At our corporate worship service this Sunday we had a visitor from out-of-state, who was in town helping a relative, join us. After the service he and I got the chance to talk for a few minutes and I came away from our time together very encouraged. Not only was he appreciative of the Christ-centeredness of my sermon but was excited about the work that our church could do in the community. In fact, he mentioned something (prophetically?) that I had been pondering ever since we arrived in Underwood two years ago; our church hosting a alternative Halloween carnival. There is nothing like that in the area and it could provide a tremendous service and outreach to our community. Please be praying about whether this is God's will for us or not as I plan on bringing it up at our Elder meeting this Sunday.
This past Wednesday we concluded our four week book club study of Pastor John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life. I have read this book at least three times now and have been personally challenged each and everytime. Even though our attendance at the book discussions was low, given the number of people from the congregation who purchased the book, I believe those who did attend walked away with a renewed desire to glorify God is all they do (as I did). Please pray for ongoing spiritual fruit in my life and the lives of those who participated in this book club.
Labor Day was the official last day for the Crab Apple ice-cream shop in Pick City and Burger Stop in Riverdale. Although my wife and I didn't get to eat at Burger Stop this summer, we did make it up to the Crab Apple at least a few times (with the puppy!). And so Sunday afternoon we took a drive up to Pick City (20 miles) to get an ice-cream cone (or in my case a shake) before the Crab Apple closed until next summer. It's fun to have some summer related shops around but it would also be nice to have a few more year-round businesses in the area.
I am very excited for the kick-off of our church's "Community Group" this evening. We have had a Bible Study and prayer time on Wednesday evenings for many years but this summer we took a break and this gave us the opportunity to revamp what we do and why during this time. We want this time to be intentional about building community between us and God (spiritual maturity), between each other (fellowship) and with our community at-large (service and evangelism). Please pray that I would communicate the purposes and goal of this new "Community Group" clearly as we spend the first few weeks discussing what we're doing and why. Also pray that it would be successful and that God would use it for His good purposes.
By God's Grace, Jeff
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