As we join you in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, we wanted to share highlights from our annual Happy Birthday Jesus Party! On Saturday, December 7th, our Sidewalk Missionaries and many of YOU - worshipped and loved on just over 200 guests from the communities we serve.
The morning included:
A bus (or two) at each site to bring kids to FBCJax
Lunch from Chick - Fil - A!
Kids entertainment from Pastor Trevor
An incredible Christmas Musical from the First Kids Worship!
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ D – Line performed at both parties!
A teen game time!
A special message from Pastor Grady for our teens, and small group time to follow up!
And a special, individual gift for every child and teen!
MAJOR MILESTONE - This year was particularly special for Kimberly and Teri VanDuyn, the First Kids Worship Director at First Baptist Church Jax. It was the 10th anniversary of the FBCJax Kids Worship Choir partnering with us providing our own special “preview” of their Christmas play each year. We have told the story often but, Kimberly approached Teri about trying to align the First Kids’ dress rehearsal with our HBJ party. In the way that we see our God work, Teri very receptive to the idea as she had been praying and looking for the same thing! It was a true “God Thing”. Teri was seeking a way “her” kids could help minister to “our” kids! We are so thankful for Teri and that she and her INCREDIBLE team have taught First Kids to have a heart for missions. We have been privileged for them to work around us in their dress rehearsal and to have taken up gifts and offerings over the years for our kids! Also, we want to take time to thank First Baptist Jacksonville as we think this may have been the 20th year of them hosting us at their facilities. So, thank you First Baptist and the Security Team that watches over us and helps facilitate our kids and busses! And thank you Mrs. Teri and First Kids!!
We also want to take a minute to remember Michael Patterson. Michael, a founder of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ D-Line, helped bring his fellow musicians to us a few years ago - our kids loved it. With Michael’s passing, we reached out directly to the Jaguars this year and had the official D-Line and it was, once again, amazing. Thank you to Drew for bringing your crew to us and making this year’s Christmas party a little extra special!!
Though there were many exciting things to celebrate this year during the Christmas Party, we cannot forget the real reason ... to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We need to remember the purpose for His coming! Christ came as God incarnate; in the form of a human. He was a miracle child, born of a virgin; yet little did that virgin know that her child was born to die. Jesus was sent to die in our place on the cross so that we could be saved from God’s wrath. We were found unholy in front of a holy God, which is grounds for eternal punishment. But God loved us so much that He sent His perfect and holy Son to die in our place. Jesus died, was buried for 3 days, and rose again from the grave defeating death. He is alive today in heaven preparing a place for those who believe in Him! If we believe in Christ as our Lord and Savior we will be saved from God’s wrath upon us.
So, this holiday season, we implore you to remember the real reason behind Christmas. We often get caught up in the gifts, lights, food and everything else that Christmas brings. Though those are fun things to be excited about, we pray that this year you would take the time to consider the ultimate gift. Immanuel has come; God is with us!
We love this time of year! We love the HBJ party. The kids are always so excited to be there and we have so many volunteers so glad to be there and minister to the kids. It’s so joyous because we celebrate the miracle of birth! And not just any and every birth but the birth of our Savior.
We will kick-off again in February with lessons about the life of Jesus. The kids will learn our salvation does not come through the birth of Christ. That is only the beginning of His work! Jesus then lives a life without sin so that He can be the perfect sacrifice demanded by the Father so that, in His sinlessness, He could bear the sin for all the world. While Jesus’ work of salvation begins at His birth, it will not be completed until 33 years later at His death, burial and resurrection. And we must not simply acknowledge that, we must believe…we must trust…trust in Him for our salvation!
Please join us in praying for HIS work to be done in and through us throughout our Sidewalk Communities.
Merry Christmas!
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