June 23, 2020

First Connect

www.fbcokc.org 405- 232-4255

FBCOKC – A family of faith, growing in God’s love, striving to be faithful.

Grace, grace. God’s grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within

Grace, grace, God’s grace

Grace that is greater than all our sin

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide

What can avail to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide

Whiter than snow you may be today

Grace changes everything! There have been times in my life when I made such a mess of things. Not on purpose really, but there it was. Disaster. I have been shown grace when I did not deserve it and it changed me. It humbled me. It made me want to extend that same grace to others in my life. Over and over again God reminds me of the grace that I need to face each moment of each day. How are you doing? Stressed? Joyful? Irritable? Overwhelmed by this year of all years? Most of us are living with some level of stress and grief right now. Which means none of us are at our best. Every single day I am reminded of my need to remain connected to God and to walk in his unearned grace.

Today I simply want to remind you that you are loved. Not because of anything you’ve done or said or posted online. You are loved because God made you. Be gracious to yourself. Remember that we all fall short of the glory of God and that God’s grace is there every single time to pick us back up. What can you do today to lean in to your relationship with God? What if you took time this week to memorize Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Or you could memorize James 4:6 “He gives us more grace. That is why scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

It is by the grace of God that we have been saved and we are called to walk in that same grace day in and day out. In a world full of knee-jerk reactors, be the cool head. Be the person who responds in love and grace. I fall short of this call every day. But it is my goal. It is my aim and I will wake up again each day and do my best to live this out. Sarah

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Love FBCOKC: W e are so blessed to have this w onderful and enormous facility as a church. For the past year we have had a book in the Commons available for you to use as a way to let us know when something needs attention. It is now located just outside the office. If you see a light out or something non-urgent that needs repair, please put it in the book. Lonnie Stearns, our Facilities Manager, checks the book daily and will update the book with notes as he and his crew work hard to maintain this beautiful church. Thank you for helping us!

FBCOKC Reopening Plans:

Phase 2 w ill begin in July. We will resume Sunday morning Bibles Study on July 5th. At that point we will have all the main doors unlocked on Sunday mornings as usual. Reminder, we lock the Robinson street doors at 10:45am every Sunday morning and encourage anyone coming at that point to use the North or South Doors.

Please continue to use caution. The number of cases in Oklahoma continues to rise. Let’s all do our best to wash our hands often, wear masks (recommended not required) and practice social distancing (was that even a concept last year?!?). You all are fantastic and have done a great job caring for one another.

Phase 3 w ill likely begin July 8 th. Wednesday nights will look different for a while! Gary and I met with the Kitchen Crew last week and came up with a plan.

We will not be serving meals on Wednesday nights until September. We plan to have the dining hall open starting at 5pm if you want to bring your own meal or just come and visit (from a distance).

We will have 6pm Prayer Time and Bible Study. We are dreaming about what Wednesday nights might look like in the Fall.

There will be no First Family Singer Choir rehearsal or Sanctuary Choir rehearsal for now.

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Keep Taking Shots

When I was young, my dream was to play basketball in the NBA. I carried around a basketball everywhere I went. My dad was the Minister of Recreation at our church so I had access to a gym almost all the time. Growing up in the 90’s, I idolized Michael Jordan and The Chicago Bulls. Even when I was sup-posed to be asleep in my room, I would sneak out of bed and shoot hoops on my mini nerf-basketball goal attached to my bedroom door. I got away with it until I got too noisy pretending I was MJ dunking on Patrick Ewing and I woke my parents up. My favorite piece of clothing at that time was a NO FEAR t-shirt that said this on the back:

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

By the time my mom made me throw it away, it had holes, stains, and wasn’t the same color as when I first bought it. I loved how the shirt made me feel. I meditated on the message during practices and games, always reveling in that opportunity when I would get my hands on the ball and take a shot. As you can guess, I didn’t fulfill my dream of playing in the NBA. I kind of stopped growing at 5’10. If the Thunder ever need me, though, I’m willing to entertain their offer. Michael Jordan missed more than 9000 shots in his career, lost more than 300 games, and 26 times was trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. In response to this, he says:

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

I’m going to keep taking shots. I’m going to keep trying even though I know I will fail. Because the moment I quit trying I cease to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I’m going to keep trying to love people who I disagree with, people who belong to a different political party, people who have different theological convictions, people who dislike me, people who offend me, people who are hard to love. The easiest thing to do is bail on anyone who says something you don’t agree with or respond with righteous indignation. But I refuse to give up on people because Jesus never gave up on me. He never will. The mark (or at least one of) of a mature Christian is the ability to disagree with their neighbor yet still love them fully.

