Bill Harvison

Many of you reading this may not know but the church I am blessed to pastor, First Southern Baptist Church of Powell, is in the process of changing our name. We are voting on this later this month. It is an exciting time at our church as we prepare for a new name. Even with a new name, some things will stay the same. We will still be a church in cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention. We will still meet for Sunday School at 10 a.m. and Worship at 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Our address will not change, nor will the building. More important than those things not changing is the fact that God has not changed nor will he ever, and our belief in him and his word will not change. We will still believe that God created all the beautiful scenery we are blessed to live around in seven days. We will still believe that Jesus was with God when he created the world, and at the appointed time, God sent Jesus, his son, to Earth to become the perfect sacrifice for mankind’s sin. He did this by dying on the cross, being buried and raised from the dead three days later. We will continue to believe that Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection make it possible for all mankind who believe in Jesus’s perfect work to be saved and have eternal life with him in heaven. We will still believe that, just like he was resurrected from the dead, all who have placed their faith in him will also be resurrected by him in the last days. Our beliefs are not changing because they are based on God's unchanging word, the Bible. 

It will be a change when I no longer say I pastor First Southern Baptist Church, but I am glad I can always say Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Change can be good, especially when you allow God to change your life by the perfect work of Jesus Christ. 

(Bill Harvison is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Powell.)