2026 October news-letter article

Happy new year, church!

Just three hours before I sat down to write this article, we approved a budget, and a series of nominations, and a few new members.  Let me thank every one of you that were in our Sanctuary this evening.  Thank you for what you did, and more importantly, the spirit with which you did it.  Within that budget, we just took a quarter-million dollars we received about a decade ago, and elected to (over the next five years) spend it.  Two fifths (plus some interest it’s earned) we will use to invest in our building and property.  Yes there is a degree of “spending it on ourselves” that we’ll do, but ultimately, we want to use it to be good stewards, maintaining that which we already have, and making it better for those who will follow after us.

Three fifths, as we decided tonight, we’ll give away.  I could not be any more excited about this than I am right now.  We have a new committee (that you just elected) who will prayerfully consider who we already have partnerships with, and who we may cultivate partnerships with, and how we can bless others, maximizing Kingdom impact!  I know that $150,000 can only go so far, but I hope that we can invest right here in Walnut Cove, and to the ends of the earth, and anywhere in between.  I hope we can invest in church planters and clandestine missionaries.  I hope we can find ways to increase literacy and protect the unborn, clothe the naked and feed the hungry.  We must do our part to adopt the fatherless, and provide for the widow (James 1:27).  Perhaps we will even help provide shelter for the homeless and visit those in prison.  If we want to be found faithful, hearing “come… inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” then we WILL care faithfully for the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40).  As we love our neighbors, near and far, we must plead for God to take our offerings, multiply them as only He can, and give us platforms from which to proclaim the great Good News of salvation in Jesus’ name.  Ultimately, we do all these things in an effort to see souls saved and lives changed!  Join me now, in praying for God to give us wisdom as we discern where to go and with whom to partner.  The vision that God would have us see is found in Revelation 5:9; the mission is found in Matthew 28:19-20; we just need to yield to the Holy Spirit’s leadership as we strive to be faithful.

During and after we talked about the dollars and cents, I was encouraged by the shift our collective discussion took.  Since the 2020 pandemic, frankly, we have struggled to build and sustain momentum within our student ministry.  Luke tried and tried to regather the kiddos, but to no avail.  Braydon tried to rebuild a group of youth from the bottom, up.  This summer, I have tried personally to get our middle and high school students in the same place, at the same time.  This is a frustration that has broken my heart, and it’s broken many of your hearts too.  Allow me to find a silver lining here: what I heard expressed tonight was a collective burden that our church family shares.  We heard it from parents and grandparents, and from others that have no real personal reason to care about ministries to the next generation.  Thank you, each of you, that shared your heart on this matter.  Thank you also, to the many who didn’t say anything out loud, but nodded along.  I sense a unified willingness to do whatever it takes to invest in our young people, to reach more young people, and to maintain ministry to our next generation as a high priority in our church.

Join me in doing your part (and yes, YOU have a part) to pray for our young people (those within our church family, and their friends beyond); pray for their families, that Mom and Dad will be faithful disciple-makers at home; pray for our Personnel Committee, that they will have wisdom to discern who God is sending our way and that they have the patience to await His timing.  Finally, please, pray for me.  I have been mulling on this for about four months now (each year I like to have a “big thing” that I work on organizationally), and the conversation this evening solidified my leaning: my personal “one big thing” for 2026-27 is middle and high school student ministry.  Pray that I have some free evenings to go to ball games.  Pray that I have the energy to keep up during a lock-in.  Pray that God will give us opportunities to partner alongside other churches to give more exciting events, trips, etc. to our young people.  Pray that God will work in and through me to equip our own young people to be ministers/missionaries in their own class rooms.  Pray these things over yourself too?

As I mentioned already, thank you for the decisions you’ve made, but thank you all the more, for the spirit in which you made them.  I am always encouraged by the humility with which we conduct our business.  We as a church family are always quick to set aside personal agendas, seeking instead for God’s will to be done.  We may see random issues from different perspectives, we may even disagree on a decision from time to time, but we strive to walk in unity, loving one another at every step along the way!  Our unity, remember, is not in conformity of opinion.  Our unity is found in Jesus the Christ, and He is the one who binds us together as brothers/sisters!  We have profoundly gifted leaders, our committees work so efficiently, and I am always reminded that of all our great resources to steward, the greatest is people.

Our church turned 135 years old this year.  I doubt He will, but should King Jesus tarry another 135 years, what will become of the First Baptist Church?  Will Walnut Cove remain a better place because we (or our spiritual descendants) are still here?  Will we still be faithful to obey and proclaim God’s Word?  Will we still be committed to the Great Commission?  I’d like to think that our spiritual ancestors, 135 years ago, envisioned generations of souls being saved and lives being changed right here in Stokes County.  I believe they, and the many generations since, prayed for us, you and me, who would be here today.  It also seems to me that pondering what, or rather who, was yet to come spurred them on to love and good works those many years ago.  I believe Rev. Sidney F. Conrad, and the flock of his day, were very simply committed to biblical fidelity, striving to obey the Great Commission, attempting to steward that which was entrusted to them, faithfully.  May the same be said of us.

We’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord,
trusting in His holy Word; He’s never failed me yet.
O, we can’t turn back; we’ve come this far by faith.
In Jesus’ name, we press on;
dear Lord, with the prize clear before our eyes,
we find the strength, to press on!
--A.J.