The idea behind the position of intentional interim pastor is to (a) provide some time between the retirement of Pastor Clark and when the next permanent Senior Pastor is called to serve while (b) providing many of the same leadership functions that a permanent senior pastor would be charged with (such as attending and facilitating meetings). The Leadership Team recognized the fact that often when a church calls a new Senior Pastor immediately following a long-term successful pastor, the new pastor is unfortunately compared to the former pastor rather than their own giftedness and they end up being a very short-term pastor.

Bob Mills currently serves as Executive Director of Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists and has served as intentional interim at other churches in the past – most recently at Nall Avenue Baptist Church in Prairie Village, Kansas area.

Bob is a native of Florida and first came to KNCSB when he attended Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He married his wife, Lynne, on April 27, 1984. They have three adult children, Emily Elizabeth, Brittney Lynne, and Jordan Wayne.

Bob began serving in KNCSB as a Coordinator of Weekday Ministries in Kansas City Kansas Baptist Association (KCKBA) from 1974 to 1976. He also served as Director of Youth and Family Services in KCKBA. From 1976 to 1979, Bob served as the Director, Church and Community Ministries in Kansas City, Kansas.

He served as Pastor of First Baptist Church of Bethel in Kansas City, Kansas from 1978-1981. In 1981 he was called to work Associate Director of the Missions Service Corps with the Home Mission Board (HMB) in Atlanta, Georgia. He was later made Director of the Mission Service Corps Department with HMB. He served for a short period of time with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in a similar position.

In 1998, Bob returned to KNCSB as the State Director of Missions and became the Executive Director on January 1, 2010.

Bob holds a B.A. degree from William Carey College in Mississippi. He also holds M.Div and D.Min degrees from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Missouri. Bob has numerous professional certificates from various groups or ministries including Church Smart, Growing Healthy Churches, Church Planter Basic Training, Supervision Training for People in Ministry and Next Level Training (NAMB).

Church members will vote on calling Bob to serve as our intentional interim pastor following both worship services on Oct. 2.

They believe God has provided the direction.

Be sure not to miss this Informational Fellowship in the Worship Center. The Leadership Team will let everyone know the direction they believe God is taking the church and will answer your questions.

This is a critical time in the life of our church -- and an exciting one too! You won't want to miss this meeting!

Please be in prayer for the church, and for Clark and Marcia as they begin a new chapter in their ministry. We are so thankful for their many years of service at FSBC Topeka!

The purpose of this letter is to share with you my intentions concerning retirement. I will retire as Pastor the end of September of this year. My last Sunday in the pulpit will be the 25th of September.

It has been a great delight to serve alongside you and have the opportunity to be co-workers in the ministry of Christ in this community. Some of the greatest Christians that I have ever known are members of this fellowship. I thank you for your prayers, your support and your friendship.

I made my intentions known to the Leadership Team and the Staff in the last part of last year, in order that a smooth and effective transition could be in place. The LT has worked diligently on that goal. They will be sharing with you at the appropriate time the results of their effort and their desire for the church. Keep them in prayer as they lead and continue to lead in the future.

Marcia and I plan to retire here in Topeka – this is where our family, many of our friends and the opportunities for ministry exist. I like to use the term ‘retool’ rather than retire, for I do not plan to stop ministering, serving my Jesus and being part of the community we trust in a positive way.

There again, I simply say thank you for the opportunity to be your Pastor and I thank you for your friendship, and your prayers and your support. I look forward to what God has in store for both of us in the future.

Sincerely,

Clark

To learn about Momentum and Financial Peace University, please click here.

The Big Apple VBS Adventure has come and gone and our FSBC family can be very pleased with a highly successful year!

The Lord heard and answered the prayers as our congregation lifted up the names they found on the apples of our prayer tree – including teachers and children. This focus on prayer before and during VBS brought unity and a sense of community to our fellowship as parents were approached by others and being told that they were praying for their kids. Teachers were told if someone was praying for them. This was a great way to encourage prayer and encourage all who dedicate so much of their time to Children’s Ministry.

God blessed us with three children who accepted Jesus as their Savior! 

Our high attendance day was Tuesday with 161 kids!

