FBC FAQs
The answers to the FAQs on this page are provided by our pastor. The questions/answers are offered in no particular order. They represent questions typically asked by guests who have visited our worship services.
When someone visits First Baptist Church of Glen Rose, what kind of church are they going to find? Are the services contemporary, traditional or blended? What are the priorities at First Baptist Church?
Given that the church is not a building but the people of God, a guest would find a congregation of believers who understand the church fully belongs to God - having purchased it by the blood of His only Son Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). Consequently, we see ourselves as a congregation sovereignly placed in Glen Rose, Texas, to carry out the very clear commands of Jesus. Going and making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Being witnesses in Glen Rose and Texas and the United States and to the other side of the world (Acts 1:8). Having as our unchanging and reliable guide the inerrant word of God which is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16) and the means by which our faith grows (Romans 10:17). Seeking to glorify our Father in all that we do (1 Corinthians 10:31). Worshiping, evangelizing, fellowshipping, discipling, ministering (Acts 2:41-47). The parade of verbs could go on and on. First and foremost, First Baptist Church is a church which belongs uniquely to Jesus Christ.
First Baptist Church is a place where Christians grow spiritually through Christ-centered worship and theologically sound Bible study. We are all at a different stage in our Spirit-led pilgrimage to Christlikeness. Some are new in their faith and others have walked with the Lord for many years. But none of us have reached that final destination of being like Him. We are a work in progress. We all have our faults, frailties and failures. By the grace of God and the power of His indwelling Spirit we are a family of faith being moved in the same direction. That is not to imply that we always agree with one another about every detail of life. However, we do cling to the exclusivity of Christ for our salvation, the inerrancy of His word as our final authority for faith and practice, the indwelling of His Spirit to direct our understanding of His word and to lead us in the discovery and pursuit of ministry opportunities both inside and outside the church building. As uncomplicated as it may sound, all other areas of church life just seem to take their proper place when the things which were important to the Lord are important to His church.
Denominationally we are a Southern Baptist church. We are grateful for the denominational heritage we have. It is a privilege to work in association with other Southern Baptist churches around the world for the sake of missions and evangelism. We affirm the place and priorities of the Cooperative Program, of our seasonal mission offerings - the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering - and of the Texas Mary Hill Davis Offering. We support the purposes and leadership of our Southern Baptist seminaries. In 2001, when our state convention voted to de-fund our Southern Baptist seminaries, our church family voted to bypass our state convention with the funds which would have gone to support our seminaries. While it is not a large sum of money, it does speak to our support of the work of our SBC seminaries. We are a part of the Paluxy Baptist Association, comprised of Baptist churches in Hood and Somervell counties. As a church family we enjoy the opportunities presented through this associational relationship to work with other Baptist churches nearby to support mission efforts and the starting of new churches. In a day when many are insisting the sky is falling on denominational life, we at First Baptist Church affirm our Southern Baptist Convention and its myriad of cooperative ministries.
As to the issue of whether our worship services are contemporary, or traditional or blended - our pastoral staff does not seek to pursue any particular "style" in corporate worship. It's just not a part of what we work toward in preparing to lead our church family in worship. I provide Kent (our minister of music and senior adults) with a preaching schedule which includes the primary text to be used in each message. He studies the text himself and selects music which thematically matches with the text on which I will preach. Kent has an amazing music library bouncing around inside his memory. If there are more traditional hymns that thematically align with the text, then on that morning we will sing more traditional hymns. If on the other hand there are more contemporary choruses which match up, we end up singing choruses that morning. I occasionally laugh to myself because it is not uncommon for Kent to select a song or songs which have words/verses which almost match verbatim with a point from my sermon. In reality there are two sermons preached on Sunday morning at First Baptist Church. The first is preached by the minister of music as he leads us to sing biblical truth from the songs and choruses he selects, and the other is preached by me through a particular biblical text. Contemporary or traditional or blended or all of the above or none of the above is not a point of concern. Communicating the truth of God's word by singing and speaking is our goal and desire.
