From the Mind of Felicia

How Does Jesus Feel About The Church?

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:06:00 GMT

There’s a video that has been sparking a lot of attention these days. A few weeks ago it started appearing on Facebook pages. A few of our youth and college students have asked me my thoughts on it. This week I took some time to watch it and here’s what I think. Check out this link to see the “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus” video.

I think Jefferson Bethke makes some good points. Christ has come to put an end to sin. Hypocrisy is never a good thing and Jesus spoke out against it. As Christians we

Arguing With Teens

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:16:00 GMT

I read an interesting article this morning on why teens who argue with their parents are better off then teens that don’t. (Click here to read the article.) The basic argument of the article was that teens who feel like their parents listen to them during arguments and pattern a mature and respectable way to disagree are less likely to cave to peer pressure.

I think the real beauty in the parent and teen relationships that are being described is the elements of respect, honesty, acceptance, and love. You will never hear a teen proclaim it but that’s what they are secretly longing for. Let’s be honest, that’s what all people regardless of age want. We all want relationships that allow us to feel loved, accepted, and respected. We want to be in a community with people who allow us to be ourselves and feel free enough to be who they really are around us.

As Christians we don’t always have the reputation as being respectful, honest, accepting, and loving of those who don’t agree with us 100%. In fact, we often look down and act down to those people. I can’t think of a more non-Christian way to be! We follow a God who loved everyone so much that he decided to become one of us in order to save all of us. While on earth Jesus spent time with all types of people. Those who loved him and agreed with him 100% of the time and those who hated him and ultimately found a way to kill him because they didn’t agree with him. And while suffering a painful death he asked for forgiveness for those who had put him on the cross. That’s the type of love, respect, honesty, and acceptance that should define Christians.

Teens and children learn how to live and argue from watching us adults. If there is any hope for the next generation of Christians to be more respectful, honest, accepting, and loving then we have to start showing them how to be all of those things now.

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From The Newsboys to Q

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:55:00 GMT

Last Saturday night I took a group of our youth to Winter Jam in Raleigh. It is a huge Christian concert. We saw twelve different Christian artists perform. I went to the concert with the expectations of who I would enjoy and who I wouldn’t. I was not looking forward to Peter Furler. I had no clue who he was but the picture of him on the poster didn’t appeal to me. The moment he began to sing, I instantly changed my mind and I realized who he was. He used to be the front man for the Newsboys. I knew all the songs he did because they were the songs I grew up hearing in my own youth group. Our youth didn’t know any of the songs.

O Holy Night

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:12:00 GMT

I would like to share the following verse from “O Holy Night” with you.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

Christmas Stress

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:22:00 GMT

I feel like the Children’s Christmas program is racing at me full steam ahead and I am no where ready for it. I imagine that many of you may be feeling that same way about Christmas in general. It sure is easy to get caught up in everything that requires our attention this time of year and forget what we are suppose to be celebrating. We devote ourselves to finding the perfect Christmas presents, preparing the best finger foods for the next party, attending a million and one Christmas parties, and sending Christmas cards out to everyone we have ever meet with a complete list of everything our family has done this year. We over stress and over plan until we suck all of the joy, love, hope, and peace out of Christmas.

This is your invitation to slow down and take a deep breath. Christmas isn’t about having a completed to do list on December 26th and being able to brag about the amazing presents you got everyone. (Those presents will end up being forgotten or broken before next Christmas anyway.) It is about remembering that God decided to become one of us to save us. It is about celebrating the birth of a Savoir and the door to salvation being opened up for all of mankind. It is about God keeping his promise to send a Messiah. In short Christmas should be about Christ.

This blog is an effort to remind myself and you of the real reason we celebrate. We celebrate because of Christ. That’s why we have Christmas and children’s Christmas programs. I’m taking a break from stressing over the program and the rest of Christmas for the rest of this season. When I feel that stress creeping back into my life, I’m going to stop and reflect on the true reason for the season, Christ. I invite you to join me.

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Emmanuel and the Poor

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:29:00 GMT

This morning on Good Morning American I learned that today is World AIDS Day from Bono who was giving an interview on the subject. In that interview he said, “Don’t let the world’s poor become a political football.” That sounds an awful lot like something Jesus would say. After all Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us. It amazes me to think that God decided to be born into a poor family and spent the rest of his life hanging out with and loving the poor and the outcast. I imagine Jesus cared so much about them because they were his family and friends. They were more than a political issue or a nameless faceless person who lived somewhere over there. Jesus was one of them.

