I hope you’ll bear with me as I address a few housekeeping items in this week’s Jym Shorts. Before I do that, however, I do want to encourage you to spend some time this winter/spring in Peter’s first letter. We will be studying 1 Peter for the next several months in our “Living in Exile” series, and it is always beneficial when you read the letter/book we are studying yourself – multiple times – so that you know the flow of the letter and the main points as you hear me or another pastor exposit the text each Sunday. Although I am spending 2016 in the Old Testament during my own devotions, I am making additional time to read through 1 Peter in its entirety once a week (takes approx. twenty minutes) in addition to my sermon preparation time in the letter. I’m already finding it very challenging and helpful.
This January is a five-Sunday month, so we will be gathering together for our 5th Sunday Prayer Emphasis on Sunday the 31st. We will gather together at 6:00 p.m. for a brief time of worship and then a time of corporate prayer. We will also take fifteen minutes to address some family items related to our building project so that you can be updated on the completion of phase one and the (hopefully) beginning of phase two in the Worship Center. I do want to mention here that Ray Theaker has officially completed his tenure with us as our Building Representative on this phase of the project, although we do still see him here helping see the project through to completion. Ray did an exceptional job on behalf of the LifePoint Church family. His work not only kept us informed and involved in the project, but resulted in some significant savings to the church. If you know Ray, take a moment to say “thank you” for his hard work.
On another note, we continue to struggle a bit adequately staffing our nursery department on Sunday mornings with volunteers. We want to ensure not only the safety of our children here in the church family during Sunday worship, but also surround them with caring and loving people who are committed to their welfare. So many of you already volunteer in the nursery on a regular basis, and to you I say a hearty “thank you!” Many of you serve there almost weekly, helping to make up for some of our shortages with volunteers. With the start of our Plan and Promise adult discipleship track, we are concerned that the number of volunteers may decline further. We are pleased that so many are participating in Plan and Promise, and do not want you to put your own growth and equipping on the sideline, but we still need to serve in other areas. If you have children that you drop off in the nursery on a regular basis, you should be volunteering to serve occasionally unless there is an extenuating circumstance. But you do not have to have a child in the nursery to serve there. The reality is that if we could get the majority of people in the church family to serve occasionally in the nursery, we would only need volunteers to serve one service every 2-3 months. I realize that no one can be in two places at the same time; if you are involved in serving in another area on Sunday mornings, that is certainly understandable. If you are a part of Plan and Promise and also attending worship, that too is understandable. However, you might consider signing up to serve during one service every quarter in the nursery and on that particular Sunday, not attend Plan and Promise, or plan to attend the class on Wednesday evening that particular week.
If you have never served in the nursery and would like to start, please call the church office at 881-4010, and we will help you complete a background check so that you can begin. Thank you for your consideration concerning this issue. I’m sure we all agree that our children and the children of our brothers and sisters in Christ are of utmost importance not only to the church family, but to God. Let’s see to it that we are caring for them. And one final ask here: if you do sign up to serve, please do everything in your power to be there at your designated time that Sunday. When you’re sick, you’re sick, everyone gets that. But if you have signed up and are well, please be there. It is difficult enough for our Nursery Coordinator to call for subs each Saturday for those who are ill. It becomes overwhelming at times calling for those who forgot and made plans to be out of town. There are many ways that we can demonstrate love to one another in our church family, and this is one of those ways.
I pray that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with you all this coming week!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym