By Sarah Stubbs
The Youth Ministry of Dillon First Baptist Church (DNOW) sponsored a weekend of praise, worship and service for four church youth programs: First Baptist, FBC Cleveland, SC, Fresh Beginnings, and Pyerian. Blake Patton was the guest speaker for the weekend and worship and praise was led by a band from Charleston Southern University which featured Landon Allen.
Blake Patton, a North Greenville University graduate, is the Middle School Pastor at Boiling Springs First Baptist Church. Friday night he presented a message from Isaiah 6 about God’s holiness and about conviction, confession, and cleansing. The Saturday morning message taken from Acts 10, highlighted how Christians often put qualifications on people before we share the gospel with them. Blake spoke to the youth Saturday night from Philippians 3 about righteousness.
The students were encouraged to throw away their dirty diaper filled with self-righteousness. Our religious resumes do not make us righteous; righteousness comes only through the risen Savior.
Several of the youth groups were involved in community service projects Saturday afternoon. The projects included organization of materials in the Pregnancy Center, knocking out walls of the Crisis Closet, painting the Welcome Room in the church, yard work in a member’s yard, and delivering cookies and witnessing in the community.
Games and competition were also included in the weekend activities. The boys and girls competed in various games include “Rock, Paper, Scissors Extreme” and a relay race. It was a tough competition with the boys winning 38-37.
The FBC Sunday morning worship service was led by the worship band from Charleston Southern University. The guest speaker was Blake Patton. A recap of the weekend was given by J.B. Bowen, FBC Associate Pastor of Students, and a recap video was shown to the congregation. Blake Patton delivered the morning message taken from 1 Thessalonians 1. He asked the question, “Am I who I was created to be?” He said faith, hope, and love are the markers of Christian faith.
Associated Pastor of Students, J.B. Bowen and his wife Kelsey, worked tirelessly preparing and organizing this weekend. FBC church members, and members from attending churches, contributed to the success of the weekend. Visiting students were welcomed into church members’ homes, meals were prepared, the church was cleaned late Saturday night for Sunday morning’s service. The FBC disaster relief shower and laundry unit was used to provide showers for students after their mission projects. The FBC shower and laundry team washed clothes and cleaned showers after each use. Vicki Simerly prepared the Saturday meals.
Jamie Arnette is the Lead Pastor of First Baptist Church Dillon. The church is located at 400 N 4th Avenue.
