Celebrating HIS blessings!
Hey everyone!
I wanted to share some exciting news about the growth and progress of our church. I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve seen some significant increases in a few key areas as we roll through the first month of this new year!
First of all, our online presence has really taken off! Our average weekly views on Facebook and YouTube during the month of January from 2022 to 2023 increased from 249 to 385. This means that more and more people are tuning in to our services and getting connected with our church community.
And speaking of online, our preschool’s chapel online videos have racked up over 90,000 views in the last month! That's an incredible number and just goes to show how much people are craving connection and community during this time. If you haven’t had a chance to view one, click HERE for a sample.
But it's not just our online presence that's growing. Our Good Neighbor Thrift Store has seen a 37% increase in revenue year over year and even more customers - 30% more, to be exact! Laura Beth Snow and company have developed a wonderful following with their humorous Facebook updates. Check out an example by clicking HERE. It's amazing to see the impact that the store is having on our community and the difference that our church is making in people's lives.
Another awesome effort making a positive impact in the community can be found with the weekend food backpack program. Every Thursday afternoon, more than 30 volunteers gather and prepare around 400 bags that go out to needly students in 8 of our local schools!
On the worship front, our worship leader, Jamel Boast, and the worship team have been hard at work creating something special for all of us. They've collaborated to create several brand-new original songs that are sure to inspire and uplift us in worship. They have introduced 3 so far and have more coming soon! The plan is to have this new music available for download in the near future!
And the best part? We’re seeing growth with in-person worship attendance too! Our in-person worship is on the rise, with over 60 more people joining us each week in this new year. It’s amazing to see how our community is growing and thriving, both online and in person.
Finally, I wanted to mention that our weekly E-News subscribers have also increased. We are currently averaging 273 views each week for January (compared with an average of 239 views this time last year). This just goes to show that people are hungry for updates and information about our church and what we're doing.
All in all, it's been a truly exciting and blessed time for our church and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. Like James 1:17 shares, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Here's to continued growth and progress in the future!
Broken
A good friend back home shared this with me and I thought I would share it with you. Thanks be to God.
I was in Dollar Tree last night and there was a lady and two kids behind me in the LONG line. One was a big kid, one was a toddler. The bigger one had a pack of glow sticks and the baby was screaming for them so the Mom opened the pack and gave him one; which stopped his tears. He walked around with it smiling, but then the bigger boy took it and the baby started screaming again. Just as the Mom was about to fuss at the older child, he bent the glow sticks and handed it back to the baby. As we walked outside at the same time, the baby noticed that the stick was now glowing and his brother said "I had to break it so you could get the full effect from it." I almost ran because l could hear God saying to me, "I had to break you to show you why I created you. You had to go through it so you could fulfill your purpose."
That little baby was happy just swinging that "unbroken" glow stick around in the air because he didn't understand what it was created to do which was "glow". There are some people who will be content just "being" but some of us have been chosen by God to be "broken". We have to be abandoned, rejected, & mistreated. We have to be falsely accused. We have to get sick. We have to lose a job. We have to go through the pain of divorce. We have to suffer with the disease of addiction. We have to suffer the effects of mental illness - depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, BPD, OCD, ADD or ADHD, PTSD to name a few - in ourselves &/or our loved ones. We have to feel hopelessness. We have to break free from the cycle of abuse. We have to bury our spouse, parents, best friends, or our child . . . because, in those moments of desperation God is breaking us, but when the breaking is done, then we will be able to see the reason for which we were created... to help others by sympathizing, empathizing, & truly understanding what they are going through so they can shine as well. SO when you see us glowing just know that we have been broken but healed by his Grace and Mercy!!!
The Best Blog I Didn't Write
This is the best blog I haven’t written. No seriously, I didn’t write this blog. In fact, nobody did. It was written by AI, and it is amazing, especially considering it did it all in less time than it took me to fill my coffee cup.
"Finding Peace in the Chaos: Trusting in God's Plan"
Life can be chaotic and overwhelming at times. We all have moments when we feel like we're spinning out of control and nothing is going right. It's easy to let our worries and fears consume us, but as Christians, we have a source of peace and comfort that can help us navigate even the most turbulent waters.
That source is God.
When we trust in God's plan for our lives, we can find peace even in the midst of chaos. We can be confident that He is in control and that He has a purpose for everything that happens to us. This doesn't mean that we won't face difficult challenges or that everything will always go smoothly. But it does mean that we can trust that God is with us and that He is working everything out for our good.
One of the most powerful verses in the Bible that can help us find peace in difficult times is Isaiah 41:10, which says, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
This verse reminds us that God is always with us, and that He will never leave us or forsake us. He will always be there to help us, to strengthen us, and to uphold us. So, when we're feeling overwhelmed and unsure of what to do, we can turn to Him and trust that He will guide us and give us the peace we need to navigate even the most chaotic situations.
