Gwynn's Island Baptist Church

05/07/2026

Lifelines

© 2025 by Dr. Ed Jordan
Pastor, Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA
May 6, 2026
Topic: Breaking out of your rut

God Makes Streams in the Desert
By Dr. Ed Jordan © 2026

Currently we live on Gwynn’s Island, a small island surrounded by water. It is said that every road in Mathews County, VA ends at the waters’ edge. Quite a contrast to when I spent the first twenty-five years of my life, living in the desert-like areas of Nevada, with only an average annual rainfall of seven inches.

Deserts are known for their harsh environment, dry air, and higher elevations which put you closer to the heat of the sun. So, what does any of this have to do with people who live surrounded by water and humidity? Actually the desert image played a key role throughout the Bible.

Adam and Eve were created and placed in a beautiful garden, full of lush vegetation, fruit trees, and abundant water. God designed humans to be the caretakers of God’s creation. But humans ate from the one tree that God prohibited them from eating, and the consequences of that sin severed their relationship with God. They were filled with guilt at their wrong-doing and when they heard the voice of God walking in the garden, they went and hid themselves for they were “naked.” This nakedness was not merely physical. Their lives were now filled with guilt, and it changed their confidence, self-image, and made them hide from God.

Sin has consequences. Adam and Eve had to leave their cushy garden life, had to stay alive by working hard, and surviving by the sweat of their brow. As they left the Garden of Eden, they encountered the heat and harshness of the desert. The rest of the Bible tells us about God’s continuous effort to bring mankind back into a state of openness and joy in the presence of God. Further generations of people living in, or traveling through, deserts fill the timeline and stories of the Bible.

This metaphor of parched deserts and the relief brought by water in the midst of the dryness occurs frequently in the Bible. When God was leading Israel out of Egypt and into the “Promised Land” God continually provided water for them in the desert.

In Psalm 78:15-16 (NASB95) we read: “He (God) split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams also from the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers.” Our wonderful God, out of His great love for us, provides refreshing waters to us, even in the midst of the most difficult events in our lives.

As humans, we experience difficulties in our lives, be they physical ailments, frustrating co-workers, family stresses, children who break our hearts, and the guilt we have from turning our backs on God, or showing disdain towards Him. When we have relational problems, we feel like we are in a desert, fatigued and disheartened. Like when you just lost your job. Or found out you have cancer. Or lose your home like those in the Southern California fire, with all your memories going up in smoke. We are depressed, and discouraged, and need a nice shady area with flowing cool water to put on our forehead, and to drink in order to replenish and refresh us.

Sometimes we feel like we are on a salt flat and can see no signs of the desert ending. Yet, if we turn towards God, and open our lives up to Him, He fills us with rivers of living water, bubbling up within us, and flowing out to give others in the barren deserts of life, the life-giving water of God.

Jesus met the Samaritan woman at a well. She was ostracized from the community because of lifestyle. Jesus said to her in John 4:13-14 (NASB95): “Everyone who drinks of this well water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

Jesus can turn our dry, dehydrated lives into artesian wells continually flowing life-giving water into our own lives, and out to the thirsty world around us. Are you living in a desert-parched situation? Just as God gave water to His people on the journey to the Promised Land, He will give us artesian wells of water to keep us spiritually healthy and alive, with enough water to share with others. Ask Jesus to come into your life, and cause His “rivers of living water” to flow into you, permeate you, and flow out to others.

Award-winning columnist Dr. Ed Jordan is pastor of Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA. Dr. Jordan’s new book: “Doing Love! It can change your life!” can be purchased on Barnes&Noble.com or Amazon.com.

05/03/2026

May 3, 2026

GIB Church service 5 3 2026

05/03/2026

Worship with us May 3rd 10am, at GI Baptist.
Mini-Concert by Michele Thacker.
Sermon: Knowing True Love!

