ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Ordinary Time
On Evangelicalism by Kim
Some of you may not know who I am, but I am the current office manager for UBC and am lucky enough to be on staff with our wonderful full-time pastors. Really, working in the office is super fun and I can’t imagine a better work environment.
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These last couple of weeks we’ve heard about Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism from the pulpit as important parts of our Christian faith. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church where my parents were both leaders, and I learned a lot. I was a professional when it came to memorizing scripture in AWANA (Approved Work[wo]men Are Not Ashamed), was the first to answer my Sunday School teachers’ questions, and knew what it meant to do the right thing. I had the fundamentals down. I also was very passionate about my faith: I joined the signing (a sign language interpretative dance) team at church, sought to talk about Jesus with my friends, sang in the youth praise team, and believed that my mission-field was my high school.
I’ve grown since then, but I’ve realized my soul misses some of the things it grew up with. There’s a certain certainty that goes with these two traditions that I cannot grasp any longer, but it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try (yes, I am an Enneagram 1). One of the ways that I need to feed my soul is through reading scripture, and it can be terribly boring sometimes. Even though I grew up reading and being taught the Bible by my parents and pastors throughout my life, there is something about taking the time out of my busy day to sit and read this book that has made it through centuries to be present in front of me so I can glimpse into the story of our Creator.
I find God’s fingerprint in a lot of things: Science Fiction, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, when my cat is playing, the beauty of flowers and plants, in my family and friends, and in the puppy that is about to be a part of our family. All of these things draw me into a peace to be in the presence of God and they are important, but I would argue the Bible is a different kind of important. There is wisdom in it that is unseen today in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. There are stories that lead us to a new understanding of God and how God has worked among God’s people since the beginning of time. There are wars, crimes, and injustices that are historical and representative of a time period that none of us would dream of living in. And there is the story of Jesus; his teachings urge us to live better, his miracles show us that God still cares, and his death leads us to die to our own selves so we can live new lives. Karl Barth says it clearest:
A professor of theology once told me that he had learned much more from his devout mother than from the whole Bible. To this our reply must be that recognition of the special dignity of the biblical witness is not a matter of one experience among others. It is all very well to realize, perhaps, that one may learn more from all kinds of greater or lesser prophets or apostles of a later period, or even of our own time, than from reading the Bible. Yet the issue is not where we learn most, but where we learn the one thing, the truth. It is not a matter of arguing that the Bible is the finest book, but that it is the standard of all fine books.
Evangelicalism, for me, is about acting out my beliefs—what I believe to be true about scripture, true about God, and true about my role in this continuing story of life in Christ. And though some things can be confusing in scripture, even the difficult things are somehow God’s words to us. And because of that, I owe it to myself and God to actively read it and try to understand it.
I invite you to think about what you miss from your Evangelical background, if that is your background. What were things from your childhood that you enjoyed about church? Or if you converted to Evangelicalism later, what moved you about the new faith you found? And if you miss the vibrancy of your old faith, what do you think changed?
Grace and Peace to you all. Come say hi to me on Sunday!
Kim Stübben
UBC x 7th & James Stay in Retreat
This year we are partnering with 7th and James to host our first ever fall retreat! The event will be Friday October 26 from 7:00 PM till Saturday October 27 at 10:00 PM. Worship, games, and meals will be at UBC, while the students will stay at the Eikenhort's (boys) and Burn's (girls) houses on Friday Night! The theme is κύριος, and we will study how Jesus functions as our priest, prophet, and king. Pray for the 38 students and leaders currently have signed up!
Youth Halloween Party
Wednesday, October 31 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM we will have our all youth Halloween party. We will have dinner, a costume contest, fall games, and a Bible Ghost story. This event is for all youths 5th – 12th grade!!
Unbound
Random Pic To Generate Clickbait Traffic
Parishioner of the Week
Shane Ward for being commissioned and entering the Navy Chaplaincy Program.
Work is Worship
Greeters: Richardsons
Coffee Makers: Joneses
Mug Cleaners: Andrew S - C
Money Counter: Ballas
Welcome Station:
Announcements
Sermon Text: Job 2:10b-13 “Formation Part 3: Deconstruction”
10-26/27 Stay in Retreat for youth (7-12)
10-27 Womens college group service project
10-31 OOTP Halloween Party
11-9 Youth Boys and Girls Night (7-12)
11-18 Youth Sunday
11-4 Bring Parents to Church Day
12/5 Pre-Pancake Party Mens and Womens college group
12-9 Last Sunday of the fall semester/Christmas Youth (5-6)
12-12 Last Wednesday of fall semester/Christmas party Youth (7-12)
Leadership Team
If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.
Chair- Adam Winn: adamwinn68@yahoo.com
Byron Griffin: byrontgriffin@gmail.com
Kerri Fisher: Kerri_Fisher@baylor.edu
Emma Wood: emma.wood@yahoo.com
Bridget Heins: bheins@hot.rr.com
Jeremy Nance: Jeremy Nance
Joanna Sowards: jo.sowards@gmail.com
Student Position: Samuel Moore: samuel_moore2@baylor.edu
Student Position: Anna Carol Peery: anna_peery@baylor.edu
UBC Finance Team
Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.
JD Newman: JD_Newman@baylor.edu
Hannah Kuhl: HannahKuhl@hotmail.com
Justin Pond: pondjw@gmail.com
Doug McNamee: douglas.mcnamee@gmail.com
Catherine Ballas: catherine@refitrev.com
UBC HR Team
If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.
Josh Blake: joshnblake@gmail.com
Ross Van Dyke: Ross_Vandyke@baylor.edu
Jared Gould: jared.gould1@gmail.com
Rebekah Powell: rpowell671@gmail.com
Kristen Richardson: wacorichardsons@gmail.com