The Pastor’s Garage November 22nd, 2017

I’ve got a lot to cover this week so strap in. Actually, do strap in because it’s going to be an exciting season for us as a church. I feel like God has got a lot in store for us and there is lots of exciting things to look forward to.

On December the 3rd we are going to hold a GTA Initiative Sunday. That’s GTA as in Greater Toronto Area, not the crime grand theft auto. We’re going to be talking about the church planting project that ACOP is getting involved in and taking up a special offering for the church planting initiative. Daniel and Anna Cole are a part of the team that is making this happen and we’re planning on skyping them into the service so we can talk to them and ask them some questions. I’d like you to begin preparing your heart as to how you would like to support this initiative financially. Also, I would like you to consider joining their launch team. A scary thought maybe, but would you consider the idea? Are you looking for an adventure of a lifetime? This might be the thing that God has been laying on your heart. If you’d like to learn more in the meantime, please check out this website: GTA Initiative.

Our rock table has filled a little bit, but I think we can do better. Remember, all you have to do is pray with someone during the week and you can place a rock on the table. Could be a friend, a family member, a brother, a sister, whoever. I’ll be reviewing what the rocks symbolize a bit this Sunday and continuing to preach on Nehemiah. We’ll be looking at Nehemiah chapter 4. Feel free to go ahead and read that ahead of time.

I’m excited to tell you that a women’s prayer group started this Tuesday over the noon hour. They’ll continue meeting at 12:15 on Tuesdays here at the church. All are welcome. Good job ladies. Men, we’ll keep meeting Thursday mornings at 6:00 am here at the church as well. The breakfast after at the Petro-can is icing on the cake.

Our Kid’s Church is currently looking to recruit more people to volunteer. If you have signed up but have not got your application in please let me know and I will help you. If you are interested in helping please me know as well. We have jobs that just about anyone can do and would not necessarily involve teaching- but we do need the help. A good problem to have! We’ve got lots of kids to take care of. Waylon and Rachel Kardash, Liz Wicks and Tamara Speidelsbach have been doing a great job leading our Kid’s Church program so far. The best way to say thanks is to get involved.

As we shared a few weeks ago, our level of giving is not meeting our current level of expenses. That means that we have been running a deficit. Just to be clear we are not going into debt! There have been a couple people asking, so I just wanted to make sure you understand. We have some savings that we planned to use to kick start some things like the youth ministry so for now the deficit is being absorbed by that savings. However, this savings will not last forever and we sincerely hope that we can continue doing things the way that we are. In order to do that our giving needs to increase. I would ask again that you make this an object of prayer.

Lastly I just want to share a youtube playlist of some of the songs we’ve been singing lately. I think it will help to make some of these songs a little more familiar. You can find it here: playlist. In case you haven’t heard BreAnn Zorn, Stacey Mitchell, Rachel Drinnan and Lisa Osiowy have taken the helm of leading our worship department as a group. They’ve been doing a great job and we’ve had some great worship over the last few months. Thanks so much!

As always pray for the service this weekend and for God to build his kingdom here. Thanks for being such a great church to lead.

God Bless,

Pastor Dave