Pg 03 Doug’s Desk (Aug-Sept)
Dear Members and Friends of First Church, Life in Southwest Florida and at our church follows a slower pace in [...]
Pg 04 Impact that Sticks
"We cannot assume past faithfulness will continue or that future generations will be aware of the great historical legacy available [...]
Pg 05 Pastors Perspective (Aug/Sep 2021)
In each Epistle, this column features a single question to which our pastors are asked to reply. It is usually [...]
Pg 06 Building Family Legacies
There is nothing that impacts a family more than the birth of a child; it is a scary moment when [...]
Pg 08 Making Seminary Affordable
Since 2014, First Church has provided a substantial scholarship to Master of Divinity students at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. [...]
Pg 09 Equipping the Next Generation
One of our most significant priorities as believers is to invest in raising up and equipping the next generation of [...]
Pg 10 Passing the Power of Music
Many of us have heard research stating that listening to music s therapeutic, but what about learning a musical instrument? [...]
Pg 11 First Academy of Music: Our Instructors
Cheryl Bauer Director and flute Cheryl started piano lessons at age 6 and then switched to flute lessons when she [...]
Pg 12 An Inquisitive Generation
Inquisitive youth have always asked questions, but today’s questions are more complex and challenging to answer. What is truth? How [...]
Pg 13 What Is the Cost?
The book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and named after its author, a prophet who [...]
Pg 14 Articulating the Christian Worldview
For the past five years, Westminster Theological Seminary has held its Faith in the Public Square seminar at First Church [...]
Pg 16 A Conversation with Family Ministries…
Here at First Church, we believe that families are God’s plan for passing the baton of faith in Jesus Christ. [...]
Pg 18 Wonder Years Preschool: Our Staff
The staff of Wonder Years Preschool is a focused team of early childhood professionals who stay current with best practices [...]
Pg 20 More Than a Program
Programming inundates the modern family: busy school and work schedules, afterschool activities, sports, weekend gatherings, playdates, etc. The list goes [...]
Pg 22 A Rite of Passage
I had the opportunity to visit Pastor Dan and Sarah Oedy at the church Dan leads in Gastonia, North Carolina [...]
Pg 23 Where Are They Now?
Notes from Former Gordon-Conwell Interns F R O M David Birnie 2019 intern; 2020 Gordon-Conwell graduate; Campus Minister, Reformed University [...]
Pg 25 Where Are They Now?
Notes from Former Westminster Theological Seminary Interns F R O M John Suh 2021 intern; Westminster student, two years remaining [...]
Pg 26 Book Review: Sticky Faith
Sticky Faith addresses one of the current top concerns about the church and raising kids: the reality that nearly half [...]
Pg 27 Crossing the Generations
Our BookCenter features the latest Christian resources for parents, grandparents, children, and adolescents — from fiction and non-fiction to Bibles [...]