Fall Preview
Centuries ago, under the faithful leadership of a priest named Ezra, a religious community restored their temple. Under the leadership of the king’s chief of staff named Nehemiah, they rebuilt the infrastructure of their city. People rolled up their sleeves, worked together, and formed a new kind of community. It was a hands-on approach to prayer, Bible study, mission, outreach, and transformation. This fall, I invite you to be a part of a similar effort right here in Tallahassee simply called Love Tallahassee.
At our April staff retreat, we planned and prayed that this fall, we would have a chance to share the love of Christ with our city. Using First Love as our template, we wanted to expand that effort beyond a Saturday. Our goal was to use First Love as a catalyst to change how we imagine where God would use our church to work with the city, university campuses, and neighborhoods. We are now less than 40 days away from the launch of Love Tallahassee, a season of worship, Bible study, mission, and commitment August 24-October 13. It’s designed to empower First Baptist to neighbor our city for Christ where we live, learn, work, and worship.
Love Tallahassee begins the weekend of August 24 with a Luau on the FSU campus and in Bible Study and Worship with a series on Nehemiah. Our children will be performing the musical, “O Me, O My, O Nehemiah” Sunday evening, August 25 at 6:00PM.
Each week in Bible study and worship, we’ll be studying and preaching through Nehemiah. Our study guide is Robert Lupton’s book Renewing the City: Reflections on Community Development and Urban Renewal. A limited number of books will be available in each SMBS class. To accompany the journey, we will have a devotional guide for each of the 52 days in the series. It took Nehemiah 52 days to build a wall, and we have 52 daily devotional lessons written by various members of our own FBCTLH family.
Under the “Serve In His Name” opportunities on page 3, you will also read about the launch of our partnership with Sabal Palm Elementary. This partnership will give people of all ages a chance to make a difference in the lives of at-risk children and parents.
Other events include the following:
SEPTEMBER 1
- WEAR YOUR COLORS – Everyone is invited to show up for worship wearing your school colors!
- FOOD TRUCK LUNCH – We hope you’ll take this opportunity to have a good time in Jesus’ name and make some new friends!
SEPTEMBER 8 at 6:00PM
- “GLOCAL” MISSIONS CELEBRATION – Join us as we gather this evening and share stories from our global and local (GLOCAL!) summer missionaries, as well as your stories from the Building Blocks this summer!
SEPTEMBER 15
- PACK THE PLAZA – We are asking everyone who is able to park in Kleman Plaza this morning, to make finding parking EASY for guests and the physically disabled.
SEPTEMBER 22-OCTOBER 6 at 6:00PM
- SERVANT EVANGELISM TRAINING – What does it mean to share the Gospel with those you’re serving? Come and find out, and be prepared to impact the Kingdom of God during First Love and beyond!
SEPTEMBER 29
- SCOUTING THE CITY – Join us as we take a mobile mission tour of a few of our ministry partners in the city.
OCTOBER 12
- FIRST LOVE – Registration and signups will begin soon, but be sure to save the date on your calendar!
OCTOBER 13
- COMMITMENT SUNDAY – Where is God calling you to be at work in the next year?
- FIRST LOVE CELEBRATION – 6:00PM in the sanctuary
How can you get involved? Save these dates on your calendar, and begin praying now for opportunities to Love Tallahassee. Check out fbctlh.org/LoveTLH for more information, and be sure and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter with #LoveTLH.