Posted: 04 Apr 2011 12:01 AM PDT “Missions is about the worship of Jesus. The goal of missions is the global worship of Jesus by his redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The outcome of missions is all peoples delighting to praise Jesus. And the motivation for missions is the enjoyment that his people have in him. Missions aims at, brings about, and is fueled by the worship of Jesus.” — David Mathis "Missions: the Worship of Jesus and the Joy of All Peoples" in Don't Call It a Comeback (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), 225 |
Of First Importance Blog
How an Atheist Fell in Love With Jesus
Here is an inspiring story about the power of God that Lois forwarded to me. It helps to remind me that nobody is too far from the reach of God. Through a Christian aunt, Jesus softened this ladies heart.
How I--An Atheist--Fell In Love With Jesus"I cannot begin to express to you how Jesus has changed my life. I am so filled with love and joy that I am unrecognizable to even my husband. There literally is not one aspect of my life that has not been completely changed. I didn’t... Read entire article. Post and read comments. » |
Hollydaze Movie Night
Hello everybody!
We are planning to host another movie night this year during hollidaze but this year we are going for a more simple approach. We have chosen a movie that is family friendly and are therefore not holding a separate children's event. Last years children even was excellent! But it was also a lot of work.
We plan to show Charlie Brown Christmas and Martin the Cobbler. Both these movies will be shown right after the fireworks in Emo on Friday December 3rd.
We are planning to host another movie night this year during hollidaze but this year we are going for a more simple approach. We have chosen a movie that is family friendly and are therefore not holding a separate children's event. Last years children even was excellent! But it was also a lot of work.
We plan to show Charlie Brown Christmas and Martin the Cobbler. Both these movies will be shown right after the fireworks in Emo on Friday December 3rd.
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Recap of 2010 for Life of the Church Meeting
God gives us many opportunities to reach out with his love and all we need to do is take them! Part of what we do in the PEG group is to strive to live with an intentionally evangelistic mindset. We encourage each other to go through everyday activities and live our everyday lives as God given opportunities to reach out with the gospel. Do we fail at this task? Often! But evangelism is a requirement for Christians and the joy that comes from living out our God given potential to share Jesus is unmatched! AT PEG we have been focusing on both equipping individuals for sharing the gospel and for fostering a church family that loves and reaches out to their community.
Some of the events that we have done in PEG this last year have been specifically through a desire to reach out with God’s love. The Valentines Project 2010 was one of these events. We created fifteen gifts as a practical way for people in our church to show Christ’s love to those around us. In March another activity of love was opening up our church to show the movie Hoodwinked. We offered popcorn and pop and designed it as an event to build relationships with our community. In May a great basket was put together for the Emo Walley Classic Penny Table. In addition to being an act of service & love for our community, it was very encouraging to hear how much the person who put the basket together enjoyed doing it.
A couple more major events of the year included the Emo Fair Rest Station and the Wilderness Day. The Rest Station included a lot of Church members who did a lot of work to make this event a success. At some times, the booth’s function was a simple as providing water and rest to tired people. At other times it was a place where relationship building happened and discussions were started. The Wilderness Day was the other major event. All the people involved seemed to really enjoy the event and although it was a new event this year, it is one that we would love to host again.
Some of our events have more of an evangelistic focus that others, but all of them are events that we have prayed over and God has been involved it. It is a joy to reach out to, and build relationships with, our local community. PEG is a group that everybody in our church is a part of. “God is at work in the world, homes, around us- our job is to watch, listen, pray and engage where God is working.” (Pastor Kevin Vincent)
In addition, this year provided some changes with me taking over a bit of organizing the event planning as well as Carmella leading evangelism learning sessions and Debbie pushing us to pray more faithfully. Josh also led some Gospel learning sessions with Conrad leading the rest of them. Overall though, there were many, many faces of the church involved in PEG in one way or another. It is awesome to see people with a desire to reach out to their community in love and to share the gospel with them. PEG has had a good year and stretched many of us in new ways. God is good.
By Christina Goodman