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Pastor's Point - March 2024

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Dear Church Family,

Easter comes early this year, so I want to encourage you to help us celebrate the resurrection of our Savior in a few different ways.

First, I want to encourage you to participate in all that will be happening.

Easter Egg Hunt – On March 23rd @ 10:00 am we will have our community-wide egg hunt. If you have children/grandchildren make plans to enjoy this awesome event for families. Invite your friends, family, and neighbors to come for a day of fun and fellowship. Also, if you can volunteer to help make this event happen, please do so. You can call the church office @ 812-476-3450 to let us know if you can help serve.

Good Friday Night of Worship – On March 29th @ 6:30 pm we will have our Good Friday Night of Worship. This is always a moving and meaningful service that helps us to reflect of Christ’s great sacrifice as well as prepare our hearts to celebrate our risen Savior on Easter Sunday Morning.

Easter Sunday – On March 31st we will celebrate our risen Savior in three Sunday morning worship services @ 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 am. Remember there will be no Life Groups on Easter Sunday morning, which will allow us to maximize our parking for all three services.

Second, I want to encourage our church family to get in the habit of doing three things now that will help us be ready for our Easter Sunday services. Our church is blessed with a surge in worship attendance, and we need to do a few things to make sure we have room for people. Would you do these few things to help us?

  1. Move Up - Commit to moving up a few rows from where you normally sit.
  2. Fill In – Commit to fill in the middle sections of our worship seating first.
  3. Park Away - If you are physically able, park further away from the building to allow space for our guests to park
    closer. Our pastors and deacons’ families have committed to parking on the back side of our church building to help with this situation as well. With your help we can maximize the parking that we have to help our guests park for worship.

These are simple things to do that will make a significant impact. Moving up and in will help people find a seat as they enter for worship. Also, we have recently heard of people driving on to our parking lot to park, only to not find a space and drive away. Let’s do all we can to keep that from happening.

Finally, I want to say thank you to our church family for faithfully ministering each week. Our South Campus is open and full all week long offering ministry to the people of our community. From 6:00 am to 8:15 pm Monday through Friday. Our North Campus is busy Monday through Friday from 3:00 - 6:00 pm with ministry and then on two
Saturdays out of the month our food pantry ministry is serving others as well. Then on Sundays at South Campus we have three morning worship services with Life Groups. On Sunday nights our student ministry is active ministering to students, along with a few adult Life Groups. Then we have our Hispanic church service worshipping the Lord as well with a growing number of people in that congregation.

God is so good to us!! Thank you for being willing to serve, give, and go to make the name of Jesus famous in our world!!!

I love you and I love being your pastor!

Posted by Alan Scott with

Pastor's Point - February 2024

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Dear Church Family,

My recent trip to see Nick, Melissa, and the kids was a wonderful, encouraging trip as we were able to spend time with them after a two-year separation. It was so great to get to hug, kiss, and talk in person with them. Eliana has grown so much on one hand, but on the other she is the same sweet bubbly little girl she was when she left. It was also amazing to get to hold and kiss our seven-month-old grandson for the first time as well. God was so kind to us because as we met him, he greeted us with the most amazing bright eyes and smiles as if we had met before. So, we were personally blessed and edified by being able to see Nick and family once again.

But it was more than just a family trip. I was there also as their pastor representing our church. We are their sending church and with that comes a special privilege and responsibility to do all we can to encourage them while they are on the field. This became very real one day when I was talking to Nick, and he thanked me for coming because he said he really needed the encouragement from his pastor. Of course, I know that I have been the only pastor Nick has ever known, but it reminded me in that moment that I not only have a responsibility to Nick, Melissa, and the kids as a dad and grandfather, but also as their pastor. I came back with a renewed dedication to be the best pastor I can be to them while they are away from us on the mission field. 

It was very helpful to see the mission field where they are serving. I have a fresh appreciation for the urgency of the work as well as the difficulties that come along with ministering in Japan. They really do need our prayers and support. As I came home, I thought of a conversation that Nick and I had before they left to go to the mission field. I told Nick that as they go to Japan, that I would be here “holding the ropes” to support them. This is a reference to something that William Carey said to one of his friends as Carey was going to the foreign mission field and his friend was staying behind in the states. William Carey is considered the father of the modern-day missionary movement.

In 1793 as Carey left to go to India, it is reported that Carey famously told his friend Andrew Fuller, “I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the ropes.” Fuller held the ropes by serving as president of the Baptist Mission Society from its founding until his death in 1814. He traveled all over the British Isles, raising funds and preaching
missions-related sermons. The missionaries in India and other early fields could concentrate on their ministry in the field because they knew Fuller was advocating for them back home. He did all he could to support his friend where he was while Carey was on the mission field.

I desire to do a better job of holding the ropes for Nick, Melissa, and the kids. And for that matter any other missionaries that we may have the honor of sending out from our church family! Of course, I cannot do this alone. Pastor Paul Willett who oversees our missions’ ministries will be a key part of this effort, but we will need to come together as church family to do the best job of “holding the ropes.” Here are a few ways that we can “hold the ropes.”

  • Pray – The need is great for prayer. Loneliness, burnout, fatigue, depression, and exhaustion are real enemies that Satan would love to use to discourage them.
  • Encourage – Writing letters, sending emails, or messages on Facebook messenger would all be huge encouragement to them. One of our little girls at church sent with us a letter to Ellie and she absolutely loved it. It brought a great smile to her face.
  • Give – We have a Japan Mission Fund set up at church that you can give to if you would like. Please know that Nick and Melissa are fully supported through the International Mission Board for all their daily needs. This fund can be used to help fund ministry emphasis that may need some extra resources in Tokyo.
  • Go – Our state convention of churches in Indiana are forming a partnership with the mission team in Tokyo, Japan. The convention will be organizing mission trips that some of us would be able to go on to minister directly with Nick and Melissa’s ministry team.
  • Cultivate – I pray we can grow a missional mindset in our church to where we pray for God to call more people into the mission fields all around the world.

Let’s hold the ropes and let the Scott’s in Japan know that we got them and are supporting them in what God has called them to.

I love you and I love being your pastor! 

Posted by Alan Scott with

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