What an unbelievable year it has been and continues to be. Because we value each person who attends our services here at Central Christian and desire to keep everyone safe and healthy, for several weeks we have been recommending that face coverings be worn as our church staff has been doing so in the past few weeks. We also shared that we would keep you updated as to any important changes because of COVID-19 that would necessitate further communication.
We are honored to have Pastor Louis join our Central Christian Church family this Sunday, July 26 during both services as he brings us an inspirational word for our lives from God's Word. You won't want to miss this. I look forward to seeing you here in person or online this coming Sunday.
Ponder this statement: God uses our life struggles and successes, trials and triumphs to test, forge and refine our faith and friendship with Him. To determine if we will truly trust Him through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ that we are experiencing; okay, will experience – to completely trust that He is WITH us.
God had a personal friendship with Abraham that was forged and refined is his life's successes and struggles, trials and triumphs. God desires the same with each and every one of us. He so desires a personal friendship with us - yes, us! The question is, do we truly desire a personal transformational relationship with God?
We had such a great service this past Sunday! It was great being able to come together for worship -- and for the Good Lord to provide such a nice breeze! Weather permitting, we will have another outdoor service this Sunday at 10:00 AM.
This is what I truly love about our Central Christian family. You are generous helpers. In fact, all glory completely to God-our church family is becoming known in our local community and beyond as being generous with our time, talents and financial treasures so God's ministry will continue to impact in a great way.
We continue to see blessings from God during this time. We are having decisions for Jesus, including baptisms, our online services are reaching people we have not previously, and our members have continued to be faithful by giving financially thus blessing individuals and local ministries with their generosity. God is faithful!
In January of this year during our ‘One Word’ sermon series I challenged every one of us to lean into God and His Word in search of one word to guide our spiritual journey this year. Personally, my word for 2020 is ‘Dwell’. But then I shared a word, one word that I truly believe God has given me – rather, given our entire church family at Central Christian for this year – ‘Greater’. I truly believe with all my heart that God is calling all of us to something greater…much greater than ourselves especially right here and now!
I was reading of the believers in Jesus from the Macedonian churches in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 recently. In light of our current crisis, verse 2 jumped off the page, "In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity." Reread that verse. Then I read of Job's overwhelming crisis and his response in Job 6:10, "...I would still have this consolation - my joy in unrelenting pain-that I had not denied the words of the Holy One." Wow! Talk about faith in the crisis.
We want to give up an update regarding our church services, giving procedures and other pertinent information. If you recall, we told you that we would continue to monitor what the government and medical professionals recommend.
What an unbelievable time, right? Oh my goodness. Every day the COVID-19 regulations change and adjust. It's like someone keeps moving the furniture and just for fun, turn the lights off every time they do. Come on. And what's up with the toilet paper? Plenty of Kleenex but toilet paper? Anyone else a little anxious, worried, concerned - maybe overwhelmed? Oh yeah. The question is, how can we remain calm in the current crisis?
In this short blog, we want to give you a few prayer practices to do. Come up with creative ways to pray!
