Board Update: Jan. 17
Board Welcomes New Member. . .
Finances: The original buyer for the Washburn House withdrew the bid due to personal reasons. However, the Board is elated that we now have a signed escrow agreement with a new buyer.
The Board continues to exert a high level of scrutiny to financial reports. Giving was up in December, with offerings of $32,000. The Board appreciates the members’ generosity and hopes these efforts will continue. Expenses in December remained steady, with only a sizable increase in Missions spending as the church processed its second and final payment to the approved organizations resulting in a total 2011 missions giving of $29,196 (10% of total offerings) to close out the year. We continue monthly transfers from the Foundation to meet needed expenses. Our monthly transfer average remains approximately $22,000 per/month. Finances remain a high concern for the Board and Pastor Bill.
Pastor’s Report: Pastor Bill Kellogg and staff are diligently working to finalize the Annual Report, which will be reviewed by the Board and then presented to the membership. Staff are closely monitoring budgets and restricting spending to most needed items.
Both the Men’s and Women’s Ministries continue efforts to create opportunities to build unity and communications. Members and guests are invited to participate in monthly meetings for food, fun, fellowship, service and spiritual growth. The gatherings provide opportunities to make new friends and build community within the church. Both groups feel that study is vital to all so that members continue to grow in knowledge and faith. Towards this effort, the Women's Ministry has selected study partners and committed to daily Bible reading.
Plans for the future to reach more people for Christ include cold calling in neighborhoods within 3-4 miles of the Church. The intent is to become familiar with the areas and to let the community know that First Baptist is here for service for Christ. — Chris Shipman, Clerk
Dinner for St. John’s Shelter
On the fifth Tuesday throughout the year FBC provides the evening meal for the women and children at St. John’s. If you would like to help on January 31, please contact Raymond Pico at 501-7809 or Erin Pico at 832-1769, or email Erin at erin@sullivanpicolaw.com.
This is an uplifting and eye-opening opportunity to share God’s love to those less fortunate.
Women’s Retreat Preview Potluck 1/31— treasured
. . . God chose you out of all the people on Earth as His cherished personal treasure. Deuteronomy 14:2 (Message).
Next Tuesday evening, come hear all about the Women’s Retreat and enjoy some fun fellowship. There you can get details for the retreat scheduled for May 4-6, at Woodleaf, with speaker Leigh McLeroy.
Please bring a main dish, side dish, salad or dessert to share on Tuesday, January 31, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church, 11427 Fair Oaks Blvd., Conference Room D.
Ladies, you can make payments each week on the $130 fee to attend the conference. Contact Charlie Darrington, 419-6331, or Connie Pracht, 492-1072, for details.
This retreat is sponsored by the Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church. Registration begins March 11. For more information, see the web site: treasured2012@gmail.com.
Assimilation Team
If you would like to be a part of the Assimilation Team — greeters and ushers, if so, please contact David Fisher, 916-812-3885 or email him at Davidfisherfbc@comcast.net.
Valentine’s Gift Baskets
Look no further for that special gift for your love one! The Women’s Ministry will have gift baskets of various sizes available on January 29 & February 12 for purchase. Proceeds go toward reaching women in our church and in the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Questions, then please call Charlie Darrington at 419-6331. Thank you for your support!
Parcheesi Anyone?
Single adults and friends are invited to join Bill Grant and a few others on Sundays from 12:30-2 pm in the Assembly Room for a game of Parcheesi. Don’t know how to play, Bill will teach you.
Ella Mae Bennett: Pressing On, No Turning Back
Ella Mae started early in her faith, in her commitment to the local church, in her love for God’s Word, in her passion for learning and reading, in her desire to disciple and mentor, and in her devotion to her husband. At age 90, she is holding fast to what God has given and still pressing on.
That nursery certificate from the little Baptist church in her hometown of Webb City MO points to her Christian heritage. The fifth of six children, Ella Mae was around eight when she came to know Christ at a revival meeting. Of course, by then she was already in the fifth grade because after much pleading, she had been allowed to start first grade when she was only four! She became a member of her family’s church at 12 when she and a brother went to Joplin for baptism. A couple of years later, the family moved to Stockton in the Great Depression, and there they plugged into FBC Stockton.
Although the transition to a high school of 2,500 was not without tears, Ella Mae forged ahead and so graduated at 16. Unfortunately, she was too young to enter nursing school—you boarded at a local hospital—but not too young to be a soda jerk. Romance came when a friend introduced her to a baker-in-training, Walter Bennett, and a year later they eloped, getting married by a Presbyterian minister in Carson City. She was barely 18 and he was 19. Looking back now at their 72 years together, Ella Mae observes that “when we said ‘til death do us part,’ we really meant it” and that opposites indeed attract.
