4 Things

Sunday's column on Thursday...

A Little Bit About The Four Things 

1. Loving God 

No better season exists in the life of the church to love and be loved by God. March 24th is Palm Sunday. Our worship space will be filled with palm branches and children singing as we start Holy Week. Beginning on Maundy Thursday, March 28th and ending on Easter Sunday, March 31st, we will have eight worship opportunities to love and be loved by God. Check out other places in the bulletin for times and locations. 

I am already excited about worship in April. We will be doing a four-week series called The Circle Maker. It will be a time when we will pray circles around our dreams, our families, our challenges, and God’s promises. These four weeks are for those of us wanting a deeper prayer life, those of us wanting to face our fears, and those of us who want to trust more fully in God. We will also have an accompanying four-week small group curriculum.

2. Connecting to Others 

Speaking of small groups, we are in the middle of our winter / spring session of small groups. Between our adults and students, we have almost 40 small groups! I’m grateful to see all the friendships that are being formed and deepened through our small group ministry. God’s vision for humanity is for people to live in community. It’s cool to see God’s vision happening among us.

3. Partnering with Families in Discipling Kids 

Our third graders are concluding their Bible mentoring program. Thirty-two students and mentors started this program in September. They are learning how to use the Bibles they received last fall. The church is grateful to all the mentors who invest time and energy serving these children and their families. April 22nd is Confirmation Sunday. Eighteen eighth graders will be baptized or have their baptism confirmed. These adult mentors are a blessing to the students and their families. 

4. Serving Our Community and World 

Your generosity has been outstanding this year. In two short months you have purchased a van for Release Ministries, given thousands of dollars to The Hope Center, and purchased over 5,000 meals for hungry people in Omaha and throughout the world. Over twenty people from our congregation are preparing to head to Belize in June. We have about $5,000 left to resource our mission team. The participants pay their own way and the rest of the church will help fund medicine, vitamins, eyeglasses, medical supplies, and hope for people in Belize. I can’t wait to hear stories this summer of what God is going to do. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig