Overwhelmed and Thankful

 

Overwhelmed & Thankful

Overwhelmed is not a word I use lightly or very often, but that is exactly how I feel. This past month you as a church have gone above and beyond to express your appreciation to my family and me. We have been blown away by your expressions of kindness shown to us in a variety of ways through greeting cards, gifts, tasty desserts and homemade meals. Michi and I feel treasured by you and we consider it a true privilege to serve the congregation of Full Devotion–FBC. Please allow my family and I do express our deepest gratitude for your thoughtfulness.

In this month of November, I think about what it means for us to approach life with a spirit of thanksgiving. I recognize that even during this challenging year of 2020 we can still be thankful. All of our lives have been upended by Covid-19 in some shape or form and we have had to make the necessary adjustments. Still all of us, if we pause to take inventory, can find room to be thankful.

Thanksgiving is a combination of two words, thanks and giving. Would you please join me in person or online for our November sermon series as we address how we can develop a heart of gratitude to God, which in turn leads to generous giving. Thankfulness is not an occasional act limited to a particular month or holiday. Thankfulness is a lifestyle of intentional and spontaneous appreciation that leads us into the presence of God, empowers us to be grateful in all circumstances, and generates an overflow of generosity. I truly believe this perspective will help us have a better understanding of what it means to live with an attitude of thanksgiving.

During the final months of the year, we have some necessary business to complete. I want to stress how thankful I am that you have continued to support the church with your tithes and offerings. We have been able to maintain our commitments to staff, organizations, missionaries and as well keep up with the needs of our own church facility. I ask that you please continue to support the church as we close out the year of 2020. As is required in November of each year, we must hold a congregational meeting to approve the church budget for 2021. Typically this is held on a Wednesday evening following a meal. With no Wednesday meetings being held because of Covid-19, we will hold this business meeting on Sunday, November 15 at 12:15 following the morning worship service. I ask that if all possible, you make it a priority to attend and let your vote be counted.

 

As we enter the Holiday season we have made plans to host two Christmas Eve Candlelight services.  This will enable us to bring more people in the building to experience one of our beloved holiday traditions while still following guidelines that have been established for us to operate safely. At 5:00 we will have a very “Traditional” Christmas service with pre-service music beginning at 4:30. The traditional service will conclude by 5:45 in order for the building to be cleared and sanitization to occur. At 6:45 doors will open again for a more “Contemporary” Christmas service that will end by 8:00. We ask that you help us with keeping attendance numbers appropriate for each service by reserving your spot at the church website. Fill out the form and we will hold your spot. Please get your reservations in early as once the spots have filled up for a particular service we will close the online registration. If you do not have internet access, please call the church office to make a reservation.

 

I also want to thank our church leadership for their insight and guidance during this year. Together, we have made some difficult and necessary decisions. I want to announce that as 2021 begins our Vision Board has unanimously supported a change in our Sunday morning schedule. In conjunction with our vision to “See People Growing in Full Devotion,” we absolutely believe God is leading us to improve our discipleship and education ministry. Beginning on January 3rd, we invite you to join us for classes beginning at 9:30am and ending at 10:15. As time draws near we will be laying out our plans for children, youth and adult classes. As a result of this new time, our worship service time will move to 10:30am and this worship service will be for everyone. We hope as we get on the other side of Covid that we can come together as a church to worship our loving God. Our worship service will continue to be live streamed online. I will be available to answer any questions you might have regarding our new schedule. Please, just give me a call.

With sincere and deepest gratitude—Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Pastor Kevin

 

 

 

 

Embracing Change

 

Every season exhibits change. In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we find these words, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Fall signifies its change through the different colors we see on the leaves, cooler temperatures in the air and the harvesting of crops. Fall along with every other season regularly reminds us to expect change. Often we don’t like it. Often we fight it every step of the way. But like it or not, the one constant in life is change. We all face changes every day and one thing we have learned about 2020 is that change can happen more rapidly than we ever thought possible.

As a church, it’s important that we continue to ask God what he requires of us. Part of asking what he requires of us is asking the question, “What needs to change in us?” We take time to pray and ask for God’s leading. We take time to reflect and evaluate where we have been in order to know where we are heading? God calls us to holiness. God calls us to change. As your pastor, I ask each of you to continue pursuing your calling as we have talked about this past month. Remember this, who we are in Christ is way more important than what we do for Christ. I would say it’s of utmost urgency for us to become more like Christ in our everyday living and that requires change in us.

Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. “

This year has been a year like none other in my 27 years of professional ministry. Your church leadership has been seeking God’s will for His church. We have embraced the digital opportunities God has given us with our streaming service, Zoom bible study and the expansion of our social media ministry. We will continue to seek out new technology and opportunities. I sound a little bit like the Star Trek introduction, but in reality, we are going places and doing things we have never done before. In doing so we recognize the message of God’s love and His plan of redemption will never change but the method in which we convey it absolutely will. This pattern has been happening for thousands of years and it will happen long after we have gone on to our heavenly reward.

Speaking of change, we have one coming on Sunday, October 4th. You should have received an email or noticed online our plan to reopen children’s and youth ministry during our 11am worship service. This one hour programming will run concurrent with our worship service. If you have not received the details or are unable to access it online at our Full Devotion Facebook community page, please contact the church office and we will send you the information via U.S. mail.

I know some of you have asked about other future changes regarding worship times and ministries. Allow me to assure you that we continue to pray and seek God’s leading as well as evaluate current information regarding Covid-19. As we are aware, things can change by the hour, day, week or even month and some things we just don’t know when or if they will happen again. I have certainly appreciated your patience during this time. What I can tell you is that Covid-19 has forced us to evaluate our current model of ministry and ask ourselves what needs to be different as we move into the future. We must come to terms with the realization that things will never be the same. I recently heard a quote of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus that emphasized this reality, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.“ How true  that statement is!

Within this newsletter you will find some additional opportunities coming in October for you to engage and connect with your church community. Additionally, I hope you will join us during our Sunday mornings. In fact, on the first Sunday of the month, we will have some incredible news to share with you that you don’t want to miss. This news is going to help us take our ministry to the next level and give all of us new opportunities to “Grow in Full Devotion to Christ!”

Once again, I hope to see you in-person or online in the month ahead. You are all dearly loved!

Pastor Kevin