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October Spare Charge

Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards. Prov. 12:14

The Bible is very clear that work is good.  I think most of us would agree that work is good.  Even if we bemoan our job we like the pay check.  We know that we need to work to live.  We know that work provides for our families and betters our life.  There is another type of work though that doesn’t give us physical blessings in life rather spiritual ones.  This type of work in ministry comes in many shapes and sizes— from working with children, to worship ministry, to greeting, etc.  There is one type, however, that affects me more than others, it is the care and maintenance of our property.  While this may not seem like something that has a lot of spiritual reward at first blush, it really does.

I am, by training, a pastor not a contractor so I need other people to help give insight and wisdom with our projects and maintenance.  I am very thankful for the building projects team.  Their wisdom and work on the building is appreciated more than they will ever know.  This team consists of Ed Hodges, Chad Mehne, Mark Schmitz, Randy Flowers, and Vern Sharpe.  These men have helped so much, by not only giving their skills, but also their time and energy to making our property look great.  If you get a chance, please tell them thanks for all they do.  There are many other men and women that work tirelessly also, they come to work nights and paint days.  Please know that I appreciate everyone that puts in even one hour working on our building.

I see our building not as a place to be kept pristine, we do not worship our building, in fact we use our building…a lot.  Because we have such a nice facility we are able to use it for many ministries.  Not only do we have our weekday childcare using the building five days a week, we often have ministries meeting throughout the week and on
weekends.  Many people have 2:42 group fellowships, birthday parties, and baby showers in our building.  This is only possible through the work of our members to keep our building looking nice.

This type of work does not net any physical reward.  You won’t get a paycheck, you won’t get an award, you might get a donut or a DQ hamburger, but that’s about it.  The reward is not physical, you can’t see it, but it’s there.  There are spiritual blessings and rewards for those that give their time and energy to care for the church facility, as there are for those that serve in all the other areas of the church
also.  So again, I say thank you, you truly embody what a servant of Christ looks like.

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”  Matthew 6:19-21

October Kids Happenings

Hello Church Family,

Give me a “U”... “U”. Give me a “P”… “P”. Ok, ok, Upward, Upward, Gooo Upward! Obviously by this sentence you can tell that I help coach one of the cheer squads for our Upward Ministry. I have never been a cheerleader, I was actually the high school basketball player. Because of my dads love for the sport he helped to encourage me to grow to love the game and play it  throughout my elementary, middle school, and high school years. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be coaching cheerleaders. Being a parent, you learn that you will do and learn almost anything for the sake of your children’s desires and passions. My youngest daughter, Sydnie, to my dismay had no interest in basketball. She wanted to be a cheerleader. So a cheerleader she would be. I decided then and there that I would learn the cheers, routines, and basic techniques that a young cheerleader would need to know in order for me to work with my daughter within our Upward Ministry.

I am so glad that I chose to do this many years ago. By coaching in our Upward Ministry I have been able to spend more time with my daughter, her friends, and many amazing adults.  Not only teaching them about cheer leading, but, teaching them about our Lord and Savior and His love for them. Yes, it takes about 3 hours of my week to prepare and coach the girls during practice and game times, but it has been hugely rewarding for myself and the children involved. My daughter is much to old to cheer in our Upward Ministry now. Instead she had decided that she wanted to make an impact on kids lives the same way other Upward coaches and leaders made on hers. How awesome is that! I am so proud of her and thankful for having the
opportunity to invest in my child’s life and other children through our Upward Ministry. If you would like to be apart of this amazing ministry please consider signing up in the foyer. Thank you for the  opportunity to love on your kids.

God Bless, April Sharp