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FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH J E F F E R S O N C I T Y, M O
SEPT E M BER
Dear Church, It is said Ulysses S. Grant gave a friend a fine cigar as an extension of his friendship. Realizing the cigar was a valuable memento, Grant’s friend saved it rather than smoking it. It was handed down to his son who later gave it to his son. Some 70 years later, the man’s grandson decided to smoke the cigar at a public ceremony. He proudly lit up the cigar given to his grandfather by President Grant and puffed away … whereupon the cigar blew up in his face! Grant had given his friend an exploding cigar as a joke, but it took seven decades for the joke to deliver its punch line. How many unexploded cigars are lying around us? Maybe they’ve been in the form of ideas and dreams that have come to us in the night that
we’ve not explored. When I think of the future, it comes in the form of dreams about all that we could do or be. I want us to be a viable ministry center for people of all ages who come to this place and find it to be a wholesome, healthy place. I want our groups to see themselves as “agents of change.” I want the outsider to feel a sense of “coming home.” I want us to be a place where dreams and visions are honored and expected. Let’s make a pact with one another that we’ll make our dreams come true. Let’s light our cigars and take our chances! With Christ’s hope and love,
Dr. Keith Herron
UPCOMING September 1 MIDWEEK begins September 6 Office closed for Labor Day October 8 Project Homeless Connect October 14 Red Cross Blood Drive 1-5:30 pm Fellowship Hall
