Friday, January 25, 2019

Dear Church Family,

In our family worship this morning, we read from one of my favorite places in Scripture. I love these words:

Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. 16 How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.” Exodus 33:15-16 NLT

As I reflect on the upcoming prophecy series we are about to begin, I am reminded of our desperate need of His presence in our lives and ministry, for without it, we will be as a sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. Let us seek after Him with all our heart that we may be vessels through which He can pour His love.

In the news:

This Sabbath I will be sharing the morning message. We will also have 11^th Hour choir from Fletcher here with us for the worship hour.
This Sabbath we will have the Carlton/Smith team hosting the fellowship lunch.
Last week we featured Carolyn Gudger-Pierce and Nick Gudger in our “Getting Acquainted” series. For those who missed it, you can view their story by watching the video below.
We only lack $3938.94 in our fundraising for the fellowship hall renovation. The board voted to do this through direct giving and avoid dipping into Capital Reserve funds. Please consider what you can do to help so that we can move forward with a full renovation on February 3.
As many of you know, the mother of one of our students at GAA died tragically in a car crash this past Wednesday night. The memorial service for Jenny Cronk will be held at Riverview Community Seventh-day Adventist Church where she was a relatively new member. The service will be this Sabbath, January 26th at 4:30pm
There will be NO AYA this Sabbath due to the funeral service for Jenny. Please disregard the bulletin announcement as we didn’t have the funeral service info at the time the bulletin was printed.
It’s time to get the word out about the upcoming prophecy series. We have lots of flyers to distribute that are available for pick up in the church foyer. We also have some yard signs that we invite you to help us set up around town.
Last night Pastor Alex worked with a group from Pathfinders to go door to door passing out flyers. I am excited to report that from just that brief work, we already have someone pre-registered with a group of 4 planning to attend. I know it must be from their effort because we just got the flyers mailed to us yesterday. The mass mailing will take place February 4-6.
The school will have their annual Winterfest event at the G.A.A. gym this Saturday night, January 26, at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, but supper may be purchased. They will have various games and races to watch and join in.
Let’s remember our GAA team heading to Kenya next week in prayer. They depart on Wednesday and will return two weeks later.
Since the Sabbath School lesson is on Revelation, I thought I would share these Revelation Verse by Verse study guides that I assembled a few years ago when we had a prayer meeting series on Revelation. I gleaned from various sources lots of helpful insights and found especially helpful this Revelation series on Audioverse from the Advent Hope SS class. Perhaps as you study Revelation, these guides can be of use.
I attended leadership meetings this past week at Cohutta for a couple days with a group of other pastors, educators, and administrators from the conference. It was a rewarding time together.
Did you stay up to watch the moon turn red Sunday night? I enjoyed taking pictures of the moon. In spite of some occasional cloud cover and bitter cold, had a great time. Favorite time of the evening, going to get each boy out of bed in the middle of the night to carry outside for a brief glimpse and sharing in the special moment together. Glad I can still carry each boy in my arms.