From Pastor Mike's Desk...
Those wishing to contact me via email may do so here. All emails are personal and confidential and come to me directly. Feel free to call or visit if you prefer. Click "Contact Us" on the left sidebar for the phone number and address of our church.
Apostle Paul’s Life and Theology
In keeping with the idea that our website is more than just an advertisement of our church, that it is an extension of our church in that it is a tool for our congregation as well as a ministry, we are dedicated to maintaining it and keeping the information fresh, useful and up to date. As a new ministry for First Baptist of St. Paul, our site is growing and evolving to meet the needs and wants of our members, community and all those we can reach to share the Good News of our Lord and Savior.
A recent addition to our web-ministry is my notes on the Study of the Apostle Paul. These notes are offered in document form for review and additional study to those of you who attend our Bible study, a means of catching up for those of you new to the study, and as a tool for independent Bible study for those of you unable to join us in person. To view this study, click on the
Sermon & Study Archive link here or at the left and scroll down to the Study of Apostle Paul's Life and Theology. This is an ongoing study and we've added notes up to and including current discussions.
Note: Many quotations and resources, printed and electronic, were used in the compilation of this study. I do not presume to be the author of any of those resources and have used them strictly for educational purposes within our congregation. Copyrights are of utmost importance and I have tried to the best of my ability to reference those sources/ resources/references. Please see inline notes and footnotes for additional information on the source documents used in this study.
A Word of Praise and Appreciation...
At this writing, I am sitting in my office trying to put into words what First Baptist Church of St. Paul, Virginia means to me. T.S. Elliott in his book of poetry called Four Quartets wrote, “Words strain, crack and sometimes break, under the burden, under the tension, slip, slide, perish, decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, will not stay still.” Obviously, if this is true for him in expressing something that’s important to him then it has to be especially so for me. It is very hard to put into words what this church means to me, and what it also means as an expression of the body of Christ in this community.
As you know, a church is more than just a building, a structure, or even more than the official organization that we sometimes call church. The building that most people call church could be gone tomorrow, but the true church would be, by the grace of God, stronger than ever. The church is the individuals— the people that God has gloriously and wondrously called together out of the world to be an expression of His Body and His Spirit in this community. A group of individuals that, because of their unique personalities, unique friendships, and relationships, have taken on a particular personality of their own. A church that I dearly love, and that most importantly is dearly loved by God. A persona that expresses each individual personality, but yet by the grace of God goes beyond the sum total of each member to create a wonderful body in Christ. A group of believers that has its share of weaknesses and shortcomings, but also more than its share of wonderful things in which to praise God.
I praise God for this church. I tell my fellow pastors that, as far as I am concerned, there is not a better congregation in the world than this group of believers. I wish that more people in our area could see our church and our people as I do. For if they did, the walls of this church would not contain them.
With Love in Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord,
Rev. Michael Moore
This page was last modified on Thursday, February 18, 2010