4 Requests from Your Pastor
I’ve got some big requests today Christ Community and I hope that you will take a few moments after reading this to commit to them for the glory of God and the good of our Church.
This Sunday begins our 2019 Summer Giving Challenge, which goes from this Sunday, May 26, through Sunday, September 1, with a 15-week goal of $450,000. Over the next fifteen weeks, much ministry will take place including: VBX, Student Camp, Mission Trips to Guadalajara, England, and Pittsburgh, Student Ministry Summer Nights, and the investment into five summer interns. All of this will be taking place while we also gather weekly on Sundays to praise our God and hear from his Word.
There are lots to do and the need is great! Therefore, I want to ask you to commit to the following 4 things:
#1 PRAY
Will you commit to pray for God to meet this financial goal of $450,000 so that we can effectively run the ministries that we believe God has given us? The ministries that will be taking place all summer will impact hundreds of people. You can pray for the following:
- At VBX, over 300 children will hear the gospel and be taught spiritual truths
- Students will be impacted through bible teaching and community through Student Summer Nights and Student Camp.
- Our Mission Teams will share the gospel with hundreds of people and serve churches in three global cities including Guadalajara, England, and Pittsburgh.
- Five summer interns will be impacted by their time with us as they learn and serve all while investing in our church and themselves.
- We will weekly preach the gospel to all who come into our doors at Christ Community as we gather to worship King Jesus each Sunday
The famed preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Prayer moves the arm that moves the world.” What a great word for us today. Let’s commit to pray for God to move in our church through spiritual life change daily as we go in faith.
#2 Engage
It seems like the temptation to skip church comes easier in Summer. We all want as much daylight and lake time as we can get, but be strong! We want you with us on Sundays weekly!
Engaging weekly with your church family is important for your spiritual growth, your church’s spiritual healthy, and it glorifies God. So be committed to join with us weekly. Hebrews 10:24-25 reminds us, “let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works,not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other…”
If more sunshine is what you want, consider shifting to our 9:00 service for the Summer. We would love to see 50 of our 10:30 service attenders shift to the 9:00 service so we can have more room for visitors at 10:30. Will you consider this move? If so, let me know!
#3 Invite
Will you consider inviting someone to join you one Sunday this Summer? Statistics tell us that many people are likely to say “yes” to an invitation to church from a trusted neighbor or friend. Think about who you could invite right now. Pray for their life and their soul. Then ask God for the opportunity to invite them to join you one Sunday.
#4 Give
I want to challenge you to raise your percentage of giving for these 15-weeks to help meet our financial goal this summer as we seek to invest God’s money in God’s mission. I’m a big believer in testing God with your finances. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each person should do as he has decided in his heart – not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.” Let’s be cheerfully generous people for God’s glory!
To make our giving process easier, we recently shifted to a new online giving platform. This system makes giving easier and will work seamlessly with our new giving kiosk and church management software. We want to encourage you to set up automated giving on this system. We automate the most important things in life like mortgages and electric bills, why not automate our local church giving?
We have designed a new giving page on our website to help make giving easier. You can visit it now I you’d like to make a special financial gift to our Ministry Budget.
All of this matters because Jesus has died for our sin, risen to life, he reigns in heaven, and his Spirit lives in us and has called us, his Church, to advance the gospel to the nations! We won’t stop going… We won’t stop giving… We won’t stop sharing… until the whole world hears! Be mindful of your role in his mission this Summer!
If you must miss this Summer, you can now watch our services live from wherever you are at christcommunity.com at 10:30 a.m. est.
I look forward to seeing you again Sunday! Pastor Ronnie