A Great Start!

2015 began Thursday morning as many of us gathered for our brunch to break biscuits together.  Steve Hoskins did a good job bringing our first lesson of the new year.  Joel Soumar lead us in a prayer for our year as well as various requests.  A special thanks to everyone who came out and brought food to share, as well as David Paladin (and his crew) for coming early to set up and prepare the main staples.

Some of our youth after a night of camping in Fort Drum

 



Steve Hoskins parting the Red Sea

 



Yesterday was our first Sunday of the year.  Ladell did a great job with our singing, we had a lot of visitors, and we talked about the mission of Christ - serving others and sharing salvation.  Our Lord demonstrated the great love of God for the lost in our world.  We must get outside our walls and take the message.  This week we will look into one more lesson on the topic.

Personally, I enjoyed last night as much as anything.  The focus was on Jesus Christ.  We read some Scriptures about Him, discussed what He means to us, sang about Him, prayed about Him, and took some quiet time to think about Him.  After this we celebrated our January birthdays.  Stephanie and Sasha Chisholm take care of the cake and small gifts for everyone each month.  What an encouragement to others.  We are truly blessed at this church.  Here is our birthday folks (or kinfolk).

Now let's back up to last year, well the last day of 2014.  A group of our folks came out to help our newest members get moved in to their new place.  Neil and Leslie Stoner crammed everything into a moving truck and made the long trip from Tennessee to Vero Beach.  Take it from a preacher, moving is awful, but having people help unload is a blessing.  Despite the holidays we had a good crew come out.  A big thanks to everyone who helped.  Make sure you take the time to welcome the Stoner's.

It was great seeing one of young adults helping out

 



As usual, I am carrying the load of the leadership

 



The crew with the Stoner's.  I love these folks

 



Later that night, I participated in a big New Year's celebration with the Hartman Road Church of Christ.  Many of you know I am an early riser, so I go to bed around 9:30 pm.  This event began at 9:30 pm and I would get home around 1:30 am.  Many asked how I made it.  Well, when you sit with the teenagers, there is no way you can go to sleep!  The singing was fantastic.  They did some other unique things that night, such as, a video presentation of their year, allowing the young people to do skits, sing, or say a few words.  It was an encouraging night.  Here are a few pictures.

The young boys helping with some of the songs

 



Me and the teens. None of these kids were in a church 3 years ago

 



Now let's move ahead.  Regular classes start back up Wednesday night.  Sunday night is the elders annual meeting with the congregation in the auditorium.  We are only two weeks away from our gods at war campaign.  We want everyone to be involved.  The first thing is to commit to being here.  Secondly, we want you to invite others to come with you.  Finally, we want you to join a six week discussion group on Wednesday nights (beginning January 21st).  Let us unify, as a church, in this study.

A great beginning to 2015!  Let us continue with the positives as we move into the week.  Grow stronger in your faith, have a healthy prayer life, worship, let God speak to your through His Word, continue to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in your everyday decisions.  Love God more, love others more, love to serve more!