“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
- Philippians 1:6
It’s hard to fathom that a new year is upon us. It seems like I just wrote my annual retrospect for the previous year and now it’s time for this year’s! In all honesty, the retrospects are more for me than anyone else. They help me reflect on the blessings of the Lord and what He has done in my life. Many times reflecting on these memories make me smile or remember special moments from what I share. It is always a good reminder to me of Philippians 1:6 that “…He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it...” There’s definitely some more completing going on, but day by day His blessings are evident. So…you ready for a look back at 2017? I know I am!
Work
Per the SBC Chief Parliamentarian’s nomination, I was awarded the (unofficial, but official-to-me-and-that’s-all-that-matters) SBC Nerd of the Year! That shoe sure fits me! In all seriousness, though (and forgive me for saying the same thing every year), I love my job and where I work. I love the Southern Baptist Convention. I love working with our SBC entities. I love meeting new people who are a part of our denomination. I love helping to preserve history (which is the main part of my job). And I love seeing, hearing, and experiencing all that we are doing to advance the Kingdom. If that makes me a nerd, then so-be-it. I gladly accept it and you can make me a t-shirt and give me some nerdy glasses!
As with every year, the major event for work was the SBC Annual Meeting. This year we held our meeting in Phoenix, Arizona! Yes, it was hot…but not as hot as the week after we left when it got into the hundred-degree weather. The annual meeting was pretty eventful news-wise. If you’re interested, you can check out more information about that on our Baptist Press website. The reasoning behind our making news, however, caused some strong emotion within the arena. One of my jobs at our annual meeting is to coordinate the microphone monitors and pages. If they have any issues with people who come to the microphone to speak, they come consult with me. Due to the emotion in the room, let’s just say I was consulted quite a number of times this year. It’s not my first rodeo dealing with passionate people, but it is always a little out of my comfort zone. Everything worked out, though, and I think next time I will bring the essential oil “Stress Away” with me and have it on an ongoing spray cycle so that it can calm people down…ha ha!
The annual meeting also brought me my first midnight print-run. I’d hear stories from back in the day about our daily publication being sent off at midnight, but I’ve been blessed over the past two years to not have to experience that tiredness. Not this year! While waiting for some content that was being discussed in a late meeting, I had to hold the printing until midnight. It worked out, but let’s just say the next morning I was Tired (with emphasis on that capital “T”). It’s part of the experience, though, and my philosophy is “take-it-as-it-comes and enjoy every minute” and of course I did!
Throughout this year there were also some other projects and special events that I got to be a part of at work. We celebrated our 100th Anniversary as an Executive Committee and somehow, my photo made the Baptist Press news release about our anniversary party…but I didn’t know until I read the article. It’s just all around a wonderful place and family to work in and with and I cherish every moment!
Our Executive Committee, and my job, wouldn’t exist without your giving to the Cooperative Program! Thank you to all those who support SBC causes, including ours! We strive to do our best for you as we all cooperate together to spread the good news of Christ through all we do.
Church
Brentwood Baptist may be a big church, but when you find your niche, you really have a good community of people that surrounds and supports you. For me, that community is the children’s ministry (and no, not just the kids). I love the people I work with at the church and enjoy serving with them throughout the week. I am still the 5th grade Sunday School director/teacher and love being a part of these kids’ lives at such a pivotal age. It is so neat to watch the transformation that happens in their lives from the start of our class to the end of our class. Although rather large, our class affords these kids the opportunity to get to know one another (they’ve all never been in the same class before) before they begin the student ministry where everything else will be new and unknown.