With WWII in progress, Walter served in the Navy for three years (from aboard the USS Logan, he watched the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima), which meant Ella Mae was left at home with two little ones, Tom and Lee. They became “the three musketeers,” laughs Ella Mae, going everywhere, including FBC Stockton, together.
That church had great preaching and teaching; even some of the sermon titles, like “Seven Ducks in a Muddy Puddle” (2Kings 5), stuck with her. She dug into her prized Scofield Study Bible, and later began teaching Sunday school for college students and adults. She took the Word of God seriously and trained others to do so. Not surprisingly, her favorite verse became 2Tim. 2:15—Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.
The family grew to five children, Walter excelled as a baker—he has a photo of the 6-foot-tall tiered Italian wedding cake he made, and he accepted the foreman position at the premier Philipp’s Bakery on Folsom in Sacramento. They moved, and Ella Mae soon checked out FBC. She remembers the words of her then 11-year-old daughter Sharon upon first walking into our sanctuary back in 1956: “This is the church I want to be at!” Sharon’s wish came true when two years later, after the family bought a house in Land Park, Ella Mae joined FBC. Although the two older sons were now on their own after graduating from McClatchy, Ella Mae and the three younger children made FBC their spiritual home.
It wasn’t long before she plunged into ministry here and, over the years, invested herself in training and discipling. She co-taught 4th grade Sunday school for three years, subbed, served on the Board of Christian Education as Missionary Chairman for three years, taught the 10th-12th grade class for over a decade and mentored Judie Watson to carry it on, led the Bereans class for young marrieds for eight years, did childcare for the Wednesday morning Mothers’ Bible Study for five years, worked with Evangelism Explosion in calling on visitors, helped with ABWM, served on the 2nd Century Committee for a dozen years, sat on a pulpit committee, wrote cards and notes, visited the shut-in ...
Her favorite ministry? “I had the best time of my life working with the high school kids from 1966-1977,” says Ella Mae. Her high school daughter Sandy was in tears one Sunday as she bemoaned that her class had had another substitute—“No one wants us!” Ella Mae vowed that if she ever taught that class, she would “be there. I’ll stay.” The opportunity came and Ella Mae stayed.
She stayed through the youth’s initial shyness, their mishaps big and small (like the paper airplane that sailed from the balcony and lodged in a chandelier for weeks), their excitement in getting driver’s licenses, their pride in graduation, and their grand adventures with Easter mission trips. Youth Director Hugh Huntley had the teens on a three-year cycle of trips, and so they went to big cities like San Francisco, small towns like Cottage Grove OR, and Baptist Home Missions like Indian reservations. The whole church pitched in through slave days, paper drives, and spaghetti feeds. Thirty or so teens would pack the bus with the food and sleeping bags and take off for the trip. They did plays, worked with children, assisted the elderly, and painted buildings. They cooked their meals, slept in the mud and rain, and washed their hair in water fountains and sinks.
Years later, Ella Mae still hears from former students (they have had two reunions) and sees the results of her investment. Some are in the ministry, in missions, or otherwise involved with a local church. Of course, she is also reminded of her own age; recently she saw one of her former nursery charges who was celebrating the birth of his first grandchild!
With over half a century at FBC, Ella Mae has sat under seven pastors: Christians, Scripture, Murphy, Layman, McCoy, O’Brien, and Kellogg. She firmly believes that God sent each, and she has “loved them all.” She remembers Christians in his robe each Sunday and how involved he was with everyone—he appeared on the Bennett doorsteps one afternoon to chat with Walter after hearing about his hunting accident. She recalls how Scripture initiated things like refreshments after the service and the Wednesday night dinners. She reflects on how Bob “Love” Murphy loved on hurting people and always took the time to listen as if he had all the time in the world. Throughout all the changes and all the ups and downs, “FBC has been and is my family,” she says.
Much has happened in her own family over the years. The youngest son, Philip, died as a medic in Cambodia in his fifth month into the Vietnam War. The other children married, and they and the nine grandkids and nine great grandkids have scattered—Oregon, Idaho, Texas, Connecticut, and Afghanistan. Walter retired to pursue his love of fly fishing with forays into Florida, Canada, and Christmas Island. Ella Mae visited the Holy Land and got intrigued by archaeology, an interest she feeds with an ongoing subscription to Biblical Archaeology. When she retired in 1985 after 30 years of working in the proof room of the Sacramento Bee, she started reading a different version of the Bible every year with the idea of giving one to each family member. She is now finishing up the reissued KJV in honor of its 400th anniversary. Her love of reading theology, biography, history, the Smithsonian, and Christian History magazine continues, with the house listing under their weight, claims Walter.
