Hello! My name is Jeremy Shannon and I am the pastor at First Baptist Church Fort Thomas. My wife Jenni and I moved here just a few days before Christmas last year and have spent the last 8 months falling in love with Fort Thomas and the entire Northern Kentucky area. Being native Kentuckians (we met each other at Georgetown College), we always knew that we loved the state, but almost every day we still talk to each other about how good it is to be home.

I wanted to share a brief introduction about myself and about what God is doing at First Baptist. Our time in the area so far has been chaotic and exciting in the best ways possible. We have a super energetic two year old daughter named Crosley, who has loved taking advantage of trips to Fort Thomas Ice Cream, Tower Park, and the Aquarium on a regular basis. In April, Jenni and I welcomed twin boys, Asher and Henry, into the world. If you ever see me and think I look a bit tired, it’s probably because I am! We are blessed to have found such a great community to raise our kids and such a great church family that has shown us tremendous love.

Personally, I have loved getting to take in as many Reds games as possible, exploring the great food of the region (sooo glad to be back near White Castle), and getting to know our great community leaders. It is not uncommon to find me at Fort Thomas Coffee a few times a week, working on a sermon or just having good conversation with folks. If you ever see me, please stop and say hi!

I know I am biased when I say this, but I love the folks of First Baptist Church Fort Thomas. If you ever visit (and I hope you will), I think you will find some of the kindest folks that you will ever meet. Before I arrived at the church, I was told that this a church that loves people for who they are and that they welcome everyone. After seeing it first hand, I know it to be true.

This is an exciting time in the life of the church. We speak very intentionally about looking to see where the Spirit is leading us. We love Fort Thomas and all of Northern Kentucky and we want to serve the community in as many ways as possible. I expect you will begin to see us at Fort Thomas’ incredible community events in the very near future. Our folks love to try new things and are committed to doing what it takes to live our our mission to “Shine God’s Light. Share God’s Love.”
As a parent, I have been so grateful to have a group of people that love children so well. Soon after we arrived the church worked hard to revamp a new children’s area and nursery and we have a bright, clean place for children to play. Every church has something special to offer, but one of the things that I love about FBC is that if your children attend, you can be sure that lots of people will know their name, give them encouragement, and love them like Jesus. Children are not simply tolerated, but actually ENCOURAGED in worship. As a dad, I appreciate that folks remind me almost that they love seeing my little girl dance and twirl to worship and that it is a place where she has come to love. I still want to reign in her energy sometimes, but they keep telling me to stop it! If you are looking for a place to worship as a family, this is a great place!

Right now, we do not have a five year plan for what will happen at our church. I say that because we are intentionally keeping ourselves open to the Spirit’s lead. We are excited because we feel this is a new day, with new energy. We have been preparing and praying and asking the Lord to show us what’s next? If you have a church family, great! We love other churches and want to encourage you to serve where God has planted you. But, if you do not have a church home, if you have thought about church but aren’t sure you’d fit in, if you want to partner in being a part of something bigger than yourself, I encourage you stop in. We openly admit that we gather as imperfect people, aware of our need for God’s grace. We want to work to figure out how to serve together in the midst of that. Worship starts at 10:45 on Sunday mornings (Sunday School at 9:30). We’re saving a place for you!

To learn a little more about First Baptist Church Fort Thomas,  please be sure to check out our website at www.fbcftthomas.com

This Sunday at FBC Fort Thomas, we looked at the story of Balaam and the Talking Donkey. Out of all of the stories in scripture, this would have to rank pretty high on my list of stories that I would have loved to see play out as it happened. If you are unfamiliar with the story I encourage you to go to Numbers 22 and read about what happens but for the sake of this post I’ll give you the JSV (Jeremy Shannon Version) summary:

Balaam, a diviner (i.e. prophet) in the Old Testament was asked by Balak, the leader of the Moabites to ask the Lord to curse the Israelites (the CHOSEN people…come on Balaam) because they were afraid they would be attacked. Even though he knew it wasn’t a good idea, Balaam asked the Lord over and over and over until finally the Lord sent him on the way to talk to Balak. The next morning Balaam takes off and would probably have made it to Moab in record time except his trusty donkey kept taking him off course. One time he runs off the road, so Balaam beats him. Another time he runs into a wall and crushes Balaam’s foot, so Balaam beats him. One last time, there is nowhere else for the donkey to go, so it sits on the ground, and…you guessed it, Balaam beats it.

Growing frustrated, the donkey says “Why in the world are you beating me?!?! Have I ever done this to you?”
At this point, we see that Balaam’s eyes are opened to what we had already read in the passage: the donkey saw an angel of the Lord standing in the road and he wanted to protect Balaam.

So, we see that Balaam, a guy that was known for being able to share messages from the Lord, was so blinded by his own selfish ambition that he was unable to see what a DONKEY was able to see.

There are many things that happen in this passage that I could point out, but one thing has continued to play in my mind.

We live in an increasingly angry time. Everyone is divided. Everyone thinks that they know best. As I read the news and see things playing out around the world, I think the majority of our issues stem from the fact that people (myself included) would rather see their agenda win than the kingdom of God advanced.

We pray prayers that assume we know what is best and that if only God would do things our way, we would get what we want. 

What would have happened if Balaam had taken a moment to think about the situation? His donkey had never been disobedient and he also knew that he was probably not doing as the Lord wished. Blinded by anger and ambition, he sees a disobedient donkey as someone that is only keeping him from what he really wants. He can’t fathom that there is a reason for what is happening and so he beats it, over and over.

I don’t know how to fix the problems of the world. I don’t know if a post like this only adds to the chaos, but I do feel compelled to share this:

Just because someone makes you angry doesn’t mean that they are wrong. In fact, the people who make you the most angry might actually be a way that the Spirit is trying to teach you something. You must constantly check, recheck, and evaluate to make sure that your actions show an allegiance only to the kingdom of God.

If you can’t disagree with your political party on any issue, that probably means that your strongest allegiance is not with Jesus. If you can’t sit down and have a conversation with someone that drives you absolutely crazy, that means that  yourstrongest allegiance is not with Jesus.

I am not saying that everything is a compromise. I am not saying that there are not places to take a stand. What I am saying is that you have to be very careful because there is a very strong chance that there is something that you believe strongly about but the fact is that you are wrong.

I am wrong. Often. I know where I fall, but I also know that there are places where I am blinded by my own ambition. Because of that, I have to be open to listening, to asking questions, and making sure that I live with an awareness that God might speak through those who make me the angriest.

I firmly believe that there are many injustices in the world if people would put down their labels, their agendas, and work together to help those who are hurting. Instead in the face of tragedy we see both sides, (BOTH sides), spin things with the most extreme examples, one-upsmaniship, and the people hurt the most are those who aren’t even welcome at the table for those discussions.

Who makes you the angriest? How might God be using that person to teach you something?

What have you chased this week that doesn’t really match up with what God would want? Are you courageous enough to let it go and focus on the things that really matter?

Until Christ returns, there will be divisiveness, anger, jealousy, and every other sin under the sun. But you have a choice. You don’t have to give in. You can set a different standard.

One of my favorite Rich Mullins lines is this, “The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance, I owe only to the giver of all good things.”

Based on your actions, where is your true allegiance?