Our Offering to God s Work

Transcription

1 OCT. 17, 2017 T H E C H U R C H V I S I TO R 20% of those attending church. As a church moves to a greater commitment level, these stats start to change, and it is indicative of the growth and maturing of members. Our Offering to God s Work This past Sunday we began to receive the financial commitments for the 2018 mission and ministry of Richland Hills Christian Church. I am always in awe of how God moves people to give of themselves for the good of others in order to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. Now the question is, Have we, in any way, altered our lives to give more; perhaps chosen to sacrifice in some area to give more for Kingdom work? Believe it or not, God is asking that of us each day: perhaps one less stop at the local Starbucks or wherever we frequent? As a family, perhaps you have chosen to eat out once or more times less per month in order to give to the church? Perhaps just choosing to put God at the top of your budget or giving for the first time would be something you could do. Stewardship is about being faithful with what we have Received from God - which is everything. Our Response is demonstrated in how we choose to invest our Time, Talent, and Treasure. Faithfulness in these areas speaks of what you believe about God and how important He is in your life. Putting it bluntly, the statistic that has held true in churches is that 80% of what a church operates on is given by only There are a couple of things people have shared with me about faithful giving that I find strange and, more importantly, unbiblical. Keep in mind that what and how much we give of our time, talent, and treasure indicates our faith in that area. In one of the churches I served, a member shared with me that he gave time and talent but didn t have enough to share his resources(treasure). A previous minister had shared that with him. I challenged him to find that in the Bible so he could discover the truth for himself. God wants us to trust Him in every area of our lives. At another church, someone had shared with me that they gave at the end of the year when they saw what they had leftover. Most people don t like leftovers - it tells much about how you prioritize. Think about offering leftover time for your spouse and children or at your job, if you want to personalize it. God is always asking for our very best, and when He is the last thought when you talk about resources, it obviously can t be your best. Our faith grows only when we fully trust in God. This year let us do our best to put God first - not second or third or even last. I think each of us would surely experience a transformed life if we said, God, I ll give you my best today and every day! To put it in Biblical language, let us bring first fruits (make it our top priority) and give our unblemished offering (our very best) to God for his Kingdom and work. God is asking us if the eternal soul of someone is more important than that which God has gifted us? What you do with what God has given you tells the answer!

2 CHURCH CALENDAR OCTOBER CWF Night Group Meeting (6:30 pm) Adult Choir (6:30 pm) - Nursery available! Blessed Threaders (10:00 am) Prayer Ministry (8:45 am) Seekers, Pioneers, Discipleship, Coffee House, Youth SS Classes (9:15 am - 10:10 am) Preschool/Kindergarten Music Class (9:15 am) Preschool SS Classes (9:45 am) Morning Worship Service (10:30 am), CWF Executive Board Meeting after worship CWF Visitation Day (9:30 am) Adult Choir (6:30 pm) - Nursery available! FALL FESTIVAL (4:00-7:00 pm) LOOSE CHANGE SUNDAY Prayer Ministry (8:45 am) Seekers, Pioneers, Discipleship, Coffee House, Youth SS Classes (9:15 am - 10:10 am) Preschool/Kindergarten Music Class (9:15 am) Preschool SS Classes (9:45 am) Morning Worship Service (10:30 am), Christian Ed Total Team meeting after worship Adult Choir (6:30 pm) - Nursery available! Blessed Threaders (10:00 am) Prayer Ministry (8:45 am) Seekers, Pioneers, Discipleship, Coffee House, Youth SS Classes (9:15 am - 10:10 am) Preschool/Kindergarten Music Class (9:15 am) Preschool SS Classes (9:45 am) Morning Worship Service (10:30 am) SERVING SCHEDULE Worship Coordinator Patrice Morrison Deacons (Month of October) Brandon Hall, Sandy Rutherford, Norma Hopkins, John Conard Offering Meditation Sandy Rutherford The Table Brian Hall & Mike Morrison Children s Moment Judy Walther Greeters Dan & Ann Runnels Coffee Fellowship Rick & Laura Crain Communion Preparation Patrice Morrison Communion Clean-Up Willard & Florine Tyler Rick & Laura Crain Jim & Connie Phillips Mike & Patrice Morrison Brian & Melissa Hall FAITHFUL ATTENDANCE & GIVING Sunday School - 38 Worship Service - 75 Faithful Giving (10.15) - $ 2,372

