FBC RockportBeing Shaped by His Love

Pastor Scott has a new blog post Anxiety & Truth in the 2018 Hurricane Season.

As we move through the Lenten season toward Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, I continue to be amazed at God’s goodness and grace. I want to thank all of you for your ongoing goodness and grace as we make steady progress towards putting our building back together again and as we try different things with our Sunday morning schedule.

March will be a busy time at our church as volunteer groups from around the country, representing a variety of Christian denominations, will be staying on and passing through or campus as they assist Aransas County in ongoing cleanup and rebuilding efforts.

Samaritan’s Purse is ready to begin work on their building on our property but continue to wait for their builder to get everything in order. Texas Baptist Men’s rebuild group will be here soon to begin their own efforts in our community.

Here is some information on three important groups working with me to address needs within our church:
The ad hoc Committee on Church Governance has been meeting regularly for a few weeks now. We have studied and discussed church polity, or the way in which churches govern themselves and relate to other churches and outside organizations, from scriptural, theological, historical, and practical perspectives. We are now looking at possibilities for our own church. The members of this committee are, Kathryn Albin, Linda Bradley, Monty Brecheen, Matt Brewington, KC Kimbrough, Ray Presley, and Dorian Rangnow. Their next meeting is this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.

The Emergency Operations Team, under the leadership of Dave McCoy, is working to finalize recommendations on surveillance systems and other ways to make our church property more secure. At some point we will need more volunteers to be trained to assist in our safety operations. If you think you might be interested in working in this area, please contact the church office, Dave McCoy, or Barney Reed. Serving on the Emergency Operations Team are Bobby Albin, Patty Albin, Tim Jayroe, Dave McCoy, Dianne Nielsen, and Barney Reed. Their next meeting is this Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.

The Phase 3 ad hoc committee had its first meeting this past Monday evening and will meet again this Monday at 6 p.m. During their first meeting they met with Russell Maddox, an architect working for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. We discussed together the space needs of our church and considered possibilities for the future. Their was a great deal of consensus and excitement within the group as we looked to address the space needs for our youth, children’s, and preschool ministries. The members of this committee are Bobbie Bryant, Krystal Guerrero, Brandi Karl, Bill Mills, Bonni Randall, Jim Remley, and Teague Tharp. I am meeting with them along with Jeff Lanningham, Jordan Mims, Marcie Peterson, and Dianne Nielsen.

Please continue to pray for these groups, asking God to guide their work so that our church may be strengthened to accomplish our mission.

I want to thank everyone for their continued prayers, support, and encouragement. FBC Rockport has been extremely blessed and we are trying to be good stewards of the resources and opportunities God has sent our way.

As a church we are still focused primarily on gathering for worship and Bible Study on Sundays and then scattering to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the community for the rest of the week. In January we will look at beginning some of our weekly ministries again.

People from all over the world have contributed to our Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. We are in the process of putting together a detailed report for our church members. I think we have received about $380,000. Some of that money was designated for our repairs. Some was not designated, and we have set that aside, asking God to show us how to use it. Other funds were designated to be used for relief efforts, and I have given out over $150,000 to families and individuals affected by the storm. I continue to hear of needs and attempt to find ways to help. We are still accepting donations to help in the relief efforts. Funds can be sent to the church and designated Harvey Relief.

Repair work on our building has begun with the roof. After completing the roof they will restore the inside of the building, including new flooring and paint, and end by rebuilding our destroyed choir room. We have factored into the rebuild a few things I believe will help our church to prepare for ministry in the years to come, such as a welcome center and upgraded restrooms. We are also considering adding parking space on our property. The overall cost of the remediation and rebuild is difficult to pin down because we haven’t gotten all the costs yet from our contractor. But, the cost will be well over $1 million. Most of this is covered by our insurance settlement and savings set aside by our church over the past several years. God has provided for all our needs.

The Volunteer Reception Center for Aransas County is located at our church. Area homeowners can come in and seek help with the cleanup of their properties and homes. Volunteers come in and register and receive work orders. We are slowly making progress addressing the needs we know of and getting people the help they need. Texas Baptist Men and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief groups are based on our church property and they have been a blessing to us and our community. Various churches from around the state continue to come and serve.

Eventually our focus will shift from crisis cleanup to rebuilding. One of the problems our community faces is lack of housing for large groups to come and stay while working in the community. FBC Rockport has made its property available for this effort. Over the next two to three years we hope to be a base of operations for Texas Baptist Men/SBC Disaster Relief, Samaritan’s Purse, and various church groups. They will be in our community to rebuild and repair the homes of those who may not be able to get help from any other source.

