First Baptist holds commitment banquet

Anthony Cobb (left) and Dr. Carl Marshall (right) enjoy some of the history of Coqluitt First Baptist Church given by Jane Merritt (center).

Sunday evening, December 2, First Baptist Church, had approximately 280 attend a commitment banquet for the Sowing Seeds of Hope, Capital Fund Raising Program. The campaign was to raise the funds for a new worship center. When the evening was over, almost $850,000 had been committed. The emphasis of the banquet was the spiritual aspect of the church and reaching a community for Christ.

Dr. Carl Marshall, the pastor, stated, "There are over 40,000 people living within 20 miles of First Baptist Church who do not attend church anywhere; most are not saved. These people need to hear the message of Christ. First Baptist Church is committed to reaching as many of the 40,000 as possible. In order to do this, the membership has determined that a new worship center will be necessary. Because of the attendance, the church is temporarily worshipping in the family life center, originally intended as an outreach tool for children and youth in the community."

The Seeds of Hope Campaign Chairman is Anthony Cobb. He presided over the banquet. Those on his team were Frances Bodrey, James Fudge, Joanne Holland, Mary Hudson, and Renee Spence. During the banquet testimonies were shared by Buddy Bush, Rodney Bryan, and Gerald Garland. Jane Merritt presented a brief history of the church. Greg Beaty, associate pastor, presented special music for the occasion.

Dr. Marshall addressed those in attendance about the burden for and desire to reach this area for Christ. In doing so, he made an electronic presentation showing the contrast between two worlds. The first object used was that of a bottle of beer that had been found in a shrub during recent renovations. The shrub had grown around the beer bottle holding the bottle at three points. One point represents the world's system and its hold on people. The other point represents Satan's desire to destroy people. And the third point represents the weakness of the flesh that yields to the temp- tations placed before it.

The other object used was a rod which illustrates the power of God and God's desire to change lives.

On August 9, 2007, Dr. Marshall used this rod as an illustration in the worship service. The rod was to demonstrate what God did with the rod of Moses. He stated that as long as it was Moses' rod he could only accomplish what man could do with the rod. But when he gave that rod to God, and God gave it back to him, it was then God's rod in the hand of God's man. Dr. Marshall stated that as long as people see the church as theirs, it will only accomplish what they are able to achieve. When they give their church to God, it becomes God's church in the hands of God's people and they will be able to accomplish what God can do. After several weeks, the rod that Dr. Marshall used in the worship service was placed in a pail of water. The rod had been sanded, hauled around in a pick-up truck, and had stood in the corner of an office.One day Brother Marshall asked Wallace Phillips if he would take the rod to his house and set it in a bucket of water. Wallace and the Pastor laughed, both wondering why. After a few weeks, they knew the reason! The rod Dr. Marshall had used on August 9 had sprouted. At the banquet Dr. Marshall used the rod that sprouted as an illustration of Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod swallowed up the serpents of Pharaoh's magicians and later became the symbol of God's power and pleasure with the children of Israel. Aaron's rod had bloomed overnight; it had new growth, growth that had budded, and had produced fruit. For the occasion Sunday night this was used to illustrate the nature of the church, which has new growth (the recently saved), the more mature Christians who are beginning to blossom, and those in the church who are producing fruit. The rod that has now produced new growth will be used as the center of a prayer garden located between the Growing Seeds of Hope Retreat Center and the new worship center as a reminder of what God can do with a church in His hands and not that of men.

The desire of the church is to build the new worship center debt free.