Dear Church Family,
Here are some good words as we prepare for our upcoming prophecy series:
The greatest care is needed in dealing with these souls. Be always on guard. Do not at the outset press before the people the most objectionable features of our faith, lest you close the ears of those to whom these things come as a new revelation.
Let such portions of truth be dealt out to them as they may be able to grasp and appreciate; though it should appear strange and startling, many will recognize with joy that new light is shed on the Word of God. Whereas if truth were presented in so large a measure that they could not receive it, some would go away and never come again. More than this, they would misrepresent the truth, and in their explanation of what was said they would so wrest the Scriptures as to confuse other minds. We must take advantage of circumstances now. Present the truth as it is in Jesus. There must be no combative or controversial spirit in the advocacy of truth.—Manuscript 44, 1894.
In the news:
- Pastor Alex is speaking this Sabbath for the worship hour. Tina and I will not be with you this Sabbath as we are sharing this weekend at Cohutta for the Children’s ministries convention.
- There will be a fellowship lunch this Sabbath with the Emde team hosting.
- The Martins, a singing evangelism family, will present a Christ-centered service of inspiring music for AYA this Saturday evening at 5pm. This family trio blends music, personal testimony and an appeal with special prayer for our spiritual and personal needs. We invite the church family to bring a friend and share in a rich, spiritual blessing. This is the Martin’s full-time calling, and they are sustained by the freewill offering received at each of their services.
- It is worth noting that we almost made our goal of $20,000 dollars for the Christmas offering. Praise God for this good news! Our total that came in was $19,410 dollars. If you would like to help us meet the goal in spite of the fact that we are past Christmas, simply mark your tithe envelope Christmas offering and they can add it to the total so that we can make the $20,000 goal and begin moving forward with the upgrades.
- Had breakfast with Eric Flickinger this week while in Florida and talked some more about the plans surrounding our upcoming series. I understand the brochures should arrive next week. We also should see a half page color ad half page color ad in the paper on Wednesday, January 17 and Saturday, January 20th. I just picked up a bunch of materials at the ABC this afternoon. REMEMBER, now is the time to be inviting your friends to the meetings and then follow up with the handbill.
- We had a VERY successful Dinner with the Doctor this week. A big thank you to all the volunteers that helped to make it a reality. There were over 120 who attended the dinner and due to the size of the crowd, they were asked to move into the sanctuary for the presentation. Praise God! A special invite was extended to everyone to join us for the upcoming prophecy series. Sadly we didn’t have the flyers to hand out yet. None the less, I heard of at least one lady from the community who has stated that she plans to come to the meetings who was there that night. Here are some pictures from the evening program.
- Not sure if everyone knows but the church acquired a new 25 passenger bus similar in size to the bus we used to have. This new bus has low mileage and is in excellent condition and we purchased it at an extremely good buy ($16,900) from the Hendersonville SDA church in NC. The old bus was simply costing us too much to maintain and was not practical for our school. Still trying to sell it however so if you know of anyone interested, let us know.
- We spent the better part of this week in Florida for the Southern Union pastors
meetings. It was great to be able to connect with so many with whom we have come to know over the years. We spent just over three days together with numerous workshops and featured speakers. Here is a picture from one of the morning song services. While it is great to connect and to learn how others are practicing ministry in their context, I left grateful for the opportunity to serve with my church family in Greeneville! - Just a reminder that we have finance committee and church board rescheduled for this coming Wednesday night which is a different day than usual.
- Looking ahead, Pastor Eric Flickinger will be with us next Sabbath and I would encourage you to plan to stay for fellowship dinner that Sabbath as Eric wants to meet with us after lunch at around 2pm at the church for an orientation meeting for the upcoming prophecy series set to begin Tuesday, January 23rd. Then at 4:30pm that day we will have an earlier than usual AYA as Ron Goss will be with us to share some helpful information as it pertains to the soon coming of Jesus. Ron Goss is a speaker that has been featured on 3ABN.
- Also, next Saturday night, the cardboard boat race will be at the YMCA at 7pm following AYA.
Blessings as you prepare for the coming Sabbath!
In His Service,
Pastor Jeremy
The Greeneville Grapevine 