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Rev. Tom Rives
Pastor |
"We Can't but GOD CAN..."
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A Word from our Pastor....
Worship Services
Sunday morning
- Bible study - 9:15 AM
- Worship - 10:30 AM
Wednesday night
- Bible study - 6 PM and 7 PM
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It is hard to believe but Winter is almost over and we haven’t had any Winter weather. In fact, I am sitting in my office on Jan. 29th and the temperature outside in 84!! Well, before we skip Spring and go directly to Summer, let me share with you the latest plans and rejoice with you about what God has been doing in our midst. First of all, let me encourage you to look at all the pages of the GNL and see all the calendared events. Easter falls during this quarter and that means a special Resurrection Service, a Family Easter Breakfast and an Egg Hunt for our children. The annual Annie Armstrong offering for North America missions takes place during March. Our goal for this year is $3,800. Upward Basketball concludes during this quarter with our Awards Ceremony on February 23rd. Then on April 28th, we have our Senior Adult Day and we will recognize our newly selected Senior Saints. Our Student Ministry has a “Dare 2 Share” event in Chattanooga in March and then they will be leading our Bible Study and Worship Service on May 5th. We have a special Lord’s Supper Service in April and a Sunday evening rally featuring the King’s Clowns on April 7th. Add to all of these, the Women on Mission Meetings, the Men’s Prayer Breakfasts, JOY events, BOOMIN, Mom and Me at Lake Yale, the International Intergenerational Tea Party, the Ladies Retreat and all the ongoing ministry meetings and worship services, and I believe the coming quarter has something for everyone.
Let me take a moment to brag on you or a better way to put it is to brag on what Jesus is doing through you. During these economic times God has continued to sustain us and let us see what can be done when your eyes are focused on Him. We concluded the year by oversubscribing our budget by $40,000 and under spending our budget by $54,000. That means that we had $94,000 of overage money to put with some additional overage and interest money from previous years. This allowed us to make some allocations at our business meeting last month toward some areas that need our attention. We approved the purchase of a new telephone system, some new computers, monies for missions and ministries, a new projector in our Life Center, replacing one of our vehicles, and building a new storage facility on our property. We will be doing these in stages during this year. At any point that we foresee a crisis ahead, we will suspend the expenditures until we are assured that we are not putting our church and the finances in peril. I have been asked over and over how can we do this in today’s financial climate. My answer is simple, “We can’t but GOD CAN!!!” It is keeping our eyes on God and carrying out the mission he has for us. At the same time we must continue to be good stewards of what God has provided and our staff and church leaders have done a great job of doing exactly that. I look forward to what God has in store for us in 2013 and beyond.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Tom |
