So just wanted to start off and let you all know (as so many of you have
been praying) that Ken is at home and recovering. We are so thankful for
all your prayers and so thankful for what God has done in his life. If you
think of him just keep praying that he will continue on this road to 100%
recovery!

As I mentioned in an email yesterday, we will be back in the building this
weekend. One service from 9-10 am which will be more focused on prayer,
sharing, fellowship and encouragement. Another service from 10:30-11:30,
which will include worship and a sermon and which will be streamed live to
facebook. Both services require registration at
grenfellap.com/gathering-registration/

We will be celebrating communion at these services and I plan on sharing
from Psalm 20. I would encourage you to read it ahead of time. I have read
it several times this week and have felt this sense of courage and strength
come over me as I have.

Psalm 46:10 states “Be still and know that I am God.”

Have you been still enough? And that doesn’t mean just having nothing to
do. We’ve all had a lot less to do these days, but that’s not necessarily
being still. Have you quieted your mind? Have you turned off distractions?
Have you paused the news and the noise and been truly still? Only when we
do that can we know that he is God. Only when we do that can we receive a
revelation of who he is or perhaps be reminded that HE IS GOD and we… are
not!

There are many distractions. Many things to be busy about. Many things
which vie for our attention. Many things to worry and fret over but,

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress ~ Psalm 46.

Good afternoon everyone!

So as mentioned last week we will begin having services again on May 9th,
2021.

The current restrictions limit these gatherings to 30 people in the
building at a time and so we are asking that you please register for these
services at:

grenfellap.com/gathering-registration/

We are planning on holding a regular service at 10:30 am which will have
some worship and a sermon – a maximum of 30 can register for this service.

In addition to this we will hold a fellowship time at 9:00 am. We will sing
a few songs together, pray, share scripture and encourage each other –
because Firm Foundations is running at this same time (from 9 to 10am),
this gathering is limited to 20 people.

Of course masking and social distancing are still required.

We won’t have anything for the kids this week, but will look into making
something happen soon.

So please register as soon as you can if you plan on attending this weekend.

God bless,

Pastor Dave

Good afternoon everyone,

Our devotional for this weekend May 2nd is now live at:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/grenfellap/videos/

If you need pastoral care please don’t hesitate to reach out. Pastor Mike
and I would love to connect with you.

Pastor Dave

Hey everyone, here is another excellent Pastor’s Garage from the one and
only Pastor Mike! But before you read it, please sign up for our prayer day
happening right now. There is one slot missing at 11:30 and a few more
later today. Let’s fill it! Go to grenfellap.com/

——————–

*Pastor Mike’s Garage-April 30/21*

I’ll let you in on a little secret, I’m sitting at my computer
early(ish) Friday morning and I am really struggling with what to write.
It’s not that I’m conflicted in any way, it’s just that right now I feel
terribly uninspired! My brain is in a fog, I fear there is a very real
possibility that anything I have to share in this state might leave you
just a little bit dumber!

It’s been a roller coaster couple weeks, with many in our community
contracting covid, one who’s quite close to us quite seriously, some
injuries, some other health concerns in our church body, changing of
provincial guidelines once again, and the list goes on. Not to mention my
personal stresses of trying to get a full line of broken equipment ready
for the field, keeping a car wash semi-clean and tax week. As Pastor Dave
and myself met on Tuesday morning he shared with me that in some ways he
felt he was failing as a pastor in this season. To be honest I was shocked
to hear him say this as all last weekend I kept thinking how much of a
privilege it was to work with him during this time and how he was carrying
it all so well as a pastor. All last weekend I was struggling with my role
and how I felt I was failing as a pastor in these times. While I realize
that neither one of us is in any way a perfect pastor, I began to realize
that probably the feelings of guilt, inferiority, and failure might also
have a element of attack from the enemy!

This morning as I was thinking about all of this Ephesians 6 came to
mind. *“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on
all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all
strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood
enemies, but against rulers and authorities in the unseen world, against
mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly
places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armour so that you will be
able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you
will still be standing firm.”*(Ephesians 6:10-13 NLT) The New King James
version says “having done all, stand”. Sometimes that’s all we can do in
the midst of the storm when we feel battered, beaten, in a fog, uninspired!
For many years I missed the point of what the NKJ was saying in that verse,
I had the picture of a man in the midst of the battle with hardly any
energy left just standing, arms hanging down, at the end of his rope and
strength, I can relate to this picture quite often. But as I read those
verses in the NLT I realized that the words “having done all” didn’t mean
once you come to the end of doing all you can do. Rather what Paul is
referring to is in saying having done all is to actively put on the whole
armour of God before the battle begins so that we can stand in the midst of
the battle and face what the enemy throws our way, and in doing so come
through the battle standing strong and victorious!

I realize many of us, no, all of us, are in the midst of battles right
now! I encourage you to read Ephesians 6 right now and take steps to put on
the armour of God so that you might stand strong as well! Take captive the
lies of the enemy about who you are and who our loving heavenly Father is!

Pastor Mike

The pastors and elders met again yesterday to discuss our plans for this
Sunday May 2nd and we felt it best to take one more weekend without a
service due to the local cases of covid. We are thinking we will be back at
things on May 9th, although we will wait until next week to decide.

Unfortunately, we will still be limited to 30 in the building and so we
were trying to think of other ways to accommodate more people over a
weekend once we do open again. Some options that we could hold on top of a
service at 10:30am are:

– A Saturday evening service/gathering
– An early Sunday morning gathering/prayer time (could be as early as
7:30)
– A Sunday afternoon gathering/prayer time

Sunday morning at 10:30 would be a “normal” service with some worship and a
short message which would be live streamed. The other options would be more
geared towards prayer/sharing and fellowship.

Please give me your feedback and thoughts if you are able as it will help
us to decide.

There will be a video uploaded later this week as a weekend devotional.

Take care and God bless,

Pastor Dave