Pastor's Notes (November 2011)

November is a slower month.  We catch our breath after the leaves are raked up.  We finish other outdoor projects before “the snow flies”.  Inside, we tuck away summer clothes and gear up for the winter when the temperatures drop. And then we remember: It’s almost the holidays! Eek!  Time begins to melt away!

Around First Baptist this month, there’s a lot of great activity going on, reminding us of the hustle and bustle of our church home at 601 Main Street: 

Drive by on Tuesday and Thursday nights and see the building glowing with activity! On Tuesday nights this Fall, Alycia Post is leading a missional project, providing Cooking Skills classes in a partnership with a local social service provider. Also, Family Time continues its ongoing “Parenting Classes” for families in our community to learn ways of being a peaceable household.

On Thursday evenings, the Bennington Free Clinic continues its work, helping uninsured persons (18-64) receive healthcare and other assistance.  On Thursday evenings and other occasions (as medical providers are available), the Clinic provides hospitality, care, and support for many in our community.  VCIL also hosts occasional meetings for disability peer groups as well as local gatherings for the Vermont Workers’ Center and other organizations.

On Tuesday, November 8, you can attend a one-day event sponsored by Bennington College’s Mediation Clinic and hosted at First Baptist.  This event serves as part of the College’s efforts to connect with the local community and facilitate greater connections between social service organizations and persons in need.  To learn more, see page four!

Within the congregation’s fellowship, we have the opportunity to support the church and our fellow congregants through these wonderful opportunities:
Thanksgiving Baskets. The board of Deacons invites you to contribute non-perishable items or cash donations for the annual Thanksgiving Baskets, given to congregational households in need.  The Deacons appreciate the generous donations of canned goods and all the trimmings to assist a church household’s Thanksgiving celebration.  (NOTE:  As Coordinating Minister, I receive all requests for Thanksgiving basket recipients. Please speak with me before November 13, so we can plan for each household’s needs accordingly. All requests are kept confidential.)

Supporting our Flower Fund and Scholarship Fund.  On our newsletter back page and in upcoming bulletins, you will find a form inviting donations to the Flower Fund or Scholarship Fund in memory or in honor of a loved one.  The Flower Fund helps underwrite the annual costs of Easter and Christmas flowers. The poinsettias purchased will beautify our worship space as well as the homes of our elder congregants.  (Mark your calendars now for December 4, where part of our Sunday morning activities will be Christmas caroling and delivering these flowers!)  If you choose the Scholarship Fund, this donation will help assist our congregants as they pursue further study.

Helping 2012 get underway.  This past month, we received pledge cards from congregational households.  The tally will be forthcoming from our financial secretary, however, preliminary review shows that our 2012 pledges are going to be consistent with our 2011 pledge estimates. 

Thank you for your generosity this year as well as in your willingness to support next year’s ministry and mission as well.  The Trustees and the Cabinet will be completing a 2012 budget before Thanksgiving, so please see the December newsletter for commentary on this coming year’s projected income and expense. 

Thanks to your pledge cards coming in, we are able to move ahead with 2012 budgetary planning.  In a rough economy and a difficult Fall in Vermont, your continuing support is a great story to tell!THANK YOU!

Grace and  peace, —The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot

Pastor's Notes (June 2011)

PASTOR’S NOTES (June 2011)

                Last year, as I was rearranging files in the church office, I discovered two treasures of the congregation.  One is a rather obvious treasure:  a pamphlet with a Civil War era sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. William Apsey, minister of First Baptist, 1862-68.  The sermon is entitled “Causes for National Thanksgiving”, offered in November 1864. If you would like to read this sermon, you can request a facsimile or an e-file of this sermon from the church office.  I will be sharing a copy with Mark Rondeau, Religion Editor for the Bennington Banner.  Mark is writing a series of articles about the effect of the Civil War around Vermont.  You may see part of Rev. Apsey’s sermon may be included in a future Banner article. 

Another treasure is the first draft copy of the centennial church history.  In the archived files of Dr. William Towart (minister 1918-1948), the first draft is a treasure trove of notes and jottings as Dr. Towart compiled the centennial history of First Baptist in 1927.  As he reviewed the first century of First Baptist, Towart notes a number of important dates and events from “way back when”, including the story of Bessie McEowen.

This name might not readily come to mind.  Who is Bessie McEowen, and why does her story matter?  How does she still contribute to the life of our congregation more than a century after her passing?  Through the “Shoe Fund”.

