Notes From the Pastor
Friday, June 29, 2007
SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS
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Can you believe it is raining in June? When I watched the ten day forecast last night on television, I was shocked to see there is chance of rain everyday! That is quite a contrast from what we experienced last year at this time. Do you remember all of the grass fires and drought conditions we were experiencing? The lakes were drying up and everything was brown. We have gone from one extreme to another! What a blessing.
As I sit and watch it rain this morning, I thought about that in the context of our spiritual lives. There are times we experience dry times in our walk with the Lord and there are times we feel like God is sitting right beside us. It can be the same way in the life of a church. I believe we are in a period in the life of First Baptist Grandview where the blessings are pouring down. There is a freshness in the body of Christ in Grandview. I look forward to what God is preparing us for.
Last Sunday was one of the greatest days of my life. I am so proud of our remodeled sanctuary. It looks so nice and I believe when we have visitors at our church they will see how we care about our facilities and the house of God. It is a first impression which will make a difference when people walk in. But I am most proud of how we as a church went through the process. There was no griping and complaining about being in the Fellowship Hall for worship or classes having to be moved. There were no disagreements about color schemes or other issues. We must give God the credit. We have been diligent in paying for the project as well. The final bills are about to be paid, so we will know exactly how much we will need to finance soon. My prayer is we do not let debt hang over our heads, but we will be diligent in paying it off. We will be able to honor God in that also.
So much is happening in the life of our church right now. We have students off at camp this week, Rachel Stanley just returned from a Kenya mission trip, Robbie Russell is about to leave for a mission trip, and Claudia and Brittany Montgomery and Tommy Baze will be leaving for Germany in a couple of weeks. There will be a group of families heading off to do our annual church summer mission trip at the end of the month. God is hard at work in the life of this church both in Grandview and around the world. Be praying for these missionaries as they go to serve.
We had a wonderful Vacation Bible School. Thanks to all the workers who made the week run smoothly. It takes a lot of people to love on the children of our community during this week and it makes an eternal difference. We had four children accept Christ as their savior during the week!
On July 4th we will be loading up the church bus to take a churchwide trip to watch the Ft. Worth Cats play baseball. There will be a fireworks show following the game. I hope you will buy a ticket and plan on spending the 4th with your church family as we enjoy some peanuts and Cracker Jacks at the ol' ballgame! Tickets are available in the church office.
Many of you have begun to ask about the results of the survey we took concerning our worship services. At this point the staff is taking a long look at the results and praying about the direction we need to take. We will continue to worship together at 10:50 through the month of August for sure. What the future holds is still up in the air, but please be in prayer about what direction we as a church need to go. It is an important decision which cannot be taken lightly. Thank you all for your input and comments. We will be discussing this in greater detail in the days to come.
I hope to see you Sunday as we celebrate the freedom of God and our great country! ¶ 4:00 PM 0 comments
Can you believe it is raining in June? When I watched the ten day forecast last night on television, I was shocked to see there is chance of rain everyday! That is quite a contrast from what we experienced last year at this time. Do you remember all of the grass fires and drought conditions we were experiencing? The lakes were drying up and everything was brown. We have gone from one extreme to another! What a blessing.
As I sit and watch it rain this morning, I thought about that in the context of our spiritual lives. There are times we experience dry times in our walk with the Lord and there are times we feel like God is sitting right beside us. It can be the same way in the life of a church. I believe we are in a period in the life of First Baptist Grandview where the blessings are pouring down. There is a freshness in the body of Christ in Grandview. I look forward to what God is preparing us for.
Last Sunday was one of the greatest days of my life. I am so proud of our remodeled sanctuary. It looks so nice and I believe when we have visitors at our church they will see how we care about our facilities and the house of God. It is a first impression which will make a difference when people walk in. But I am most proud of how we as a church went through the process. There was no griping and complaining about being in the Fellowship Hall for worship or classes having to be moved. There were no disagreements about color schemes or other issues. We must give God the credit. We have been diligent in paying for the project as well. The final bills are about to be paid, so we will know exactly how much we will need to finance soon. My prayer is we do not let debt hang over our heads, but we will be diligent in paying it off. We will be able to honor God in that also.
So much is happening in the life of our church right now. We have students off at camp this week, Rachel Stanley just returned from a Kenya mission trip, Robbie Russell is about to leave for a mission trip, and Claudia and Brittany Montgomery and Tommy Baze will be leaving for Germany in a couple of weeks. There will be a group of families heading off to do our annual church summer mission trip at the end of the month. God is hard at work in the life of this church both in Grandview and around the world. Be praying for these missionaries as they go to serve.
We had a wonderful Vacation Bible School. Thanks to all the workers who made the week run smoothly. It takes a lot of people to love on the children of our community during this week and it makes an eternal difference. We had four children accept Christ as their savior during the week!
On July 4th we will be loading up the church bus to take a churchwide trip to watch the Ft. Worth Cats play baseball. There will be a fireworks show following the game. I hope you will buy a ticket and plan on spending the 4th with your church family as we enjoy some peanuts and Cracker Jacks at the ol' ballgame! Tickets are available in the church office.
Many of you have begun to ask about the results of the survey we took concerning our worship services. At this point the staff is taking a long look at the results and praying about the direction we need to take. We will continue to worship together at 10:50 through the month of August for sure. What the future holds is still up in the air, but please be in prayer about what direction we as a church need to go. It is an important decision which cannot be taken lightly. Thank you all for your input and comments. We will be discussing this in greater detail in the days to come.
I hope to see you Sunday as we celebrate the freedom of God and our great country! ¶ 4:00 PM 0 comments
