Before I left on vacation, I left a letter to be posted to the church website and distributed in worship. I hope you all have read it as a letter of encouragement and exhortation. I have returned from a week of vacation and three days at the American Baptist Churches of Ohio Annual Gathering in Columbus. However, it’s likely that relatively few of you have seen or heard from me - especially those not in worship on Sunday - because I came down with a rather nasty cold on Sunday afternoon and have been lying low, fighting it off and avoiding infecting others.

By the time most of you see this letter, we will be in worship on Sunday, where we will be looking at a passage from 1 Thessalonians 2:1 - 12. In it, Paul relates to the church at Thessalonika how much he suffered to bring them the Good News of Jesus, but how worthwhile it was, since he was able to share with them his life, in the role of a spiritual parent. We will talk about such “spiritual parenting” and how we fit into that idea this Sunday morning. But to summarize: in healthy churches, the spiritual parents parent those who are their spiritual children to maturity, so that they may, in turn, become spiritual parents and raise their own spiritual children. Instead of a contractual relationship between the “leaders” and the “led”, there is a natural relationship between parents and children. Instead of a “consent relationship” wherein two parties mutually agree to terms, there is an organic relationship wherein one begets the other, and wherein no matter how broken the relationship becomes, it still exists, because one cannot declare their children, “not their children,” nor their parents, “not their parents.” Let’s look at how we may put this parental relationship into practice here at First Baptist Church.

This week, we have an opportunity to reach out to others with hospitality, in the name of Christ. The Trumbull County Board of Elections will be training poll workers in our sanctuary from Tuesday through Saturday, October 28 - November 1. Let’s all find ways of making these folks feel welcome as they visit. If you have any specific ideas as to how we might show hospitality and the love of Christ to these people as they are trained for the election, let me know. We also will be hosting four precincts for the election on Tuesday, November 4. Please understand that we cannot endorse or post signs for any particular candidate or party anywhere on our property in order to maintain our tax-exempt non-profit status. However, we do welcome Christ-centered discussion of the issues as they are presented so that all of us may make faithful decisions in the elections.

Looking forward to Sunday, November 2, we will be looking at Joshua 3:7 - 17. In it, God does a mini-repetition of the miracle at the Red Sea when the People of Israel cross the Jordan River to take possession of the Promised Land. Let us, then, look for ways that God is giving us signs that he is still with us as we move into his land of promise. Let’s share these with one another.

I look forward to worshipping God with you this Sunday!