In the coming months and years we will work with other Baptist churches in the area, with sister churches from other denominations, and organizations like the Harvey Relief Camp, and Habitat for Humanity, to rebuild and restore our community. It will be a slow process, but we are committed to seeing it done.

Those looking to help or volunteer should contact Jordan Mims at 706-399-2772, or youth@fbcrockport.net.

Finally, our community is experiencing all the fear, anxiety, and angst one would expect after a disaster of this magnitude. I think it is understandable that people would look to the federal, state, and local governments to provide expedient and sufficient help. I believe they have provided help in many ways. But these government entities are not designed to help in all the ways people need right now. Instead, I encourage the people in our community to look to the local churches and helping organizations (Rockport Relief Camp, Good Samaritans). Food, clothes, toiletries, and financial help is available in our community for those who need it.

What we are desperately lacking is temporary housing. My heart breaks over this situation and I am at a loss for how to help. I have yet to hear a good solution or plan. Please join with me in asking God to have mercy on those who remain displaced and homeless due to the storm. There are also those whose FEMA or insurance payouts are woefully inadequate to cover the loss. We want to help these folks as well.

The folks who operate the Rockport Relief Camp are on the front lines of helping the homeless in our community. They continue to accept physical donations at their location, but not clothes or water. They are a 501c3 and can accept tax-deductible monetary gifts as well. Those who would like to contribute to a toy-give away at Christmas should contact the Relief Camp as they are organizing a unified effort community-wide. Most importantly, they are attempting to restore used RVs to get families out of tents and into temporary housing. I have funds available to help them transition families into temporary housing once housing comes available. If you would like to donate your RV as a tax-deductible gift, I would encourage you to contact the Relief Camp. They can be reached at (432) 634-8370 or on Facebook.

Once again, thank you for all the prayers and support. We are not finished yet. God is at work among us, and I am continually astounded and encouraged by how God reveals Himself in the midst of our broken and battered community.

First Baptist Boerne is coming to FBC this weekend. They will be serving our church and our community in a number of ways, including providing a very special luncheon for FBC families on Sunday. Be sure to bring the kids and join us in Fellowship Hall after Life Group time this Sunday for King Ranch Chicken and an opportunity to share our stories with the families from First Baptist Boerne.

One sentiment I hear often since Hurricane Harvey is that FBC Rockport is the “rich church” in our community. I heard this before Harvey, of course, but it has been consistent since the storm. People say this to me as a kind of explanation for why we may not be well thought of by some, why we are not included in community relief efforts, why we are perceived as being out of touch with the real people of Aransas County, maybe stand-offish. We are the “rich church,” we don’t have any needs, we can do our own things and not care about anybody else.

This may or may not be true, depending on one’s perspective. But I’ll say this, I want FBC Rockport to show this community just how rich we truly are: rich in compassion, rich in giving, rich in serving, rich in sacrifice, rich in love, rich in faithfulness, rich in selflessness. We are filled full, overflowing with the Spirit of God and the love of Jesus Christ. Our cups run over. We are rich, and we will show just how great is our God and how limitless are His resources as He pours out His love, grace, and provision to this community.

God’s blessings are seen in the generosity shown to us from churches and individuals all over North America. God’s blessings are seen in the countless volunteers who stream through our church and then out into the community to do all kinds of work to help people recover from the storm. God’s blessings are seen in the way our members have rallied around one another and around our mission to see all people shaped by the love of Jesus Christ.

The members of FBC Rockport embraced the transforming, renovating work God began in our lives. This is seen, for instance, in how people have responded to the one worship service and being united together rather than divided by preferences. Marcie Peterson and Eric Scott show us each week what it looks like to work together to focus on and respond to the presence of God in our midst during worship. They are to be commended, and I am thankful for their leadership. It can also be seen in how willing our members have been to make accommodations for the work of recovery and relief. I could go on. I am proud to be a member of FBC Rockport.

Here are some things to remember:

Weekly Schedule

We meet for worship this Sunday, October 8, at 10:00 a.m.

