Friday, March 24, 2017

Dear Church Family,

Here’s some good advice for all of us:

In your business, in companionship for leisure hours, and in alliance for life, let all the associations you form be entered upon with earnest, humble prayer. You will thus show that you honor God, and God will honor you. Pray when you are fainthearted. When you are desponding, close the lips firmly to men; do not shadow the path of others; but tell everything to Jesus. Reach up your hands for help. In your weakness lay hold of infinite strength. Ask for humility, wisdom, courage, increase of faith, that you may see light in God’s light and rejoice in His love. MH 513

In the news:

This Sabbath we will celebrate the Lord’s supper. I will be sharing the morning message.
We wanted to let you know that for the foot washing service (ordinance of humility) this Sabbath, we will be offering only two rooms for serving. There will be a men’s section and a women’s section. We discussed this at church board and felt that it would be nice to alternate each time we celebrate communion and have a room for couples every other time. This way, it encourages us to reach out to those who we may need to make amends with or simply to humbly serve a fellow believer or even stranger. We believe this will encourage us to be faithful to the purpose for which God instituted this service in the first place.
There will be no fellowship lunch this week.
This Sabbath afternoon, the Junior Sabbath School class will be meeting in front of K Mart to offer prayer and I believe literature for those shoppers going and coming. Keep their class and their missionary work in prayer this Sabbath. Way to go Juniors!
AYA will begin at 7pm this Sabbath and will feature the K-2 classes from GAA leading out. The program will feature Doug and Brandy Jenkins who are parents of 3 students at GAA. They will be sharing their testimony which has previously been aired on 3ABN. This riveting and inspiring testimony will leave you trusting in God’s leading in our lives.
The ABC Van will be here this Sunday from 10-11am in the church parking lot.
I will be down in Calhoun this Sunday to serve on the nominating committee which nominates the officers for our conference. Prayers are appreciated.
GAA students enjoyed a week of prayer at the school this week. Pastor Alex led out with stories centered around the life of Joseph.
Proud of our health ministries leaders assisting with the Greeneville Schools science alliance. Here we see Rhoda & Ruth at their booth focusing on nutrition.
I enjoyed hearing an update about the recent Music Fest at Highland Academy that our school attended last weekend. Les & Ann Andrus filled me in on how our students set such a positive example and that even some of the leadership there commented on how prepared our students were. Our school is building a wonderful reputation for quality and commitment to Christian excellence. One such example being that our students showed great respect to the leaders and put their cell phones away while many of the other students showed lack of preparation and were often found on their cell phones. Proud of our students at GAA who set the bar high.
Had worship this week with our Pathfinders at their weekly meeting. They will be away this Sabbath for a campout.
Shawn Dietrich shared the following mission story with me this week. The Flaming Machette
Just a reminder as we look ahead that the Oaks Retreat is coming up, April 7 & 8. Contact Brenda at the office if you are interested in making a reservation. Our speaker this year is Michael Dant. I believe you will find his messages clear and refreshing as he talks about the beauty of complete surrender.
Just a plug for our weekly prayer meeting. Our study in Ezekiel is proving quite fascinating and most relevant to the times in which we are living. Encourage you if you have time on Wednesday mornings or evenings to join us as we consider chapter 14 & 15 this coming week. We meet at both 10:30am and 6:30pm.