When I visited at First Baptist Church I noticed there are flags hanging around the sanctuary. Why are they there?
The flags around the back wall of our sanctuary represent the countries and states members of our church family have been to on short term mission trips over the last few years. In 2007 we sent mission teams out to 8 different countries worldwide. In 2006 we were blessed to see almost 30% of our active membership go out on short term mission trips. Missions and evangelism are a growing priority at First Baptist Church. As the pastor of this church family, I cannot begin to explain why the Lord has so graciously blessed us with so many opportunities to go to so many places and share the gospel. Each year thousands of dollars are given beyond budget requirements as church members support one another financially in going on mission trips. To be quite honest, I just stand back out of the way and celebrate every time I get to chauffeur a group to D/FW airport as they go out or to pick them up as they return. In January 2009 we will begin our twentieth semester of FAITH Sunday School Evangelism Strategy. Over the years we have seen a majority of our active church family join us in FAITH to learn how to share the gospel. It is not unusual for someone who learns how to share the gospel in Glen Rose one year through FAITH to go the following year to Africa or South America as part of an evangelistic project.
This church also graciously supports our pastoral staff as we also go on mission trips. In February 2007 I received a call from a friend who directs a mission sending organization in the Dallas area. He asked if I would pray about going to the Kono Province of Sierra Leone. The project was scheduled to leave in about six weeks from the time of his telephone call. I prayed over this unexpected opportunity and believed the Lord wanted me to go. Obviously as a pastor you cannot just walk away for over two weeks without some adjustments being made in the church. Our church family voiced their support, showed their support in many monetary gifts and celebrated with me the opportunity to go. In the end, three of us from our church went on the project. During the time we were in Sierra Leone with 18 other Christians from around the United States, over 8,000 people prayed to receive Christ during worship services and visitation into their homes and compounds. For 2009, we have church family members who have committed to short term mission projects in Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico and a country in Europe.
The flags around the back of the church remind us we are connected to brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world. Some of those flags represent countries where Christians are persecuted for the sake of Christ and the flags remind us to pray for them. Whatever the current number of flags there are in our sanctuary, they also remind us that a great deal of Kingdom work remains yet undone. Those flags remind us that we cannot rest on the victories of the past - we must pursue with every resource granted to our care the salvation of lost men, women, boys and girls from Glen Rose to the uttermost parts of the world.
We are also praying the Lord will call out 10% of our church family to vocational mission service in the coming years.
Has the supporting of short term mission trips lessened the support First Baptist Church gives to the Cooperative Program and Southern Baptist mission causes?
No. If anything it has heightened it. Our WMU increases our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal by 10% over preceding years. This is in keeping with the goal set by the International Mission Board. It doesn't seem to matter whether it is a mission offering for Texas (Mary Hill Davis), North America (Annie Armstrong) or international missions (Lottie Moon), this church family gives and goes.
What is the relationship between First Baptist Church and Nueva Creacion Primera Iglesia Bautista?
Nueva Creacion is a mission started by this church in 2006. Years ago First Baptist Church assisted in the start-up of an Hispanic mission at that location. Other churches helped the mission over the years and in 2005, after becoming an autonomous congregation, it closed. We had been praying about the need to reach beyond the walls of this church and into the growing Hispanic population in Glen Rose. During a deed search on the property following the closure of the previous church, it was discovered the property had never been deeded to the congregation which had met there over the years - it remained deeded to First Baptist Church. After praying for the Lord's leadership in developing a strategy to reach further into the community, we were suddenly presented with the land and the building. Many of our men joined together to repair the building, as it had been empty and unused for a long time. With funding made available through the BGCT Mary Hill Davis missions offering, we began the search for a pastor. God led us to call Eric Anaya, a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Eric and his family - Alma, Jonathan and David - are from Mexico City. The Lord provided additional funding to purchase housing for the Anayas and they moved into the community. Eric Anaya is one of the most amazing Christian men I have ever met. His personal commitment to the Lord and his leadership of his own family is beyond anything I have ever seen in ministry. In spite of considerable health issues, Eric has at times preached to the growing Nueva Creacion family from his bed. Eric's dedication to reaching the lost has yielded many new believers. It is both a joy and privilege for this church to be associated in any small way with Nueva Creacion. We look forward to the day when Nueva Creacion is an autonomous congregation and capable of starting other new churches.
