FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART October 3, 2022

When I started my first full-time pastorate in 1980, I kept a record of the weddings and funeral services that I conducted. Over the years, I stopped counting. So, I can only imagine how many such services I have performed during my thirty years at CBC. I was standing in the Cordova Cemetery, talking to one of our long-time members, when she said: “Brother Jim, you have put a lot of people out here.” I quickly corrected her by saying: “I’ve laid a lot of them to rest, but I did not put any of them out here.”

The only record that I have of the number of weddings, funerals, baptisms, hospital and home visits that I have done in my years at CBC is a mental record. I am blessed to have a desktop full of pictures from the past that remind me of some of the precious people that God has placed in my path. Many of them are no longer here, but they serve to remind me that we have extensions of our ministry serving across the nation and around the worldA. Only God knows the full measure of our impact on their lives.

As we gather this coming Lord’s Day, we will be celebrating what the Lord has done over the past thirty years. I have been honored and privileged to serve as your pastor for this period of time. This Sunday, as we do every Sunday, we will be praising Jesus for what He has accomplished in the life of His church through His servants. As we join together around the tables in the Fellowship Hall, we will enjoy a meal that reflects the family spirit that we share with our sister church, Cordova Korean Baptist.

I know that we have some family members and former members who are planning to attend this day of celebration. I am looking forward to a great time of worship and fellowship, as we recognize God’s goodness to His people by allowing us to experience so much of this temporal life together. I see it as “a foretaste of glory divine,” as we get a glimpse of what our Great Reunion will be like when we all get to Heaven. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the planning, preparation and participation in our 30th Anniversary Celebration of our union as Pastor/People of this great church!

Serving in love,

Bro. Jim