Our guest blogger today is Makayla Springsteen. Mikayla recently graduated from high school and is serving in South Africa for a year. We are so proud of you Makayla!

Ladies of First Baptist, during my time in Africa so far, God has been teaching me many things. I began to pray and ask Him what I should share with you and I found a simple illustration. In my first few weeks in Africa, I got to go on a safari. For the first mile or so all we saw were trees and mountains and I was so amazed by them. Their simple beauty and uniqueness captured my attention. As planned, we drove along and we started to see all kinds of wild animals in their natural habitat. From giraffe, to hippos, to elephants, and rhinos, we got to see it all. As I started to look at the beauty of the animals, I forgot about the beauty that had first caught my attention. I began to loose interest in the environment and focus only on trying to find the next animal. In this situation that wasn't a bad thing, but in our walk with The Lord it is dangerous to loose sight of our first love and turn to those "beautiful" things that take our attention away from God. In Hebrews 12:2  It says, "to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and perfecter of our faith." He tells us in His Word to turn our eyes to Him, but how often do I sneak a peak, or look towards things of this world that take my attention away from The Lord. As we left the safari and drove out the same mile of trees and mountains we drove in on, I got to see the biggest most beautiful sun set over the mountains, and once again it was a beautiful picture. It is the same way with our life in Christ, no matter where we stray or where we look to, at the end of the day when we look back to Christ, he takes us back as His own and makes our lives into a beautiful picture to bring Him glory.

Love,
Makayla

Our guest blogger today is Susan Feaster, one of our favorite bloggers! Susan always has a word for women right where they are in life no matter what your age. I hope you enjoy her words of wisdom today!

"PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT......OR DOES IT?"

My eight year old grandson loves baseball.  He loves it so much that he plays on two different teams, and recently played in a tournament with a third team that was short a player.  Even while we were on our family vacation at the beach, he was practicing his pitching and batting techniques.  Because practice makes perfect.

You likely have heard that phrase somewhere along the way.....practice makes perfect.  Maybe from a teacher or a ball coach.  Maybe from your parents.  I'm quite certain that in my years as   a piano teacher, I said it myself.  Always with a smile on my face, I'm sure, as I uttered that mantra....practice makes perfect.....while at the same time giving instruction to do it again.

Over the years I have come to believe that phrase is not entirely accurate.  Practice doesn't make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect.  After all, if you continually practice something......whether a piano scale or a multiplication table or an athletic technique......incorrectly, the end result is that you have learned the wrong thing!

What is the point of practice anyway?  Of those endless repetitions?  Practice serves more than just filling time.  Some might say that practice is done in order to get it right, whatever the "it" might be, whether in music or in math or in athletics or in any other endeavor.  And I suppose that is true.  But I think practice is more than that.  The point is not that we always get it right.  It's so that we never get it wrong.
Let's apply that point to multiplication tables as an example.  If you drill repeatedly (practice) on your 9 times table, for example, you will learn that 9x7=63.  Once you have practiced that enough, you will always know that 9x7=63.  Further, you will never think that 9x7=72, or any other number.  Always and only 63.  You won't have to stop and try to figure it out.  Or count it out on your fingers.  Or question whether or not it is true.  If you have practiced enough, if you have learned this fact well, then you will always instinctively know it.  You will always get it right.

If a pianist practices the C major scale repeatedly, and correctly, so that the notes and the finger pattern is learned, then that pianist will always be able to correctly play that scale without even having to think about it.  It becomes an ingrained habit, one that aids in playing more complex pieces of music.  And it’s all because of perfectly practicing that very basic C major scale.

Let’s apply that principle to the spiritual realm.  The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to "charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith......by [this] some have made shipwreck of their faith.  (1 Timothy 1:3-4, 19 ESV).

How do we hold to sound doctrine?  How do we practice our doctrine in such a way as not to "make a shipwreck of our faith"?  I have come to understand that the place to begin is in the Word of God itself.  I long to know what God has to say, rather than relying solely on what others say about Him.  I hunger for the Word of God, rather than relying on books about the Word of God.

I have learned that I must immerse myself in the Word of God.  When I read it regularly and repeatedly and hide it in my heart, it becomes so ingrained in me that I recognize with certainty when something I hear is contrary to the Word.  My senses become finely tuned to what God has to say.  The Word becomes my plumb line against which everything else is measured. I know exactly where to turn when questions come.
I desire to get it right, and not get it wrong!  Does this mean I will never make a mistake? Does it mean that you will never make a mistake? No.  Even the best batter sometimes swings at a bad pitch.  Even the best musician sometimes plays a wrong note.  Applying the practice makes perfect principle won’t make us perfect people, but it will give us the tools we need to make wise, godly choices in our daily living.

