"TO BE A SERVANT"
By: Ann Millard, FBC Member
“He who is greatest among you must be your servant” is the message on one of the beautiful stained glass windows in the FBC Chapel. The windows were created by world-renowned stained glass artist, Rowan LeCompte and they are far from being ordinary. However, this message “to be a servant” can be very ordinary.  

When I think of Jesus, the word servant comes to mind because that is what Jesus was; it is what he did. He was a servant to all, especially to the outcasts of society…to those different from us and to those just like us. Jesus taught us how to be a servant and how to serve. We are called to serve the lonely, the sick, the abused, our neighbors, our friends, the homeless, store clerks, teachers, doctors and nurses – just to name a few.  

Serving can be as simple as a smile, a friendly “Hello, how are you,” a thank you, a phone call, a card, feeding the homeless, or a listening ear. Just let someone know you are thinking of them, you care about them, you want to help them in whatever way you can – no act of kindness is too small or too big. Remember you may be Jesus to someone today.  

God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Also, our greatest desire when we meet our maker is to be told “well done, good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:21)

Trust me, this will give you great JOY. Borrowing from Ben David’s (our District Attorney) sermon, joy means:  
J esus first
O thers second
Y ourself last

What a motto to live by. This is what it means to be a SERVANT!
The greatest among you will be your servant.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:11-12
Rowan LeCompte (1926-2014) was a world-renowned stained-glass artist best known for his work in the Washington National Cathedral that spanned an unprecedented 70 years of artistic commission.

Mike Queen Reflects on Mr. Lecompte
I was pastor at FBC when we commissioned the windows by Mr. LeCompte. We had been searching for an artist to do the four windows but with a little luck. Nancy Efird called me one day said she had read in parade magazine about Rowan LeCompte. She told me how famous he was and that he lived in Wilmington. In fact he lived across the street from Tom and Jimmy Wallace, members at First Baptist. He and I met at least a dozen times over the course of the three years it took him to complete the windows. Each visit was distinct memory unto itself. What I will never forget were the hours he spent sitting in the empty chapel studying glass and light. He would lean pieces of glass up against the clear glass of those windows and stare at them for hours. He will come on sunny days and then return on a cloudy day. He was always concerned that the windows faced north and the sunlight came from the south. He said that meant the sunlight shown on the old jail behind the chapel and reflected off of that red brick. He said it did strange things to the stained glass. He was a perfectionist, and the windows are a testament to that fact. He called me one day to tell me that he was going to be gone for a few weeks and that it would slow the process down. He said, “I need to go back to France and study the work of the 13th century masters one more time.“ He returned more inspired and more determined to finish our windows been at any time in the process. He put all the glass together and created the windows and then set the glass to New York to be leaded and set in the frames. To see them and to read the words of scripture in them is to know they are the work of a master.