Beginning Sunday, October 15, our schedule will be:

9:30 Worship

10:45 Life Groups

5:00 p.m. Bible Study with Gordon Bellinger

6:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal

Beginning Wednesday, October 18, our Wednesday night schedule will be:

5:45 p.m. Grow Studies, Children’s Music and Missions, Pastor’s Bible Study, Youth Worship

Building Update

Jeff Lanningham has been waiting for a contract from Blackmon Mooring that describes the scope and cost of the repair work to be done in our building. He has the contract now and is going over it closely with others, and coordinating everything with our insurance company. Jeff and I will continue to make the necessary decisions to get the work started. We should have more to report in the coming weeks.

Volunteer Reception Center

First Baptist Church Rockport is officially the Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) for all of Rockport and Aransas County. Our hours of operation are 8am-5pm Monday – Saturday and 1-5pm on Sunday. Jordan Mims is coordinating the work of the VRC for our church.

Remember:

1. If you are an individual, group, or organization that would like to come and volunteer in the community you can come to our location at 1515 N Live Oak St to get registered and then we can give out work orders from the countywide Crisis Cleanup List, as well as, other r opportunities in the community.opportunities in the community.
2. If you are a homeowner in need of work around or inside your home, you can come to us and fill out the homeowner intake form. This form gives us the information we need to send out the right crew to your home, and it will put your property on the countywide Crisis Cleanup List. You can also call the VRC at 361-727-9011.
3. If you have a church or organization that would like to minister in Rockport we may be able to accommodate you at FBC Rockport if you are willing to sleep on cots or air mattresses. We are thankful to Texas Baptist Men for the use of a shower trailer for our volunteer groups! Contact the church office at 361-230-0146, or Jordan Mims at 706-399-2772. This past week we had church groups from Garland, TX and Graham, TX.
4. The updated list of needed donations can be found on our website or Facebook page. Because our community has been blessed with so many donations, this week we were able to load two trucks with items we no longer need and send them to Mexico to aid those dealing with the aftermath of the recent earthquakes.

First Family Meeting October 29

Our next quarterly scheduled church conference, our First Family Meeting, will be on Sunday, October 29, at 5:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Jeff and I will update the church on everything we have done to this point and where we anticipate going from here.

FBC Rockport Update from Pastor Scott: September 28, 2017

God Reveals Himself
One way God is consistently revealing Himself to me is through the love, service, and generosity of others. Here is a partial list of churches and organizations that have helped so far:

Churches that have sent aid or volunteers include: Trinity Baptist Church, Kerrville, TX; FBC Midland, TX; Shearer Hills Baptist Church, San Antonio, TX; FBC Boerne, TX; FBC Three Rivers, TX; Murphy Road Baptist Church; Bulverde Baptist Church; Living Hope Baptist Church; FBC Spring Hills, TX; Fairfield Baptist Church; University Baptist Church, San Antonio, TX; FBC Garland, TX; FBC Cleburne, TX; FBC Portland, TX; FBC Corpus Christi, TX; FBC Marble Falls, TX; FBC Kerrville, TX; FBC Franklin, TX; and this is just to name a few.

We have also received help from the Blanco Baptist Association, The Heart of Texas Baptist Network, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief, Guidestone, South Texas Children’s Home, and Del Mar College.

We have received help from individuals or groups in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wyoming, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Washington.

Help us bless the ACISD employees
This week we hosted parent meetings for the ACISD as they continue their effort to bring students home and begin the school year again. Teachers will report and begin preparations on October 9 and 10. School is scheduled to begin on October 11.

FBC Rockport is going to provide lunch on the various functioning campuses for ACISD employees on October 10. This is our way of showing our support as our community continues to move forward. If you would like to help with this endeavor by making a financial contribution, money can be sent to the church and designated “ACISD Lunch.” If you would like to help arrange for the meals and get them to campuses, please contact Kim Jones at 361-205-4343.

Church Office
The temporary church office is located in a trailer in the parking lot on the Live Oak St. side of the building. The office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The church phone number is not working at this time. We have a cell phone for office use. That number is 361-230-0146.

New weekly schedule
Beginning the week of October 15, our weekly schedule will be as follows:

Sunday:
9:30 a.m. Worship
10:45 a.m. Life Groups
5:00 p.m. Bible Study with Gordon Bellinger
6:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal

Wednesday:
5:45 p.m. Prayer Meeting and Bible Study with Pastor Scott
Grow Studies
Music and Missions for Children
Youth Worship

Volunteer Recovery Center
First Baptist Church Rockport is officially the Volunteer Reception Center for all of Rockport and Aransas County. Our hours of operation are 8am-5pm Monday – Saturday and 1-5pm on Sunday.

