Hey all,

Thanks to our American Baptist Women for their worship service yesterday morning.  The highlighting of their mission and ministry was great as was Rev. Jane’s message.  Be strong and be courageous!  Why? Because, if you are a follower of Christ, no matter where you are going or what you are going through, we have this promise…I will be with you.  You may need to intentionally look for the evidence of his presence but it will be there. We love Jeremiah 29 where God promises us only good in terms of our future and hope but he also says we will find his goodness when we seek him wholeheartedly.  Seek after him wholeheartedly.

I want to thank those who ventured out to Lawrence Elementary School for the Fall Fest last Thursday.  They reported a good time was had by all, good connections were made and lots of candy and faith-based trinkets were handed out to the kids.  They also passed out Awana/Youth info as well as our church brochure.  Putting faces to the Meridian Avenue name is always good when we are striving to be a neighborhood church.  I will be working with the administration and the organization known as Love Schools to find more opportunities for us to connect with the families with kids at LES.

I was listening to the WAY FM, radio station 90.7 in the Wichita area, and they said the most horrifying thing.  They said Christmas was only about 10 weeks away!  Unbelievable!  I am still looking forward to Halloween and Thanksgiving.  However, now is the time to start thinking about how we can reach out to our community for the Advent season and to share with them the good news of the birth of the Savior.  I want you to know that there are two seasons in the year when most non-church attenders are willing to go to church.  Those two seasons are Christmas and Easter.  I think the last number I saw was that about 80% of people will be happy to attend church if they get a PERSONAL INVITATION to go.  Make a list of those around you who don’t regularly attend church and pray about how you might encourage them to join you.  Pray regularly for the courage to ask and for them to give you a “Yes, I will.”

We have one more message in our “Shaken” series to finish it up and then we will return to the Book of ACTSion for a few weeks.  I am still trying to sort out Advent as to whether it will be three or four messages but if it is four we will most likely start the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Have a great week you all.  There is a chance of rain this afternoon and evening so be praying for that!

Pastor Rick