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."       (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB)

Our guest blogger today is Rebecca Walker. Rebecca is a Senior at Dorman High School and is a member of the Student Ministry at First Baptist Spartanburg. God has given her a heart for missions. Rebecca is blogging today about her recent mission trip to Wales. We look forward to seeing how God uses Rebecca in His Kingdom!

Croeso i Gymru! Welcome to Wales! I heard and saw this phrase many times throughout my nine days in Caernarfon. I never saw anything about leaving though, or maybe I did and just never noticed it. I once heard someone say, “It is a curious thing to watch a dream die.” I would say, it is even more curious to have God open a door and to stand before it but having to walk away because it wasn’t time to walk through it yet. I would be lying if I said my heart didn’t ache when I left Wales or that I wish that God had just said stay. But, I am so blessed by God’s provisions to have me there when I was. I will forever have the amazing memories of the events in Caernarfon. A few being the new friends I made, prayer walking a beautiful town, temporary tattoos with Katarina, trying to learn some Welsh, eating amazing foods and sweets, and especially the four salvations in the street in front of our house. I will forever remember the way that God is moving in that town and that area. Now that I’m home I’ve realized I left something there. My heart. I have been praying and seeking God’s will in my life concerning missions. I had never felt at home here in the states. I never found my niche. I had done other missions both nationally and internationally and had never felt settled. When I got to the UK something felt right.

I know that the Lord has a special time for me to be where He has called me, but I know that His hand is unwavering over North Wales and He has a plan for hope for them. Wales, once being a place of great revivals, will be that same place once again with hope in Christ Jesus. I ask that you pray that they no longer have to be hopeless, but rather see that they can have endless hope in Jesus through salvation. Pray for the chapels there to be revived. I ask that you pray for the young people of Caernarfon, that their hardened hearts and post-Christian lifestyles would change because they can see purpose and greatness in what the Lord has to offer them.

I miss my Welsh friends so much. I miss the closeness of the other team members, the walks around the square, our late night card games, and I miss the bonds we made because I could look at the friends we made and see God moving in a drastic way.

Please pray for the Welsh people as well as the Celt, the organization that we worked with. Pray that they can effectively reach all of the people groups speaking a Celtic language so that they may show them Christ. Pray that they may have people saying, “Send me!” And most of all please pray for global missions all over the world, that we, as Christians, can help make known the precious and Holy Name above all Names, Jesus Christ, in every nation and in every tongue. 

I heard something interesting this week that I had not thought about. In Revelation 7:9-10, it speaks of all the different people worshipping God, singing and crying out to Him. As promised we will be able to know everything in whole instead of partially. Understanding is very important. In order to communicate the gospel clearly, we must know more than the language, we must learn the culture and communicate with people on a deep heart level. Strive to learn the heart language of a people group whether they be a local group or half way across the world. Sharing Christ in a heart language will bring understanding.

I am so thankful to the Lord for this experience and I want to say thank you to all of those who helped me, prayed for me, and encouraged me, it means so much more than you could even understand.

Our guest blogger today is Kathy Dalton. Kathy and her husband, Daryl, serve faithfully as volunteers in our church with students, media, and many other things. Kathy serves as the nurse for many Student Ministry trips and is always willing to give of her time and talents. Kathy's claim to fame is being the mother of Emily Katherine, Andrew and Michael. Emily has served on staff as an Intern for the past two summers at First Baptist and was our guest blogger a few weeks ago.

The Wedding that Was

Kathy Dalton

I will never forget the night our middle son, Andrew, was born. He was such a precious little baby boy and filled our lives with such joy. Before I knew it, Andrew had graduated from Dorman High School and headed to the University of SC in Columbia.  Our family went through a rough spot during Andrew's sophomore and junior years due to the economy affecting our finances. Andrew was hit the hardest being away from family with no money flowing to help with his expenses.  Providentially, Andrew turned to Young Life, Midtown Church, and side jobs as his hiding places of survival, but family communication dwindled to a trickle. My husband, Daryl, and I loved our son with all of our hearts and tried relentlessly to rebuild our relationships with him. We wanted so desperately to help him see how much we loved him, and how proud we were of the man he had become. 

Andrew officially started dating a young woman named Katherine his senior year. The Lord used her to help bridge the gap in communication and rebuild our strained relationship. We had known Katherine since Andrew's freshman year at University of South Carolina and somehow knew in our hearts that she would be the one he would marry someday. You can imagine the joy we felt on Christmas Eve, sitting in Chick-Fil-A with my parents and family in Virginia when Andrew stated, "I am going to ask Katherine to marry me and I want to get married May 31st in Columbia.  How does that work with your schedules"? 

