Issuu

The First Baptist Church of Redlands

T A PE S T R Y

aug 2021

Wo v e n To g e t h e r I n L o v e : C o l o s s i a n s 2 : 2

Issue No. 8

VISIONS, DREAMS, AND PLANS A Message from Pastor Shawn

Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams. (Acts 2:17b – CEB) I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. (Jeremiah 29:11, 12 – CEB)

There is no time like the present to begin to explore the visions, dreams, and plans that God has for us! Many things are coming together for us as a congregation at this moment in time. • We are just coming out of a pandemic that caused us to adapt, learn and try new things. Even though we are now worshiping in-person in our church sanctuary things will never be the same. • We have a group that is exploring how we as a church can “grow young.” We want to be a church whose average age is not growing older each year. We have a lot to build on, including a wonderful group of children and young people who call FBCR their church family. • We have been blessed with incredible resources: finances, skills and talents, vitality, and creativity. • We have a wonderful facility in the very heart of Redlands. • We have a history of innovation in ministry and we have been used by God to impact our community, according to its need, over and over again for more than a century.

So, we ask the question: Where do we go from here? • For the rest of the summer we are exploring visions, dreams, and plans in the scriptures during our times of worship. • We have brought together a taskforce that will design, plan, and organize focus groups for everyone to have an opportunity to share their dreams for the church and our ministry. These groups will take place in August. Be sure to take the opportunity to participate in one of these focus groups. • The taskforce will report their findings to the Executive Council and then to the Congregation for next steps in the process of envisioning our present and our future ministry and mission as a church. Let’s share our visions, dreams, and plans with one another. Let’s listen for the Spirit’s voice as we explore, fail and/or succeed (or both), and adapt. Please be in prayer with me as we wait on God for the visions, dreams, and plans God has for us. Grace and peace in Christ, Pastor Shawn

COVER

MISSION

A Message from Pastor Shawn: “Visions, Dreams and Plans”

Staff and Contents

Worldwide Prayer Concerns: Bolivia, Haiti, Thailand

F E L LOWS H I P 9

MINISTRY

Announcements

Pastor Nick : “Made for Visions and Dreams”

Richard W. Steffen: “Know”

Prayer to God

10 Church News

Children’s Ministry: “Assemblage” 3-Dimensional Art

11 August Calendar

NEWS

S TA F F Rev. Dr. Shawn Zambrows Senior Pastor

Angel Florence Office Administrator

Rev. Nicholas Quient Associate Pastor

Isa Terrell Communications Specialist

Rev. Cheryl Sneller Director of Children’s Ministry

Richard Colunga Buildings/Grounds

Richard W. Steffen Minister of Music Nathan Jones Youth Director

The Tapestry is published monthly by The First Baptist Church of Redlands, 51 West Olive Avenue, Redlands, CA 92373. All material for the Tapestry should be typed and emailed no later than the 15th of each month to tapestry@fbcredlands.org. If you would like to be added or removed from the Tapestry mailing list, please email tapestry@fbcredlands.org. Current and previous Tapestry issues are available in digital format at issuu.com/fbcr.

Contact us: admin@fbcredlands.org 909-793-3289 www.fbcredlands.org Our office will be semi-open during regular office hours. However, we are still receiving mail and phone messages. Staff can be reached by email (see above). Office Hours Monday - Thursday: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Friday: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

MI NI S T RY

Made for VISIONS and DREAMS Pastor Nick Quient For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NRSV)

An integral aspect of the New Testament vision of Christ is their view of him as our creator. This idea is woven throughout the Pauline and Johannine corpus and features Christ as, perhaps, the very hands of God who fashioned us for a specific purpose. God has a purpose for our lives and that requires us to live into that specific calling—both as the church and as the individual. Here in Ephesians, Paul is taking great pastoral and theological strides to emphasize the greatness of God’s generosity to us. He will go on and write about how God has united both Jew and Gentile together through the body of the Messiah, but here his focus is more personal. The emphasis is on the goodness of the greatness of God, who is rich in mercy (2:4). It is because of God’s mercy, expressed for us for the sake of others, that we find ourselves with our mission. This is why we dream, because God has a purpose for us—good works already prepared for us before we were even born. God has been dreaming about us and for us for a long time. Part of living in good works is sharing in God’s own dream for the world: to see all things reconciled together, bringing everything and everyone into the kingdom of God. The mission of the church is to participate in that grand cosmic dream We aren’t created to be prideful in our mission—who would indeed brag about doing hard work? Our dreams aren’t what make us special: it is The One who gives us our mission that makes us special. May we continue to dream about our calling and may our dreams come to reality in light of Christ’s work.