Ms. McEowen supported activities for girls and young women.  After her death, family and friends wished to remember her faithful witness through the establishment of a fund for children in need of clothing. Historically, the Fund has been known as “The Shoe Fund”, given the concern for children to have shoes, or in the language of the day, “for the poor children of the Sabbath School” of First Baptist. 

Today, the terms for Shoe Fund use have expanded to include the general clothing needs of congregational children.  The “Shoe Fund” is a remarkable story of faithful discipleship, looking out for those in need.  This 19th-century fund continues to clothe 21st-century church kids.  Each year as I assist congregational families in need, I give thanks for this small fund that continues, decade upon decade, to make a big difference in “our” kids.  (Note:  The “Shoe Fund” is restricted to assistance for active congregational households.  I can assist families in the community through referrals to community agencies that may be able to provide support.  All inquiries about assistance are kept confidential.  I encourage congregants to speak with me about needs as soon as possible.)

As we recount past history, the story of Bessie McEowen’s memorial “Shoe Fund” is a word of inspiration about humble generosity and the reality that children’s needs are an ongoing challenge to be met.  What can we do to make a difference in the lives of our congregational kids?  Or, with 21st century understandings, what are the missional needs of the greater Bennington area?

Opportunities abound for service to our kids and the wider community:

*  The board of Mission offers our annual School Supplies Drive for Molly Stark Elementary.  Keep an eye on the weekly ads around town and stretch your donation dollar when erasers, crayons, and glue sticks are being sold at (dare I say it?) “devil deal” prices.  Last year, we had a tremendous outpouring of generosity from the congregation (and stories of “great buys” accompanying the bags of supplies as they arrived at the office through the summer). 

*  The boards of Christian Education and Deacons have redesigned our “camp scholarship” policy.  Many families stay “local” with summer activities and camps or find the time and distance to ABC related camps challenging.  Effective this year, parents can apply for camp scholarship support for summer camps emphasizing a child’s educational  or personal growth.  An application is available through the church office to request up to $75 per child to help underwrite summer camp programs. 

*  Our older children (soon becoming “tweens”) have expressed interest in learning more about baptism.  A class will be forming late this summer.  While traditionally called “pastor’s classes” (at least in the Midwest), I am hopeful that every congregant will take part in sharing a word of encouragement with each child exploring what difference faith makes in one’s life.  The entire congregation is involved in teaching our young explorers about Jesus and the importance that following Jesus makes in our lives.

*  Consider a donation to the “Kitchen Cupboard”, the food distribution center program of the Greater Bennington Interfaith Community Services, Inc., or bring food or other items for “His Pantry” of Sacred Heart/St Frances de Sales Church or the Bennington AIDS Project’s “Dove” program.  Your donations are in support of households of various configurations, including a high number of families with children.  Food donations or in-kind financial support dollars make a difference!

Grace and  peace—The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot

Pastor's Notes--November 2010

In mid-2008, I offered a pastor’s column entitled “Building Ministry” (Baptist Window, June 2008, p.2).  The play on words was deliberate.  First Baptist has been building its ministry while making our building part of our new way of ministry.  It was a new concept we were committed to exploring, though we knew that we were entering into new territory and an unmapped terrain.   Our building was just starting to attract attention, our first long-term tenant (Family Time) had moved in that month, and we decided to upgrade facilities to make our building more accessible and up to code.

In November 2010, I look around and see the “new normal” has settled in.  We have four long-term tenants and an impressive number of organizations who use our facilities on a per-diem basis.  Our staff and lay leadership has become accustomed to surprising phone calls, as non-profit organizations have started thinking of “First Baptist” as a place to partner and deliver needed community services .  Here are some examples:

Easter Seals, a long-term tenant organization provides family support services in coordination with the Department of Children and Families (DCF).  Recently, they reserved use of the Della Whittier Lounge to conduct mediation services for families in the court system.  A participant shared with me that the Lounge created a welcoming space to have the sometimes difficult conversations necessary at these meetings.   Likewise, the Family Time office is providing supervised visitation for families seven days a week.

The Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL) has been a key player in local efforts to discuss health care as a human right.  The VCIL staff also used our fellowship hall for their “Halloween Hoedown”, a party for VCIL consumers to gather in a friendly and accessible space.

The Greater Bennington Interfaith Community Services (GBICS) is offering Thursday night clinics of 20+ persons a week, plus occasional other clinic days as medical providers are available to volunteer.  The GBICS fund-raiser “Empty Bowls” event netted over $6,000 for the Food & Fuel Fund.  Ongoing conversations are happening with the GBICS board and the Interfaith Council to ensure greater access to food is made available to our neighbors in need.  GBICS’ on-site location allows our church staff the opportunity to keep in touch about emerging community needs to help our congregation stay active in our own local missional work.

