Notes From the Pastor
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Beautiful!
.
There is a song I love which is called "O Lord, You’re Beautiful". The words start by saying:
O Lord, You’re Beautiful,
You’re face is all I seek.
And when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds in me!
The word BEAUTIFUL is so appropriate for us as a church at this point. I believe when our Lord looks down upon us He sees beauty. Let me share with you a couple of reasons why I believe that.
On Sunday, April 15th, we had our first Ingathering Day to help reduce any debt we might incur throughout the remodeling process of the Sanctuary. I challenged you as a church not to allow debt to get in the way of the ministry God has for us to do here in Grandview. As a body we gave nearly $21,000 back to the Lord!! That is beautiful! The following Monday we received a blessing from the Talbert Board when we were awarded an extra $7500 towards our remodeling cost. God is good.
A retired pastor told me one time, "If you want to know the health of a church just look at the finances." If that is true, FBC is healthy. Through the middle of April we were above budget in our weekly giving. This past Sunday we surpassed our church goal for the Annie Armstrong Easter offering. That money will be used to reach many people for Christ in the days ahead. Another beautiful sight for our Lord.
At the April church conference, members voted to form a new staff position here at FBC. The Personnel Committee has been working very hard over the past couple of months to develop a job description for a Parent’s Day Out Director and Part-time Children’s Minister. This is a key area I believe will really make a difference in reaching this community for Christ. I would like to invite you to come and meet Michelle Pannell and her family on May 20th from 2-3:30pm in the Fellowship Hall for a come and go, meet and greet time. Michelle and Bill and their family joined our church a little over a month ago. Michelle has been a preschool aide for several years and most recently at Grandview Elementary and will be an incredible asset to our staff and church. We will have a Called Church Conference on Sunday evening May 20th to affirm a call to Michelle.
This is an exciting time in the life of FBC Grandview. The month of May is packed full of activities. I hope that you will take time to read through the newsletter and pay close attention to events on the calendar so that you will not miss out on anything.
Trying to be Beautiful for Him, ¶ 4:47 PM 0 comments
There is a song I love which is called "O Lord, You’re Beautiful". The words start by saying:
O Lord, You’re Beautiful,
You’re face is all I seek.
And when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds in me!
The word BEAUTIFUL is so appropriate for us as a church at this point. I believe when our Lord looks down upon us He sees beauty. Let me share with you a couple of reasons why I believe that.
On Sunday, April 15th, we had our first Ingathering Day to help reduce any debt we might incur throughout the remodeling process of the Sanctuary. I challenged you as a church not to allow debt to get in the way of the ministry God has for us to do here in Grandview. As a body we gave nearly $21,000 back to the Lord!! That is beautiful! The following Monday we received a blessing from the Talbert Board when we were awarded an extra $7500 towards our remodeling cost. God is good.
A retired pastor told me one time, "If you want to know the health of a church just look at the finances." If that is true, FBC is healthy. Through the middle of April we were above budget in our weekly giving. This past Sunday we surpassed our church goal for the Annie Armstrong Easter offering. That money will be used to reach many people for Christ in the days ahead. Another beautiful sight for our Lord.
At the April church conference, members voted to form a new staff position here at FBC. The Personnel Committee has been working very hard over the past couple of months to develop a job description for a Parent’s Day Out Director and Part-time Children’s Minister. This is a key area I believe will really make a difference in reaching this community for Christ. I would like to invite you to come and meet Michelle Pannell and her family on May 20th from 2-3:30pm in the Fellowship Hall for a come and go, meet and greet time. Michelle and Bill and their family joined our church a little over a month ago. Michelle has been a preschool aide for several years and most recently at Grandview Elementary and will be an incredible asset to our staff and church. We will have a Called Church Conference on Sunday evening May 20th to affirm a call to Michelle.
This is an exciting time in the life of FBC Grandview. The month of May is packed full of activities. I hope that you will take time to read through the newsletter and pay close attention to events on the calendar so that you will not miss out on anything.
Trying to be Beautiful for Him, ¶ 4:47 PM 0 comments
Monday, April 02, 2007
You’re So Mean!
.
Dads often brag on their kids…..at least this one tends to!!! But there are times our children do things that we are not so proud of. Lately Cameron has started using the phrase, "you are so mean." Shelly and I have no idea where he picked it up or why he enjoys saying it. He doesn’t even know what it means (other than that he is going to get a spanking for saying it). You never want your child to look at you and say something like that. It hurts.
