A week in the life of FBC Norwich

It's been a typical week at First Baptist with meetings, appointments, mid week worship and ongoing work at the church.

On Monday we did our catch up from the weekend and updated the web page and started working on the Sunday bulletin for the 11th. Later that evening we had two committee meetings.

Mary Brockway and the Stewardship Committee met to talk about our Fall Fundraising campaign. Every year we take a few weeks in November to talk about giving and to lay out our hopes for the ministry in the coming year. We have a theme and we play with a little bit by using skits, testimonies and some kind of graphic aid. The point is this: God calls us to share what we have to do his work. If you and I believe in this ministry, then we need to support it or else it won't happen. Every member of the church is called on to give some financial support and to make themselves available in some way to make ministry happen.

Our theme this year will be "Fill My Cup Lord." We haven't got all the details worked out yet but I can tell you this. We are asking everyone to bring their favorite mug or cup to church with them on November 1st as we gather to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Our members and friends will be getting a special invite in the next two weeks with more information.

In another room at the church on Monday night, our missional church committee was meeting to make plans for the next two Saturdays. We will be distributing flyers to the neighborhood this coming Saturday at 9:00 a.m. announcing the coat and sweater giveaway. anyone who wants to walk and pray through the neighborhood is invited to come along. We'll be heading over to High Street and the apartment complex across from the church. On the following Saturday, October 17th, we will load up the church van and head over to Jenkins Park with the coats and sweaters and set up for the giveaway. If you have a smile, come be part of the fun. It should be a great day. The missional team also is asking folks to bring in baked goods for Sunday, October 18th. After church we will be heading up to American Ambulance to express our appreciation with their employees for all they do. We'll take cookies, cupcakes and whatever you want to bake up.

On Tuesday morning I met with a young women to talk about a memorial service for her husband. He died much too young. They will be coming to the church for the service on Thursday, October 15th. After she left I worked on my stuff for Sunday. I chose the hymns and fleshed out the sermon a little bit more.

On Tuesday night the choir met to practice for Sunday. They always have a lot of fun and recently there have been giggles aplenty. We chose the anthem for Sunday and also settled on our anthem to share at the Annual choir festival on November 11th. We miss George Rezendes this Fall. The rest of the group is pretty much the same. There's always an empty set left for anyone who God calls to join us.

While we were meeting downstairs, Pastor Song was meeting for study with members of his congregation in the parlor. They have been meeting every Tuesday night from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. this Fall.

On Wednesday morning Ray Deptulski was here early to meet with the heating company who was doing some work on our furnaces. They came in to clean them and to fix a problem that had developed with the burner that heats the chapel and fellowship hall. We had learned on Sunday that the Tech School would not be able to do the work to replace our heating system as we had hoped. so now we had to act on an interim plan. Ray noticed that there was some smoke escaping from the chamber and he became concerned about co2 emissions. The guys from Brayman heating were here for two days cleaning and fixing the problem.

At 4:30 p.m. the Girl Scout arrived. They meet here three weeks a month and have a great time together. We've had a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop here at First Baptist church going back to the early part of the 20th century. I remember reading about Rev. Edward Dunbar being a Scoutmaster in the 1920's. In the sixties and seventies many of the men volunteered to lead including Merv Leffingwell and Paul Lorraine, two very prominent members.

On Wednesday night we hosted our mid week worship and prayer service. Gwyn Green led us in singing and then I preached the second in a series of sermons based upon the Lord's prayer. I focused on the idea of God as our Father. Jesus changed the image of God from Creator, King, holy other to the familiar when he told us to pray to our heavenly Father. It means we have a more personal direct line of communication with God than we ever dreamed possible. After the message the seventeen of us present offered up prayers for family and friends. Among those we prayed for were the animal control officer in Plainfield, my grandmother Barbara Hayes, Joe Mineau, Wendy Dart's friend Rick Hewitt, The Milligan family, and several family members and friends...

On Thursday morning we finished up the Sunday bulletin and got things ready for Sunday here by putting out our sheets in the back of the sanctuary for address changes and for volunteer opportunities. I had a meeting up at the Pierce Memorial Baptist Home at noon. I am the current chairman of the board. We met with representatives of the other Baptist home in Connecticut to talk about the challenges facing our nursing homes in this economic downturn.

I got back to church at 3:00 p.m. and met Ray Deptulski and George Rezendes to program the thermostats in the church. George has been doing it for many years now. Since he is living in Rhode Island he came by to teach Ray how to do it. We should be all set now. Thankfully, George is still only a phone call away. Now that the furnaces are up and running and the thermostats are set, we need to find a way to pay for the heating oil.

On Thursday night the Trustees met to talk about our expenses. the meeting began with a presentation by our financial adviser, Steve Adeletti from UBS Securities. He gave us some good news. Our investments are up over 16% this year. Of course that still doesn't bring us back to where we were in December of 2007. But we'll take it. The trustees noted that pledging is a little behind and we may have to cut some things as we come to the end of the year. The good news is that the Stewardship committee and Budget committee will be getting things ready for next year very soon and we hope that there will be more good news as we look ahead.

The Property committee met just prior to the Trustees and they celebrated the fact that they had a long list of accomplishments this year and were excited as they began making plans for next year. they'll be requesting about $5,500 in the budget for projects like upgraded lighting in the sanctuary, resodding the front lawn, painting the foundation outside and in various areas inside, and more landscaping outside. We have a great group of members on the property committee and they love to work.

Well that brings us to Friday morning. I usually lay low on Fridays. I take time off or finish working on my sermon. his morning I made a call to Joe Mineau and we prayed together. Tonight I'm looking forward to meeting Kristy Engle, our missionary to the Dominican Republic. She'll be at Central Baptist and they have invited us to a pot luck supper so we can hear about her ministry. Some of our members have asked about going on mission trips to other places and the Dominican Republic is certainly on that list. If you are free, you might want to come along and check it out. Dinner is at 5:30 p.m. at Central Baptist.

Well there you have it. This was a typical week in the life of our church. It's been fun and now I can't wait until Sunday when the whole family gets together again. We'll have special music by the choir and a family dedication as part of our worship. Rebecca and Jason Matteau will be bringing their daughter Sarah forward to ask God's blessing on them. It should be a great day. My message will be on encouraging one another in faith. sop come along and join the fun.

Cal