you for that honor.
I now pray that God will bless and encourage you as a congregation; that you may always know how special you are in his eyes. Continue to trust in God and follow God’s leading. May God’s peace and hope fill your hearts in this present time and in the days ahead.
The words of the Apostle Paul at the end of his first letter to the Corinthians are also my words to you as I conclude my ministry with you: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.”
Love,
Pastor Jim
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