Letters from David – Our Present and Our Future

My Dear Friends,

I’d like to share with you some thoughts regarding the previous week, but even more importantly, I’d like to share with you what I and the rest of our ministerial staff envision for our future. 

Let’s begin with our future. I hope we share the common vision of First Baptist being the of church it has always been – loving, caring, praying, giving, sharing, involved in the community, faithful to Jesus’ call in our lives, and seeking to live in ways that offer hope and a positive witness to those around us.

In all that we do, I pray that we continue to live out this kind of redemptive presence. I remain honored to be your pastor and feel so thankful to serve with such a talented and deeply caring group of ministers. And together, we as staff are so grateful to share with you in our congregation’s ministry here in Decatur and beyond. 

No one that I know on staff or in our church has any plans for any of that to change. If anything, it is for us all to simply go deeper into what we are already doing. A good example is with our terrific Senior Adults. 

We are so excited that beginning on April 1, we can begin to utilize the incredible resources and staffing through the new Legacy Ministry.

Thanks to our partnership and final merging with Scott Boulevard Baptist Church, our Senior Adult Ministry will have new opportunities to thrive even more than they already have been. Greg Smith and Sara Robb-Scott will continue to be integrated into our staff. They are excited about beginning to meet with and work for our many Senior Adult volunteers. They are hopeful that April 1 will begin an exciting journey of ideas, hopes, planning, ministry, and dreaming new dreams of how we can best serve those who have served us so well for so long.

For the present, let me acknowledge how crazy this last week has been. As many of you know, First Baptist has been in the news. This was not something we planned or expected. During my sermon last week, I simply held up the letter from the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association as an example of what I thought Jesus was saying. 

In reference to “No one lights a lamp and places a bushel basket over it…” I felt that the letter offered a good illustration of what Jesus knew those in his audience had experienced. 

The result caught all of us off guard. Decaturish was the first to pick this up and contact me. I was surprised but grateful they felt this was an important story. It was published online last Monday night. I honestly thought that was the end. Instead, the story went viral.

We honestly were blindsided by the many responses. By Wednesday, a television station stopped by with camera in hand and asked for an interview. Then the AJC, then another TV station… 

I regret we were not more prepared.

I also regret I didn’t do a better job of communicating with you, the church about all that was going on. But truly, everything happened so fast, none of us could keep up. 

But please be reassured: from all we can tell, the news cycle has now moved on. Ironically, weeks ago, we had planned to address some key issues related to website wording and how we relate to our community in our monthly Deacons meeting this Tuesday night. We will continue with that plan. I appreciate the leadership and wisdom of our deacons, and I know we can all trust they will guide us further in good and stable ways. 

Thanks for allowing me to share with you. These are good and exciting days. And as always, thank you for the privilege and honor of being your pastor. 

Gratefully, 

David