Dear Church Family,
We are looking forward to our Easter celebration on April 17th. We are going to have a special biscuit breakfast in each Life Group beginning at 9:30am on Easter Sunday. In recent years we have had an emphasis entitled, “It’s Easter! Pass the biscuits.” I love the story of the grace of God that is afforded to us because of what Jesus did on Easter. His glorious resurrection has changed our life forever.
I want to encourage you to start inviting people to come with you on Easter Sunday morning for Life Group and worship. There will be many who will be open to your invitation. We will celebrate the risen Savior in a wonderful way on that day. The music will be fantastic, and I’m praying to bring a powerful message of the grace of God. Our Life Groups will have a wonderful lesson on that day as well and can celebrate together. We will also have a photo booth that will be available that morning before and after the service for families to take a special picture on Easter Sunday. It’s going to be fun! It’s Easter! Pass the biscuits!
Following Easter there will be four special Sundays where you can invite your friends to be back with you to participate in some special events. We call these our C4 Events: Connecting our Community to Christ and His Church.
On April 24th we will have our One Week Later service. This is a service of testimonies, responsive readings, scripture readings, special music, and the presentation of the Gospel along with the Lord’s Supper. It is our hope and prayer that in this service we will answer the question, “Now that we know Christ has risen, how should we then live?”
May 1st is Orange Bucket Sunday! On Easter we will hand out 100 orange buckets to our families for them to fill to bring back non-perishable food and dry goods for the Food4Kids program here in Alachua County. This excellent program collects food for needy children in our public school system. We have been a part of this for a number of years. Now more than ever these foods will be used to help families in our own area. What a special way to make a difference.
May 8th is Mother’s Day. What a glorious day this always is as we celebrate the impact of our Moms. You don’t want to miss it.
May 15th is a special day that we call Love Loud. In the afternoon on Sunday May 15th our folks will gather in different parts of our area to minister to others. In the morning we will gather as the church. In the afternoon we will gather to be the church in the community. We want to “love loud” our community in a special way. In the days ahead we will announce the details of all the opportunities for ministry so be on the lookout for a place to sign up to get involved.
On April 10th Matt and Jess Seitz from our Central Asia Partnership will be stateside and in our service. They will be sharing about the way God is using the Central Asia Partnership to make a difference in that part of the world for Christ.
What a joy it is to be your Pastor. I look forward to this special month of worship and ministry together.
Love in Jesus,
