On My Mind...
This Wednesday is our quarterly business meeting. We will meet in the Fellowship Building at 6:30 pm. Along with reporting on our finances and various reports, we will vote on committees and officers for the 2025-2026 church year. We will also establish our study group who will we view our church documents and then recommend any changes or clarifications back to the church once their study is complete. This is not an effort to create new documents but to clarify what was said 30 plus years ago when the documents were voted in place. I hope to see you Wednesday.
I continue to be encouraged by our worship attendance. We were down in Sunday School due to several folks traveling over fall break, but worship attendance was solid with several new faces showing up week after week. I visited with one of our youth before services Sunday as she has come to profess faith and desires baptism. I had conversations with a couple of other folks who are asking questions about membership. I regularly get comments from people that they felt welcomed and accepted when they showed up the first time. Thank you for your warm, welcoming spirit! I’ve spoken to 2 different ladies, who each told me stories of meeting members of our church at a store, and in conversation, they were invited to church. “Random” meetings, they had not met before, and the conversation turned toward church, an invitation was extended and accepted. Don’t despise the small things. You never know how the Lord is working and orchestrating all things. We do know there are no “accidents” or “random meetings,” only Divine appointments. I know of others who are making it a point to speak to others at a park in an attempt to share their faith, hand out tracks, to be a gospel witness. I mention these because too often we think of “programs” for outreach or grand plans for evangelism. While plans and programs can be effective, it is often far more effective when it is the natural outflow of your life. This is the “as you go” pattern we find in Scripture. As you visit with friends you share your story of faith, and you seek to engage in spiritual conversations. It is a matter of naturally sharing life and what is important to you, not making it a project. It’s a casual conversation over lunch or dinner. It is answering the questions of your child and seeking an answer from the Scriptures. Sometimes it is saying to that friend or coworker, “I don’t know. Let me study that and get back to you.” It is being there for someone who is hurting. It is laughing with those who laugh and weeping with those who weep. My point is, it is not a task or assignment, it is living life with others. It is seeking to be obedient as you go.
Have a blessed week, and I will see you Sunday for worship!
Rod
I continue to be encouraged by our worship attendance. We were down in Sunday School due to several folks traveling over fall break, but worship attendance was solid with several new faces showing up week after week. I visited with one of our youth before services Sunday as she has come to profess faith and desires baptism. I had conversations with a couple of other folks who are asking questions about membership. I regularly get comments from people that they felt welcomed and accepted when they showed up the first time. Thank you for your warm, welcoming spirit! I’ve spoken to 2 different ladies, who each told me stories of meeting members of our church at a store, and in conversation, they were invited to church. “Random” meetings, they had not met before, and the conversation turned toward church, an invitation was extended and accepted. Don’t despise the small things. You never know how the Lord is working and orchestrating all things. We do know there are no “accidents” or “random meetings,” only Divine appointments. I know of others who are making it a point to speak to others at a park in an attempt to share their faith, hand out tracks, to be a gospel witness. I mention these because too often we think of “programs” for outreach or grand plans for evangelism. While plans and programs can be effective, it is often far more effective when it is the natural outflow of your life. This is the “as you go” pattern we find in Scripture. As you visit with friends you share your story of faith, and you seek to engage in spiritual conversations. It is a matter of naturally sharing life and what is important to you, not making it a project. It’s a casual conversation over lunch or dinner. It is answering the questions of your child and seeking an answer from the Scriptures. Sometimes it is saying to that friend or coworker, “I don’t know. Let me study that and get back to you.” It is being there for someone who is hurting. It is laughing with those who laugh and weeping with those who weep. My point is, it is not a task or assignment, it is living life with others. It is seeking to be obedient as you go.
Have a blessed week, and I will see you Sunday for worship!
Rod