Send a message to learn more

04/30/2026

Lifelines

© 2025 by Dr. Ed Jordan
Pastor, Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA
April 27, 2026
Topic: Lessons from Elephants and Trees

The Ebony and Ivory Cooperative
By Dr. Ed Jordan © 2026

Life is always interesting, isn’t it? We live in a wondrous world, filled with the presence of God. Some days are filled with fragrant flowers, blooming trees, cloudless skies and sunshine, while others are windy, cold, and stormy.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 we read that there is a time for everything, and in verse 11 (CSB) we read concerning God: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.” Thus, God’s creation is full of His handiwork, and reveals the greatest designer and engineering in the universe.
Some people believe things happen by chance, yet everything that happens is timely and involves thousands of moving and intersecting elements. Last week, I read a report from Taylor Guitars, asking, “What do guitars and elephants have in common?”

Well, it’s a God-thing, although you probably wouldn’t ever guess the connection, and neither did I. Ebony is the most frequently used wood for guitar fretboards. It is dense and smooth, so you don’t get splinters, and the guitar strings vibrate true and clear. It is rock solid, interacting with metal strings for years without wearing out. This ebony is mostly grown in the forests of Africa, and of course, great efforts are made to preserve these trees for the ecosystem and future generations.

African forest elephants roam the forests of Cameroon. They graze in the forests, and eat the fruit of ebony trees. Some trees grow seed pods that can float in the air, others have seeds in fruit that can be transported by birds or small animals, most often in their excrement. But the seeds of the ebony tree can’t be transported by the breeze, birds or small animals. It takes an elephant to do that. The elephants digest the fruit and the seeds come out far from the original tree, and are left behind in new areas, encased in elephant dung.

As the elephant group moves on from grove to grove, some ebony seeds are deposited onto new soil, germinate, and begin new groves of ebony trees. Elephant populations are declining in part because of the decline of the ebony forests. Ebony trees are declining because they need elephants to transport seeds to start new ebony trees. So in order to sustain more elephants, more fruits and trees are needed as food.

A little over a decade ago, Bob Taylor, founder of Taylor Guitars, wanted to start planting new ebony trees so there would always be a supply of ebony. He networked with researchers in Africa and formed “The Ebony Project” with the task of planting more than 10,000 new ebony trees each year. This would provide food for elephants, transport ebony tree seeds, and provide a sustainable symbiosis for both elephants and ebony. The researchers suggested planting other fruit trees also, to increase feeding the declining elephant population as well. It has gone well. In the last ten years, the Project has planted many kinds of fruit trees, including over 40,000 new ebony trees. It is an ebony and ivory renewal cooperative.

All of this points to God at work in His design and creation of the world, and we can learn spiritual truth from physical realities. The following are a couple of insights from ebony and ivory interactions.

Maintaining balance in life and interactions is important. The world is interdependent on many species, and we are all dependent upon God’s design. Sometimes it seems that our life gets immersed in dung, and suddenly life really stinks. We may not like what is happening, but there usually is an upside to every letdown. We all need sunshine and rain, difficulties and blessings, always in balance. A healthy, balanced life actually depends upon both. If we never have to carry heavy loads, we lose the strength to carry them when needed. We also all need some blessings to keep us going.

The lives of ebony trees and elephants (ivory) are intertwined, and both need each other. Modern piano keyboards are made with wood, colored plastics, and resins; but in the past, they used ebony for the black keys and ivory for the white keys. We need both the black and white keys to make beautiful music; we need both the dark and light days to grow strong, and this story of ebony tree and elephant dung shows us that even the stinky parts of life can produce something strong, beautiful, and nourishing.

Life is made of difficulties and successes. When life gets tough, engage in living life, find the future and the blessing in even the awful bits, and pray for good fruit to come from it.

Award-winning columnist Dr. Ed Jordan is pastor of Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA. Dr. Jordan’s new book: “Doing Love! It can change your life!” can be purchased on Barnes&Noble.com or Amazon.com.

04/30/2026

🌮🎲 TACO DINNER & GAME NIGHT! 🎲🌮

Join us for a fun evening of great food and friendly competition!

🗓 Saturday, May 2

⏰ 5:30 PM

✨ Bring a game!

