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August 2, 2017

Pastor's Points August 2017

Dear Church Family,

I pray you are doing well and are enjoying this summer season! This time of the year is very busy for us all so I want to take this opportunity to give you an update on the ministry of our church. Many exciting things have already happened and there is more to come.

First let me say, Vacation Bible School was amazing this year!! April and all our volunteers were amazing! With our morning and evening VBS we had right at 300 kids enrolled this year, and 18 children made professions of faith!! Praise God for all He did! It was a week full of excitement, and blessing!!

Second, the Fireworks Celebration we had was our biggest and best community celebration to date! We parked over 250 cars with 750-800 people in attendance! Our church family was there along with those that came because of VBS, and we also had many from the community that came because of some Facebook advertising that we did. I spoke with so many that do not have a church home but need one. It was a great fellowship/outreach event! Thanks to all our volunteers who made it possible!!

Third, our Life Groups now have 7 adult on-campus groups and 12 adult off-campus groups. I am very thankful for every one of these groups. We now can reach out to more people and we are seeing people getting connected to the church who were never connected before. I pray God uses all these groups to help people “belong” to our church family!

Finally, I want to mention some upcoming events that I am very excited about!

In September, we are going to have a special church-wide fellowship called, “Family Worship Fellowship!” We will be out at the ball fields where we had our fireworks for this event. A stage will be set up where all the activities will happen. The food truck Pizza Revolution will be there for you to purchase food if you would like or you can bring your own picnic style feast for your family. After we are done eating, we will gather our lawn chairs together for a special time together as a church family to worship together. This will be a great time together no matter your age or generation!! It is going to be awesome!!

Then in November we are going to have a special marriage retreat weekend for couples. Details are still being worked out but please save the dates of November 3-4. You will be glad that you did!!

Please stay tuned in to what God is doing in your church family in the middle of this busy summer. Also, please do not forget to continue to financially support your church family. Giving tends to dip during the summer and we have dipped a little more than normal. Please make the effort to catch up in your giving if you have fallen behind so we can continue to make a difference through our local church and around the world!!

I love you and I love being your pastor!

Pastor Alan

Posted by Alan Scott with

June 29, 2017

in Newsletter

Pastor's Points July 2017

Dear Church Family,

Are you a teachable person? This question is very important to answer especially as we consider our Wisdom/Folly sermon series we are in currently. We learned in Proverbs chapter nine that a fool is “unteachable”. He will not listen. This person is determined to live in human foolishness instead of God’s truth. This is so sad. A quote that I shared in this first sermon is so telling to how we often look at ourselves. ‘Too often we change jobs, friends, or spouses instead of changing ourselves.”- Akbarali Jetha. We must be teachable if we are going to apply God’s wisdom to our lives. Pastor James Macdonald shares with us a five-point quiz to find out how teachable we are. He shares…

Proverbs 17:10 says, “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.” In other words, you can get more ROI (Return on Investment) from a wise person in one gentle conversation than you can gain from a fool by whacking him with a board a hundred times. Which are you?

If you’re not sure how you rate on the teachability meter, take this five-point quiz:

I know I’m teachable when people give me input. When people feel free to give you a word of improvement, it’s a good sign that you’re teachable. Nobody wants to risk cleaning up a meltdown if the person can’t receive a difficult word. Don’t try to tell him he’s not headed in the right direction because he’ll bite your head off.The fool is always deeply persuaded that what he is doing is right. A teachable person will receive input.
I know I’m teachable when I see measurable growth and character development in myself. If you’re changing for the good, then you’re teachable. If you’re not the same person you were last year at this time, godly instruction has produced results in your life and there’s growth because of it.
I know I’m teachable when I don’t have to answer a critic with a defense.More often than I ever want to be, I’m in the uneasy position of giving people input. As hard as that is, I love to sit down with a person who can hear a difficult word with an open heart and without defensiveness. It’s been my repeated observation that those who are receptive to criticism flourish!
I know I’m teachable when I don’t have to criticize back. The classic symptom of an unteachable person is that they will listen to what you say, all the while framing their comeback, “Now let me tell yousomething . . .” Can you keep your defenses down and pride in check?
I know I’m teachablewhen I’m learning new ways to grow. If people have been telling you the same stuff for years, you’re not teachable. If you’ve grown out of those old issues and are now on to new lessons, you’re on the right track.