Saturday Ramblings

Good morning church and happy Saturday.  I hope that you had a great week. It has been an incredibly busy week since we have been moving practically everything from one building to the next.  It has been such a blessing to see quite a few people help in a variety of ways.  It is amazing how God brings the right people at just the right time to get things done.  The building is looking good and it is so exciting that we are moving there so soon.  Only one more Sunday at AEC and then we start meeting in our new building.  I still can’t believe how great of a place God is letting us use.   Praise the Lord for His many blessings!  These are truly exciting times for our church.  We will have a place that everyone can be proud of, a location that everyone can find, and a facility that can accommodate the ministries we have been doing and some that we have only dreamed about.

Calendar –  Here are some details for September as we transition to our new location (7456 Nieman Road):

September 7 thru 13 – we will finish building the sound booth, the drum platform, installing AVL, organizing cleaning, and getting it ready for services. 

September 8 –  we will meet at Amanuel for our final 9:00 Sunday school and 10:00 worship service.  Right after service, we will go to our new location so that we can preview the building.  We will have a fellowship lunch together and a time of prayer.  We will also have information about ministries set up. As you can imagine, now that we are moving, we will need people helping with a variety of things like ushers, greeters, welcome center, nursery, preschool, children, etc.  We will then have our final 5:00 pm Sunday service at Amanuel that evening.

September 11 – we will have our final 6:00 pm Wednesday evening service at Amanuel. Our first Wednesday in our new building will be the 18^th.

September 15 – we have our first service in our new location.  Sunday school will remain at 9:00 and the worship service will start at 10:15. We will also have our 5:00 international service, children and youth activities.

September 22 – 9:00 Sunday school and 10:15 worship service in the morning, 5:00 international service, children and youth activities.

September 29 – Grand Opening Celebration! 9:00 prayer service and 10:15 worship service in the morning, 5:00 international service, children and youth activities.

Prayer Requests

Continue to pray for Susie Simpson and Pat Bell.  As I sent out earlier this week, Pat was diagnosed with MRSA. The good news is that on Friday the lab results showed no bacteria.  Therefore, they took her off of the antibiotics for the weekend.  Pat’s surgery is tentatively scheduled for September 10^th.  They will evaluate her strength on Monday to make a determination.  Please keep praying. 

Pray for Bob Zoller as he prepares to go on a mission trip t India from September 18^th thru October 2^nd.

40 days of prayer – Please continue praying as we seek God’s direction and favor upon His church.

Outreach

Over the last couple of weeks we have handed out a lot of doorhangers in the neighborhoods around the church!  If you are interested, come join us on Tuesday evening at 4:30.  Also, we are looking for a large group of volunteers to hand them out on Saturday, September 14^th and 21^st.  We will meet at the church around 11, hand out the maps, pray, and then head into the neighborhoods to place the door hangers on each house.  Of course, we will also seek to talk to as many people as we can.  The postcards have now been mailed to 5,000 homes in the area. We will also have nearly 1,000 postcards for people to handout and/or mail to their friends and family.  We will let you know when these are available. 

Wishbook

Here is the link to the wish book for our new building.  If you haven’t read the welcome page on the registry I would encourage you to do so.  It gives a good explanation of what we are doing. 

Book Fair at Shawanoe

It’s time for the Fall Book Fair at Shawanoe.  It will be from 9/30 – 10/3.  We are in need of a few volunteers each day.  Please use the link to find out more info and to sign up.

Ramblings

It was one of the neatest things the other day when our shipment of chairs was delivered.  Having received several shipments of chairs over the years for the various church flips and reno’s that I oversaw, I know it can be a bit hectic.  Sometimes the trucking company surprises you by sending the shipment in a box truck with no liftgate.  Many times they have come 8 chairs in a box so we had to unpack them in the truck and hand them down.  This time our chair company and the trucking company did everything they said they were going to do.  The truck had a liftgate so that was tremendous.  They came when they were supposed to which is always nice.  However, the thing that made this special were the people that volunteered their time to help out.  Several people were on standby, and with 30 minutes notice, they stopped what they were doing and converged on the church.  As soon as the driver would lower the pallet of chairs to the ground, a group of people would go to work unwrapping it, cutting the bands, lifting chairs from the stacks, and wheeling the rest into the building.  Instead of being a big job, it went very quickly and was no big deal.  Soon after getting the chairs in the building, with that project complete, people then headed back to where they had left off.  To me, it was a beautiful thing.  But isn’t that like church is supposed to be?  A group of people gathering for a common task.  Sometimes it is to go hand out flyers, other times to do a block party, weekly it is to gather together to study the Word and to worship together.  People from various places stopping what they had been doing, gathering together for a time, and then heading back to where they were.  The hope would be that they would be encouraged by their interaction with fellow believers and by the Word of God.  Changed just a little by being in fellowship with one another and built up God’s Word.  In doing so, effecting everything they are do to in the balance of their time  -whether it be work, school, family, recreation, or other ministry opportunities. 

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.  (Colossians 3:23-24)

⁷ Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer. ⁸ Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without complaining. ¹⁰ Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:7-11)

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Love God. Love others. Impact our community. Change the world.

Pastor Larry