FBCBrewster

Ebenezer…What the heck?

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

I have been learning some new (to me) hymns lately.

Now for years I heard my Grandmother tell me I needed to sing more hymns because “the young people needed to learn them”. I will agree that there are some great ones to be learned so my Grandma had a point. Actually, I wish I would have listened a long time ago because there are some hymns that I wish I would have learned a long time ago.

A couple of weeks ago was one of those times but I came across some words in a song that I had no idea what it meant.

As a worship leader it is always great to expand your vocabulary and this was one of those times.

As I was studying what it meant I realized that this could be a teachable moment for myself and the church! I bet most people who have sung this don’t  know what it means either. Ever happened to you?

The song we sang is Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing which has the line “Here I raise mine Ebenezer” in it. When I first read the line I was like….What the heck is that? So I did a little studying!

In 1 Samuel 7:12 it says:

Then Samuel took a stone and called its name Ebenezer for he said, Till now the lord has helped us.

The Hebrew Translation of Ebenezer is “Stone of Help”

The Israelites had finally defeated the Philistines and had taken back the Ark of the Covenant.

Samuel set up a marker stone to identify and remind people of Gods faithfulness.

God  has been faithful in the past, In our present and He will be in our future.

So on that Sunday we passed out rocks. Now if you think they may throw them at you then you might want to rethink it. 🙂

We took our little stone as a reminder of His faithfulness. We all have battles. We’ve been through them, we may be going through them now and they’ll come. We need our Ebenezer. We need our reminder.  When things seem to really suck our first reaction or thought is to quit or give up. What would happen if the first thing we did is remind ourself of Gods faithfulness? Remind ourself that God had been faithful, that He has saved you, that He sent His son to die for you. I guarantee you can think of at least one thing to remind yourself of His faithfulness.

Ebenezer

Its time to raise your Ebenezer! Its time to set a reminder.

Worship leaders its time to expand your vocabulary, its time to get creative. Use rocks if you have too.

Heres the video of it. It was filmed on an iPhone!! Ebenezer Video

J
Ebenezer

Here we GO!!!

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

I wanted to let everyone know whats going on with the Nicholas Family!!

Well here it is…

At the end of May we will be moving to NY!

I have recently taken a job at First Baptist Church Brewster in Brewster, NY. I have actually been flying back and forth since January but we will be moving up as a family at the end of May. I was hired as the Worship Arts Pastor but have recently been made the Associate Pastor. I am still over the Worship Arts Department but I also oversee Education (small groups, youth, kids ministry)!

The Village of Brewster / The Town of Southeast

The Village of Brewster is 58 miles outside of Times Square in the town of Southeast. It is in the New York City Metro area. The Pastor of First Brewster is actually a southerner too! Rick Julian is his name and he is from Greenville, SC and he spent some summers in Canton, NC which is pretty close to Franklin. Small world…. I am very blessed to work with someone like Rick. He is truly a Pastor and he is unlike anyone I have ever met. His wife’s name is Rachel and they have two kids, Abby and Brooks.

We are very excited about this humongous and scary faith step but we know were headed in the right direction. NY is nothing like NC when it comes to church’s. In case you didn’t know there is not one on every corner in the North. Actually a bible believing, bible teaching church is few and far between. A lot of them are avenues for the Pastor to share their political views or discuss what is going on in the news. The opportunities to reach people here are unbelievable. This area could truly be considered a mission field… Forget that, it is a mission field. 

Did you know that there is around 800 languages spoken in NY?

And,

1 out of every 16 people in the United States lives within a 75 mile radius of Times Square!!

Dang… Thats a lot of people.

One of the things that we loved about the church was that it actually had a variety of people. It really is a church for everyone. From Homeless to the top of the Corporate ladder and everything in between you name it and First Brewster has it. It is a regional church which means some people drive up to 1.5hrs just to come to church!

We are very excited about the ministry possibilities here. They are pretty much endless and I feel God has some really amazing things in store for my family and I. We know God is going to use us to make a difference in the North East!

One thing I would ask of you is this:

PRAY FOR US!!

We would love to have you praying for us! Prayer works and we need it!

A few immediate ones are,

  • Easy Transition for the family
  • Find a house
  • Find the right school for the kids
  • Make good connections

Would you commit to pray for us once a week?

If that’s something you are interested in would you email me at jnicholasfamily@gmail.com and let me know! We will send you more updates and keep you posted with whats going on. I have some really awesome stories I look forward to sharing with you!

Excited about the adventure,

Jason, Brandi, Jonah and Jada

Here is a few video links:

Here is Pastor Rick

Hear is our Easter Egg Hunt from last week!

And Heres one we made for Easter Sunday

Brewsterchurch.com