Seven
Mission Goals for 2007
1.
An active youth ministry in place by the end of the year
2.
Hosting a quarterly Friends and Family Sunday (where we
invite non-believing family and friends to church)
3.
100% parish participation in the Franklin Graham festival
(i.e. everyone gets trained and brings a non-believing friend
to the festival itself)
4.
The vestry is seeking100% participation in Bible Study.
5
At least 30 new believers by this time next year.
6.
An active discipling program by the end of the year with
at least 4 leaders in discipling relationships.
7.
gathering at least 100 people for worship every Sunday.
Dear
friends,
Good Morning. I hope all of you are doing well. I am a bit
rushed this morning and this is getting out later than I
hoped. So, I’ll keep my initial remarks brief. Enjoy
the update and read carefully.
UPDATE CONTENTS
ASCENSION SUNDAY
CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES
LIFE AND WITNESS COURSES ARE OVER
ONE OF OUR PARISHIONERS NEEDS HELP
TUESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY
ACOLYTE PRACTICE
JEHOVAS WITNESSES
OPERATION ANDREW INSTRUCTIONS
WALKABOUT OPERATION ANDREW JUNE 2nd
SOFTBALL AND PARISH PICNIC
NEW SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER GATHERING
THE WHOLE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR TOGETHER
ADULT EDUCATION: DOES GOD EXIST?
BIBLE STUDIES
NEWS
ASCENSION
SUNDAY: This Sunday we celebrate
an event as significant as the resurrection of Christ but
far less understood. 40 days after he rose bodily from the
dead, Jesus ascended, or rose up, bodily into Heaven to
return to his Father. It happened on the top of a hill outside
of Jerusalem surrounded by his disciples.
So what does it mean for us? For one thing it means that
in Jesus Christ redeemed humanity, all believers, have a
human brother who is eternally in the presence of the Father.
Jesus is both God and Man. He took on our humanity to live
and die as one of us and then to rise and ascend into heaven
in the body to intercede for us or represent us before the
Father.
According to the book of Leviticus, only the high priest
could ever go into the Holiest place in the Temple and only
one day out of the year, the year of atonement.
But now, for those of us who are in Christ, the Great High
Priest, in him, through the Holy Spirit, we are always present
in the holiest place in the universe. Because Christ dwells
in us through the Holy Spirit and we are in him, we are
also with him in the heavenly realms.
This means that through Christ and by virtue of his once
and for all sacrifice on the cross, you can come to him
through him to the Father. In Christ, your relationship
with the Father is just like Christ’s relationship
to the Father. We are servants, but no longer just servants,
we are also sons and daughters of the Father. We can as
Paul says, climb up into the lap of the Almighty and call
him “Abba” or daddy.
CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES: Kenneth DeGroat, Rebecca
Kearey, Micah Towery, and Kristen Peterson have all graduated
this year. Congratulations and blessings for your future.
THE LIFE AND WITNESS COURSES
ARE OVER: THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who organized,
ushered, parked cars, cleaned, worked out the technical
stuff. What a wonderful month it has been thanks to God
and the work he did through you.
I encourage everyone whether you came to the Life and Witness
Course or not to reach out to your neighbors and friends
and invite them to the festival. It is an easy thing to
do and it may end up changing someone's life forever. See
the repeated news item on Operation Andrew below
There are invitation cards in the back of the church and
we will hand more of them out this Sunday if you need them.
The Festival runs three nights in a row: Friday the 8th,
Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th of June. If the people
you invite cannot come one night try to see if they can
make it the other.
ONE OF OUR PARISHIONERS NEEDS HELP: The
vestry received a note from a parishioner who is having
difficulty paying an outstanding bill that assistance will
not cover. There will be a basket near the front door of
the sanctuary to receive contributions for this parishioner
who is in need.
TUESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY: First Light
starts back up this coming week: Tuesday the 22nd of May
at 6:00pm as usual. I’m looking forward to seeing
you all again.
ACOLYTE PRACTICE: Is coming up THIS Sunday,
the 20th (third Sunday every month) of May. Please be sure
to be there if you are an acolyte.
JEHOVA'S
WITNESSES: Several parishioners have asked me about the
beliefs of the Watchtower Society or "Jehova's Witnesses"
and what to expect when they come to your door. This is
a great article explaining how they use a purposefully mistranslated
text of the bible called the New World Translation, to confuse
Christians when they witness door to door. Please read carefully:
http://www.equip.org/site/c.muI1LaMNJrE/b.2548817/k.13CA/Getting_Over_the_Hurdles_of_the_New_World_Translation.htm
OPERATION ANDREW INSTRUCTIONS: Friends.
