A Fresh Wind Blowing
There's a fresh wind blowing through our church fellowship these days. God is moving, and there's an optimism, excitement and expectancy in the air. I'm excited, and I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do in our midst as we make ourselves available to Him.
There are plenty of reasons for our positive outlook. We've had a great first two weeks of InterMission, as we renew our vision for ministry and seek to be the kind of Biblically functioning New Testament church that makes disciples and is in the community, for the community, to share the community we have in Christ.
There's plenty of momentum in the New Year, generated by: our Ecclesia college students recent trip to the Passion conference where they renewed their "passion"for the Lord; our youth group's return from their Winter Retreat with a new excitement for "authentic fellowship"; our W3 kids kicking off for 2013 with nearly 40 children learning God's word together each Wednesday night; a new series of challenging adult Life Groups on Sunday morning, equping believers in discipleship; and some encouraging reports from the mission field, where we're hearing about the eternal fruit borne through the ministries our church partners with. More than anything, the Spirit of God is at work, renewing His people. How can you notbe excited about that?
In that light, I wanted to renew a few requests to you, our Shelby Crossings family, as we move forward into what God has in store for us in 2013. I shared these with you a good while back, but I wanted to encourage you and your family to commit yourselves once more to do at least these five things:
- Pray diligently.Our church will only be as strong as our prayer lives. So...let us pray.
- Attend faithfully.Every member of this body needs every other member. So, "let us not forsake assembling ourselves together."
- Serve selflessly.Like Jesus, we're called to serve, more than to be served. Ask God to give you a servant's heart, and then use it.
- Reach out compassionately. Let us never lose our passion for caring for hurting people and seeing lost people saved. They need hope. We have it. Share it.
- Walk humbly with God. Ultimately, that's God's will for all of us, all the time (Micah 6:8).
I hope you'll pray especially for our church staff and elders as we seek to shepherd this flock faithfully. May the Lord truly be honored in this community of faith we call Shelby Crossings. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday...and Wednesday too!
--Pastor Ken
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