Below are some pictures that were taken a few months ago when the church moved out of the store front and into one of our congregant's homes for a time of rebuilding and refocusing. We currently have about 18 adults and 2 children (our own).
Here is a brief synopsis of what we have been doing since we made the move into the home.
In November we focused on understanding our mission, vision, and core-values.
In December we took some time preparing our hearts for the celebration of the incarnation, God became man. Our advent season was filled with great joy! We also had a short Christmas Eve service at a local assisted-living home.
In January we are asking the question "Who is Jesus?"
Jesus is Eternal: Deity of Jesus
Jesus is our Perfect Representative and Substitute: The Work of Jesus
Jesus is our Senior Pastor: The Authority of Jesus.
Then the first full weekend in February we are going to have a mini-retreat for the church called Real Church 101. The weekend will start us off in a month-long series on "What is the Church?" It will be a time of great teaching by Pastor Matt Mitchell of Lanse EV Free Church. And our worship time in song will be lead by a gifted worship leader, Troy Campbell from Sovereign Grace Church of Altoona.
At the end of February we will be having Jeff Powell the Superintendent of our EFCA District to lead us in another mini-retreat where we will end our series on the church. This will be another great time of teaching and equipping.
And in March we will be asking the missiology question, "How do we reach people with the love of Jesus?" Jim Culberston the district's Director of Church Planting will be joining us for another time of teaching and equipping.
We are praying for God to increase our core group and hope to get into another public facility by April or May. We are also praying for God to raise up the necessary funds for rent and/or utilities in order to make this transition. Our goal is to have our first preview service on Easter Sunday.
Thank you for your prayers and support. The Lord has been very kind to us as he has been faithful to provide for our personal financial needs and for the church's needs as well.
2 comments:
May the Lord bless you in the work. My best friend went off to live in Hazelton shortly after his conversion in high school, and it became evident to me that (at the time) much of Pennsylvania was a spiritual wasteland, and desperately needed Bible-preaching, focused, and vital Christian churches.
Jack,
Thank you for your encouraging comment. Here are our values to give you an idea of how intentional we desire to be.
God-centered: God gets the glory not us.
Word-centered: Biblical, Expositional preaching with life-giving application.
Cross-centered: Keeping the main thing the main thing in all of life.
Missional-minded: Intentional Evangelism locally and globally.
Character-centered: Be holy as he is holy by His Grace. Character matters to God.
Prayer-centered: A church that bathes everything in prayer, strategically as well as informally.
Equipping-centered: Intentional about transforming lives.
Appreciate your prayers,
Mark
Post a Comment