The Blog of
John Michael Helms
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Jefferson
Building Space Into Our Lives
The secret to building a good fire is to put some space between the logs so the fire can get some oxygen. Without proper oxygen, the fire has trouble burning. We all need to build some space in our lives to keep the fire burning. Otherwise, all the demands and... read more
What Grace is About
What Grace Is About This year marks my thirtieth year of fulltime pastoral ministry. In 1988 I served my first year of fulltime ministry with Dr. Hugh Kirby as the Minister of Youth at First Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia. However, my ministry started long before... read more
The Lessons The Broccoli Tree Have for Easter
Easter Sunrise Service One spring day a photographer living near the Southern shore of Lake Vattern, Sweden took a picture of a tree and posted it on Instagram because he thought it looked like a stalk of broccoli sticking up out of the ground. Forty-three people... read more
This Is How People Know You Are a Disciple
For most of us, the thought of washing someone’s feet is repulsive unless it is someone we know really, really well and even then we are not very willing. A few years ago, I served as the camp pastor at a youth camp at Ricks Institute, which is sixteen miles outside... read more
The Mystery of Quieting the Babies
One of the favorite services of the year for most of our members is the candlelight Christmas Eve service. It’s amazing how much musical talent we have in our church and some of this talent is always on display at this service. Latecomers missed Hannah Safley... read more
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