First Community Podcast

Caroline and April hang out with Brittany Odom and discuss all kinds of stuff such as Brittany's call to Student Ministry, how it led her to First Baptist and now Ben Lippen to be an English teacher, the importance of Christian community, personality types, and April and Caroline get really self conscious about their English speaking skills.

Caroline and April discuss discipleship and then they get to know Pastor Chad Smith, our new-ish Children's Minister. He is the MOST fun, so don't miss the party with Pastor Chad!

Caroline and April talk about what it means to be "called" by God and if it's really as mystical and mysterious as it sounds. Then we talk with Jennifer Barrineau, life-long attender and member of First Baptist, as well as current Student Ministry Assistant, to hear some of her faith story. We also talk about what God is currently doing in Jennifer's life, the Student Ministry, and FIRST Women's Ministry.

April and Caroline discuss the term "missions" and all of the meanings that it can have within the church. No matter our definition, our calling is to share the love of Jesus wherever we are. Caroline shares how God is using her budding profession in the medical field to reach others, specifically telling stories from a medical education trip to Ghana.

Caroline and April ... wait for it ... talk about about waiting(haha!)and the frustrating process of sanctification that it provides. They get a little vulnerable and probably share too much. And April is sorry to anyone who has ever had to ride in an elevator with her. Then treat of all treats, FIRST organist Charlton Bozard comes on to tell us how he ended up at First Baptist, what role that waiting has played in his life, and tells some amusing wedding and funeral stories.

We had a full studio for this First Community Podcast! The whole episode is about baby Jesusses ... the ones from the Columbia Christmas Pageant, that is. Thirty years of Christmas Pageant means 30 years of baby actors, so we talk to now grown Katherine Hufstetler (Baby Jesus 1996)and Emma Debenport (Baby Jesus 1998) about their experiences through the years in the Christmas Pageant, as well as reveal *spoiler alert* that Caroline was Baby Jesus 1995. April is the only one in this podcast who has never portrayed Jesus.

April and Caroline sigh (ok, April sighs, Caroline talks) through the topic of forgiveness, sharing some personal stories of what it means to let it go. The legendary Bob Debenport comes on to share what God is doing in his life now and looks back on all of the miracles that he's seen in First Baptist Church over the past forty-something years.

April and Caroline talk about all of the ways that our culture is struggling to find itself and what it means to find your identity in Christ. Janet Ballew, the teacher for the Always Learning Online Sunday School class also stops in to share her story and talk about ways to keep growing in your faith.

April and Caroline discuss what it means to worship and then Evelyn Cunningham joins them to tell her faith story and share how she worships God daily, even in the midst of difficulty and struggle.