How well do you know the FBR staffer Lois Chambon?

The staff at First Baptist Raytown is the best! If you haven’t taken time to meet some of our staff, I encourage you to take time to get to know our incredible staff family which serves the people of FBR and the community daily.

Every month in the Advance, we feature one staff member, and this month just happens to be none other than Lois Chambon. Lois has served FBR as a pastoral ministry assistant for 17 years. Her areas of expertise include serving the deacon ministry, ministering to families or individuals who have suffered an illness or death in the family, and maintaining a very detailed prayer list. Not only is Lois great at what she does, but she is great to be around. Lois’ great moods are infectious and she has a great passion for our church body. If you’ve experienced the reach of Lois’ ministry, you know how lucky FBR is to have her on board.

Here’s what you may have read in the August Advance:

Q. What would you say you do here? Your role at FBR?
A. I am an assistant in Pastoral Ministries, and I do outreach in my Bible study department.

Q. Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know …
A. I was very shy.

Q. What’s your favorite TV series?
A. Wheel of Fortune

Q. What’s your favorite movie?
A. Gone With the Wind

Q. What’s your idea of a perfect day?
A. Being able to just relax.

Q. What’s one of your proudest moments?
A. When my son, Greg, graduated from medical school.

Q. What was your first job?
A. Secretary at Sears

Q. What famous person do people tell you that you look like?
A. Rosemary Hoover

Q. What’s something God’s been teaching you lately you didn’t know before?
A. Flexibility

Q. What inspires you?
A. Christian friends

 

But… here are some things you may not know about Lois:

Her greatest indulgence is ice cream (her favorite is butter pecan)

She would love to visit Hawaii because it is beautiful and serene on Maui

She loves baked potatoes

As a child, she wanted to be a school teacher

She enjoys reading Reader’s Digest

Her favorite color is peach

She enjoys snacking on Snickers

She enjoys listening to classical music

 

Try It, You Might Like It

Food Issues

I’ll admit it. I have weird food issues. I’ve had them since I was a kid. My family loves to reminisce about my issues with ketchup and mustard on a McDonald’s hamburger when I was like five or six years old. To this day, I can barely stand to go into a McDonald’s during lunch or dinner due to bad smell memories. I know. I’m weird, but I’m OK with that. I like what I like.

In the past, certain people in my life have tried to change me and my issues with food. Sometimes they have been successful, and other times they haven’t. The times they have been successful, I have grown to appreciate a new type of food or even gained a new favorite restaurant.

Just Try It

So, the catch phrase with getting others to try out new food is always, “Just try it. You might like it.” We use it all the time on children and even some adults, like me! It’s always difficult to judge something such as a new food when we haven’t tried it before. My problem is that I judge a lot of foods based on my own previous experiences with similar types of foods. I should do a better job of listening to others’ testimonies about the food rather than jumping to conclusions before I try it for myself.

Experiment With Giving

Giving kind of works the same way. A lot of believers have jumped to conclusions about giving based on negative personal experiences in the past. They just know that they don’t like the idea of giving consistently and sacrificially. They would rather spend that money on other needs and wants in their life. The non-givers and occasional givers haven’t really given the whole giving thing a fair shot. They’ve maybe taken a little nibble, but they haven’t really dived in and really tasted what it’s like to be a regular giver. They need to listen more to the awesome giving stories of others who have stepped out in faith and experienced God’s blessing on their lives as a result.

The most dedicated, consistent, and generous givers started somewhere. Perhaps, they began with placing extra cash from their wallets in the offering plate on Sunday morning. Then, as they grew in their personal financial management and spiritual life, they began to understand the need to grow in their generosity. The key, though, is to get going and growing. Experiment with giving. What do you have to lose, but maybe a few hundred dollars as you try this giving thing out? God has some really cool stuff planned for your life if you will just live out a life of generosity. Try God, try giving, and see what He starts doing in your life as a result!

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:10).

Are you a marginal, occasional giver? Have you really dived in and experimented with a life of sold-out financial generosity? Why not challenge yourself to 30, 60, or even 90 days of intentional, regular, generous, off-the-top, and proportional giving back to God through the ministries of First Baptist Raytown and see what God does in your life as a result? I can promise you this, you will never be the same person if you do!

Generosity is a Two-Way Street …

One evening, after a particularly difficult week for our family, we went out to dinner with all of our kids. Seated across the room from us were two of my parent’s closest friends. Since my parents had both passed away, these friends were a bridge to our hearts.

Knowing that this couple was on a fixed income and things had been difficult for them, Lori and I leaned in and thought at the same time, “Let’s anonymously pay for their dinner.” I immediately arranged the payment of their bill with our waitress and began feeling particularly generous about how we had helped them.

As we finished our meal, I was able to get our waitress’s attention to let her know we were ready for our own bill. She arrived at the table with a big smile on her face and said, “Someone else paid for your meal tonight.”

Later, we found out that there were some different friends of ours eating in another part of the restaurant and saw our family come in. They evidently had a similar conversation at their table about how they wanted to bless our family. These friends had no idea that we had just been a blessing to this older couple. They just wanted to be a blessing to our family.

Just when I started feeling pretty good about helping someone else, God overwhelmed us with an even more generous act of kindness. Our meal was definitely not inexpensive. We had 3 teenagers at our table, and you know how teens can put it away!

