Friday, November 3, 2017

Dear Church Family,

The following quotation was shared with us at the AMEN conference last weekend. (see more info about the conference below on bullet #8)

The Holy Spirit will make all who are willing to be educated able to communicate the truth with power. It will renew every organ of the body, that God’s servants may work acceptably and successfully. Vitality increases under the influence of the Spirit’s action. MM 12

It is a beautiful thought to ponder that the Holy Spirit not only brings spiritual healing to us but also physical. To enjoy the fruits of the Spirit fully, we must choose to surrender all, which includes the appetite. May we not persist in grieving the Holy Spirit through selfish indulgence. Rather, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” that we might by His grace receive the outpouring of His Holy Spirit in Latter Rain power.

In the news:

This Sabbath I will be sharing the morning message with a sermon entitled, “Struck by an Angel.”
There will be fellowship lunch this Sabbath with the Carlton/Smith team hosting.
Pastor Alex will be leading out for AYA this week. Here is a flyer associated with the event. AYA will be at 5:30pm.
Also note that the ABC bookmobile van will be here this Sunday morning from 10-11am in the church parking lot.
The GAA TALENT SHOW is this Sunday at 6 p.m. Supper will be available for purchase from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m. They will be serving a Pasta Bar, Salad, Drink, and Bread. There will also be a Silent Auction and students of all ages will be participating. There is no charge to attend.
This Monday evening at 6pm, Chef Mark Anthony will be with us to put on a cooking show! All are invited to attend and bring a friend. RSVP is requested by calling the church office.
Diabetes Undone is set to finish this Thursday night. Thankful for the positive response and the faithful volunteers who have made this happen.
There were around 28 of us that attended the AMEN conference last weekend. It was a VERY inspirational weekend and we were able to glean some very helpful ideas for how to do health evangelism more effectively. Pastor Alex & I along with our wives want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to those who sponsored us to attend. We were richly blessed. Our church had more representatives than any other church there I believe. We also had Brad Emde & Ken Mathews presenting for a couple of the seminars. Randy & Kathy Nomura were there with a booth advertising GAA in an effort to recruit medical professionals to our area.
The third annual Healthy Cooking for the Holidays banquet and cooking seminar will be Tuesday, November 14, at 6:30pm. This is an excellent outreach opportunity to which to invite someone to attend with you. Please call the church office to reserve your seat.
I am excited to share that Friday and Sabbath, November 17-18, we will be hosting a Wildwood Express evangelism training weekend. This is a regional conference event for the area churches being held at our church. Wildwood will be sending several representatives to share with us helpful training on how to be more effective in the work of evangelism. Remember we have Eric Flickinger from It Is Written coming in January to do a major 4 week evangelistic series for the community. We want to be actively preparing ourselves and community for this wonderful opportunity. Please plan to attend these wonderful presentations. Here is the schedule.
A few weeks ago, we shared during the worship hour what a Thunder in the Holy Land Bible study could look like in the home. I had some inquiries about how to secure the materials which I failed to share up front. We have DVD’s in the office free for ministry purposes and the lessons can be easily downloaded and printed by visiting this website. These are a wonderful and free resource for all of us to use. If you would like to review how to hold the Bible study in your home, here are two excellent instructional videos to watch. Video 1 & Video 2. It’s a great way to also connect them with our local church as I have been inserted as the host of the series. Please prayerfully consider who you might share these with.
Tina and I have eaten a lot of salad this week and used this healthy salad dressing recipe that I very much enjoyed. It has no oil. Wanted to pass it on to you in case you might like to try it. Recipe: ½ cup fresh lemon juice, ½ cup honey, 3 cloves raw garlic minced, a few squirts of Braggs Liquid Aminos, and a tablespoon or two of chia seeds though the chia seeds are optional. Stir it up and it makes for a great dressing.
I wanted to also share an important date and opportunity with the ministry leaders in our church. I would like to encourage that you register and plan to attend this training event put on by our conference. This Ministry training event will be on Sabbath, December 2, from 3pm to 8:30pm at the Knoxville 1^st SDA Church. Note that some items won’t be discussed until after sunset but review the schedule to see where your ministry is looked at. Click here to register.