People need Jesus. He is the only way to salvation. A relationship
with him is the only relationship that will ultimately satisfy.
God longs for the lost to return to him. He came down in
the Person of Christ to find us. And he has given us the
mission of bringing this news to the entire world. But right
now, we’re starting with five each. Just five. Pray
for them, ask God to give you an opportunity to speak to
them and then invite them to the festival or to church or
to some venue where they will hear the good news that God
has come in Jesus Christ and that he died to take away the
guilt of their sins and he has risen to give them eternal
life.
Let's do it.
Write down 5 names, pray for them and then invite them to
the Festival or to Church. Here are those three steps again.
Step
1 is
to Look Around where you live, work, or go to school—this
is your mission field. List names of individuals you know
who need Jesus Christ, whom you will pray for regularly.
Step 2 is
to Look Up because God changes people through prayer. Pray
each day for those on your list, that God will give you
opportunities to share His love with them.
Step 3 is
to Look Out for ways to cultivate friendships with each
person on your list. Spend time with them. An invitation
to dinner or a sporting event will build friendships, which
can open the way to talk about Christ.
If we want to grow as a church and as a people, if we want
to reach out to the lost and bring them the hope of Christ,
we must become fishers of men.
WALKABOUT OPERATION ANDREW Rabbi Ron Goldberg and
I are looking for willing volunteers to help take some of
the Franklin Graham material door to door. We have set the
date for Saturday June 2nd after his congregations meets.
We’ll get the precise time out to you soon. The idea
is to let people know that the festival is coming up and
that they are welcome to come. .
SOFTBALL and the PARISH PICNIC: Rabbi Ron
said that some of his people are interested in challenging
us to a series of softball games this summer. I told him
that we'd be happy to beat him. I also invited them to join
us at the annual parish picnic where we can have our first
game. The Picnic is scheduled for Sunday June 17 th .
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER GATHERING: There is new prayer
that meets between 10:15 and 10:30am in the library on Sunday
Morning between services. They pray not only for the needs
of the congregation, but also that God will be present through
his Holy Spirit to transform hearts and minds; that he will,
in this way, be glorified in the worship, proclaimed powerfully
in the sermon, and received faithfully at communion.
THE WHOLE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR TOGETHER: You
can find the readings on the website and in your bulletin
and on the website. I hope you are all following along in
the readings. I am finding it more and more difficult to
write reflections as we approach the Franklin Graham Festival…but
I hope to start up again afterwards.
ADULT EDUCATION SERIES: APOLOGETICS: DOES
GOD EXIST?
This week we move from the philosophical to the
historical. Having demonstrated the existence of God, now
we will move to show that the resurrection happened and
that the only sufficient explanation for it is God.
Hope to see you there.
BIBLE STUDIES: All of them are up and running
this week.
HAVE YOU…. shared your faith with a friend? The vestry
has challenged all of us to share our faith in Jesus Christ
with at least one non-believer each month.
Good News for the Week
23Now there have been many of those priests, since death
prevented them from continuing in office; 24but because
Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25Therefore
he is able to save completely those who come to God through
him, because he always lives to intercede for them. 26Such
a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless,
pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer
sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then
for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins
once for all when he offered himself. 28For the law appoints
as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came
after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect
forever.(Hebrews 7:23-28)
Don't
forget to....BRING A FRIEND TO CHURCH!
Daily Schedule for the week of Sunday May 20th 2007 ASCENSION
SUNDAY
Monday:
pastor's day off
Tuesday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
9:00 a.m. Tuesday Morning Bible Study
6:00 p.m. First Light Bible Study
Wednesday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
Thursday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
5:30 p.m. Shepherd's Bowl
6:30 p.m. New Beginners Bible Study
7:30 p.m. Choir Practice
Friday
6:30 a.m. Men's Breakfast/Bible Study
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
Pastor's sermon prep day
Saturday:
10:00 a.m. Women's Bible Study
4:30
p.m. Hebrew Class
Sunday
May 27th, 2007 PENTECOST
SUNDAY (wear Red)
8:00am Holy Communion II and Sermon
9: 15-10:15 a.m. Christian Education for all Ages
10:30 am Holy Communion II, Music and Sermon
God bless you all
In Christ,
Matt+
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