It has been a wonderful, exciting week at First-Suffolk as our campus buzzed with the energy of Vacation Bible School. I still have vivid memories of my VBS days. Cookies and Kool-Aid in the old Fellowship Hall downstairs, games in the parking lot out back, marching in for the pledges. But most of all the caring people who taught me God's Word. What a blessing to see all t...

This Sunday we will be studying Mark 7:1-23, as we see what God's Word says about "Heart Transformation." As you read and pray over this text, consider the following: Think about what Jesus says in verse 6, and ask yourself, "What are the ways in which I may be honoring God with my lips, but not my heart?" Thinking about verse 7, are there areas where we have taken a ...

Last week, I shared a couple of highlights from the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis. This week, I want to round out that report by sharing a bit more. The biggest reason that our denomination was founded was to support missions. The delegates who came together that day in 1845 (a group that included the Pastor of FBC-Suffolk) believed that their churches could ...

FBC is blessed to be a part of a family of churches, the Southern Baptist Convention. In fact, our church has been a part of the SBC family since its inception. On the day in 1845 when the original delegates gathered in Augusta, GA, to found the SBC, the pastor of FBC-Suffolk was one of them! I was not able to attend this year's gathering in St. Louis, but I do want to sh...

We awoke this past Sunday morning to the news that yet another mass shooting had occurred in our nation. Throughout the day, as the death toll mounted, we were all asking the question, "Is this kind of thing ever going to end?" As is so often the case, God provided a timely answer to the question of the day. Long before Sunday morning, Scott Zeller had planned on preachin...

What a great joy it has been to walk through the gospel of Mark with you all recently. We have almost completed six chapters, and God is using this action-packed gospel to teach us and form us! I encourage you to continue to read it, over and over. It is especially helpful to read over the upcoming passage in advance. I will keep you up to date each week in this column on ...

Last Sunday we dove into the first twenty-nine verses of Mark 6 as we talked about "Missed Opportunities and Mission Opportunities." We saw that Jesus went home to Nazareth, where the people missed an incredible opportunity. Mark 6:5 tells us that, because of their unbelief, Jesus "could do no mighty work there." How often do we miss the opportunity for God to do something...

This Sunday we will study Mark 6:1-29. It is all about "Missed Opportunities and Mission Opportunities." We will look at three sections in these verses. First, in verses 1-6, we will see what happens when Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. (It would also be helpful to look at Luke 4:16-30.) Consider the following as you read over these verses: Is the rejectio...

This Sunday we will explore an incredibly exciting passage in God's Word, Mark 5:21-43. Mark, as we have seen, is the gospel of action. It is super fast-paced. Mark peppers his gospel with the words "immediately" and "at once." It is difficult to imagine any chapter in the Bible that is more fast-paced than the fifth chapter of Mark. The action leaves the reader breathles...

I hope you all are enjoying our study of the Gospel of Mark as much as me. It is such a rich blessing to walk through this scintillating narrative, seeing and savoring the portrait of Jesus that it provides. In chapter 4 we saw that Jesus is teaching the people in parables. He is in a boat, and they are gathered on the shore, near Capernaum. This past Sunday we saw that a...