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Scripture - Psalm 126:5: "Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy."

Observation - What a mixed bag of emotions accompany new beginnings. The joy and excitement of moving into dreams and possibilities is tempered with the fear of the unknown and the anxiety of facing the challenges of all that lies ahead. Tears of joy and tears of challenge are often co-mingled.

      Certainly the people of Judah, the exiles returning to the land of promise, understood this range of emotion. After years of captivity in foreign lands, God was restoring them to the land of promise. What joy as the possibilities of the new day dawned before them. But there were also realities to that new day. The land, once fertile and productive, was now hardened and fallow.  Much hard work lay ahead simply to make it possible to survive. Those early days would be days of blood, sweat, hard work, pain, challenge, and tears. Only the promises of God, the hope for a better future and the assurance of God's presence with them would sustain them. Yet the psalmist promised them that if they would persevere, their tears would turn to shouts of joy!

Application - Seeds are filled with potential, but unleashing that potential for future gain requires faith, hard work, hope and perseverance.  

Aaron Read

Your spiritual growth is of vital importance to our church. Whether you're just starting to explore the Christian faith, or you're a long-time follower of Christ, we want to do everything we can to help you on your spiritual journey. That's why we need your help.

We will be asking you in January to take an online survey that asks questions about your spiritual life and the role our church plays in it. Since the survey touches on a wide range of thought-provoking issues, you should anticipate needing 35 - 40 minutes to complete it.

This survey is completely anonymous. An expert third-party research organization will compile your input with responses from others, so your survey will not be viewed individually. It is very important for everyone to participate so that we can get the most accurate picture of where we are as a church.

Thanks in advance for your time and contribution to this tool that will help us understand our church's role in your spiritual life. Please use this link to access the survey-and pass it along to all your friends who call our church their church home.

CLICK HERE TO READ ON:   Don't miss the awesome testimony of Brandon Welch

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To Read The Kidz Venture Newsletter

Michelangelo's David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture.  Michelangelo was not, however, the first artist involved with the sculpture.  Agonstino di Duccio in 1464 begin chiseling a block of marble into David, but stopped work after beginning the shape of the legs, feet and torso. 

The block of marble set for 10 years until Antonio Rossellino took over where Agnostino left off.  Not pleased with Rossellino's progress, his contract to work on David was cancelled soon thereafter.   

The block of marble set for another 25 years.  In 1501 Michelangelo took up his chisel and begin his work.  It was not until the master began to hammer away at the stone did the block of marble become the masterpiece it is known as today. 

Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do." We start off as a large block of rock.  But as men, if we allow God to hammer away at our lives, we can become God's workmanship, his masterpieces, and creations like none other.

"Get Hammered" is the theme of Men's Winter Retreat to be held Friday-Saturday, January 25-26, 2013, at Lake Swan in Melrose, Florida.  Information and registration forms for the retreat can be found at the registration table in the church lobby.  We look forward to you joining us to "Get Hammered".

The Men's Ministry bowling will start up again on Monday, January 7, 2013, at 6:00 pm at Splitz Bowling.  Please contact me, Mark Ulmer, at mulmer3@gmail.com if you need additional information.       

Jeff West

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The Hubbard Family

It's neither probable nor realistic but so often times I find myself wanting to yell out at the
TOP  OF MY LUNGS...."STOP!" 

Allow me to explain. At the risk of getting on the proverbial "soap box" and railing against the traps of materialism, success, career advancement and high expectations, can I simply tell you that I have noticed a scary trend in teenagers over these past 20+ years that I've been doing youth ministry...they're tired and stressed!  We might all say the same and those levels of fatigue or stress ebb and flow with every changing circumstance of this life. I get that because my own life is characterized by these same factors all too often. What concerns me is that many of our kids are following our leads and suffering as a result.

When I first got involved in student ministry so many years ago, the question posed to one of my teens about, "how's it going?" or "how are you doing?" would most often be met with the small talk answer of: "pretty good", "not bad", or "crummy."  Probing further, (always recommended...never take the surface level answer as a good enough one. There's always more but you've got to dig it out of them usually), I would discover the reasons why, such as - a good test grade or failed one, a positive family story or tensions with parents, an exciting adventure with friends or a broken relationship problem.   

Orphan Care Ministry  

  

Happy New Year!

 

We want to send a great big "THANK YOU" to all of you that took part in our two Christmas programs to bless children that are in foster care as well as under the care of the Guardian Ad Litem program. Through your gifts, we were able to provide over 50 gifts to children that need to know that they are not alone nor are they forgotten. Once again, you've shown us that our church members have giving hearts and are always ready to give when a need is presented. I know that the children who received these gifts felt blessed to receive them! Thank you for being ready and willing to give your time and effort to love the fatherless in our community.

 

With a new year comes new opportunities and the Orphan Care Ministry is excited to see all that God does in and through us to reveal his love to the fatherless in our community and throughout the world. We're praying that the movement we saw at the end of 2012 will continue to grow through the beginning of 2013 as we seek our Father's will for more opportunities for outreach. While we've seen new faces at the church responding to God's prompting and are excited to see how God moves in their lives, we were saddened to learn that the number of children adopted internationally by Americans in 2012 was less than half of what they were just eight years ago. There are many factors in play to explain some of the reasons for the decline, but none of them are too great for our God. Amen!

 

Please join us in praying for a great work of God to move in 2013 on behalf of the fatherless!

 

Scott and Haley Long

     

haleyuf@hotmail.com

scottyuf@hotmail.com

9352)375-8685