FAREWELL
Thank you so much for the generous outpouring of love and support this weekend. The last three years of our lives have been filled with wonderful surprises, joyous grace, and abundant mercy through Jesus Christ and First Baptist Church. Our church and the community of Tallahassee have embraced us with warmth and care. Thank you for filling our lives with such good things.
Sunday’s service and reception were far and above anything I could have ever imagined. Thank you to Penny, Pam, Laurinda, choir, orchestra, praise team, praise band, and hospitality team for an incredible day. My family and I feel your love and support and are grateful for all the many ways you have blessed our lives.
I so appreciate how you have reached out to your friends and family members for Jesus. Through your hospitality, you have shown another way that Jesus led people to himself. You have reached out to “persons of peace,” making eternal friendships in Jesus’ name. You have offered great love and service in our community, and God has blessed you with abundant fruit of the gospel. Whether through the blankets you knit, the homes you construct, or the flowers you deliver, you have truly “loved your neighbors as yourselves.”
Thank you for your attendance on Wednesday nights. Our Bible study times have blessed my life, helped me to articulate the core beliefs of our faith, and have challenged my growth as a believer. Your questions have demonstrated your keen insight and desire to grow as believers. You have taken “Bible study” into “Bible doing” through your grace, mercy, and obedience to the Lord.
As always, our staff have made it such a joy to come to work every day. Our staff meetings and retreats have been powerful times of prayer and discussion of God’s work in our church. I am blessed to know them and to call them friends.
In the days to come, I will be praying for our leadership, Pastor Search Committee, deacons, committees, and staff as they seek to follow God’s will. I know the Lord will continue to bless First Baptist richly “above and beyond all that you can ask or imagine.”
With Love,
Dr. Bill Shiell