On a per-diem basis, our facility is offering increasingly diverse organizations the opportunity to provide events and services:

Effective this month, the Walloomsac Farmer’s Market will make Colgate Hall its winter home.  Once a month (Nov 2010 to April 2011), the Farmer’s Market will convene in our fellowship hall, providing local farmers and producers year-round presence.  Farmer’s Markets strengthen communities, and our local one is quite exceptional.  The board of trustees is pleased to welcome the Market to First Baptist, especially as a non-profit organization that helps people meet a basic human need: access to good, healthy food. 

The Tutorial Center has been hosting a number of events in partnership with “Let Me Tell You a Story”, a children and family literacy program administered by retired educator Jan Bopp.  This organization uses church facilities to provide a downtown presence for these programs.

Interestingly, all of these organizations have connected to First Baptist by an important, powerful common thread:  word of mouth.  Congregants have helped connect First Baptist with these organizations.  Together, we have made these connections possible.  Through our connections and circles of friends, we have strengthened the ministry of First Baptist, expanded our missional footprint in the community, and helped organizations find affordable, accessible, and welcoming space to meet basic human needs.  

In recent months, the story of First Baptist’s missional work and missional facility use model (aka a “non-profit charity mall”) has gained notice.  Wayne Kachmar and I have offered workshops for interested local congregations, two webinars with students at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, and a workshop at the ABC VNH annual meeting.  Others are awakening to this sort of “building ministry”, and First Baptist is planting seeds in mission fields near and far. 

As I said back in mid-2008, let me share it once more:

Sometimes when we think of First Baptist, we think of the church building as the place we go Sunday to Sunday to receive the spiritual nourishment to get us through the week. Perhaps during the week, we might pop in for an event, a committee meeting, or something else that causes us to drop by the church. Know that as the congregation is rethinking its ministries and we are working together to bring about a new day, your building is also doing new things as well. Indeed, the tenets of faith are being lived out as we share our space and allow many good things to flourish through partnerships with community groups looking to improve the social, cultural, economic, and spiritual life of Bennington through time spent at that wonderful place we call “First Baptist”.

Keep our ongoing efforts in your prayers as well as the staff of the congregation as they help coordinate this work. Say a word of thanks to the hardworking trustee board, and give yourselves a pat on the back, too! Our desire to share the building is doing great things. It is indeed building ministry!

—The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot, Coordinating Minister

Pastor's Notes--October 2010

PASTOR’S NOTES

              Did you feel your ears burning? 

              First Baptist received some great feedback recently!  At the annual meeting of the Vermont Community Foundation, a philanthropic group supporting Vermont-based organizations, First Baptist was highlighted as a great example of what Vermonters can do to help other Vermonters!

In his remarks, Stuart Comstock-Gay, the VCF President spoke of how Vermont is blessed with a high number of non-profit organizations interested in improving the lives of Vermonters, however, the VCF is hopeful that these groups can be drawn together more creatively to work together, consolidate resources, and improve the type of services provided to a given community. 

First Baptist was cited for our leadership in bringing Bennington area non-profits together through our collaborative efforts, particularly by what happens each day in this building.  Daily, over one hundred persons find support services and community activities right here at 601 Main, efforts that the congregation has made possible by saying “yes!” to moving forward into this new territory for churches to be in mission.

Among the many non-profit organizations and agencies supported by the VCF, we are one of a very small number of religious groups to receive VCF funds.  The VCF administration has noticed our work and hopes other communities can benefit from what we are pioneering right here.  They highlight our work with the hope that we can be a sign of hope and a collaborative for communities wanting to address local basic human needs.

With the recent grant of $6,000, we will be upgrading the fellowship hall to provide space for non-profit organizations to find a place for meetings, up-to-date video/sound and online capabilities.  Such efforts enrich the community with assets for the use and good of all.  In the VCF’s language, we are increasing “social capital”.

The VCF President defines “social capital” as “the level of connection and trust in a community, the degree to which people know one another and are engaged with each other, and are supported by each other.  It’s a good thing.  People are involved, and people care.  And social capital doesn’t just make our communities better, it helps us as individuals in so many ways….”  (VCF Presidential Remarks, 09/23/2010)

First Baptist—we are making great strides in helping our community move forward.  Even during difficult times as these, our congregation is giving to support our ministry and including in our ministry and mission a dedication to the community we live in.  Together, we are making a difference.  You are to be commended for your love and care of one another and your neighbors in need!