Random acts of kindness can be for people we know and, more importantly, for those we don’t know. Through living out a lifestyle of generosity to those around us, we are able to express the generous love of God.

Over the next 30 days, let me challenge you to live out a life of generosity. Be a blessing to those around you, and then watch and see how the Lord blesses your life in amazing ways. “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25).

Download your copy of 101 Ways to Celebrate Generosity through time, money, energy, and talents, by visiting http://www.firstbaptistraytown.com/celebrategenerosity/

Celebrate Generosity | 30 Days to a More Generous Life

Jesus Talked About Money

The Gospel of Jesus revolves around money and generosity. In fact, our Lord spoke a lot about money while He lived here on Earth. One out of every seven verses in the first three gospels speaks on the subject of money. One-third (16 of 38) parables that Jesus taught were on the topic of money. Fifteen percent of everything that Jesus said as recorded in the four gospels was about money. He spoke on money twice as much as prayer and faith combined. The Kingdom of God is the only subject that Jesus gave more attention than money.

How We Use Our Money Reflects Our Heart

Why would Jesus spend so much time preaching and teaching on the subject of money? Jesus knows that we all have money issues! He knows that in the world’s culture, money has a strong pull in the life of His followers to become our heart’s primary affection. The American culture repeatedly tells us that we’re not successful unless we have the nice house, a brand new car, trendy clothes, and massive retirement account. As Christians, we get lured into believing and pursuing the great “American dream” instead of pursuing God’s Kingdom.

God wants our hearts. He desires our complete affection. He wants us to be crazy in love with Him, and this is why His Word talks so much about money. He doesn’t want to compete with money and possessions that we have a tendency to set up as a god in our lives. The method through which we demonstrate our love for God above money is generosity.

In 2 Corinthians 8:7, the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” The Lord wants all of us to become excellent in our giving. He wants us to grow and mature in our faith through giving generously back to Him.

A New Sermon Series – Celebrate Generosity

Beginning this Sunday, October 31 through November 21, our pastor will be preaching a new sermon series entitled “Celebrate Generosity.” In this short, four-week series, we will be learning what the Bible says about generosity as well as hearing testimonies from those who have experienced God’s blessing in their lives through the giving of their time, abilities, and finances. Please join with us as we learn more about generosity and discover how to excel in this grace of giving.

The  30 Day Challenge

As a part of the sermon series, we are calling the church to a 30 Day Challenge in order for each of us to grow in our spirit of generosity. Begin looking for opportunities to demonstrate the love of Jesus to others through giving of your time, energy, abilities, and money. As you grow in your generous spirit this month, I know that you will have incredible stories to tell your church family. If you have a generosity story that you would like to share, please email me at ljones@firstbaptistraytown.com. I’m excited to see how God is going to use each one of us in a special way as we bless those around us in the next 30 days.

For a list of 101 Ways to Celebrate Generosity through time, money, energy, and talents click the graphic below.

Click to view

 

Hello, my name is: Brooks Lytle

If you have not had the privilege of meeting our Director of Facilities Brooks Lytle, let me take a moment to get you acquainted. Brooks has the arduous task of overseeing all of the FBR facility maintenance and grounds. Those tasks include everything from maintaining the heating and cooling systems to ordering toilet paper to coordinating volunteers to plow the parking lots in winter. Brooks has a very demanding job, but, if you know Brooks, you know that he does that job with a smile and usually has a joke or two to share while he’s working.

Brooks has been instrumental in saving our church money by coordinating volunteers and finding less expensive alternatives when possible. Brooks and our volunteer snow removal crew have saved the church over $30,000 this winter by working round the clock to keep our parking lots and sidewalks clean. Brooks and his volunteer mowing crew save a huge amount in the spring and summer as well. Even though Brooks has only been at First Baptist for a couple of years, you can tell that he loves this church very much by the way he takes care of us. Thank you, Brooks!

Brooks joined the staff at First Baptist in 2007. He has 25 years experience in commercial maintenance and construction, and his previous positions included serving as Director of Operations at Ward Parkway Center and as President and Owner of Facility Maintenance Inc., a commercial maintenance company. Brooks is also a former police officer from Overland Park, KS, and he holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Central Missouri State University. He is a lifelong resident of the Kansas City area and he and his wife Linda have 2 grown children and 1 grandchild.

Hello, my name is: Nadine Kenney

If you have ever called the church office or visited the offices during the week, you were most likely greeted by our lovely receptionist Nadine Kenney. She always has a sweet spirit as well as a desire to help everyone that she can. Nadine has a can-do attitude!

Nadine is the first person I see each day when I emerge from my office. I like to stop by and chat when I can … and snag a peppermint out of the candy dish. With Nadine, you can be sure of two things: 1. she will always transfer you to the right number, and 2. she will always have something encouraging to say.

If you haven’t met Nadine, come on up and say hello. Her good attitude is contagious!

Nadine started working as FBR’s receptionist in May 2008. In past years she worked for the Kansas City Baptist Association, Red Bridge Baptist Church, the Metropolitan Southern Baptist Mission Board, Waddell & Reed, Inc., Living Foundation Ministries, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Nadine has four children. She and Shawn share 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren and have been members of First Baptist Raytown since 1992.