What does this mean?
1. If you are an individual, group, or organization that would like to come and volunteer in the community you can come to our location at 1515 N Live Oak St to get registered and then we can give out work orders from the countywide Crisis Cleanup List, as well as, other r opportunities in the community.opportunities in the community.
2. If you are a homeowner in need of work around or inside your home, you can come to us and fill out the homeowner intake form. This form gives us the information we need to send out the right crew to your home, and it will put your property on the countywide Crisis Cleanup List. You can also call the Crisis Cleanup Line at 844-965-1386.

If you have questions, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Jordan Mims at (361) 271-3552

Here’s a little perspective of the magnitude of need for volunteer help: Rockport-Fulton is a community of approximately 10,000 people, and we have nearly 1,100 properties on the Crisis Cleanup List that need help. This does not include Aransas Pass, Ingleside, or Port Aransas. We are a month removed from the hurricane, and some people are just coming back. This means the list will likely continue to grow.

We need more volunteers is an understatement. Come to the Volunteer Reception Center at First Baptist, and we can point you to the people that need help.
2. If you are a homeowner in need of work around or inside your home, you can come to us and fill out the homeowner intake form. This form gives us the information we need to send out the right crew to your home, and it will put your property on the countywide Crisis Cleanup List.
If you have questions, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Jordan Mims at (361) 271-3552
2. If you are a homeowner in need of work around or inside your home, you can come to us and fill out the homeowner intake form. This form gives us the information we need to send out the right crew to your home, and it will put your property on the countywide Crisis Cleanup List.
If you have questions, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Jordan Mims at (361) 271-3552

The updated list of needed donations can be found on our website or Facebook page. We will focus on distributing the donations we have already received and only receive new donations that will aid the work of volunteer groups in our community.

Slowly over the next two weeks the donations we are storing will either be distributed, given to other entities who can use them, or transitioned to storage outside on our property. As the donations are moved out of the building, Blackmon Mooring will begin the work of ongoing repairs, beginning in the preschool area. We will also make our classrooms available for volunteer groups to come and stay while they are working in our community. We will have a shower trailer on our property to assist with the volunteer effort.

I cannot stress strongly enough that our members must be patient with the recovery effort taking place on our property. Remember that every week many things are taking place: repair on our building, distribution of donated goods, coordination of volunteer groups, housing and possibly feeding of volunteer groups, and our own worship, Life Groups, and Wednesday night ministries. Our goal is to continue the essential ministries of the church while also contributing to the recovery effort in Aransas County. We will do our best to coordinate the efforts, but I think all our members should expect to be cramped, inconvenienced, moved temporarily to different rooms, and for parking to be a challenge at certain times.

Please let us know if we can help you in any way. I love you and I am proud to be your pastor.

As I write this I am grieving the passing of Ray Longino. Ray was a huge presence in our church and community for decades, in more ways than one. There are a lot of things that can and will be said about Ray, but I knew him to be a servant of the Lord, which is the highest compliment I can give to anyone. It is not lost on me that Ray passed in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Had he been a younger man he would have been out there with others working in the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief efforts. Ray will be missed. All our love and prayers go out to Deanna and her family.

Here is some information about Worship and Bible Studies:
• This Sunday we will have worship in our sanctuary at 10 a.m. We will observe the Lord’s Supper and focus on communion, comfort, and commitment. I hope you will join us!
• Gordon Bellinger will begin teaching a Bible Study on Sunday nights at 5 p.m. in the 56 & Up classroom. This begins this Sunday.
• Choir rehearsal will move back to Sunday nights at 6 p.m. this Sunday.
• I will start having Wednesday night Prayer Meetings and Bible Study on October 4 at 5:45 p.m.
• We encourage Life Groups to continue to make contact with members and plan possible ways you can meet together in locations other than the church building.

Here is some information about the office:
• The church office has now transitioned to the “temporarily permanent trailer” in the parking lot located on the N. Live Oak side of the building.
• The office will have regular office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• The temporary office phone number is 361-230-0146.
• FBC Rockport has WIFI. If you need to use the internet and are without at your home, please come by the church and we will help you out.

Here is some information about the building:
• Jeff is wrapping up the mitigation work with Blackmon Mooring and they will begin to restore and repair the building. Jeff anticipates learning this week both what our insurance payout will be, what our deductible will be, and the scope of the work to be done to restore and repair our building.
• As the process unfolds in the coming months we will look to using more of the parts of the building that are completed.
• We should expect the repair work to continue for many months to come.