Hmmm...Our daughter, Emily Katherine, was planning to go to Costa Rica for the summer.  Michael, our oldest son, has Leadercast videos to shoot in May.  Daryl and I both were getting ready for our Discipleship groups to graduate. Grammy and Papa had already paid for a vacation the last week of May.  But none of that mattered!  With the announcement of Andrew’s wedding we all mentally cleared our schedules and said "OK, let’s do it"!  Everyone was excited and eager to welcome Katherine into our family. 

In early February, Katherine said "yes" to Andrew's proposal and we all went to work with planning the parts we would play in the celebration.  Neither family was originally from South Carolina so we all felt we were essentially planning a long distance wedding.  In planning the rehearsal dinner, we wanted to provide Andrew and Katherine with the best celebration possible with no stress on their part.  After endless internet searches, phone calls, interviews, budget reviews, menu discussions and rehearsal details finalization, we finally decided upon a location.  The venue came with a caterer so we were all set, so we thought. When I questioned an item on the cost breakdown the caterer abruptly canceled our contract and left us in the cold!  After tears, phone calls, more internet searches and visits, we found our perfect caterer.  On the other end of the line, a sweet voice said "Don't you worry Ms. Kathy we will take care of you and I will personally make sure your son's wedding is perfect".  Again, I was in tears.  I thanked her graciously and she stated, “I believe the Lord brought us together to celebrate your son’s wedding".  My immediate thought…God’s ways are perfect. 

Fast forward to May 30th in Columbia, SC.....Lots of preparation and planning had gone into the evening of the rehearsal dinner and we wanted it to be perfect.  Tables were set, caterer was ready and everyone arrived to celebrate Andrew and Katherine's marriage. Each of us stood to tell about our love for the couple and leave them with advice.  Tears were shed over stories by family and friends who love both Andrew and Katherine as much as we do. God brought everything together perfectly. 

The wedding day had finally arrived. The one we all had anticipated back in December was here and we were all in our places ready to celebrate and welcome a new daughter into our family.  Katherine was beautiful, Andrew was as handsome as ever, and the wedding party stood before us as their Young Life Pastor shared the gospel to everyone in attendance.  After songs, vows, and ring exchanges the bride and groom walked away in celebration.  The night went so fast and before we knew it was time to say good bye and watch the wedding couple, our son and new daughter, drive away to Austin, Texas for their honeymoon. 

In looking back over Andrew’s life, I am so thankful that God uses people and circumstances to work His perfect will in our lives.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and reflecting back to the tough years, I truly believe God was carrying Andrew and helping to meet his needs the same as He did ours.    Life with our children goes so fast and yes, we as parents make mistakes, but thankfully God heals and makes us new through Him and His grace. 

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you," declares The Lord,

 "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV)

Our guest blogger today is Abby Wilton! Wife of Greg, mother to Max, Charlie, and Oliver, and daughter-in-love of Dr. Wilton and Karyn. They are currently living in Southest Asia. Abby shares from her heart and I know you will be blessed by her thoughts and honesty.

