WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWHOOOOOOOOOOOO!
What a week! I can honestly say I am glad it is over and happy God saw us through it.
Paul stated in Galatians that we should not grow weary because in due time we will reap if we don't give up.
One of the hardest things to do is keep on stepping when the mountain seems insurmountable and you are not making the progress you thought you should make. I believe Satan loves it when we set expectations without consulting God. Whenever we set a standard or set up a vision of what success is it becomes easy to get frustrated and stressed out when those expectations are not being met. All too easily we convince ourselves that we are trying to achieve all this for God when the goals were actually ours...not His.
This weekend I fell into that trap big time! I have been preaching and preaching we are to not overlook the importance of one life changed...what are we willing to pay or give up to see one life changed?
The self imposed stress and all the business of this week had me skipping my personal time with God and in my dry/self-sustaining condition I began to look around for tangible results from all of our efforts this last weekend. I began to grumble and complain...inviting people was difficult because of our commitment to 2 straight weeks of community services... we didn't sell out at the breakfast.. and after hearing me whine Dr. Jay lowered the boom (in love); "If we made one connection it was worth it." The same line I had been using to encourage everyone else God used to break my misplaced self-confidence, arrogance and pride.
We did make several connections through the weekend activities and maybe more. Our float won first place (thanks to Betty, Sam, and Cheryl's great leadership), the community service was awesome (250 or so) and we had great support and participation from New Church at all our activities.
Now what? Well, community service next week at 10a.m again and we will work on providing some early refreshments as a church, the following week we will have our last service in the library before moving to the gym allowing our kids to use the library, all of this as we prepare to officially open October 5.
We still have some needs that we are waiting on God to provide: we will be needing some sound equipment components (mics, CD player, and recording device), we will be getting some children's material ordered here very shortly, and we are still praying for a copier.
God is amazing! Just a few months ago we decided to follow him in this adventure and He has provided beyond what we expected. That only tells me I need to expect more from God and I need to stop thinking small and only looking at what human effort can do.
Prayer:
Contacts....we have made several through the fall festival activities and with our services being combined for a couple of weeks pray that God keeps it on people's hearts and minds to come by for a visit.
Launch....the rest of our needs (as well as some of our wants) are met.
Leadership....honestly, Dee and I have been struggling the past few weeks and we are looking for a break....strike that...we are trying to schedule a break.
Leadership.....God would make it clear those who we need to invest in and prepare to lead new church.
Disconnected souls....those who have strayed from God, been hurt, or never accepted Christ as Savior.
Heart....a soft heart that can be easily touched by God and one that give our eyes clarity to see people as God sees them.
Finances....for outreach, salary,rent and office needs.
Where do we go from here?
We tackle the next project God has set before us and look and listen for the next assignment.
"Give us today our bread for today..." That is scary faith!
Have a blessed Day!Scott Wolff
(A real-fallible person serving a real-infallible, awesome, and gracious God!)
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