FBC Gallatin,
The last month of sermons and our members meeting in August, marks a significant renewed way forward at FBC. Starting with the Matthew 23 sermon titled “Religious Hard Hearts”, moving to the sermon on redeeming contentious communion from 1 Corinthians 11, to then hearing pastor Wood and Ashley’s truth in love letter at the great members meeting after service, followed by the Genesis 50 sermon titled; “God Turned it for Good” the next week, and then finally, circling back to the renewed way forward that was not really new, but renewed or revitalized revisiting the Ephesians 4:11-16 sermon I preached on my candidating weekend 5 years ago titled; “Still The Way Christ Builds His Church.” The renewed way forward is characterized by truth and love honesty, and direct and open speech, with pastors continuing to lead and protect, deacons serving and supporting, and the congregation being equipped to make biblical decisions together as meaningful involved church members using their gifts.
Thankfully, we have seen a lot of this already in the life of our church, but the challenge from God’s Word, and the honest realization of areas of weakness on this front, has led us all to rethink and even repent of sinful patterns of the past, and move forward to new biblical patterns in the future. Surprisingly, and also very encouragingly, the fruit of this change is already evident, and I am so proud of our church for responding to God’s Word and making tremendous decisions together to support pastor Wood well through transition, and also to put forward biblical expectations and accountability for how ministry is going to be conducted at FBC going forward, with people who are actually here at FBC to conduct the ministry together as God’s Word instructs.
And forward we go with exciting ministry ahead, including our Fall 2024 semester of discipleship table talks starting in late September going through Kevin DeYoung’s book “Just Do Something” on the topic of God’s will. We will also explore the doctrine of salvation in our theology talks, and discuss video teachings on marriage and family in our discipleship and counseling portion of the meetings. Furthermore, we will be pausing our Matthew series (planning on picking that back up in January), and returning to our series in 1 Timothy titled “Healthy Church” that was put on hold in December due to conflict, but we will pick right back up in chapter 2 starting in September, 9 months later after pausing it. And as our centered church commitments put forward, we will continue to prioritize expository preaching, intentional discipleship, and the Great Commission to the glory of God and the good of the church to build up meaningful church members who are gathering, participating, and caring for one another, to then reach out to others with the gospel using our gifts and biblical truth that we are equipped with and built up in by each other as we speak the truth in love.
Another new and notable practice we have already seen the last few weeks and will continue for the time being, is our post service “ask anything about anything” pastor update and Q&A that happens every week after the service ends and the livestream is over. This is a way for us to talk to each other, not about one another, and for us to all participate in understanding the renewed way forward, and to encourage each other by using our gifts to build each other up in love.
If you have any question about any of this, please reach out to pastor Wood and I as we are available to discuss and answer any questions you might have, and to even receive any kind of feedback that you might have either publicly on Sundays after service, or if you’d like to meet with us at another time. We are praying for you all church, and we are so excited about the Lord’s work in our church! Would you also pray for me and pastor Wood? That we would continue to obey God’s Word and lead our church even when leading can be hard, and that the Lord would continue to help lead pastor Wood in transition? We need your prayers, really, we all need each other’s prayers, as change can be hard, but I believe God is using all of this for His glory and our good as Romans 8 reminds us and as we have been singing quite a bit the last month together!
Respectfully,
Pastor Daniel Pelichowski
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