Friday, January 31, 2020

Dear Church Family,

As we prepare for the upcoming prayer vigil, I think these words are very inspiring:

The Majesty of heaven, while engaged in His earthly ministry, prayed much to His Father. He was frequently bowed all night in prayer. His spirit was often sorrowful as He felt the powers of the darkness of this world, and He left the busy city and the noisy throng, to seek a retired place to make His intercessions. The Mount of Olives was the favorite resort of the Son of God for His devotions. Frequently after the multitude had left Him for the retirement of the night, He rested not, though weary with the labors of the day. In the Gospel of John we read: “And every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.” While the city was hushed in silence, and the disciples had returned to their homes to obtain refreshment in sleep, Jesus slept not. His divine pleadings were ascending to His Father from the Mount of Olives that His disciples might be kept from the evil influences which they would daily encounter in the world, and that His own soul might be strengthened and braced for the duties and trials of the coming day. All night, while His followers were sleeping, was their divine Teacher praying. The dew and frost of night fell upon His head bowed in prayer. His example is left for His followers.

Testimonies for the Church. (1855). (Vol. 2, p. 508). Pacific Press Publishing Association.

In the news:

This Sabbath I will be sharing the message with a sermon entitled, “The Heart of the Matter.” We will be looking at the Song of Deborah in Judges 5.
This Sabbath we will be inviting you to share names of interests for the upcoming meetings that we might lift them up in prayer during our 48-hour prayer vigil beginning this coming Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Note that we are asking for names of people that you think might have an interest in coming and that you would like to invite. We will collect the names at the end of the worship service so please help us in this.
We will be holding a 48-hour prayer vigil at the church beginning Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and will keep the sanctuary open for prayer until Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. We will then transition into a consecration/vesper service to conclude our time together with testimonies, prayer and devotional as we welcome in the Sabbath. We are asking that you please sign up this Sabbath that we might keep prayers lifted up in our sanctuary during this 48-hour prayer vigil. You can sign up for an hour slot or more. Note that my family will be there one night and Pastor Jared will be there another night to help ensure safety during the late-night and early morning hours. The pews will have the names of the interests on them so that you might move up and down the aisles praying over each name. We must intercede on behalf of these people in light of the great controversy that surrounds us. We need desperately need His Holy Spirit if we are to see greater success in our efforts.
There will be a fellowship meal this Sabbath with the Meier team hosting.
This Sabbath, AYA will be at the school in the G.A.A. gym. You are invited to join the G.A.A. senior class at the school gym at 5:30 p.m. They will begin with an AYA program (music, devotional talk, and family Bible bowl game). After closing the Sabbath together, the seniors will serve a meal (baked ziti—vegan option available) and the gym will be open for volleyball. Proceeds will help fund the senior class trip to the Grand Canyon!
This Sabbath afternoon the funeral for Candy Elliott, mother of Lee Elliott, will be held at the Mount Pisgah Academy church at 3 p.m. with visitation from 2-3 p.m. Candy was Tina’s 5th-grade teacher in school and she played the organ for our church when we were kids. Let’s keep Lee & Kirsten and the family in our prayers.
This coming Tuesday there will be a Sabbath School Council meeting at the church at 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, we will have prayer meeting/work bee from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and will dedicate our time to preparing a mailing to several interests from previous meetings we’ve done. We could use many hands to prepare the mailing and appreciate any volunteers that can come out and help us stuff, address and stamp envelopes. Please pray for this effort and for the mass mailing that is going out next week. There should also be a newspaper ad next Wednesday and Saturday.
Remember we are just over a week away from opening night of our prophecy series beginning at the Crescent School. Supper will begin at 5:45 p.m. each evening and the presentation from Pastor Marcus Bates will be from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. We have LOTS of flyers still needing to be passed out to loved ones and friends so please help us in getting the word out. We have several who have pre-registered already from the community.
Looking ahead, Pastor Jared is planning an evening supper and worship at his house on Friday, February 14 from 6-8 p.m. for teens ages 13-18 and parents are welcome as well.
While I have seen only a little of this in our area, I know many pastors across our conference have had to struggle with people attacking our doctrine of the Godhead as three, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. As Bible-believing Adventists, we believe the Godhead is made up of three co-eternal persons, that is they have always been and will always be. Here are a couple of resources that you might consider if your family or friends are dabbling with this false teaching. Here is a series from Dr. Bauer who we have had speak at our church retreat before. Also, the seminary produced a series entitled THE TRINITY PROJECT as well on this topic that you might find helpful.
This bit of news caught my attention as it is another reminder why we as a private Adventist school want nothing to do with vouchers should they ever be introduced to our state. Our school board is adamant that we will not take vouchers and I am thankful for this commitment.
Remember the coronavirus outbreak in your prayers. Our conference president shared this update from Elder Folkenberg Jr. Given the number of major volcanoes, earthquakes and the like, it’s a strong reminder of the nearness of His coming. Let us be vigilant and watching. As we will sing this Sabbath at church, let us work for the night is coming!
We got word that Daniel Nuebrander’s surgery went well and the surgeon is pleased with how things went. Praise God and thank you for your prayers.
Here is an update regarding our health outreach activities that took place this month:
- Optimize Your Brain concludes this coming Tuesday. They have maintained a good crowd and plan to invite the guests to the next step which involves our upcoming Revelation Today series.
- The Emdes have wrapped up their Diabetes Undone class and maintained a good crowd throughout. Angela shared this exciting testimony with me this week: “I think one of the most special things that was said to me was tonight when a young lady, younger than myself, stated, ‘I have hope now.’”
- Walt Cross’ class continues with two more months to go. Tina and I have been participating in this program as well as Carolyn in the office. The class has maintained its crowd and enthusiasm is still strong as over 300 lbs has been lost. We have been on a raw diet for the last week and a half. Tina made these raw dehydrated corn chips this week along with some amazing salsa (both recipes from Mary Lou Cross) which we had with some avocado and wow, so good! Tina also made some sushi nori which, while the seaweed comes roasted, the inside is filled with raw veggies. Then Tina made ranch salad dressing but instead of mayo used avocado. I made spaghetti with spiralized zucchini and raw tomato sauce. I used an online recipe for the sauce but I added some additional ingredients like nutritional yeast, garlic salt, a few dates, and cauliflower which I thought made it much better. All raw of course but amazing taste.
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