I’m going to keep taking shots. I’m going to love my black brothers and sisters the best I know how. I know I will fail, say the wrong thing, or be blind to my own prejudices. But I’m not giving up. I cannot imagine the centuries of pain, struggle, violence, hatred, and injustices the African-American community has endured. But I will sit with you in your brokenness, listen to your stories, and learn from you. I will risk entering into uncomfortable conversations because my comfort is not what is most important. In fact, we will not grow as the people of God if we are not willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of the oppressed.

I’m going to keep taking shots. I’m going to keep cultivating seeds of joy in gardens of despair. I’m going to keep trusting that the God of all Creation knows better than me. I’m going to keep hoping in what my eyes cannot see and believing in miracles large and small. I’m going to keep leaning into the mystery of God and learning how much I don’t know.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. So I’m going to keep taking shots and I’m sure I’ll miss some. You will, too. But I’m not giving up on you and you don’t give up on me.

Brad

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Loving Our Community This Summer

During recent months, many people have been asking how we can help to serve our community. One of the ways has been the continued service of food distribution through Care-ForOKC. But this summer, we have 2 additional ways to love our community.

First, on August 16th, we will be hosting the American Red Cross for a community-wide blood drive. It will be from 9a-3p in our Dining Hall. If you’d like to donate blood, we would love it if you would make plans to donate on the 16th.

Second, we are holding our annual School Supply Drive now through August 9th. We are partnering with Thelma Parks Elementary School and Positive Tomorrows. Thelma Parks partners with Restore OKC in the gathering of school supplies and uniforms. We will gather supplies all summer, and then have a back-to-school service on Sunday morning, August 9th.

For both schools, you can use the list below for purchasing school supplies. Restore OKC also has an Amazon Wish List if you would like to buy supplies online. Email Andrew Bowles (andrewbowles@fbcokc.org) for the Amazon link.

Restore OKC will be doing a bulk order of school uniforms for Thelma Parks, so if you would like to donate money toward their goal of $5,000, please email Andrew for that donation link, as well.

Thank you for being a church that loves our community well! Let’s use these opportunities to continue to bring hope to our city.

Andrew

Thrive Marriage Conference Rescheduled

We are excited to announce that after coordinating with our special guests, we have rescheduled the THRIVE Marriage Conference for February 12-13, 2021! More details will be announced in the coming months, but it’s never too early to start making Valentines Day plans. We hope you will join us next February!

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Budget Report:

Includes contributions through: June

Budget Requirements thus far (thru the Month of June) 297,213.00

Budget Receipts Received Thus Far 246,102.56

Budget Requirements-Month 49,535.50

Budget Receipts Received This Period 24,547.00

Received to Date (%) For Current Month 50%

Received to Date (%) For Year (thru June) 83%

Re-Opening Plan for Adult Bible Study Groups on Sunday, July 5

Adult Bible Study Groups will begin meeting in-person at FBCOKC on Sunday, July 5th at 9:30am! Check out the details/plan for each group below. Each group will be practicing social distance in their meeting spaces.

Chapel Class – Will be meeting in the Fellowship Hall (south side of room) on the Ground Floor . Contact Toni Adams for more information.

Righteous Renegades & Discovery Class – Both groups will be meeting together spaced out in the main coffee shop area. The Coffee Shop is located on the Ground Floor. These groups normally use side rooms in the Coffee Shop but both groups will stay in the large open area. Joey Clifton and Marie Davis will be sharing teaching responsibilities. Contact Joey or Marie for more information.

Good Shepherd Class – Will be meeting in their normal space in CareForOKC. Contact Alan Hicks for more information.

Higher Ground – Will be meeting in the Parlor on the Ground Floor next to the Chapel. Please note this is a change to their normal location on the 3rd floor. Contact Christi McConnell for more information.

30-Somethings – Will be meeting in their normal room on the 3rd floor. Contact Victoria Malony for more information.

20-Somethings – Will be meeting in their normal room on the 3rd floor. Contact Ariel Koerner for more information.