First Baptist Church
of Hamilton, New York

Founded in 1796, First Baptist is an American Baptist church with an ecumenical congregation. First is the "Mother Church" of Colgate University.

Report of the Missions Board

Wendy Simcoe, Chair

“The Fruit of Silence is Prayer; the Fruit of Prayer is Faith; the Fruit of Faith is Love; the Fruit of Love is Service; the Fruit of Service is Peace.” This prayer by Mother Teresa is on my mouse pad, along with a picture of a sand dollar. The prayer reminds me of how Mother Teresa lived her life, the sand dollar that – when you break it – it has five doves inside – and doves remind me of peace. But, I am also reminded that the sand dollar has to be broken in order to get to the doves of peace inside.

Much is being made of the book that came out recently about Mother Teresa and her apparent lack of feeling God's presence, and peace, in her life. Though I have not read the book, I have read a few comments about how people feel about these 'confessions.'  Some feel they should not have been brought to light at all, some feel that they've been betrayed by thinking that Mother Teresa, in her service, somehow felt a nod from God on occasion - a nod that said "well done, Teresa, well done." Unfortunately, she never felt such confirmation. I have pondered this about Mother Teresa. I don’t compare myself to her … God knows! In fact, I used to say, with joy, that I could "feel God loving me!"  This year, though, I have struggled to feel God’s presence in my life, and in turn, to be present to God.  It has been a year of painful transition, a year of brokenness.  A year when I’ve come to realize first hand that just because I try to live a faithful life does not mean that I always do, and just because I know God loves me does not mean I can always feel his love, and just because God does love me does not mean everything is going to be easy or wonderful.  So, because I've been fairly engrossed in my own life this year, I was wondering what on earth I was going to put in my Annual Report!  Have we, as a Mission Board, accomplished anything this year?  Looking back over the calendar year I am pleased to report that we have.

The year began with the showing of three films: "An Inconvenient Truth" on one incredibly snowy evening in February when we packed the Fellowship Hall with about 50 people who had not seen it. We cosponsored this event with the Chenango Valley Peace Alliance (CVPA).  In March we showed "Theologians Under Hitler," a documentary, to about 20 people at the Hamilton Movie Theatre, again co-sponsoring with the CVPA.  Then in April we showed, also at the Hamilton Theater, "The Cottonpatch Gospel," which also drew a crowd of about 20 people. 

We sponsored our annual Spring Fling and Fall Harvest Square Dances, with Hank VonMechow doing the 'calling' and his family helping to keep us all in step. These are fun times of fellowship that bring the Colgate students down from the hill for some good old fashioned fun! Hank has commented that he wishes the congregation was more present for these events. 

In June I went to Tijuana for 10 days to work with Ray and Adalia Schellinger, to help with the continued construction of Debora's House complex for abused women and their children.  This was paid for by the 2006 Mission board budget. I thank the Mission board and First Baptist for making this opportunity possible for me. It was a wonderful opportunity to see our ABC missionaries in action. I hope to go back again, and help with their ministry. I would be glad to share my pictures and story with anyone that was not at church on November 25th.

We helped Andrew Powrie afford his trip through the People to People program. Andrew has many pictures and a wonderful story to tell of his adventures in Australia.

We continue to volunteer at Friendship Inn as an on-going local ministry. We are also beginning to be involved in a ministry carried on by Linda and Fred Cazer - a free hot meal on the last Thursday of each month at The Place in Norwich - one of our ABC neighborhood Christian ministry centers.

We will continue to volunteer there in 2008 and will totally plan and serve the meals for February and March while Linda and Fred are away in Florida.

We continue to be the home church organizing the Hamilton Area CROP Walk this year and raised just a little over $6500 for Church World Service. Area schools and mainline churches in Hamilton, Madison and Earlville participated in this event. Twenty-five percent of these proceeds will once again be split between Friendship Inn, and Hamilton and Earlville Food Cupboards.

We had money budgeted for Youth Outreach and Mission which initially was intended to fund hiring someone to run a middle school youth group. Unfortunately, we were unable to find anyone that had the time or talent to devote. We did however allocate some of these funds to The Place in Norwich for their annual fundraising drive and to "The Builders" to assist in bringing Joe Ehrmann to Colgate to talk about his work with youth and sports and how “real men” behave.

Collette continues to work on a Sister Relationship with Santiago's church in Guatemala.  Carol has been keeping the congregation informed about missionaries birthdays and special events.  The Welcome Hall Mission in Rome has expanded their feeding ministry and now have a satellite ministry in downtown Rome at a vacant Methodist Church.  We will continue to support this ministry in 2008.

Wendy and Collette, Jesse and Brandon went to the World Mission Conference in Canandaigua in October. We met many international missionaries and experienced cross-cultural simulations.  Ask Jesse and Brandon what they thought of this event…and the things they ate!

We continue to support Colgate Rochester Crosier Divinity School with a scholarship and although we were not able to arrange for a visit from last year’s recipient, we have received confirmation from this year's recipient that she is willing to come and share a sermon and some time with us in the spring of 2008.

During Joe's trip to India in February he became aware of their great need for good theological study materials. We have designated funds for books to be given to support the Eastern Theological College in India.

We continue, through our mission budget, to be good stewards of all that God provides.  I have enjoyed my tenure on the Mission Board and look forward to supporting its ministries and outreach in the future. Thank you.

First Baptist Church
27 Broad Street
PO Box 73
Hamilton, New York 13346
315-824-2780