Know by Richard W. Steffen, Minister of Music

My colleagues that are also retired from public school music leadership remember well our concern each August: “How will I know what songs to choose that will be appreciated by my students this fall when I haven’t yet met my choirs for the new school year?” In the summer of 1964, as I was excitedly anticipating my upcoming 8th grade choir activities, I wasn’t anxious about what songs my music director was choosing for us; I knew she was committed to finding music that we would enjoy. My family and I were on our way to the New York World’s Fair by way of Philadelphia, and we visited Independence Hall. I learned much about Benjamin Franklin: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. I did not know then that Franklin invented the glass armonica (his spelling) just over 200 years earlier in 1761. I did know about Mozart and Beethoven, but I didn’t know that they both composed selections for Franklin’s invention in 1791 and 1814, respectively. And I am excited about my summer reading experience of the book Hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica, the 2010 collection of poems by Matt Merritt. That is another name for the glass armonica, and, according to Wikipedia, that word “is composed of Greek roots to mean something like ‘harmonica to produce music for the soul by fingers dipped in water.’ ” “Know thyself” is a maxim that has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature. The ancient Greek philosophers spoke of it: Aeschylus, Socrates, and Plato. And our Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanack (again, his spelling) in 1750, observed the great difficulty of knowing one’s self with: “There are three things extremely hard, steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” This month we will take time to reflect and envision. Task Force groups will focus our thoughts as we consider what the visions, dreams, and plans are for us as a church. We will seek to know how God is calling us to ministry as this time of transition continues and beyond.

Sitting recently at the Redlands Bowl waiting for another stirring performance, my mind considered my thoughts for this article. And I looked up and saw again on the frieze above the stage: “Without vision, a people parish.” Reading this portion of Proverbs 29:18 always inspires me. A year before that family trip to New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. And we remember with confidence these words from Jeremiah: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV) Since our in-person and inside worship service in the sanctuary on Pentecost, we have for two months purposely been led by a smaller number of musicians sharing our music in worship. In addition to those songs, we have also been inspired by the inclusion of music selections that our musicians and our Tech Team produced during those 14 months of worship with the First Baptist Church of Redlands using our YouTube platform. Those songs on our sanctuary screen in worship lift us as we praise our God. Well, now it is August, and we are prayerfully discerning the next steps as we expand our church activities – including our musical activities – in a warm, welcoming, safe manner. A new addition to Field Hall, which we use for many of our musical activities, is a new Medify MA50 H13 True HEPA air purifier with an enclosed UV-C lamp. We will continue to use technology when we are together: we can learn much about how songs can be a blessing as we watch them shared on a TV monitor. And consider the possibilities we have of music-making with singers in Field Hall AND singers in other places, using technology in hybrid ways of connecting people together. So, let us envision, dream, and plan our next steps in outreach. Let us have open hearts and eager minds to know the work that God is calling us – indeed, is empowering us – to do.

by Pastor Nick Quient

Loving God We thank you for thinking about us We thank you for your rich kindness and mercy, put on display on our behalf Your generosity is overwhelming and inviting Give us eyes and hands to live into that call to invite others You are righteous and kind, a gentle balm on a burned out world Show us the way of life and light Give us an ear to hear your Spirit In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit One God—Forever and ever Amen

C hildr e n ’s ministry

“Assemblage” 3-Dimensional Art Our Children Show Us How to Reassemble a Congregation After A World Pandemic Visions: Some of the children came to “Art on the Lawn” with a particular item that they wanted to create. The challenge was that no one knew what the raw materials would be. Our art instructor, Lori Powell, brought boxes and boxes of different sizes, shapes and colors of containers and other 3-dimensional items. Some of the children were able to design the functional item they had seen in their mind, yet it ended up looking nothing like what they envisioned. Some tried to force their idea on the raw materials and became frustrated. The item functionally worked yet took on a whole different look than they could have envisioned. It was a product, eventually, that they were satisfied with. Dreams: Some of the children arrived that same day but with nothing in mind. They examined the items, arranged and rearranged them until it took on a shape. They adjusted and exchanged parts until they were satisfied with the shape that emerged. It was a process of creation and they were satisfied. Plans: Our congregation is emerging from a world pandemic. An event we had no experience with and did not plan for. We are like the diverse boxes that the children used to design their “assemblage”. We are called to envision and “assemble” the Church, a faith community that is the hands and feet of Christ. The Church will not be a perfect product but it will have functionality. It will be a creation we never envisioned. Let’s examine where we are at this present time in the history of our Church. Let’s take our time and not get frustrated with it not looking like what we had previously dreamed. By faith let’s start to arrange and rearrange the pieces. With prayer and determination we will be surprised as the pieces of our faith community will fall in place by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Jesus reassured us in John 14:25-27 NRSV: “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 25