Our children’s ministry revamped our Wednesday night program this year and it has turned out to be a very popular and intriguing program in which we’ve had many kids come to be a part. Named “Impact,” this program appeals to kids’ gifts and talents and offers 8-10 varying classes (art, sign language, construction, sports/games, cooking, etc.) for children to choose and learn how they can serve God and make an impact for Him through that task. My role in this new program is as the missions class leader (does that really surprise you?). It has been THE BEST to get back into that role of teaching kids missions and I have loved opening the world to my group of kids. I have also gotten to coordinate missions nights for the whole Impact group once a month and that has been really great as well. The classes are semester-long, so beginning in January, I will have a new group of kids to teach and I can’t wait!
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| Taught kids about how missionaries use henna hand art to tell Bible stories |
Ministry
This fall I worked with the TN WMU and their annual children’s missions conferences. We went to three locations across the state and I got to watch children learn and grow in their missions knowledge. I had the opportunity to write the mission fair activities which was fun for me, especially when I saw my ideas become reality at the mission fair! I also had the chance to be the host in the opening/closing session a couple of times which, although out of my comfort zone, was fun and different.
I discussed last year that I had started working with Begin Anew of Middle Tennessee (formerly Christian Women’s Job Corp) and this job continued in full force. As the childcare coordinator for the downtown Nashville site, I led the childcare workers in caring for children whose mothers were being tutored in order to pass tests to obtain their high school equivalency degree. I really am inspired by these women who seek better lives for their children by working so hard to pass these tests. This year I was able to witness two moms who I have watched walk this journey graduate and the smiles on their faces were nothing short of huge! We recently found out that one lady who has been with the program for ten years passed her last test after taking it 16 times and will get her high school equivalency degree! I screamed when I heard the news! Glory to God!
With all that said, it hasn’t always been easy. Spiritual warfare and outside influences have ravaged these ladies, as well as their children. My heart broke quite a number of times to hear of deaths of loved ones, hospital stays, as well as just day-to-day stories. It has been a blessing for me to be light in these dark times for, especially the kids. I pray that the things I taught and the attitudes I held were ones that brought light and planted seeds in their hearts.
I decided later in the year that, with my full-time job increasing in demand, all I am involved in outside of this ministry, as well as other factors, that it was better for me to take a step back from this ministry for the time being. I will go back in a few months as a volunteer, but my time as the childcare coordinator has come to an end. It will be strange not being there weekly, however, I know that for me, this is the right decision at this point and that God will provide a new way for me to use my gifts outside of work and church. I can’t wait to see what that might be!
Family
A lot happened with my family this year. As far as my parents, my dad worked his first full year at FBC in Enterprise, AL. In June, my mom finally joined him, quitting her job at the adult daycare in East TN, of which she loved so much. It was the right thing, though, because they needed to be together! Our family home in East TN is still on the market and we hope it will sell soon, if you don’t mind we’d appreciate a prayer or two about it.
Meredith continues to live in Atlanta as an auditor. She has gotten really involved in a Johnson Ferry church plant called Christ Covenant and absolutely loves it. She’s on the nominations team as well as the greeter team! This summer, she took about a month long trip to Asia to visit some friends. She also visited her Compassion International sponsor child in the Philippines. The pictures from that trip would just melt your heart!
Lauren had a very eventful year. At the beginning of the year, she was a part of a college fashion show where she designed clothes for children with special needs. She won the “Best Children’s Wear” award for her designs. I have to tell you; I was nothing short of beaming with pride watching her dream become reality at this fashion show. The models of her designs were awesome too, it was so so amazing! In May, Lauren graduated from college! We all traveled to Liberty University to watch her graduate and who should show up to her graduation, but the President of the United States! Ok, President Trump wasn’t just there for Lauren…but still, hearing and being in the same vicinity as a sitting president was pretty cool.
Following graduation, Lauren moved in with me for the summer in Nashville. She served as the intern of my church’s special needs ministry. She got to plan a couple of events, as well as work with special needs children, which of course you know she loved! It was such a blessing to have a family member close by this summer and I am so grateful that we were able to share the summer together (when we were both in town, of course)! Following the summer, Lauren got a job as an event coordinator for Liberty University and moved back to Lynchburg to begin her new job there. She hit the ground running and has been super busy planning and organizing various events for the school (especially weddings).
