Pastor's article
The time has finally arrived!! It is time to celebrate our new building. It’s been more than two years since we began and now we can finally see it and all come together. God has been faithful and March 23, 2025 we will all come together and Thank God.
March 23 will the first Sunday, we will be in our new remodeled Sanctuary. The Sanctuary has been the place where many lives have been changed. Many of you were baptized in the Sanctuary, got married and said goodbye to loved ones. The Sanctuary was in need of some revitalization and it has been. The carpet is new, the stage is newly configured including a new sound system, televisions and video equipment. The pews were refinished by our own men of the church and new cushions were purchased. I am proud to say the Sanctuary displays the updates while maintaining it historical significance.
The new building replaces the older buildings with a clear gathering place, a properly located nursery, easily accessed bathrooms and an elevator to be used in the FLC to help carry people up and down the stairs. While these additions are welcomed, it also puts us in the position to grow for the future.
As I look back on the construction, I must admit it has been a very long journey. It could not have happened without your dedication to be faithful in attending, giving and putting up with all the inconveniences. Inconveniences such as walking in the rain, stepping through the mud, walking across wobblily boards just to get in for church. The set up and take down of chairs, sound equipment, pulpit and water trough every Sunday. The mess all around us because of lack of storage, as well as stepping on each others toes to have “that thing” on that night. The new building has cost us a lot and tried our patience.
But in the midst of all of this, God has done amazing things. We have seen more baptisms in the past two years, than we have in decades, maybe ever! God is faithful.
We have seen many new people come and join our church. We have seen our ministry, and the reaches of our ministry also grow. This shows me that God moves-in spite of our circumstances and when we least expect it. God is faithful.
So many of us worried that moving church into the FLC would not only hurt our attendance, but it may also not be manageable for a long period of time-God is faithful. Some said we could not afford a new building, yet when we sit down for our first worship service in the new building on March 23, it will be completely paid in full-God is faithful.
So March 23, will be a truly worshipful celebration because God IS faithful. This week on the radio I heard the song “God Is On The Move” by 7eventh Time Down. The song is a catchy tune but the words describe what I think we have been experiencing during this time. The lyrics say “I know, I know, I know, I know, God is on the Move, on the move, Halleluiah, God is on the move, on the move today.” As we celebrate, don’t miss it because if we don’t recognize it we may not understand how mighty, faithful and loving our God truly is.
After Solomon completed the temple, there was a time of dedication. The temple was adorned with all the best cedar, gold and jewels. The Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Most Holy Place and a great cloud came into the place and the priests had to leave. As Solomon then begins a prayer of Dedication the people all listened and realized the power of God.
1 Kings 8:22-24 says:
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
God is faithful and He is on the move so let’s come together on March 23 and on every Sunday and give God the Glory that only He deserves. See you on Sunday!
In Christ,
Brother Alan
Children's Minister's article
WOW! Thank you so much for supporting our Kids Camp Fundraiser Meal! You provided over $2500 to supplement and scholarship our 3rd - 6th graders going to summer camp. Thank you to JM Custom Buckles and Leather Goods for the four $250 gift certificates to appreciate those who donated. I am in awe of our church's generosity and dedication to the children in our congregation and in our reach.
A lot of parents think sending kids to VBS or summer camp is sufficient moral training to keep them on track to become moral or even religious adults. And while I'm going to take every minute I can get with children to share the saving truth of Jesus Christ, research is showing that the sporadic church attendance and lack of spiritual discipleship in most families today is leading to children abandoning faith at increasingly younger ages.
In some of his most recent research, Dr. George Barna, noted writer at the intersection of culture and faith, states,
"...a person’s worldview is essentially formed by the age of 13, making the preteen years (ages 8 to 12) the critical window for helping children build a faith that will last a lifetime The beliefs and values put into place during these years will define them for the rest of their lives....My research shows that the foundational beliefs of 8- to 12-year-olds today puts them on a track to abandon biblical Christianity in record numbers...American kids are not being discipled to live and think like Jesus Christ."1
The bible contains many instances instructing parents to school their children in the ways of God. One of the most well-known is the shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-5,
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Ancient Jews recited this prayer in the morning and the evening as both a hymn of praise and a pledge of allegiance. It calls us to actively listen to and love the one, true God. The next few verses instruct us how to do that.
"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:6-11
In other words, immerse yourself and your family in God's word! As Christian parents and grandparents raising children today, this needs to be our goal. But what about the kids who enter our church without parents? What about the kids whose parent is raising them alone and struggling to find the time for anything more than occasional or even regular church attendance? Barna warns that these kids, even the ones who come through our doors sometimes, are walking away from faith as young as 8 years old. What can we do about it?
I believe God is calling us all to closer relationship...both to Himself and to others. If COVID drove us apart, then this post-COVID world ought to drive us toward community. It's only through real relationships with others that we can get close enough to disciple and train one another in God's ways and His word.
If we are to take advantage of this "critical window" of time in a child's life and put them on the path to foundational belief in Jesus Christ that will last for a lifetime, then we must do it by forming relationships with children and their parents. Do you have time to lead a group of three or four girls through a discipleship book? Could you find the time to become friends with a single-parent family and take them for ice cream or attend their sports games? Could you help in VBS and then meet some of your class at the park or playground afterward? Do you have a minute to encourage that toddler mom and maybe meet her for coffee just to chat?
Proverbs 22:6 tells us to "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (KJV) Worship services, camps and vacation bible school are great for introducing children to God. But true training requires eye contact, time spent, vulnerability ... and is the only way to cultivate a faith that will last.
In Christ,
Marie Dittmar