1793 to 2012...A Look Back to Take a Journey Forward

Our Pastor, Bill, myself, and several members of our church will be traveling next week to India on a mission trip. We have created a blog where we will be posting updates from the trip at http://mariettafbcindia.blogspot.com/. Below is a recent post I made as I begin preparing for the trip.

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 A week from now, I will be in the midst of traveling to India. (Okay, I almost flipped out when I re-read that sentence. I need to start packing asap!) I’ve started reflecting on the journey myself and several other church members will be taking. What new things will we see when we arrive in India? What new things will we taste? What will we experience?

These questions are similar questions anyone has asked when they began preparing to go to a place that is foreign to them. These same questions are probably the ones that William Carey and his family thought at they prepared to be the first Baptist Missionaries that traveled to India.

Two hundred and nineteen years ago William Carey, his wife, and four kids set sail for a new land. They weren’t going to try to settle a new territory like the British did to America. The Careys were setting out on a different type of journey. The Careys had one main goal while going to India: They wanted to share Christ’s love to a place that had never heard of Jesus.

I can’t help but to think about the differences in my journey to India and the Careys’ journey there. While I’ll be taking a little over a day and a half to travel to my final destination, in 1793 it took the Careys five months on a boat to get to India. A result of vaccines and other preventative medicines, I am pretty confident that I will be able to go the entire length of my trip without getting sick. That wasn’t the case for the Careys. William Carey’s 5 year old son, Peter, got sick with sever fevers and died soon after they arrived. Peter’s death from sickness wasn’t the only one. Several other people who joined the Careys on their mission in India also died from diseases.

While I’ll be taking ten days out of my life to travel to India to teach at the India Baptist Theological Seminary, the Careys changed their whole lives when they moved to India. They devoted themselves to showing the people of India that God loves them and has a place for them in God’s Kingdom. When the Careys went to India there were no Christians in the country. Now today, because of the work of William Carey and so many others, I am now able to travel to a Baptist Seminary in India and help train seminary students and pastors to continue spread Christ’s love to their people.

I am excited for the journey that I will embark on next week. My prayer is that as I have a passion for the people of India just like William Carey did, and that God will use me and open my heart to every person I meet along my journey.

Now on to packing….

Written by Rev. Lauren Waggoner. Rev. Waggoner is the Minister to Children at First Baptist Church of Marietta, GA.

New Adventures

Previously this blog was used to communicate things that were happening in the Children's Ministry of Marietta First Baptist. Recently we started a new blog just for the children's ministry. You can keep up with all the happenings there.

This blog will now become a personal blog where I will share ideas, thoughts, and other things as I continue to journey through life and through ministry. Feel free to stay along for the ride!

Lauren

Three-Year-Olds Make My Heart Smile

Sundays are great days. You might be thinking that Sundays are great because I get to hear a thought provoking sermon or sing beautiful hymns and praise songs. While those are things that I enjoy and add to a good Sunday, they are not the reason I like Sundays. I like Sundays because of one simple thing: I get to hang out with three year olds.

Sunday mornings I stop by all the children’s classrooms to say hi to the teachers and children. I am often greet by children who are eager to tell me the story about how they lost their tooth this week or how they aced their first spelling test. While I love hearing these stories from all the kids, being able to visit the three-year-old classroom is the highlight.

A few weeks ago I was making my way toward the three-year-old room. As I approached the room I could hear laughter echoing off the colorful walls. I poked my head around the corner and into the room. Immediately I was greeted with shouts of excitement, “Ms. Lauren! Ms. Lauren! Ms. Lauren!” I was then practically tackled as a heard of three-year-olds came rushing up to me to give me a hug. As I was finishing hugging each child a little boy looked up at me with a smile in his eyes and asked, “Ms Lauren, are you ready to be chopped?”

To most people this would be an alarming question, but I knew exactly what the kids were about to do. In their room they have a cardboard puzzle that makes up a work bench. Many of the cardboard puzzle pieces are in the shape of saws, screwdrivers, hammers, and scissors. It has become a favorite game of ours for the kids to pretend to “chop” me as I fall to the floor from the loss of limbs. Each kid giggled as they got a chance to “chop” off my arm or foot. But at the end of the game that same little boy said, “Don’t worry Ms. Lauren. We’ll put you back together.” And with kisses on my hands and feet the three-year-olds pretended to put me back together with love.

I don’t know what it is about that age that I enjoy. Maybe it’s the fact that one minute they could be talking about the snow last week and the next minute they are telling me how the red power ranger destroyed the monster. But maybe I love that age because they love others unconditionally just the way God loves each of us.

Mrs. Claudia, a fabulous teacher, reading a story to the three-year-olds.

175th Anniversary @ First Baptist Marietta

This weekend was First Baptist Marietta's 175th anniversary celebration. Many people gathered for event throughout the weekend celebrating our history and looking toward the future. This morning during our worship service Sydney Bell, a 5th grader, made her public profession of faith! I can't think of a better way to celebrate the church's birthday! As Bill said in his sermon, the children are the future Bible study leaders, deacons, ministers, and pastors. I look forward to the future that God has in store for First Baptist and all the churches around the world.

Ruth Wagner Miller congratulating Sydney and welcoming her to the church.

For the 175th Anniversary, we put together a video of pictures for the past and present. It was shown at the beginning of the worship service. Enjoy watching it below!

God and Dog

I'm at a ministerial leadership conference with my fellow ministers. I've been learning great ideas and finding wonderful resources for not only the children at First Baptist Marietta, but also for the church as a whole.

Last night at the worship session Rev. Adam Hamilton showed us a FABULOUS video using a Dog as a metaphor for God. It's a really moving 2 minute video that reminds us of God's unconditional love for us.

I would encourage you to share this with your children to help aid them in understanding how God loves each one of us no matter what!

Enjoy!

PASSPORTkids! Camp Day 3

Last night we arrived safely at the church, unloaded the bus, said our goodbyes, and headed home. While we might have been physically exhausted from a fun week of camp, our hearts were filled from our renewed relationships with God and our wonderful camp memories.

The 3rd day of camp the campers learned about sharing Christ's presence. Our verse of the day was Acts 2:45, "They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met."

Enjoy the video of pictures from the 3rd day of camp!

Hee Haw Variety Show