Last Wednesday night we had our first Congregational Meeting for 2017 (our by-laws call for four each year). Our meetings for the congregation are part business and part information and discussion. I would encourage you to participate whenever possible. The meetings last less than an hour and are usually filled with the kind of information you would want to receive.

Here are some of the results of that meeting.

In regard to business, we passed two recommendations.

First, First Baptist Church voted to call Maggie Fredericks as our Children’s Minister effectively immediately. Maggie is imminently qualified to serve in this capacity for a number of reasons. She has experience and education as well as commitment to Christ and His church. She has a passion to see children grow in the knowledge and service to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maggie was in the office Thursday as we planned for the future. She will return Monday morning on a full time basis.

One of the things we did Thursday was to put finishing touches on our children and preschool theming. We viewed the new children’s indoor playground. From the perspective of a pastor who sometimes sees through the eyes of a kid, it looked like a lot of fun to me!

Second, we voted on a direction for using the Forward Capital Campaign gifts to finish the project well, including landscaping, furniture and fixtures, signage, and current renovation of the children and preschool classrooms into adult space.

As part of that recommendation, we affirmed the Strategy Planning Team’s desire to use the remainder of the Forward gifts to shell in (construct the building but without finishing the interior) the Administrative Building in anticipation of completing the project in the future and turning the current admin space for use for our Special Needs Ministry. This will be done if funds are available.

In terms of information, we reported that Whitney Bank has bought our loan from First NBC (which should not affect our project in any negative way). We have not borrowed any money on the project to this point, but we anticipate beginning to take draws soon.

We also reported that an independent and assisted living facility will be build adjacent to us. This group wants to cater to our members and their families in hopes of giving easy access to FBC.

We were blessed with a good group of people to help us make these important decisions. Please pray for the leaders of our church and the decisions they lead us to make.