Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who has blessed us to sit in heavenly places in Him.  I trust that you and yourfamily are doing well and that the blessings of the Lord abound richly in your lives.

The month of March represents our month of Passion.  When we think of passion, we think of any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.  We also think of affection, dedication, excitement, intensity, joy, zeal and enthusiasm.

A person of passion is a productive, effective, fruitful and dynamic individual. He is relentless and unstoppable. Someone once said that one person with passion is better than forty who are merely interested.

When we think of passion we also think of a burning flame of fire. It is evident that God wants his church to be a church of passion, because when it was born on the day of Pentecost, he sent a fire from heaven in the form of cloven tongues that sat on each of them that were in the house.   As a church and as the people of God it should be our heart's desire and endeavor to keep the fire burning and stay on fire for God.

When we look at the spiritual giants of the Bible, we see men and women who carried a holy fire inside them-a fire  that produced much more than personal purity. After heaven's coals touched their lips, the fire drove them to pursue God's radical agenda.

The prophets of the Old Testament knew this fire. Jeremiah, in fact, said he felt as if God's flames were shut up in his bones (Jer. 20:9). King David said the zeal of the Lord "consumed" him (Ps. 69:9)-and that verse was cited when Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the Temple with a whip.

That fire blazed in the hearts of believers who were torn apart by Caesar's lions in the first Century. If more recent spiritual heroes such as Charles Finney, George Whitefield, John Wesley or Catherine Booth, William Seymour and Bishop Mason had anything in common with the believers of the first century, it was their white-hot zeal. It was their passion.

The reality is that lukewarm Christians never changed the world ....click to read more. 

We opened up the month of February with our Annual Jurisdictional Women's Retreat and 

Saturday morning, we gathered for a delicious breakfast, then to hear the morning conference speakers.  The theme of the conference this year was "Advancing in Victory".  Each speaker presented uplifting presentations, providing us with vital information to help us advance in victory. Our Conference Banquet keynote speaker was State Supervisor Mother Dr. LuVonia Whittley (Illinois Midwest Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction). She delivered a life changing message entitled "It's Time To Come Out From Under the Palm Tree."We were blessed to have several ladies to attend ..... click to read more. 

You can click this link to  hear the conference keynote banquet speaker and view pictures at www.fjicogic.org.

The New Generation, the Leadership Board, and event planner Marsha Sokolow, recently worked under the Direction of our Jurisdictional Supervisor Mother Charlotte Eades to bring the women of 1st Jurisdiction together for our 13th Annual Retreat and Conference.   The beautiful and luxurious Westin Hotel and Resorts in Lombard Illinois was the venue chosen for this year.  It took place on the weekend of February 3th-5th.   The Conference opened after registration with a meet and greets session, followed by testimony prayer and praise on Friday night. Facilitator Evangelist Felicia Sanders allowed room for three testimonies where the women of God shared victorious testimonies of the overcoming power of the Lord's healing and deliverance.   After a life threatening accident that resulted in a broken neck, the medical doctors gave up hope of the 1st speaker having any chance of walking or having any normal range of motion in her neck, but God! The Evangelist shared and demonstrated that not only could walk, but her head and neck worked just fine as she moved it rapidly back and forth!

The second young lady shared how 'something told her' to be watchful before deciding to travel a certain route but she went ahead with the trip... after a traffic accident (on the expressway) that could have proved fatal, she was able to walk away with no serious physical injuries, (though the car was totaled) and was able to take and pass her exams in college shortly thereafter. Assistant Supervisor Mother Eleanor Harrington stood and admonished the young lady that the "something" ...click to read more.

Also click here to read an entire overview of the State Women's Retreat.   

Submitted  

by:   

Sis. Viveca Williams 

I want to thank God for a positive and uplifting experience at our annual day of Ushers training. The Theme was "Positive Posturing; serving with a positive attitude." The whole day was beautiful. We started out with breakfast and the fellowship with the other ushers was wonderful. Then we moved into the sanctuary and as we went through the program there were a lot of positive points. To speak of a few, Sis Carol Wright, who was the presenter, gave 3 points to become a good usher. She stated before the people see the pastor that they see the ushers first and we should appear with smiles on our faces and making people feel good about coming to our services. Sis Ethola Holifield gave a very powerful testimony. Her question to us was, What are we doing with what God gave us? It was something to make us think. The State President of the Usher Board, Mother Cleola Crawford, who is a very powerful woman of God, made a very good point of saying that you have to have it in your heart in order to serve God, She also said "Practice makes perfect and perfect makes practice." Deacon Douglas Lewis & Sister Martha Gross were the instructors for the exercises for the ushers. They gave us important signals and vital information for that was critical to the role of an usher. I learned a lot from that.

The whole workshop was wonderful but if I had to pick a best part, it would be when Pastor Rex Peel spoke to us. He spoke from the scripture II Samuel 21:15-22 and his subject was "Facing the Giants". The word was very powerful and forthcoming as he preached out of his.... click to read more. 

Submitted by Sis. Latoya Gipson

According to the definition listed above we are currently in the month of powerful emotion. My question is in which of the above listed emotions are you operating? In line with the Pastor's vision for the year and mainly for this month we have got to ask ourselves, "Am I in line with what God is leading me to do?" Yes, it's true; when Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross  the veil of the temple was rent in half and we've been able to go to God on our own ever since BUT  according to Ephesians 4:11 God gave some  as apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers WHY? (Eph. 4:12) for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Our true passion should be rooted in whatever the Pastor's vision is because He's getting His word directly from God and has been called to lead us and perfect us for the work of the ministry to what end? - the edifying of the body of Christ!

 In this month of Passion I urge you to act on the emotions of love and joy as the driving forces behind whatever it is you know God has given you to do to progress your spirit man and the ministry in totality. You have got to use that burning desire down on the inside to drive you past the pit stops and traffic jams you'll experience along the way. Sometimes your own worst enemy is yourself in which case you have the sole responsibility of moving self out of the way and ..... click to read more.  

Emanuel was favored with several guests from Oklahoma City, Memphis, Tennessee and Texas. First Lady Bernae Richardson of Oklahoma City blessed the house with a beautiful rendition of "There's Not A Friend Like the Lowly Jesus". Our speaker was the elegant wife of Bishop Brandon B. Porter, Missionary Melody Porter from the Greater Community Temple COGIC in Memphis, TN. She taught and encouraged us by telling the saints to have JOY. The J is for Jesus, the O is for nothing and Y is for you, meaning let nothing stand between you and Jesus. We should rejoice in our trials because they make us stronger.

First Lady Porter's subject was Another Midnight Experience but I Still Have Joy. Her text was Acts 16:22-31 about Paul and Silas. They were beaten and imprisoned but at midnight they prayed and sang praises to God. She stated that you must believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. We have to take our walk with God to another level and believe that its already alright!!

You can click this link to our website (www.emanuelcogic.com) to hear and enjoy this powerful message delivered by First Lady Porter.

 Submitted  

by

Sis. Marilyn Thmas