As Easter approaches I know that as the Heavenly Father looked down on the scene in Jerusalem he was hurt. Just as Cameron does not know what he is saying, the people in the crowds hurled insults at Christ without realizing what they were saying. The difference in the situations is that as the person who says something he shouldn’t Cameron gets punished; but when the people in Jerusalem said things they weren’t supposed to, Jesus was punished. How that must have grieved Christ and His Father. It hurts me when Cameron says, "you’re so mean." Yet none of us will ever comprehend the pain God experienced as he watched the actions of people whom he loved as they yelled, beat, and ultimately crucified His Son. Still God is not mean or vengeful. He allowed His Son to be crucified and raised from the dead so that we could be set free from the bondage of sin. It is Easter. A time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
This Easter is going to be a special time for our church family. We will have our Maundy Thursday service at 7:00pm on April 5th to set the stage for our celebration on Sunday morning. We will have our Community Sunrise Service at 7:00am at Meinen Lake followed by our 8:30 and 11:00am services. I want to encourage as many of you as possible to attend the 8:30 service, since we are limited on seating for the 11:00 service. What a great problem to have!
We will not be having Sunday School on Easter Sunday morning. At 10:00 am, we will have donuts, fruit, coffee, and juice for everyone as well as a huge Easter Egg hunt for the children. What a great opportunity for you to invite an unchurched family to come for an Egg hunt and/or worship. I hope you will make plans to be at all of our Easter celebration events.
Speaking of resurrection, the Sanctuary is coming along very nicely. We are actually ahead of schedule at this point. It is really starting to take shape and will be so nice when we are able to move back in it. On April 15th we will be having our first "Ingathering" day to help reduce the debt of construction. I hope you have been praying about what part you and your family will play in this effort. I want to remind you of the challenge of giving at least the money from your telephone tax deduction on your federal return. That will all add up and make a difference. Whatever you can give, God will honor. I am looking forward to that day to see how God is going to bless our efforts!
I am so thankful for everyone’s attitude as we move chairs back and forth from the Fellowship Hall and deal with the other inconveniences of remodeling. You have been great. It will all be done soon and I know we will all be proud of what we have done with the Lord’s house! ¶ 2:02 AM 0 comments
Dads often brag on their kids…..at least this one tends to!!! But there are times our children do things that we are not so proud of. Lately Cameron has started using the phrase, "you are so mean." Shelly and I have no idea where he picked it up or why he enjoys saying it. He doesn’t even know what it means (other than that he is going to get a spanking for saying it). You never want your child to look at you and say something like that. It hurts.
As Easter approaches I know that as the Heavenly Father looked down on the scene in Jerusalem he was hurt. Just as Cameron does not know what he is saying, the people in the crowds hurled insults at Christ without realizing what they were saying. The difference in the situations is that as the person who says something he shouldn’t Cameron gets punished; but when the people in Jerusalem said things they weren’t supposed to, Jesus was punished. How that must have grieved Christ and His Father. It hurts me when Cameron says, "you’re so mean." Yet none of us will ever comprehend the pain God experienced as he watched the actions of people whom he loved as they yelled, beat, and ultimately crucified His Son. Still God is not mean or vengeful. He allowed His Son to be crucified and raised from the dead so that we could be set free from the bondage of sin. It is Easter. A time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
This Easter is going to be a special time for our church family. We will have our Maundy Thursday service at 7:00pm on April 5th to set the stage for our celebration on Sunday morning. We will have our Community Sunrise Service at 7:00am at Meinen Lake followed by our 8:30 and 11:00am services. I want to encourage as many of you as possible to attend the 8:30 service, since we are limited on seating for the 11:00 service. What a great problem to have!
We will not be having Sunday School on Easter Sunday morning. At 10:00 am, we will have donuts, fruit, coffee, and juice for everyone as well as a huge Easter Egg hunt for the children. What a great opportunity for you to invite an unchurched family to come for an Egg hunt and/or worship. I hope you will make plans to be at all of our Easter celebration events.
Speaking of resurrection, the Sanctuary is coming along very nicely. We are actually ahead of schedule at this point. It is really starting to take shape and will be so nice when we are able to move back in it. On April 15th we will be having our first "Ingathering" day to help reduce the debt of construction. I hope you have been praying about what part you and your family will play in this effort. I want to remind you of the challenge of giving at least the money from your telephone tax deduction on your federal return. That will all add up and make a difference. Whatever you can give, God will honor. I am looking forward to that day to see how God is going to bless our efforts!
I am so thankful for everyone’s attitude as we move chairs back and forth from the Fellowship Hall and deal with the other inconveniences of remodeling. You have been great. It will all be done soon and I know we will all be proud of what we have done with the Lord’s house! ¶ 2:02 AM 0 comments