This month also marks our month-long Adult Forum series on our missional work (see the back page for more info about our speaker schedule).  We will hear stories of persons who live in adversity and what we are doing to address basic human needs, near and far.  This forum series is all part of the work we are carrying out together to make a difference and enrich the lives of neighbors, near and far. 

Grace and peace,

the Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot, Coordinating Minister 

Pastor's Notes--September 2010

PASTOR’S NOTES

As our summer season gives way to the vibrant, changing colors of Fall, First Baptist is preparing for our own seasons of change.   September marks a number of developments around First Baptist, sort of a “late summer yield” after some careful tending and cultivation by church staff and lay leadership.

NEW OFFICE MANAGER NOW ON BOARD

We welcome Ms. Melissa Hepler to the church staff.  Melissa began her duties as the new Office Manager on August 30, 2010.  In this position, Melissa will oversee office workflow and church communication as well as the financial and property management of the congregation.  She joins our staff after recently relocating to the Bennington area from Austin, Texas.  

Opportunities to meet Melissa include stopping by the church office during weekday hours of operation or dropping her a line of hello via fboffice@sover.net.  Melissa will be our guest at the September 5 coffee hour after worship.  Please join me in welcoming Melissa to First Baptist! 

CHANGES TO OUR BYLAWS

On Sunday, September 26, join the effort to affirm a significant change to our church’s bylaws.  We will hold a congregational business meeting (see announcement elsewhere in this newsletter) to vote a change to our bylaws regarding how we change our bylaws.

Presently, our bylaws require a change to the bylaws to be proposed and voted upon by a duly called congregational meeting.  Then the bylaws stipulate twelve months must pass until a second meeting can be called to vote a second time to complete any amendments to the bylaws.  

This clause was likely well intentioned at the time, however, any thought of bylaw revision has been slowed considerably by the “two votes separated by twelve months” proviso.  Last year (September 20, 2009), we voted affirmatively to amend the bylaws to a minimum of 30 days, rather than 12 months.  If the congregation votes affirmatively at the September 26, 2010, congregational meeting, we will pave the way for future bylaw changes to made efficiently and literally in a more timely fashion.

Moving forward, we will be discussing issues of congregational governance.  We live in a time when more scrutiny is given to non-profit organizations.  We also realize that the current bylaws were written in an era when more people were active in the church membership, and some streamlining is needed to ensure we have effective ways to manage the ministry and mission of the active membership that makes First Baptist “go”. 

If you have any questions about the 9/26 meeting, please speak with Wayne Kachmar or myself.  Please plan to be at the congregational meeting and help us move forward with these exciting new opportunities!

SCHEDULING NOTES FOR WORSHIP & RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The Board of Deacons and the Board of Trustees have reviewed our fuel utilization costs regarding the use of our sanctuary.  The boards have agreed that worship services will relocate to Colgate Hall, effective November 1, 2010 until mid-April 2011, with worship in our sanctuary for Christmas Eve (Friday, Dec. 24, 2010).  If you have questions about this decision, please speak with Grace Becker-Wilson, chair of Trustees, or Lisa Flynn, chair of Deacons.

The Board of Christian Education will begin a new model for children’s religious education.  Given the changing patterns of church attendance for our families with children, we have been modifying our schedule for Sunday School.  Effective this month, we will be offering Sunday School with less frequency, moving to an “every other week” schedule.  The Board of Christian Education invited feedback from families over the summer and spent time reviewing the needs of our programming.  We hope this new model meets the diverse needs of our church families.

Adult Education will take place during the Sundays of October, with special “adult forums” exploring the various ways that First Baptist blends our call to discipleship with the missional needs of the community.  I will serve as the coordinator for the adult forums, and I am delighted to share news that October 2010 will be “a month of Sundays” featuring interesting speakers who will help us see the local and global difference that we can make as missionally minded Christians. 

ONE LAST WORD

This summer, as we transitioned between office staff members, I was helped greatly by Aleta Bryant-Boutin and Michelle Fournier (office support) and Michelle Marchetti, CPA (bookkeeping management).  I put in many extra hours myself, working to assure continuity with our administrative needs, and I would not have made it without the help of these three persons. 

Also, thanks to Charlotte Knighton who assisted again as summer organist supply, and to Colby Harwood (sexton vacation coverage) and Bruce Lee-Clark (emergency pulpit supply when I flew home to Kansas at short notice for a family funeral) for their help as well.  It’s been a busy summer, and the effort of these folks is deeply appreciated. 

Grace and peace,

the Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot, Coordinating Minister