March 1st, 2019

Posted on Mar 1, 2019 in Pastor's Blog |

We take great pleasure and feel blessed that Jake Hahnemann has taken the position of Family Pastor here at First Baptist. He will begin his ministry on March 1st.

Jake grew up in Wisconsin where in the third grade he received his first Bible and that is when he had first thoughts of becoming a pastor.

After high school, Jake attended Greenville University where he studied music and
in 2014 received a Bachelors of Science in Worship Arts. It is also where he met Hannah, his wife.

Jake has experienced, coordinated, and used his leadership skills in ministries such as worship, music, small groups, youth, community outreach, discipleship, and counseling. He loves music–plays the guitar, bass, drums, piano, trombone and enjoys writing and recording his own music. His favorite worship album is Shane and Shane: Psalms 2.

He is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Biblical Counseling at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Hannah and Jake will soon be married 5 years and earlier in their marriage, they traveled around the country in a camper with a ministry doing outreach to carnival workers. Hannah’s family lives in Anna, Illinois. They have two beautiful children, Emma, almost 3 years old and James 3 months old.

Right now Jake’s favorite Bible verse is 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”

We welcome the Hahnemann family to the FBC Family of Faith. Please pray for them as they move and transition to Murphysboro.

I love the church. She is Christ’s bride and the key to cultural transformation. In that sense, every church is great. But let’s be honest, there are a ton of churches that leave much to be desired when it comes to truly making a difference in their congregations and communities. So, when you plug into a church that is getting it done, it’s a true blessing.

Of course there are no perfect churches, but there are many that are pressing toward the high water mark we see in Scripture.

Here are 10 signs you may be going to a great local church :

1. It is led by a team of godly leaders not a Lone Ranger pastor who gathers Tonto-type leaders around him to say “Yes, Kemo Sabe” to his each and every idea (Titus 1:5 -9 ) .

2. The Gospel is central to every sermon, program and meeting (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4).

3. People are using their spiritual gifts not just watching the “stage team” exercise theirs (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

4. It, like the early church, is integrated, fully representing the demographic of the community in which it resides (Ephesians 2:11-21 ). By the way, my buddy Derwin Gray has a lot of great material (blogs, sermons, etc.) on this particular point.

5. Love, demonstrating itself in friendliness, generosity, internal/external care programs and community involvement, dominates the atmosphere ( 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 ).

6. Most likely there is a thriving small group program where members truly can have great biblical conversations, share struggles and pray with/for each other (James 5:16).

7. The people are being inspired and equipped to share their faith.

8. The teaching/preaching is biblical, theological and immensely practical (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4 :1-4).

9. Ministry to children and teenagers are top priorities, not afterthoughts (Titus 2: 1-8) .

10. Intercessory prayer fuels everything. It’s the engine, not the caboose, of how the church rolls from top to bottom (1 Timothy 2:1-8).

These are 10 signs you may be going to a great church. What are some other signs?