In April, Ella Mae made the decision to stay home on most Sundays with her husband because of his health, and so the organ in the Friendship Class stands silent, but the piano and organ at home play on as does her faith. Ella Mae noted her second baptism in the Jordan River in 1979 was a testimony that her first baptism as a youth “stuck” and that the Christ who is “so precious” to her has been faithful to continue what He started. As friend Sara Svensson observes, Ella Mae is a woman with “a life well lived” who is “content” in Christ. Bonnie Anderson adds: “Ella Mae is totally committed to the Lord and a steady tither ... If I could be like anyone else in the world, Ella Mae would be my choice. She is very knowledgeable of the Bible, lives and believes it. She has mentored so many through her own efforts and through the ongoing efforts of those mentored.” Let us all at FBC press on for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. — Marguerite Dean
You Can Help!
You have the opportunity to make a contribution towards our own church family community and to this end the First Baptist Church is starting a Community Food Drive (for members and attendees of FBC). With your help and contributions we will be able assist others by providing nutrition and sustenance at a time when there may be no other alternatives available.
Desired items to donate are: canned vegetables, canned meat products (tuna, potted meat, spam. etc.), canned soup, chili, pastas, ramen noodles, canned fruit, dry milk, canned or jarred nuts, flour, sugar, bisquik, cheese whiz, bottled or canned juices, boxed cereal or oatmeal, coffee, coffee creamer, tea, shampoo, bath soap, dish soap, laundry products, diapers, baby food, formula, paper products, tooth paste, mouth wash.
Items not to bring include: fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, fresh cheese or lunch meats, fresh bread, alcohol, sodas, kool-aid, frozen foods or ice cream.
Financial contributions are accepted to purchase perishable items as needed. Any checks should be made payable to FBC and note that gift is for “Community Food Drive”. If you have any questions contact Richard Hines at 395-8827, or David Fisher at 916-812-3885 or 916-473-3769.
It’s time for. . . fixing our eyes on Jesus...focus
Focus is the theme for the Redwood Glen Summer Camp 2012. They have children’s, junior high, senior high, music and drama, adventure and discovery camps this year. All are $199 or less. All the information concerning camps is available at their web site: info@redwoodglen.com or www.redwoodglen.com. You can also register your child online. Check it out as there are some great summer fun activities for your child/children. Our own Carolyn Neitzke leads the Adventure Camp for children completing 4-6 grades.
“Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given to me by the working of his power.” Ephesians 3:7
Hello Church!
Let me just start off by saying that I feel extremely blessed to be called to join the FBC family and serve students here. As Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians I believe that to be in ministry is all the working of God’s grace and power and for that I am thankfully ready to lead this small group of young people anywhere that God wants us to go.
Out of constant prayer and a few very small Sunday school classes I have received a new vision for our youth and with it a new name. In talking to Tracy and Eliza Tootle it was discussed how many of the students of today are so over-programmed in their lives with sports practices, AP classes, flute lessons, facebook, and twitter (their social lives are constantly at their fingertips every waking moment) that they are no longer in search for just a “fun youth group experience.” Instead, they are looking for their lives to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be connected to community where people who truly care about them accept them (truthfully I think we all want these things in life) and yes, they still do want to have fun.
But in talking to Eliza and a few other students we realized that when student’s think “church”, even Christian students, they don’t think about these things. They think about stale pews, church music and people who will scold them for not being good enough. It is no longer “cool” to come to youth group anymore. So our vision is this, we want to create a community of students and leaders who practice being the church together in our city. We want to grab the attention of students because we love Jesus and want to share his love actively to each other in our church and city. We are calling ourselves Youth City Communitas.
To make the first steps toward this vision we are simplifying our meetings to our Sunday school class called “The Gathering”, and two service projects a month. In Sunday school, students can come and study 1 Corinthians and learn how to shine for Jesus even among our post-modern society. This group is the nucleolus for the community that we want to build. Along with this class we will be going out in our city to serve. Many times we will be joining FBC’s homeless outreach, and serving people who attend our own church.
In addition even to these meetings we will, like normal youth groups, be holding occasional fun events. Last month we held a girls art night at the church where a few girls came to paint and sculpt art together. In December we did a Christmas movie night and ugly Christmas sweater contest that went really well!
To sum it all up our vision is that we desire that when students in our city think “church”, they think of the love of Christ, they think of particular adults and students who care about them and who are making a difference in our city. You can be a part of that! You can help by praying (we have just introduced a youth ministries prayer team that allows you to receive a bi-monthly prayer update email), by volunteering on a regular basis, by mentoring one of our students, or just by joining us when we go out for our service projects. Remember our “just walk across the room” series? This is a great place to start “as you are going”. If you would like to get involved in any of these ways please don’t hesitate to contact me! I can be reached most readily by phone or email (jcrouter@fbcsac.org).
— In Christ, Jessica Crouter
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