The Blessing of the Lord Makes Rich

Proverbs 10:22 says “It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it.” The world has lots of riches – but the kind of blessing of the Lord we have experienced in this church plant make us very rich indeed! Today was our “Celebration Sunday.” We took the final step to be self-supporting (voting on a pastor). We sang songs of praise. In Sunday School David used pictures to tell the story of the church. Pastor Sipe and Mr. Glen Hamilton spoke to us. We had a picnic lunch together. Two adults and one child got baptized. Most importantly, we took testimonies from the church family. It was a very sweet time of praising the Lord and remembering what He has done.

Wedding update

The wedding was great – I believe the Lord blessed and the gospel was clear – thank you for praying. On to Celebration Sunday!

First Wedding = Gospel Opportunity

My first wedding is this Saturday. I would appreciate your prayers for this, as the couple told me Monday night that they expect 75-100 nonChristians at the wedding. What a great opportunity!

Apple Pie

One of our church families got the courage to take an apple pie to their new neighbors – and the neighbors came and visited our church this morning! It’s exciting to have visitors, but much more exciting to see God honor a family’s desire to reach out in their neighborhood. Attendance was low today, but the response to the Word was great.

Sunday update

1) We had a congregational meeting and voted to approve the self-supporting budget
2) Adam & Kristi joined the church
3) We had a Q&A time for the people to ask me any questions (in preparation for the pastoral vote in 2 weeks). This went very smoothly.
4) We had several visitors in church.
5) We have another couple that is ready to be baptized
6) We had 41 in our two Sunday night groups.
Praise the Lord for these things. Two weeks until the “big Sunday”!

Candidating?

This Sunday we’ll have a congregational meeting, which includes a question & answer time with me (the pastor who will be voted on in two weeks!). It does feel a little strange to candidate at the church you’ve pastored for three years!

Membership and Baptism on the horizon

As part of two special Sundays (related to our self-supporting step), we are having a congregational meeting to accept new members, as well as a baptism. Which makes for an interesting time! Some people are struggling with church membership – and understandably, since some of them have experienced one church disaster after another. It’s hard to get excited about committing again. And others are struggling with baptism, for various reasons. So it makes for a very interesting time – one of those times when I am especially aware of my lack of pastoral wisdom.
We had a good Sunday, with about 60 in church and a great mission/evangelism themed Sunday School session.