3 QUOTES FROM BOOKS: Quote from: Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul It is important to note that the theme of this book is not how to read the Bible but how to study the Bible. There is a great deal of difference between reading and studying. Reading is something we can do in a leisurely way, something that can be done strictly for entertainment in a casual manner. But study suggests labor, serious and diligent work. Here then is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is full and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES October Birthdays Jim Phillips Iris Woodall Evan Lawson Heather Hall October Anniversaries Donald & Rosemary Pentecost Pledge Sunday - Oct. 22 OCTOBER CALENDAR Tuesday, October 17 CWF Night Group - 6:30 pm Hostess - Carol Jean New Study - Norma Hopkins Proverbs 31 Woman - How Not to do it All Proverbs 31:10-31 Sunday, October 22 CWF Executive Board after worship Tuesday, September 24 CWF Visitation Day - 9:30 am Your Stewardship Team mailed a le3er last week which contained a blank pledge card. Please read the stewardship message and keep the card handy. Pray about your <the to the Lord and go to the Bible for guidance. RHCC is depending on your contribu<ons to plan for 2018 and ways we can minister to those in need. Please complete your pledge card at home and bring it back to church. As part of worship THIS Sunday, October 22, we will ask people to bring forward their pledge cards. Our goal is to have at least $200k in actual pledges toward the budget that was approved at board mee?ng on Sunday! Please know that we love and respect each gil and each giver. In <mes like these, we have plenty of God s work to do. Your RHCC Stewardship Team

4 Please let the office know if there is anyone that needs to be taken OFF of or ADDED to this list. We appreciate your help! Please pray for the following: Preble Lehew Arlene Kendall Carol Neill, mother of Carrie Visage Deann Leusing, niece of Carol Sherer & Beth Loosmore Bill Agan Maxine Gandy Mildred Sampson Grace Bennett Alton Adams Don Dodson Kim Nelson, friend of Sarah Frazier Melanie Hatfield Nathan McGee, great grandson of Polly Slama Sarah Wellman Brenda Ledbetter Alvarado s granddaughter, Reagan Christmas Stockings For those who are decorating Christmas Stockings for the Salvation Army Forgotten Angels, we have fur (already cut) available for the cuffs. It will be available in the Gathering Place on Sunday, October 22 & 29, for you to pick up. Remember: Decorated stockings are due back on Sunday, November 12. Congrega?onal Mee?ng Sunday, October 29 There will be a Congrega<onal Mee<ng following worship on Sunday, October 29, to vote on our 2018 Budget AND to vote on our 2018 Elders, Deacons, and Trustees. The 2018 Proposed Budget will be available in the Gathering Area on Sunday, October 29th. If you would like to look at it beforehand, please call Laura in the office. Below are the names of Elders, Deacons and Trustees given by our Nomina<ng Commi3ee: ELDERS: Brian Hall, Ryon McCann, Mike Morrison, Mike Visage, Carol Jean New, Bill Walther, Shelly Cha\n and Brandon Hall DEACONS: Joan Burge3, Sandy Rutherford, Judy Walther, Toby Runnels, Anna Dinkel, Jo Ellen Howard, Rachel Walther, Jamie Hughes, Linda Barne3, and Logan Dinkel TRUSTEES: Dan Runnels, John Howard, Jeff Stricklin Crib Nursery Guardian Angel Grandmas Carol Jean New Carol Louderback TBA Leah McCann Shay Lawson Anna Dinkel Play Room Parent Helper Schedule:

