A Reflection on Our Annual Meeting Worship Service

This past Sunday, we gathered as a church family to celebrate all that God has done in and through Huguenot Road Baptist Church over the past year. Our Annual Meeting Worship Service was a time of reflection, thanksgiving, and renewed commitment to the mission of God. As part of our continued series, The Renewal Project, we focused on Psalm 78:1-8a—a passage that calls us to remember and share the stories of God’s faithfulness with future generations.  

History is more than just a record of the past; it is a testimony to God’s ongoing work in our lives. In her book, Priests of History, Historian Sarah Irving-Stonebreaker reminds us that we have a choice: we can either guard the past, locking it away, or we can tend the past, stewarding it as a gift to be shared. Psalm 78 urges us to do the latter—to pass on the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord so that others may trust in Him. 

Throughout our worship service, we recounted how God has been at work in our congregation. We celebrated the ways He has moved through our fellowship, discipleship, outreach, missions, and worship. We also acknowledged His provision through the generosity of our church family during the RiseUP campaign. Each of these moments is part of the larger story God is writing at HRBC—a story of renewal, transformation, and faithfulness. 

But all of this work is not the final goal. Leadership expert Simon Sinek offers a helpful analogy: When you buy a car, the purpose is not just to fill it with gas. You buy a car to go somewhere. The gas is simply what enables you to reach your destination. In the same way, everything we do as a church—our worship, our giving, our service—is not the end but the means. Our goal is not just to keep the church running; our goal is to be the presence of Jesus Christ in Northwest Chesterfield and South Richmond and to the ends of the earth. 

This is why sharing our faith matters. Who is your one? Who is that one person in your life who needs to experience the love and hope of Jesus Christ? The story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-38 reminds us that God often calls us to reach just one person at a time. Philip met the Ethiopian official where he was, engaged his questions with understanding, and ultimately led him to faith and baptism. 

So again, I ask: Who is your one? A family member? A friend? A coworker? A neighbor? Imagine the impact if each of us prayed for and shared our faith with just one person this year. 

As we step into 2025, let us commit to tending the story of our faith, sharing it with the next generation, and pointing others to the hope we have in Christ. 

“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, 
His power, and the wonders He has done.” (Psalm 78:4, NIV) 

With a grateful heart,