New Year Approaches!

I wanted to write a few sentences, (which certainly won't do it justice), about our Christmas program; our very first Christmas program! The program was on December 18th and was complete with Ginny and children doing the "Christmas Play" which had characters and animals all around the manger and displayed the birth of Jesus, which really is the heart of Christmas. The kids did a great job with Jeremiah even playing the part of the baby Jesus! I may be wrong, but I bet we were the only church in Roanoke with a live Jesus in the manger. Along with Jeremiah, Emily, Benjamin, Rachel, (who was an excellent sheep!), Cameron, and a few others all helped make the program a hit. A new addition, Andrew, who is the brother of Danielle, did the part of the narrarator. Andrew is Danielle's brother, who is one of my Driver's Ed. students from Salem High School. Along with Danielle, 3 more of my students were there on this special service, so that was good. In total we had 42 people so that was very encouraging and the second largest crowd we ever had! Praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness. For other parts of the service, I had asked Beth, Joey, and Melanie to give their testimonies; all three were very special and unique in their own right. Beth told of how God had touched her heart a few weeks earlier and helped her to put away her anger towards Him after she had lost her very young son in a car crash around 10 years ago. Her words were touching and really impacted those who listened. Joey's words spoke of how recently he had to depend on the wisdom from God's people to help him avoid being involved in something that would have depleted his savings. He showed how we need to seek Godly counsel for wisdom when we are not sure of what to do and to avoid going off of our "gut" and ending up making a big mistake. And lastly was my sister Melanie, who continue to amaze me with the change in her life; the change that has occured and is still occuring. She spoke of how she has "saturated" her life with reading the Bible daily, telling her children Bible stories before bedtime, and just in praying and seeking God constantly for helping her make the necessary changes in her life that will benefit the family and honor God. She has changed so much and is such a blessing to me both at the church and in the Moser family. And then my message was short but simple just reminding folks that Jesus still seeks to change everyone's life, not only at Christmas time but all the time. And just as Mary allowed the Holy Spirit to come into her life and heart and make her the new person that she became, God desires to do the same in us yet today. God just blessed us with a great day. And then we got to sit and enjoy a great dinner catered with food from County Cookin' which everyone just loved, so it was a great day indeed. And now we sit on the verge of a new year......I wonder what God has in store??

Blessings Abound!

Here I am trying to remember to write down all the great hings God has been doing at Life Pointe, especially even lately! I know I won't remember all of them but I should at least try to jot down a few. Three weeks ago, Andy spoke and it couldn't have been a better message or a stronger working by God! Not only was I really proud of Andy but was just amazed and blessed by how God moved in the hearts of several people. One person, told me she had to go home and apologize to her brother for something she had said; another said she had lost her 3 year old son about 10 years ago and had been mad at God but that now she had finally let her anger go and realized God is in control and so now she was ready to start living for the Lord again; and yet another person said she just couldn't describe it but just knew there was something different at Life Pointe. When I suggested "do you think it is God?" she said "yes, I think it is!" So God is just so good and amazing! I am glad He gives evidence of His presence....it is just so confirming to the work He has called us to do. And I had my ordination service on the 2oth of November and got my license on the 22nd just 2 days later on Tuesday. About 20 people from Life Pointe come to support me at the service so that was encouraging and afterwards we enjoyed some nice hot soup with the Craig Valley Baptist folks so that was good too. Bill Grindstaff did a good job with the message and again I am humbled by what God has called me to do and who he has called me to do.....be a minister of the Gospel at Life Poine Church! And now here comes Christmas.....

Bessings Continue!

Today is the first Sunday in December, December 4th, 2011, and I'm looking forward to a good month of celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus! Today we started using a "Sunday School" book for our services to help introduce what it would be like to study at home what is covered in church on Sundays at 11:00am in the service. Hopefully we will continue to improve what God has already blessed us so much with. Last week, Andy spoke and God showed up in BIG fashion. Nikki said she was promted to go home and apologize to her brother; Maxine said she just felt like there was something she couldn't quite explain and when I offered, "do you think it's the power of God?" she said "yes, that's it!" And Beth shared something that was very touching said God definitely spoke to her heart as well. So not only did Andy do a great job but God blessed his words and used them in the hearts and lives of several people. God is amazing! And then we had a good dinner out for Ginny and I at the Church planter's Christmas dinner at Coach and Four; and then I finished my day classes at Salem High, so a lot went on last week and God is awesome! today was a good day as well, and I continue to be so blessed to be the pastor at Life Pointe. God is making a family that truly loves and cares for each other and in the fashion that He does for us.