Our mission project was to raise money and collect supplies for backpacks for The New Hope Ministries in Topeka & Celebration Church in Atchison. We raised $374.53 and collected many items to assist this ministry.
We are thankful for the wonderful week God gave and thank all of you for your part in making it a success.

It is only a matter of time before we are asked to deploy to assist a sister state disaster relief organizations. We are as prepared as we can be, if called to deploy tonight. We will continue to prepare and ready ourselves to meet needs as they play out before us.
Please disseminate this information to your volunteers and churches and remember that in times of distress you can never over-communicate. If, as a leader, you do not communicate what information you have, rumors will take over and then you are always catching up to undo a good intention gone awry. As you communicate and respond to questions and concerns, please remind your churches that KNCSB disaster relief is solely funded by designated donations to KNCSB DISASTER RELIEF. It would help if you annotate all donations as GENERAL DISASTER FUNDS.
I will participate in the SBDR DIRECTORS PHONE CONFERENCE tomorrow and update you as I have additional information. I will be in the office in Topeka tomorrow and Wednesday. Travel time may limit my ability to respond to your requests, but be assured, I will return your calls and respond to your emails.

Your Brother in Christ,
Larry Thomas (LT)

Here is what they are doing and how you can get involved.

Baptist Global Response (BGR) is on the ground and assessing how we can help.

Samaritan’s Purse team in Japan to deliver emergency aid to victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami  

Read the Bible for Life
Your Guide to Understanding and Living God’s Word
by George H. Guthrie

The Bible may be the most bought book in the world, but it is also often
the least read and least applied due to a basic lack of understanding and
motivation on the part of readers. Read the Bible for Life aims to improve
biblical literacy in the culture and the church by simultaneously moving
readers toward greater skill in reading the Bible well and toward a deeper
commitment to applying Scripture to everyday life.

Through a series of down-to-earth conversations with some of today’s
brightest scholars, author George Guthrie discusses the basic tools and
attitudes needed to read the Bible more effectively. Chapters focus on the
various types of literature in Scripture and how to read them well. For
instance, how should we read a psalm differently than we read a parable?
How should we read a story of the Old Testament differently than we read
a letter from Paul? How can we engage these various parts of Scripture in a
way that is truly life-changing? The book also discusses issues such as reading
the Bible in context, choosing and reading a Bible translation, reading in
times of sorrow or suffering, and reading the Bible with your family.

As we better understand how to read the Bible skillfully, we begin to see
how every person of the Bible, every psalm, and every teaching fits into the
Bible’s powerful, overarching story, and we begin to realize our place in the
story that God is still writing in the world.

Begins Sunday, February 13th 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: FSBC Worship Center
9 Week Study
Cost: $12 workbook
Sign-up in the church foyer begins Sunday, January 16th!

For more info contact Sara Jones 272-0443 or Sara@fsbctopeka.org
Find out more info about the study readthebibleforlife.com

Last night we ended the weekend on a real high note with a concert/worship time with a variety of choirs and performers from the area.  It was a very different style of worship that you couldn't help but put your hands together and move your feet.  I love the diversity of the Kingdom and there is no doubt that God does as well!

Will you commit to praying for Memphis and specificially Holy Calling Fellowship?  They need our prayers as we are all members of the same body.  I would also ask that you pray they would be able to begin a missions ministry as well.  We talked about people from their congregation coming to Topeka for a mission trip and helping us in our local missions effort.  Thanks again for supporting and praying for us!

I was excited to hear from a great number of you who took up the "Giving, Praying, and Going" challenge this week.  I have received many messages telling me how several of you have creatively ministered to your neighbors, how you shared the gospel through your testimony and used the season to share the gospel through the Christmas story.  I have also heard how some gave up lunches in order to pray and give the money they would have spent to missions.  One other that I can relate to was giving up TV time in order to be a better servant to the family and neighborhood.  I know that there are many more and I would encourage all the reports you want to send.

One other thing to keep in mind is this.  According to the North American Mission Board only 50 percent of Topeka considers themselves to be "churched" (I believe this percentage to be pretty high).  That means that roughly 70,000 people just within the city limits do not belong to any church.  Ephesians 2:10 says the good work is already set before us so lets give, pray, and go after them!