Does First Baptist Church have deacons or elders? Does the congregation participate in the decision making process?
In keeping with the pattern of Acts 6, First Baptist Church has deacons and engages a congregational polity. As indicated in Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 3, the deacon ministry is a servant ministry. In the New Testament we do not find any concept equivalent to the deacon ministry functioning as a board or a body. Deacons, as well as all pastoral staff, are servants to the Lord and to His church. The qualifications for both offices involve more emphasis on character than on job descriptions. I cannot imagine pastoring a church with a better group of deacon-servants than we have here at First Baptist Church. When we meet together we meet as fellow servants and not as competing components within the church. We serve together for the glory of Christ and for the benefit of His church.
While many of the lesser decisions are made within the committees who serve at First Baptist Church, all major decisions are brought before the church in a business meeting setting to be discussed and voted upon. We believe this is the New Testament pattern for church life. That process is based on the conviction that each member will act under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the purposes of our Lord for His church. We are a family and sometimes it takes a while for us to talk through the various issues which church families must consider. However, in the eight years I have served as pastor here, I can count on one hand the number of times we have had anything other than a unanimous vote during a business meeting.
Is it true that time is spent in every Wednesday night prayer meeting at First Baptist Church for all of the churches in the community?
Yes, it is. A couple of years ago the Lord laid on my heart the need for us to pray for all of the churches in Glen Rose and Somervell County. I set up a schedule in which we pray for one-fourth of the churches each Wednesday night. We pray for the church, the pastor, the church family and the ministries of that congregation. We pray for kingdom success and growth. We pray for each pastor to rightly divide the word of truth. We echo our Lord's prayer in John 17 and ask the Father to protect our other kingdom brothers and sisters from the evil one. We pray that we at First Baptist Church would be as blessed and pleased to see God moving powerfully in another church family as we are when we see Him move in this church family. When a local church does not have a pastor, we pray for God's leadership as they seek the one God has chosen to lead that church. Our young people also participate in praying for Glen Rose churches at the beginning of their Wednesday night Bible study.
Far too often in the kingdom family, churches present themselves to their communities as competing entities. Pastors have been known to get together and "compare numbers" with each other, as if we're keeping score in some kind of game - and all the while people are dying around us and going to a Christless eternity. That which we struggle against is not flesh and blood; it is the spiritual powers of darkness...the power which blinds the minds of the lost to the glory of Christ, which holds them captive to do the will of Satan, which promotes in them an eternal hopelessness and which leaves them judged and condemned in their sin. That's what we need to struggle against. Quite frankly, if Satan can keep the children of God feeling like they're competing with one another, his work in the hearts of people goes unchallenged and unnoticed. Jesus made it clear - the fields are white unto harvest. In other words, there are more than enough lost souls to seek in this or any other community. As we pray for ourselves, we pray also for every other church in the community to be true to God's word and to His calling on our lives. We do not pray for other churches to be like us; we pray that we all seek to be like Christ.
What is the new construction to the north of the church?
In 2008, after spending several weeks in prayer and fasting, and after studying our current and projected future space needs, our church family began the process of building a new family life center. It will house additional education space, a new youth area, a gymnasium and expanded kitchen facilities. The ground breaking is on Sunday, March 15, immediately following the morning worship services. Since we are doing this together as a church family we have invited everybody to bring a shovel and participate. Our only motive in moving ahead with this project is that we might be able to reach a greater number of people with the gospel and then to have sufficient space to disciple them. Having recently called a new minister to children and youth, we believe the new family life center will help to expand both the reach and scope of those two critical ministry areas. This church has been blessed with many capable leaders; they are doing a marvelous job of organizing, fund-raising, color-choosing and communicating the progress being made on this new building project.
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