The biggest family change this year was that we got a dog! Ollie (Oliver) has been such a blessed addition to our lives and we all love him so so much! We got him in May and Lauren and I raised him over the summer. Puppy raising is H.A.R.D., but the kisses and snuggles make up for it! Ollie loves to be around people (not so much dogs) and so Lauren and I found that it would be better off for him to live in a place where he could get a lot of attention. Since I live alone, and Lauren has roommates, it was decided Ollie would live with Lauren in Virginia and I would have visiting privileges J We own him equally, but this is honestly, the best arrangement for him right now because he would be so lonely in Nashville with me gone all day until late afternoon. As I write this, however, I am spending some quality time with this sweet one and he is snuggled against my leg taking a nap with his little tongue sticking out – it’s soooooooo cute!
I wish my whole entire family could be together more often, but we make sure to make the most of each moment that we are together – most recently at Christmas (which I hosted at my place). It was such a special time of being together, remembering old memories, making plans for the future, and of course, loving on sweet Ollie! I look forward to the next time we are all together and hope that it will be very, very soon!
Thirty
This year I turned the big 3-0! Gosh, that doesn't even seem real, but it is. I had a wonderful birthday and my sweet friends took me out to get a makeover. Ollie was also a sweet part of my birthday gift, and later in the year, I traded in my car for a really cute, used, blue Honda HRV (since my old car had been around in my life for 10 or so years). I'm so grateful for all God has done for and in me these past thirty years and look forward to what He provides for me, especially in this new decade!
Prayers
As always, I greatly appreciate your prayers as I continue to serve the Lord in all I do. Pray for inspiration and determination in my work at the SBC, as well as for our 2018 summer annual meeting that the Lord will give us all strength during those long days, but that He will ultimately be glorified and exalted in all that happens. Pray for me as I continue to teach kids at church and that they will have mission-minded hearts and minds to reach their friends and neighbors for Jesus. Pray for me as I take a step back from the ministry I have been a part of for a couple of years; please pray for a renewed spirit and that God will show me the next path he has for me in serving Him outside of work and church. He is such a good God and I cannot wait to see the doors He opens for me in the coming year; pray those doors will be evident to me.
Thank you for your prayers for my family; they mean so much and I hope that you will pray with me that our East TN house will sell soon so that we can close that chapter of our lives.
Word of the Year
I attempt to choose a word each year that sums up the ending year; it’s always interesting to look back at the words I’ve chosen and see how beautifully they summed up that year’s events. I’ve thought a lot about this year’s word and what I have chosen is the word “FOCUS.” This year I placed a lot of focus on my job, on the various classes I have taught at church, on the Begin Anew ministry I worked at, on raising and watching a puppy, on living life on my own in a big city, and much more. I have also focused a lot on my relationship with Jesus. I have more to focus on in my journey with Christ and I plan to carry this focus with me into the new year.
I will say this about focus. It’s important to be focused on what you do because it helps you to constantly examine what is going on around you. When you focus, you evaluate things and strive to make them better. I have to have focus quite a bit in my job at the SBC because I am responsible for publications in which things need to be accurate and complete. There are times that my focus falters and mistakes happen, but it’s through those mistakes I learn. In life, it’s the same way. Being focused in life means that you pay attention to the things going on so that your life (especially in Christ) is of one accord and complete in Him. There are times that your focus may falter, but it will be through those seemingly tumultuous times that you learn and grow in your knowledge and your faith in Christ.
Remember the verse at the beginning of this blog? “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it!” He’s going to complete the good work in our lives…we just have to stay focused on Him and keep on keeping on!
In 2018, I plan to keep on keeping on in the Lord and I know that the desires and dreams that I have, He will be faithful to complete; I just have to wait upon Him and stay focused!
Here’s to you 2017…2018, I’m focusing in on you!