✨ Bring a friend!

Come hungry and ready to laugh, play, and enjoy some delicious tacos! 🌮😄

We can’t wait to see you there!

04/27/2026

April 26, 2026 

GIB church service 4 26 2026

04/26/2026

This morning's 10am
Worship Service
is Inside

Send a message to learn more

04/26/2026

Due to the wet weather, worship will be inside today, 10am

04/26/2026

The Truth about Faith (Col. 1:3-6)
Join us Sunday, for Drive-In Church! If ground is too wet, we will meet in the Sanctuary. We will explore be exploring "Faith." See you tomorrow!

04/23/2026

We are all leaders, and we are all following someone. Choose to be and to follow servant leaders!
Lifelines

© 2025 by Dr. Ed Jordan
Pastor, Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA
April 22, 2026
Topic: Responsible Leadership

Who represents you? Whom do you represent?
By Dr. Ed Jordan © 2026

When was the last time you read the Declaration of Independence to which seven of Virginia’s most famous forefathers (Carter Braxton, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Nelson Jr., and George Wythe) gave their signatures and pledged their lives, and all the resources they had, to support the cause for freedom? These men gave a list of grievances which led to them to write America’s Declaration of Independence, and then they ended it with this potent sentence: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

They wanted “the right to elect our own leaders” to become, and remain, a core value of America, so that every voter’s vote would count. They wanted representatives to represent all the people, not just their favorites, and to do what was good for all those that they were elected to represent. Since Americans at that time had no say in the rules established by Britain, they declared independence from Britain’s tyranny and taxation without representation.

This is the 250th year of celebrating our new system of government which was designed to be government by all the citizens, for all the citizens, and a government that was a servant of all the citizens. I hope that after you read this column, you will take the time to read “The Declaration of Independence” and note the list of grievances that brought about that terminal declaration. If we fail to learn from history, we will end up losing our unique freedom.

A country, state, county, town, church, or any group, is only as good as its leaders. Humans are power-junkies. In the core of each of us is a fallen nature that tends to undermine others in order to assert ourselves, to tear others down that we might move up. The human drive to survive and thrive is innate in human nature. The drive is not the problem; the misuse of that drive is the problem.

When we use our drive to become exceptional in our thinking, planning, and implementing, by collaborating with others for the benefit of all, the results are wonderful. When we surrender our gifts and abilities to God, and allow Him to use them to accomplish His will, they become a blessing. However, when we abuse or misuse our abilities, those actions become destructive. The key is our motive and manner in which we do things.

Jesus set the example for healthy and effective leadership. Some of Jesus’ disciples, or their relatives, were vying to become the top leaders in Jesus’ movement, so Jesus set them straight. In Matthew 20:25-28 (CSB) we read: “25 Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles (pagans) lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. 26 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Good leaders don’t manipulate others, nor lie to others, nor negate the value of each person they are responsible to lead. Leaders empower those they lead to become all that they can become. They lead by example, valuing the least among them, elevating them and lifting them up so they become all they can become. Leaders serve others, lead by example, and value each person by being honest with them, modeling humble service, and creating and conveying value and worth to them.

Jesus had all power in Heaven and Earth, yet laid it aside to highlight how much He values each of our lives above His own. He empowers our decision-making ability, and teaches us to set aside our selfish agendas in order to love and serve one another, instead of disdainfully riding rough-shod over others, or deceptively abusing those with little power. Jesus gave people “the world,” and trusted us to together become one people, instead of pitting the people against each other.

Are you conveying value into the lives of others, or devaluing others? Are you serving others, or enslaving them? Do you love others, or use others? Our values of love and service will become the measurement of our lives on the day of God’s judgment. No one will escape answering to God for the way we honored, or abused, others through our values, decisions, actions and lives. Who do you represent?

Award-winning columnist Dr. Ed Jordan is pastor of Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA. Dr. Jordan’s new book: “Doing Love! It can change your life!” can be purchased on Barnes&Noble.com or Amazon.com.

04/19/2026

April 19, 2026


GIB Church service 4 19 2026