Friday, August 28, 2020

Dear Church Family,

A powerful statement for us to ponder:

When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan. But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one.

DA 324

I will be sharing the message this Sabbath with a message entitled, “Converted? Part II” We are excited to have another baptism this Sabbath. Sandra Slone will be joining the church family this Sabbath after studying for some time with several ladies in the church and attending prophecy meetings. Praise God!
ZOOM Sabbath school lesson study is set to begin a week from this Sabbath at 10 a.m. for those unable to join us at church.
This Sunday, there will be a youth activity again at the church from 3-5 p.m. All youth and their families are invited.
This Monday evening, there will be a ZOOM Sabbath School council meeting at 6 p.m.
We have a sound technician coming from Nebraska to analyze our sanctuary and sound system needs this Tuesdasy, September 1. He will set up a demonstration of what a new set up could offer us and will present it to our subcommittee who has been tasked with improving our audio at the church. For those inerested in hearing a demonstration and to have any of your questions answered, you can visit at 3 different times on Tuesday. at either 3 p.m., 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. Your feedback is appreciated.
Our study on Romans will continue with Pastor Jared leading out in a continued look at chapter 8. All are invited to participate via ZOOM.
Our next Dinner with the Doctor is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Dr. Raymon Kohn will be sharing on the theme of “Women’s Imaging 2020.”
We will have a special stewardship Sabbath on September 26 and a free Will Clinic on Sunday, September 27. Stephen Reese will be our guest and he is one of the staff from the Grateful Living department at the conference. The Georgia Cumberland conference offers this free service to help ensure that each member has a will, nthat their estate may not be lost at death. That said, they will not coerce you in any way as to who to leave your estate too but rather they simply offer assistance in getting a will established. Tina and I did this several years ago and there is a peace of mind knowing that our will is locked in a vault with the conference. You can sign up to establish a will or update your will by signing up in the foyer at church. Please, if you don’t have a will, sign up right away.
I had the chance to share the morning worship at the school on Monday. I spoke about the need of focusing on th essential. I compard it with the need to pack only the essential on a camping trip like the one we area about to set out on. The kids seemed to enjoy meeting our dog Ginger who by the way has only the essential in her small pack. Roughly 8 lbs of dehydrated dog food and a bowl.
Our family is taking a vacation up to the boundary waters where we will camp for a few weeks. It’s a serene place where you pack in all your food and gear and meander from camp site to camp site via canoe or in our case raft as you explore the boundary between Minnessota & Canada. We hope to see the Northern Lights, wildlife and more. We are taking these four weeks to be away from cell phones (there’s no cell service there), appointments, and to spend time with God in nature as a family. We also hope to catch up on some of our reading of the Testimonies. We will be available again on the 30th of September. Here is a picture from our last trip there.