The Darkest Night

It’s after 10pm as I write this, Greg’s been out for the past 6 hours and our power has been out for the last 3 hours. I’m not sure why the power went out except that maybe the foreign music and a foreign voice currently blaring over loud speakers for some kind of party that’s unfortunately reverberating through my dark and quiet home blew out everyone’s power but their own. What’s more unfortunate is that I don’t think our power is coming back on until sometime tomorrow morn. Just another reminder that I don’t live in America.
Three hours ago Max (almost 4), Charlie (2 and a half) and I were flying our paper airplanes through the house when everything went dark. And I mean I can’t see my hand 2 inches from my face kind of dark. I happened to be standing next to our front door so I quickly opened it expecting the moonlight to spill in but nothing appeared. Hmm, must be cloudy or smoggy out tonight.
As insignificant as this may seem, not two hours earlier I was helping Max look for a toy when I happened to find our only flashlight, which went missing months ago, hidden underneath the boys’ dresser. I grabbed it and put it in my husband’s little wooden box atop our dresser and went back about my business of locating this little toy Max was begging me to find. So sweet to me the thought of God’s love towards me that He orchestrated this incident of finding the flashlight to prepare me for tonight. I’m still in wonder over the fact that God was in this little detail.
At this point Charlie was getting hysterical, my little Max stayed calm the entire time. Man, what a little stud. My brain managed to stay calm enough to think clearly probably because I’m a mom now (but that definitely wasn’t the case pre children). I grabbed both boys’ hands and I walked them to my bedroom and then to the dresser. Relief flooded over Charlie, and, truth be told, came over me as well. I don’t like complete darkness. I suppose it would have eventually dawned on me at some point to retrieve the boys iPad from their bedroom to use as a source of light.
Interestingly enough, I was studying with my language teacher earlier today and we were discussing Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want….”. He asked me if I’ve ever experienced the “valley” of darkness or the “valley of the shadow of death”. I paused to think for a moment. How could I explain to him all the valleys of darkness I had been through since we have two major barriers separating us from fully understanding each other: language and culture. Would he be able to make sense of my broken Indonesian along with my very different upbringing and way of life?
I wasn’t sure where to start so I just I began my best to try and explain how I have had a tendency with every one of my pregnancies to sink into a depression for the duration of my first trimester. My body would become ill, my motivation would wane, and my soul would become dark. I’d have no interest in reading the bible so wouldn’t and then I’d be eaten up by guilt. Hope seemed to slip away from me and I would literally be such a mess for Greg.
That seemed so benign as I was explaining that to my teacher so from there I jumped into the story of my childhood. I told him how my 3 sisters and I were raised by our single mother. Our mom only worked part time so that she could be home with us after school. That meant we didn’t have much money, we didn’t have much food, sometimes our power would go out if the bills weren’t payed, but all those times God was always with us providing for all our needs so that we were never in want-even by bringing a new father into our lives some years later.
And even this still seems so small compared to the loss others have faced greater than my own. I just met a woman whose 2 year old daughter has leukemia. I have a friend who was molested by her own grandfather, My brother-in-law had to live with his grandparents growing up because neither of his own parents were fit to nor wanted to care for him. My sister-in-law lost her dear father to cancer.
So many different happenings carry our souls into the darkest of nights. All hope seems to slip away as the sun sinks below the clouded horizon. The moonlight and twinkling stars are hidden away by the black clouds. Our sorrows descend like rain. Thunder begins to rumble and we are overcome with doubt and despair.
Darkness presses in on every side of us, but God has not left us alone. Lightning breaks forth across the sky and He makes his presence known. He is the LIGHT and He shines in the darkness and the darkness CANNOT overcome Him.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42:11)

In our darkest hours God enables us to see His glory like the crack of a lightning bolt, if only for a moment, that we may behold Him who pierces the darkness, and that our hope may be restored.
Be anchored in the truth that God is not far off but right here with you. Praise Him whether or not you can find a reason until you see Him flash His glory across your dark sky then let that revive your hope and trust in Him for today.
It’s 4:30am and our power has just turned back on!

Our guest blogger today is Susan Feaster! It's always a joy to see how the Lord speaks through her!

Basement or Balcony - Which One Are You?

We all need some encouragement from time to time, don't we?  Often encouragement comes in unexpected places and in unexpected ways.  It might come from something we read, or a song we hear on the car radio as we're driving along.  Perhaps it comes from Scripture, from a passage we read or perhaps from the Pastor's sermon.  Maybe it's a phone call.  Or it's the beauty of a clear blue sky or the sound of birds singing.  We're encouraged by a number of different things.

Sometimes encouragement comes in conversation.  With family members.  With friends.  Often it isn't even meant to be particularly encouraging, but it just is.  Even the simplest, the most seemingly mundane everyday conversation can have an encouraging effect.  Whether because it was intended that way, or in spite of the fact that it wasn't!

The reverse is also true.  Often our everyday conversations have the exact opposite effect.  They are discouraging rather than encouraging.  This is what many people refer to as the "balcony or basement" effect. I’m not sure who first shared this analogy with me, but I’ve found it to be an accurate one through the years. Recently, I came across a book called Balcony People written by Joyce Landorf in 1989 explaining these two basic types of people:  basement people and balcony people. Balcony people lift you up.  They are the encouragers.  Basement people drag you down.  They discourage. 

Yes, we could divide people into other categories.  Saved and unsaved would be another example. I've met balcony people and basement people in both of those categories.  Unfortunately it is true that sometimes the "saints" are among the least encouraging people.  Sad, but true nonetheless.

Consider this example.  You're having a really good day.  Maybe you got some good news.  About your job or about a family member or perhaps a good report from your doctor.  Then along comes a friend or family member who, with one or two sentences, completely bursts your bubble.  Destroys your good mood.  Drags you down.  That's a basement person.

Words are powerful things, aren't they?  So we should choose them carefully.  Certainly there will be times when we disagree with a choice or a decision or a behavior of a friend or a family member.  There will be times when we need to speak out, to confront a behavior or a choice.  Even then, our words need to be chosen carefully.  We can disagree without being disagreeable.  We can confront situations in such a way that encourages a better behavior rather than in a way that makes matters worse.

Think about how you react to the people around you.  Do you encourage or do you discourage?  Are you a balcony person or a basement person?

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."  (Ephesians 4:29 ESV)