Dear Church Family and Friends:
The angel announced peace on earth and good news to men when he heralded the birth of Jesus the Messiah. The shepherds all gathered together to go and see what the angels were telling them. This message of good news remains with each of us today. We need to have the same attitude of the shepherds to personally go and worship the Lord and to bring others with us when we go. Let me ask you a couple of questions. How important is it to you to be at church each week to worship Jesus? I hope all of you say and practice that it is very important. It takes a real emergency to miss attending church. Next I would ask you how important is it to you to bring a new person to meet Jesus personally through our local church? I would like to ask each of you to prayerfully invite new guests to church each day or at least each week. Take our business cards with you and hand them out wherever you go. Let’s create a culture of saying to others, “Let us go see what the Lord has told us about.” We will have two great opportunities next week with my annual Christmas message and our candlelight service. Let’s all pray and invite friends to join us during these times and then let’s carry it over into every week of 2010! – Pastor Greg

Dear Church Family and Friends:
It is December and retailers are hoping that we spend money on Christmas presents to turn their 2009 fortunes around. I am a big fan of giving gifts, receiving gifts and not being cheap when doing so. I think we should honor each other who is worthy of a gift with something that truly blesses them rather than notching another name off our lists. I also want to encourage everyone to spend the money you have available for gifts not the money you don’t. Many in America will go into credit card debt to buy presents which is not a financially wise way to steward our wealth. Pray over your gift list and ask the Holy Spirit to direct your purchases. He will lead you to the right presents at the right price. Let’s honor our Lord’s birth with presents that fill our heart with joy and not buyer’s remorse. -Pastor Greg

Dear friends and family:
As we recently experienced God’s healing in our Restoration Sunday I am encouraged to see what can
happen when we surrender to God’s Spirit and allow Him to work through the problems we face in life. Today I want to remind each of us to remember the way of God’s peace in all that we do. We are called to be ambassador’s of Christ. We are literally carriers of His peace. How do we do this in a practical way? We need to guard our hearts from negative confessions about our family and those that God has connected us to. We need to stand guard for each other in the spirit and speak blessings and words of encouragement. If we see something that our brother or sister is blind to, we should meekly offer to help the situation instead of standing as a judge. In the same way, we cannot be offended if someone we love reveals a blind spot to us. These are some practical ways to walk in reconciliation and move forward through our victories we have experienced. – Pastor Greg