In conclusion, when life gets chaotic, remember to trust in God's plan. He's always with us and will give us the strength and peace we need to face whatever comes our way.
So this blog was written using chatGPT. I literally just told it to write a short informal Christian blog and this is what it came up with. This AI is amazing, and a little scary. You can ask it just about anything in everyday language and it will give you phenomenal answers. Why I bring this up is because has a ton of potential. If you have a question about a bible verse, just type in the question and you’ll get a fairly decent answer. Tell it to explain it to you like you were 5, and it will.
While this tool is great, it also should remind us that just having knowledge about God doesn’t save us. This AI has amazing knowledge about God, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a Christian. We might know some stuff about God or study our Bible but it means nothing unless we actively live out our faith.
Flip the Script
Greetings from Orlando, Florida! I am currently at the annual CPC (Children’s Pastors Conference) taking in a lot of great ideas, resources, and energy from people who also serve in children’s ministry all over the country. It has been a wonderful and eventful week so far, and although my heart is sad that it’s the last day my legs are rejoicing!
During my time here I was gven a free book called Flip the Script by Chuck Peters. Chuck is the Director of Lifeway Kids and I had the privilege of meeting with him during a one-on-one coaching session at last year’s CPC. What Chuck and his team have done through this book is take a hard look at the statistics surrounding the issue of connecting the Gospel to children and youth in our current culture. Research is showing that with each generation fewer and fewer people are attending church or identifying as Christians. Many churches are stuck using the same script they used years ago when the culture and climate was much different than it was today.
Imagine a football coach using the same game plan against every single opponent, or never making half-time adjustments. That coach wouldn’t last very long. As a coach you have to adapt your game plan to your opponent. While the fundamentals of being successful on the field never change (positive mindset, hard work, focus, etc.) the way you approach one opponent is not the same way you approach the next opponent. We are living in an age in which the opponent has changed. And as such new strategies that engage kids and students needs to adapt as well.
As I continue to be reinvigorated at this conference and ideas about how to reach the next generation are being presented, I pray that we as a church will answer the call to reach a generation that is the most un-churched population in the history of our country. It will take new ideas, it will take hard work, and may even take us getting out of out comfort zone. But we have an awesome God that continually wants to love on this generation as much as any before it. The numbers should give us pause, but they should not cause us to lose hope. There is nothing that can fully hide God’s love for His children. There was once a day two millenniums ago in which the church was the minority in its community. That did not hinder or slow down the Spirit’s work. Through those faithful churches God’s Spirit changed the entire world. And He can do it again. Let us be about God’s work advancing His Kingdom in our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Amen, and amen!
It's Still Christmas
It’s still Christmas Time
The lights are down, the trees are put up (yes my wife insists on putting up more than one tree), and the house is almost back to normal. While I am thrilled to be done with Christmas decorations, I’m fully aware that I’m doing this wrong. Christmas isn’t over, at least not yet. Today is the official last day of Christmas. I know what you’re thinking, but remember the song with the most ridiculous Christmas gifts, the 12 Days of Christmas. It’s not just a silly song about birds and impractical gifts. Well, I take that back. It really is just a silly song but the one thing it gets right is that there are actually 12 days of Christmas. Advent, what we sometimes think of Christmas time, is really a time of expectation leading up to Christmas, and then the church calendar does something a bit odd. On Christmas Day we enter Christmas time, and then we’re in Christmas time for 12 days before we hit Epiphany on January 6. (And oddly enough, Epiphany is also the day of Epiphany and starts the season of Epiphany that runs until we start Lent on Ash Wednesday).
Despite what Amazon and other retailers might make you think, the 12 days of Christmas really isn’t a made up thing just to sell more junk to consumers. A lot of people believe that this 12 day period represents the time it took the magi to get to Jesus. Like most things Christmas related, it’s completely wrong. Realistically Jesus was probably closer to two years old by the time the wisemen got to him (the main context clue is where Herod orders all kids two and under to be killed) but there are various other indications to support that conclusion. But the real reason it’s wrong is because Christmastide (the 12 days of Christmas) was created in 567 at the Council of Tours to bring together the East and West churches who celebrated Christmas as either Dec. 25 or Jan 6.
So technically speaking, you should leave you Christmas tree up until Jan 6th. Practically speaking, put it away whenever you want to. We don’t celebrate the feasts of saints that traditionally go along with it, we definitely don’t give flocks of birds as gifts, and as Methodists we are on the fringe of observing the traditional high church holy days yet not really going deep into all the traditions. Just know, that I will never complain about Christmas decorations being put away.