Pastor's Points July 2019
Dear Church Family,
I am so thankful to be back with my church family! Thank you church family for allowing me this time to reflect on and rest from the daily responsibilities of ministry. It was truly a blessing. But I also experienced another blessing as I listened online to our pastors as they filled the pulpit each week. Thank you to Pastors Bryan, Nick, and Brian for faithfully filling the pulpit while I was away. And of course, thank you to Pastor Jared for what he does so faithfully every Sunday that we gather. Our church is blessed to have these men of God on our church staff. I thank God for you all!
People have been asking me what I learned while I was away. In general, I learned or was reminded of a few things… the value and necessity of rest, the blessing of a wife who is truly my partner in life, and of my deep and abiding love for my church family. I also met with five pastors whom God used in magnificent ways. I was able to ask questions and learn from them on my quest to become a more effective and god honoring pastor here in our church family.
As God would have it I read the book, Leading in Love, by Andrew Strauch while I was away, and God used it in connection with my Bible reading to speak to me on the value and necessity of love in the life of a follower of Jesus. Out of this time I am going to start a new series of messages on July 7th titled, “The Real Thing”. In these messages we will deal with the reality that love makes all the difference in the world. As a part of this series we will look at I Corinthians 13 which is also known as the “love chapter” to many. Often, we hear this text at weddings, but the content of this truth goes way beyond the marriage ceremony. These truths are for all of life. I am very excited for this series of messages.
As I returned from sabbatical, we jumped right into Vacation Bible School, and let me just say that it was a wonderful week of ministry to children. Thank you to all the volunteers that made it happen! A special thanks to Pastor Bryan and Kristi for the countless hours they invested to bring VBS to life. Pastor Bryan you led well and we are thankful for you! It was all worth it. We have several children that we are currently following up with who prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord! So thankful for everyone that made this special week a reality.
We also have more ministry to come this summer. On July 14th two big things are going to begin. We will have the first worship service of our Hispanic church plant at 6:00 pm in the fellowship hall. While this service is going on, our summer discipleship classes will meet in other parts of our building. At the conclusion of our classes and the Hispanic church service, we will all gather in the gym at 7:30 pm for a fellowship to celebrate the beginning of our Hispanic church. It is going to be a special night and I pray to see you in one of our classes and at the fellowship afterwards.
I am so excited to see all that God has for us in the future!
I love you and I love being your pastor
