June News Highlights

This June, we heard about churches reaching out to their communities through thank-you events for firefighters, outreach initiatives aimed at growing the church and sharing the love of Christ, marking the end of the school year with their children’s programs, pastoral transitions and more. These churches are showing God’s love, trusting His timing and celebrating His faithfulness. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Launching into Summer
Tri-County Baptist Church, Damascus, runs a Sunday night program called Blast for elementary schoolers during the school year. Students participate in small groups, Bible study, crafts, and games. They recently celebrated the end of the session with their annual rocket launch.

“Each Blast kid gets to decorate a rocket using stickers and decorations, and then we launch the rockets off. We typically have hot dogs and snacks, and the church comes out and we watch the rockets go,” Irene Perron, Director of Children’s Ministries at TCBC, said. “It’s a really chill night and the kids look forward to it each year… even the kids who have done rockets since pre-K, and this is like their sixth, seventh rocket they’re doing, they still are into it.”

This was the eighth year for the Blast rocket launch this May. They launched rockets for all 17 children they had in the program this year. Around 40 people were in attendance at the rocket launch, including church members and other friends and families of the children in the program.

Perron has been working with Blast since it began, and she’s been leading the program for around four years.

“My favorite thing about Blast is what I learn from the kids,” Perron said. “Even as an adult, the conversations and the questions the kids ask are amazing, and that to me is the best part. Just getting to get to know the kids, how they see the Bible, what they’re learning, and how they think about things.”

Perron said she’s worked with children for years and is excited to see how God has been working in their lives. “Some of these kids who are in fourth and fifth grade, and I’ve seen how they’ve grown since they were three or four years old.”

Church Rallies to Help Boy Raise Funds for Down Syndrome
An elementary school-aged boy named Sam, who attends Berlin First Baptist Church, decided he wanted to raise funds to help support the Racing for 3.21 National Down Syndrome Society Day and the church allowed him to put out a jar to collect funds. Children’s Ministry Director Shannon Diehl said the church didn’t sponsor the fundraiser, but wanted to help Sam. And members responded! Between his class at school and the church, Sam raised over $3,300.00,

Diehl attributes the response to Sam’s fundraiser to the church’s emphasis on disability ministry. The church has events every other rmonth geared towards individuals with disabilities. They’ve hosted a special needs VBS, a Pajama Jam, and more. Diehl said, “We have birthday parties every three months to celebrate the kids and young adults. Families send in the wish list for the birthday person and we buy gifts. We have cake. We always have food that’s gluten-free. We are starting a youth group for students grade 6 and up, including young adults. Our events are always themed.

“I think that our church supports each other as family, and that is why they gave so much!” Diehl said. “I do think that our church’s love for the community of individuals with needs and disabilities helped in Sam’s fundraising goals. It is a passion that our church family has to see these individuals reached with the gospel.”

Donna Schwab and John Hilton (not pictured) delivered a huge lunch to the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department. The meal was a thank you, and also a way to show them the church cares for them. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Moore

Demonstrating Gratitude to First Responders
First Baptist Church of Damascus showed their appreciation to the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department by providing lunch for the men and women working there.

“I called the local fire department and spoke to the captain, and he was very excited about the idea, because a lot of people drop off stuff, but we wanted to drop off an entire meal,” said FBC Pastor Danny Moore. “So he told us what time to bring it so that it would be available for both shifts. We got fried chicken from our local market and then our church members made custards, baked beans, cakes and side salad… just all kinds of food.”

The church was inspired to show how thankful they were for the fire department through this outreach after the first responders showed up for them.

“We have one of our members who is going through a lot of heart issues, and over two months, he’d probably been picked up by our local ambulance crew at least six times,” Moore said. “It just made us realize just how grateful we are for these guys, and just wanted to say thank you.”

Moore said, “The most important thing is that everybody there — they have like 17 men and women —  knew that without a doubt that they’re appreciated. That’s really all it matters.”

The members of FBC Damascus were glad that they were able to give back to the fire department. Though this was their first time with an outreach like this, they plan to further the impact in the future.

“The church was so excited about it that they wanted to make it an annual event,” Moore said with a laugh. “So, yeah, we’ll be doing that in May every year. That’s all we’ve done so far, but we’re definitely looking to not only serve the fire department, but there are always local policemen who are assigned to your area, so our next goal is to find out how to reach them.”