Here is some information about donations, volunteers, and our relief ministry:
• We have received about $100,000 in donations so far. Part of this money will be used to help pay our deductible. Some will go to provide materials needed for our relief ministry. Some will go directly to families impacted by the storm. Once the deductible is paid, Jeff and I will begin a process to determine how to allocate the remainder of the funds.
• Marcie Peterson and Cyndi Powell continue to do an amazing job with the material donations and distributions. Marcie posts an updated needs list often on the website and Facebook. There are some things we are no longer accepting. We need volunteers every day who can help to unload, sort, and distribute these goods.
• Jordan Mims, Wes Robbins, and Dylan McCombs are working hard to coordinate with volunteer work teams from all over the country to fill the pages of work orders we have. Many of these teams are here for only a short time and primarily on the weekends.
• Dianne Nielsen has worked with other children’s ministry representatives from area churches and city officials to address the childcare needs within the city. I think they are making progress and will have something to announce soon.

As I have said from the beginning, our church right now is focused on two things: gathering as the body of Christ on Sundays for worship, and scattering as God’s people into the community to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus throughout the week. The relief ministry is my primary focus right now and will continue to be so for some time. Please do not be in a hurry to begin your ministries, bible studies, and various group meetings in our building. Right now our energies are invested elsewhere.

Having said all that, here are two important things you need to know.

First, we are trying to transition to a more long-term emphasis with our relief ministries. I hope to connect what we are doing with a larger, unified effort county-wide. The goal is to organize in such a way that everyone receives the help they need, especially those who exhaust all other resources such as FEMA, insurance, etc. We want to be a part of an effort to connect volunteers, resources, and people in need. I will make our property available in the next year or so to various relief efforts. I anticipate this will include having storage outside for goods and materials, providing a central location to organize volunteers, preparing meals in our kitchen to feed volunteer groups, and possibly housing volunteer groups if we can figure out the shower situation. I will try to make sure that whatever is done will not effect our Sunday or Wednesday church schedule, but I ask everyone to understand that I am committing FBC Rockport to a long-term recovery effort in Aransas County. Please be patient, flexible, and lend a hand when able!

Second, as we transition to a long-term recovery ministry and as our building is repaired and restored, we hope to begin a regular weekly schedule of ministries at our church. The ACISD hopes to begin classes on October 9. IF they can do that, we hope to begin Sunday morning Life Groups on October 15 for all ages, and to begin Wednesday night activities for all ages on October 18. Times of activities are to be determined. All of this is tentative, but this is our goal for now. We will continue to have one worship service on Sunday mornings for the foreseeable future. If attendance to this service grows and we become too crowded, we will make plans for a second service, but I intend for any new service to be the same service offered at a different time. I do not plan on having two different kinds of services.

I want to say that I love all of you and I love being your pastor. I also believe that we currently live in a holy moment: our current realities and circumstances are sanctified by the very presence and power of God. He is our refuge and strength. It is the presence of Christ that will sustain and empower us in the days to come. Please let me know if I can do anything for you.

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE!! First Baptist Rockport has sustained tremendous damage on the interior of every part of our building. We are unable to store donations. In addition, all other buildings able to take this kind of help are damaged beyond being useable. WE ARE ASKING YOU TO FORWARD AND SHARE THIS MESSAGE OUT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! If you have donations for the Rockport area, and you are able, please find a way to store them in your community until we can receive them. IN ADDITION, if you are in San Antonio, Austin or Corpus area and you could arrange for a climate controlled warehouse or building that could be donated to store these items, keeping them close by would be extremely helpful!

If you are waiting to send volunteers, we pray you will be able to wait patiently for the time we can receive your help!! It may be weeks or months, assessment is ongoing.

RIGHT NOW FIRST RESPONDERS ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF SOCKS, ATHLETES FOOT POWDER AND BLISTER BANDAIDS. THOSE CAN BE TAKEN TO THE ROCKPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT COMMAND CENTER!!

Finally, we are overwhelmed by the generosity of so many to donate supplies and volunteer their time. We are beyond encouraged by the prayer support! We do not lose heart for God is renewing us day by day!!

PLEASE BE SURE TO SHARE with your contacts!

Blessed!
Kimberlie Jones

Due to the bad weather associated with Hurricane Harvey, First Baptist Rockport will be closed until further notice.

THERE WILL BE NO CHURCH SERVICES ON SUNDAY.

The office and building are closed and there will be no church services on Sunday.

Please remain safe and be in prayer for our community.

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