Blessings, Pastor Cheryl

August’s Up and Coming Events August 1st Parent Meeting on Zoom. God’s Kids: 7:00 pm, Junior Disciples: 8:00 pm August 7th from 9:00-11:00, Art on the Lawn “Weaving” September 5th is Labor Day Sunday: Families worship together: There will be no God’s Kids or Junior Disciple classes. Childcare will be provided for 4 years and under. Sept. 12th Fall “Kick-Off” of Sunday School

missions

Worldwide Prayer Concerns “But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.” Hebrews 10:32-33

BOLIVIA International Ministries Pray for Sarah Nash Matos and her new husband Luis, as they use this year of home assignment to learn new skills in preparation for their return to the House of Hope in Cochabamba. She praises God for providing oxygen for Carmen and Richard, who are her ministry partners at House of Hope and had contracted COVID and pneumonia during this third wave of cases. Carmen and Richard are now recovering. Pray for those who have lost loved ones, including Carmen’s friend Maria. Pray that vaccines and medicine can help the people of Bolivia battle the virus. Pray for the continuing work of the House of Hope. Pray for God to be preparing the way for Sarah and Luis’s trip back to Bolivia.

HAITI Wall Street Journal and International Ministries Pray for the nation of Haiti as the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moise has created new political instability. Moise had been elected in 2016, but had postponed elections in 2018 and tried to rewrite the constitution to expand his power. In recent years, the nation had been wracked by violence between gangs financed by various power brokers. New elections are scheduled for September. Pray for an end to the political violence and corruption, and for the election of leaders who will serve on behalf of the Haitian people. Pray also for our American Baptist Global Servants Khomi Ngwemi and Nzunga Mabudiga who minister in Haiti. They are continuing to raise funds for a new vehicle to transport people to the Eye Clinic that they run. Pray that this vehicle will soon be funded.

THAILAND International Ministries We recently heard stories in church from Lauran Bethell about how she had worked in Thailand to confront human trafficking and help women out of prostitution. The New Life Center that she started continues this work. Pray for Kit Ripley and Jenni Pedzinski, who are two American Baptist Global Servants working there. Kit recently returned to Thailand and endured a harrowing re-entry process of quarantine and haggling over her work visa. At one point, after she had endured 15 days in quarantine in Bangkok, an immigration official in Chiang Mai told her she would have to leave the country and apply for a new visa. But by God’s grace and a lot of negotiation, her visa and work permit were finally approved! Jeni has served at New Life since 2015 and is currently on her year of home assignment. She requests prayers for a vehicle to use while she is here in the US. Pray for the ministry of the New Life Center as they shelter, counsel, and support abused and exploited women and girls in Thailand. - Jonathan Peske If you have information to share about the persecuted church or news from the mission field, please share it with Jonathan Peske.

F E L L O W S H IP

Welcome Baby Nora! Bryan and Anna Tapia are so happy to welcome to their family their new baby: Nora Rose Tapia. She was born on June 28 at 8 lbs 6 ounces and 21 inches long. Nora’s proud sister is Noelle Grace. And the very proud grandparents are Bea Tapia and Richard and Marla Steffen.

K I C KO FF S UN DAY September 12 8

Ne ws

HAPPY August BIRTHDAYS TO... 2

Martha Mendoza

Daniel Brown

Ethan Miller

Danielle McClain

Dale Barwick

Anne Sandel

Lauren Zabaleta

Hien Huynh

Beth Goodwin

Teresa Stein

Cindy DeRoulhac

Michael Warren

Lauryn DeDoes

Noelle Tapia

Dorothy Sease

Anna Tapia

Doris Young

Terri Friend

Herb Dominguez

Ralph Haag

Muriel Wagner

Susan Rogers

Amy DeDoes

Andrew Winter

Caroline Ray

Dennis Chenevert

Submissions for the Tapestry should be sent to tapestry@fbcredlands.org by the 15th of each month.

In Memory

Charles Miller 6/22/1941 to 7/12/2021 Dwanna Runner 9/23/1936 to 7/12/2021 Eugene Blanch 8/1/21 to 11/10/2020

Pray for Students

Pray forHealth