New Pastor Aims to Reach the Community
Grace Baptist Church of Sunset Beach, Pasadena, Pastor Chris Mauger, began his ministry at the church on March 31 after serving two decades as an International Mission Board missionary, and is leading the congregation in reaching out to their community. Recent events have included a movie night, followed by a Hymn Sing and an ice cream bar.

The movie night featured a play on, “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” based on the 2021 animated science fiction comedy. Mauger said the church did a great job, with a red carpet, backdrop, and a photo area for fun. They also used a PowerPoint projector and made the screen big. Mauger said, “I was impressed. And the sound system was set up so that it really sounded like movie theater-ish. So that was pretty cool.”

On June 29 the church had a hymn sing, with pick your favorite music and testimonies. It was also BYOI: Bring Your Own Instrument. Following the hymn sing, everyone gathered for an ice cream bar.

North Glen Church’s Kingdom Kids Grow and Serve
Children’s Ministry Leader Kim Gayleord says the Kingdom Kids program at North Glen Community Church, Glen Burnie, has been expanding and serving. At the church’s monthly mobile food pantry that serves hundreds of families, several Kingdom Kids came out and, at one point, took charge of organizing and bagging food, in addition to helping with intake and distribution. Gayleord said, “I was so amazed at what they were doing.”

The kids are also participating more in the Sunday worship service, singing with the praise band, and being engaged. One 10-year-old boy named Hunter recently made a confession of faith and was baptized. He recently asked Gayleord about taking communion. Gayleord said she took him aside and went over his understanding of salvation, and he was strong in his responses. She then explained the elements and had communion with him during the next Lord’s supper with the church.

The church has an annual Pentecost festival each year. They have an outdoor worship service, followed by a block party with free food, kids’ games, live music, and inflatables. Several people stopped by the prayer table. Gayleord said she counted 21 children who attended the event this year, much higher than usual. The kids especially enjoyed an inflatable water slide to keep them cool on the nearly 100-degree day.

Transitions
Phil Graves, the pastor of The Crossings, Brunswick, a replant of First Baptist Church of Brunswick, has accepted a call to pastor Lake Lynn Baptist Church in North Carolina. Phil, his wife Kristie, and their family will move in August. Phil preached his last sermon as pastor of The Crossings on June 29. For the service, Phil said, “We got to pick out our favorite hymns.” He and Kristie chose “Glorious Day,” “Graves Into Ashes,” “Worthy of It All,” and “Goodness of God.” Justin Wycoff, who has co-pastored the church for the past six years with Graves as pastor/elder, will continue to minister at the church.

The Graves family (l-r) Ethan, Kara, Brizzy, Owen, Kristie, and Phil, with the little dog – Millie, and the big dog, Bindi) (Photo courtesy of the Graves family)

The church had a party for the Graves, with members, family and friends, on June 29 and allowed Phil and Kristie to pick the food, “a Taco Nacho bar,” which Phil said was “amazing.” Members presented Phil with a plaque commemorating his 14 years of ministry at FBC Brunswick/The Crossings, and also presented the Graves’ with a specially commissioned pencil drawing of their family in front of the church.

Phil said he will continue to meet on Zoom with Wycoff, not only to encourage him, but also for Wycoff’s input and encouragement. He said the two have worked together for six years and are good friends.

Phil told members that he wants to develop a sister relationship between churches. “I’m going to lead the new church to be a supporting church of The Crossings, and encourage you to be a supporting church of Lake Lynn Baptist Church — to pray, love, and encourage each other.” He also envisions each church sending teams to help one another.

Phil served with FBC Brunswick and then Crossings for 14 years. Wycoff, with his wife, Maggie, began serving as co-pastor six years ago. Two years ago, the historic FBC Brunswick building needed expensive repairs, and the church needed a fresh start. They sold the building, used a portion of the funds to help with the re-plant, and invested the remainder in the Baptist Foundation of Maryland/Delaware to grow for when the replant will need property. Currently, they’re meeting at the Steadman-Keenan American Legion Hall.

Phil and Kristie made news across the world when they adopted two daughters affected by special needs in Romania and Ukraine. They travelled to Armenia in 2016 and 2017 to get Elliana, and five years later they travelled to Ukraine to get Brizzy, — just as Russia had invaded Ukraine!

Phil, who owns All Saints Media, has also helped the BCM/D and many Maryland/Delaware churches with web and media support. He will continue the business from his home in North Carolina.

Send you church news to [email protected] for consideration. 

This column was curated by Summer Intern Alethia Brown and News Editor Sharon Mager