5 COMING SOON: FALL RHCC SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28 Mark your calendars now for Saturday, October 28, as that is the day of our Fall Festival. We will need lots of help this year with the following: Bags of candy Small prizes Volunteers to work games Volunteers to bake cakes for the cake walk Volunteers to provide automobiles decorated for Trunk or Treat Volunteers to man the ticket booth This is your chance to SERVE! Please see Charles Mason for more details and to volunteer. Look for more information in the near future. Planting Seeds On December 10 th at 5pm our choir will be performing the Christmas Cantata at Bethany Christian where Pastor Lisa is serving. I would like as many as possible from our church to consider going over to Dallas to support Bethany as well as our choir that evening. As we draw closer to the date, perhaps we can set up some car pools or even rent a van to get people over there. Something to think about well in advance. Loose Change Offering to be collected on October 29! We will be collecting your loose change on Sunday, October 29. Start saving your change and make sure you bring it with you to church that day. More details in the near future. Bible, Bibles We have mostly exhausted the funds for Bibles, and I am asking, in addition to your regular giving, to share some of your abundance to provide Bibles for those who would ask for one. As I shared on Sunday, we have given around 70 Bibles away (including 3 in Spanish). Literally, we are sharing the Good News of God s Word. Perhaps we can reach 100 by the end of the year. QUOTES FROM BOOKS: Quote from: Killing Kryptonite by John Bevere God loves us far too much not to diagnose what holds us back and could even kill us. He knows what restrains us can t be coached away by a more positive lifestyle. Rather, it has to be confronted and removed. He is a Father deeply committed to our health and well-being.

6 A Little BRITE ness from Linda When I was a librarian and my career goals did not turn out as I had planned, a friend gave me a lovely little book titled You ll Never Walk Alone: God Is With You Always, that has quotations and Scriptures that pertain to grief and loss. Page 17 really spoke to my anger and pain: C.S. Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia, married late in life, and he was not married many years before he lost his wife Joy to cancer. After her death, Lewis kept a journal, which was later published under the title A Grief Observed. In this small volume, the author s honesty his anguish, his anger, his fear, his loneliness, his questions is sometimes unsettling. But the truthfulness of what he admits about his struggle breaks the uncomfortable silence that often surrounds the issues of a grieving heart. And in Lewis openness about his experience, the reader discovers that God does not reject us in our struggle with grief. God is not afraid of what we are thinking and feeling, no matter how terrible it may seem to us. Rather, God chooses to walk with us through it, helping us to heal along the way. Lord God, I have experienced your comforting love for me in so many ways. Cards and phone calls come from friends and family who tell me they are thinking of me and praying for me. You have sent me timely messages in the form of poems, articles, sermons. And just seeing and being in your creation holds a special healing balm for my soul. All these things tell me over and over: You are near! Blessings, Linda Barnette THANK YOU FROM BINION ELEMENTARY World Outreach was able to fund the Weekend Food Program for kids from Binion Elementary School through the Jennie Busch Estate Outreach Fund. The $1,500 that we sent to Smithfield United Methodist Church (who sponsors this program), will feed 25 at risk children on weekends for the months of Nov., Dec., and January. We wanted to share some of the thank you s sent our way for this donation: This is such amazing news! Your generosity will help feed the at risk children of Binion Elementary tremendously. They have a very great need. I am overwhelmed by this. What a blessing and an answered prayer. Laurie Rollins We really appreciate you partnering with Smithfield United Methodist Church to provide this help for our students. Thank you so much! Hilda Hager, Principal of Binion Elementary Thank you so much. This is an extremely generous donation. Thanks for helping with this program! Tammy Brown, Counselor of Binion Elementary

7 WE NEED YOU FOR. When: October 28 th 4-7 What: Fill your trunk with treats for the kiddos at our Fall Festival! Decorations and games are always fun. Who: YOU! Sign up with Brittany Joyner Where: RHCC Parking Lot PRAYER & BIBLE STUDY Thinking back on my first two years here, I remember how so many embraced regular Bible study and joining us for prayer on Sunday morning. This was the wave of God s activity moving in this God s church. I encourage you to once again make these two areas of your faith a priority. Watch how it affects not only your personal life but the life we share together in Christ. Always, always, Seek First the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 6:33) RightNow Media It occurred to us recently that we have not men<oned this great resource the church provides in quite some <me. Chris<an Ed made a decision a few years ago to invest in RightNow Media as resource that can be accessed from any smart device(tv, phone, computer) where you can look at a wide range of material--all Chris<an: Bible studies, cartoons, marital aids, conference presenta<ons, leadership development (great for work also), and the list goes on. Many of you signed up for it originally, but I have no way of knowing who is using it regularly. If you start looking at some of these amazing resources, you will discover just how valuable they can be. One of our members on Sunday shared with Pastor Paul that they had been looking for more resources for Bible study. They logged onto RightNow Media and found some great stuff. Take some <me, check it out, and find the treasure that can be found. Currently, RightNow Media says they have 14,000 Chris<an resources.