As the words of Bono and Jesus dance around in my head, I can’t help but think of the names and faces of the poor I have met and loved. I saw the face of Nikki a four year old from West Virginia from my first mission trip when I was fifteen. I thought about the cigarette burns she had on her legs and arms from an abusive parent and how much she just wanted to be held and loved. I think about Imani and the other homeless children I meet this summer in Atlanta on our youth mission trip. I feel their hugs and remember the tears our youth shed as we left them in the hopeless situation of homelessness. I hear them begging for more snacks because that’s all they would have to eat that day. I think about Jean a homeless woman, I meet last year in Asheville on another youth mission trip. I think about how she lived in the woods and I worry about how cold she must be now with winter coming. I pray for all of the countless other friends I know who are poor.

The poor are all around us. Some of us decide to see them, get to know them, and to love them. Some of us decide to turn our heads when we pass them because it is easier for us to ignore them. I want to encourage you to take some time this season to look around and see the poor and outcast who are living in your community. They are people just like us who are deserving of the love of Christ. Let’s share the love of Emmanuel with them and each other.

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A Message of Thanksgiving

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:28:00 GMT

Last Sunday, I had the honor of preaching at the Community Thanksgiving service. It was a great night of worship, celebration, giving thanks, and fellowship will fellow Christians from different churches here in Mount Olive. I had a great time. For today’s blog I would like to share part of my sermon from that night.

“You are my brothers and my sisters and I am thankful for you. I am thankful that God is our Father and our relationship is made strong through Him. I am thankful that we can work together to share the love of our Father in this community.

Taking Care of Our Children

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:42:00 GMT

There has been a lot in the news lately about a certain football coach who is accused of taking advantage of children. It is heart breaking to hear stories like this. In the Penn State case not only is there the possibility that children were abused by a trusted adult but they were also abused by the university when they refused to stop the abuse and report it to law. I am usually a pretty forgiving person but this whole situation seems pretty unforgivable to me.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where there are people who seek out children and situations where they will be able to abuse children. This abuse happens in a verity of locations including locker rooms and churches. Here at First Baptist we are committed to providing the safest environment possible for our children. We make sure there are at least two adults present at each child and youth event. A child should never be alone in a closed off room with an adult other than their parent. We do background checks on adults who are taking part in our children and youth ministries. We also require adults to have attended our church for at least two years before they can help with the children and youth ministries.

We believe children are gifts from God and we are called to protect, teach, and love them. I am proud of the commitment our church has to insuring the safety of our youngest members. As more information comes out about the abuse they may have taken place at Penn State let’s pray for all those involved and remember to thank God for the amazing children we have here.

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Tiny Treasures

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:24:00 GMT

Three cute little boys just left my office. Their mothers were here picking up food bags from our food pantry. The boys ranged in age from two to four. They instantly become my friends when I shared with them a few little trinkets from my toy bucket. I told each of them to pick out a few small toys to take home. They each left with a coloring book, a bouncy ball, and a few other little toys. I’m sure the toys weren’t worth more than three dollars total. However, to my new three little friends they were priceless.

It feels good to see the smiles on the face of three little boys and two very grateful mothers. I’m grateful that our church has decided to open up our hearts with the food pantry ministry. Almost every week we have families coming in looking for food or help with bills. Thank you for giving to our benevolence fund and to the food pantry ministry. This Sunday we will be taking up an offering for the benevolence fund.

Your compassion is rubbing off on our children. Sunday afternoon some of our kids and me loaded the bus and went out trick or treating for can foods for the food pantry. It was amazing to see the kids light up as they received bag after bag of food for the pantry. They all completely understood the importance of what we were doing. Thanks for being great role models for our kids.

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Parenting Advice from Footloose

ffox@fbcmountolive.org — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:52:00 GMT

Last Friday, I went to see the new Footloose. It was a really great movie. The movie is set in a small town in Texas. A few years before the movie begins the town was rocked when five teenagers were killed in a car accident after leaving a party. The parent and town’s reaction was to cut down on the wild behavior of the teens. That meant a new town wide curfew, no loud music and no dancing.