Hello church,
I pray you are all doing well and enjoying the spring as it blossoms with new life and hope! The River Kidz gathered for fellowship and an Easter Party on March, 29th. Then Sunday morning we had a wonderful Easter Service as we worshiped the Lord and celebrated this new life He has given us. We have seen many new faces and people are coming into our fellowship. Thank you so much for welcoming our visitors and making them feel at home!
God has been doing some wonderful healing and transformation as we have had many people sign up for Sozo sessions where they have been able to hear God speak to them. This has given many a new outlook on their relationship with God. If you would like to schedule a time please call the office!
Join our eGroups which is providing spiritual growth and fellowship for all who invest the time. Most groups will end in May, so get involved before the summer.
Love you all and would love to hear testimonies from you in how God is working in your lives!
Please know Mel and I are here for you if you would like to visit!
God bless and keep flowing with Jesus!!!
Ps. Ellis Newman
Devotional
How Many Choices?
Lately God has been showing me how people can make just one choice and it changes the direction of not only their life, but the lives of the people around them.
Thinking about choices, I was curious to see how many choices we make a day, so I looked it up. To tell you I was shocked when discovering the answer is a bit of an understatement. I was thinking about 500 choices a day would probably be right, but experts say an average person makes around 35,000 (thirty-five thousand) choices/decisions everyday. Really? Some of the things listed were…
What to wear, what to eat, what we will accomplish during the day, who to call, who to text, reply to a call or text, what to read, what to watch on tv, play a video game, what moves to make in said video game. In fact one article said we make over 250 choices everyday on what food we eat, what order we eat it in, what size bites we take, how much seasoning we use, etc… Talk about a lot of choices!
It makes me wonder, out of the 35,000 choices that we make, how many we ask the Lord about? So many of our choices don’t affect just us, but others for the bad and the good.
Bad… When someone’s child is killed by a drunk driver. The child didn’t choose to die, the driver chose to drive drunk and instantly changed the lives of so many others. Not for the better, but for the worse.
Good… There are also good choice examples. Such as when a person/persons decide to donate money to form a scholarship for higher learning. The scholarship then is given to a selected individual and then that individual is able to achieve things they otherwise would not have had the opportunity. My husband is one of those individuals. He received a full paid scholarship for seminary and now he is our Pastor. Our congregation is being affected today because a choice was made by a benefactor to setup that scholarship. Isn’t that awesome!
The Word has lots to say about “choice” and here are just a few examples:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Who are those who fear the LORD ? He will show them the path they should choose. (Psalms 25:12)
But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Are we willing to ask Him to help us with our 35,000 choices we make everyday? I pray that we think more carefully about these choices we make in life.
If we are asking God to lead and guide us in our daily choices, He can lead us to impact the world with His Son.
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,”… “(Joshua 24:15)
Pastor Mel
Epicenter Youth
The past few weeks the youth have encountered the Lord in such beautiful ways. Recently we have been focusing on how to hear from Holy Spirit and understanding God is always with us, therefore we can trust that He will help us in all of our situations. Another way the youth have been connecting to God is through worship. We have been breaking down worship song lyrics and connecting it with scripture to give a full picture of just how good God is, so they can know the importance of worshiping Him. The youth prayer each week is that they will bring others to the kingdom and can be able to share the gospel to others.
We have youth fellowship each Wednesday at 6:00 PM and are looking forward to their “Youth Summer Camp” on July 25-27th. This will be a great time for our youth to experience the Lord.
River Campus Ministry
The River Campus Ministry has been very active this semester. Every Tuesday we meet for our eGroup. We are currently in a study by Jennie Allen called “Get Out of Your Head.” It is teaching us how to escape toxic thought patterns and how God has equipped us to fight the war within our minds. We also have monthly outreaches on campus where we offer “Dog Therapy” (students snuggle with our dogs) and prayer. Our other outreaches include hosting the Cane River Children and volunteering with Sidewalk Sunday School at JW Thomas. Additionally, every Thursday we have fun events including game nights, movie nights, scavenger hunts, karaoke nights and of course worship night. Many of the young adults in the ministry have also been receiving inner healing and learning to walk in the freedom God has given us.
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