By: Waylon Bailey ~ I’ve never believed meeting God just happens. It happens because we seek it and desire it. The Bible tells us to seek God. Here are three ways you can make your worship experience more meaningful for you and especially for your children. First, prepare for worship. For this weekend that means turning your clock back ahead …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ Though it seems long and slow, the plans for our new building expansion are moving along quite well. Over the next four months we will be dealing with zoning and permit issues for the new construction and getting the final construction documents. In order to get ready to go before parish government, we conducted a traffic …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ Each year First Baptist Church elects twelve deacons to serve a two year term. The deacons are called by the church to help in pastoral ministry and to model consistent Christian living before the congregation. Pastors (also known as elders and bishops) and deacons are the two scriptural offices in the church. Therefore, those who serve …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ My “Lagniappe” is a regular feature of FBC Covington. I have written this like clockwork for 25 years. It is my way of communicating with the congregation about important issues. Lagniappe means “a little something extra,” like a “baker’s dozen.” Thanks for reading. Worship Services Streamed Live I was very pleased last week to hear of …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ I still remember the weekend I took one of my college roommates to my hometown. When we arrived in Brantley I realized that my roommate from Birmingham and I didn’t have many things in common. We both were Baptist, from the state of Alabama, and our hometowns began with the same letter. Apart from that, we …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ Where are we with our Rise Up! Campaign? Last year, First Baptist Church voted to move forward with building much needed educational space and commons areas as well as a new worship center. We also voted to enter into a capital campaign to raise needed funds for building. At this point we have commitments for approximately …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ I promise. Adopt these four attitudes and practices and your church experience will be decisively changed for the better. What are they? First, acknowledge that what you think of the church or pastor or preaching is of little consequence. It really doesn’t matter what I think of the church. What matters is what Christ thinks of …

My current sermon series is “Speaking the Truth.” The title comes from Paul’s admonition that believers “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Speaking the truth in love will mean that we will ”grow up in every way into him in all things, who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every …

By: Waylon Bailey ~ I often hear people talk about being stuck or not being able to make any real progress. They often mean they are simply stuck in the middle and can’t go forward and can’t go back. How do you get off dead center? How do you get where you want to be and where you know you …

By: Waylon Bailey Martha and I appreciate our time away, and we are happy to be home. Thank you for giving us time to decompress and get away from the daily preparation time. You are gracious and thoughtful. But, we are happy to be back and looking forward to moving forward as we seek as a church to minister to …