Dear North Central Family,
The annual Harvest Festival Banquet is scheduled for Sunday night, November 20, 2022 at 6:00pm in the main auditorium. Please mark this date on your calendar. Dr. Clayton Cloer, president-elect of the Baptist College of Florida will be our speaker. John K. Brown will be our guest musician. He has performed on Broadway, was involved years ago with Walt Disney World in Orlando, and now serves as a Minister of Music at Church at the Cross in Orlando, Florida. John is an accomplished musician and will inspire us as he sings on this evening. We also will welcome John and Mollie Wells to give a guest testimony that night as a part of our banquet. The church will provide the meat, bread, and the tea and our people will bring vegetables, casseroles, salads, and desserts to make the meal very special. Please get signed up in Life Groups, at Info Central, or you can call the office at 352-373-3341 to let us know what you can bring. This annual event is always one of the highlights of our church and Thanksgiving season!
Our Men’s Ministry has been busy! Thank you to brother Justin Thomas, our Life Group Director who has overseen some exciting events. We have had three men’s breakfasts recently, each attended by well over 60 men each time. We are organizing discipleship groups with these men.
This coming Saturday, November 5 is our Black Flag Metal Men’s Event. Men, you don’t want to miss this event! We will feed you a wonderful hamburger lunch, and you will experience four special demonstrations: car maintenance, leather working, welding, and grilling. Bring your sons. Bring your friends. Bring your neighbors. Get signed up and let us know you’re coming. You can email the church at info@gatorchurch.com to let us know how many are coming with you. We need this information for our food prep. Don’t miss this event! Brother Malcolm Privette will be giving a testimony. We’re thankful for Chris Privette hosting us at his new shop. What a treat!
Our Women’s Ministry will be having a special event called A Cozy Christmas Party on December 4 at 6:30pm. Join them for a wonderful night of community and refreshments as we celebrate the Christmas season with all our ladies. A special thank you to Stephanie Patterson and all our Women’s Ministry Committee for planning this for our ladies. It will be very sweet and very special!
Mark your calendars for December 18 for the Smoky Mountain Christmas Concert at 6:00pm. We have people that travel several hours to come to this concert. I’m so grateful for our Privette family and their willingness to sacrifice all that it takes to put this concert together. It will be wonderful!
Please be in prayer for several things that are of utmost importance in the life of our church right now. Even as I write this note to you, our Building Committee is preparing for a meeting with our contractor. Please pray for wisdom as we meet with them to continue the process of building our new entryway and restroom facility. Also, I ask you to pray for several positions that are available at the church right now. We are still in the process of the search for a new Youth Pastor. I’m so grateful for our youth team and all that they are doing to continue to reach teenagers. We haven’t missed a beat! God is moving in the life of our students because of the incredible leadership that we have in place. Also, we’re looking for a Children’s Director to take over in this area. Please be in prayer for each of these positions. In addition, our Financial Assistant, Chris Hunter, has recently had some medical issues. Please be praying for Chris and that these needs in our financial office can be met. We’re praying for a swift recovery for Chris and asking for God’s blessing upon her. What a special lady she is!
As you know we have developed a residency program at North Central. College graduates from the University of Florida who express a unique calling to the Gospel Ministry can come on staff, partner with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and the North American Mission Board along with our church to serve in a residency program. Most of the responsibilities are on the UF and Santa Fe campuses but they also help us in our Collegiate Ministry and our missions ministry here at North Central. In addition, Southwestern Seminary has partnered with us to provide them some seminary credit while they’re in this residency. We know that a call to Ministry is a call to prepare.
Colin Rhodes is one of our residents who is planning to go to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida to begin a campus ministry there. He will model it after what he’s learned here at the University of Florida. We are praying for college students to leverage their education and skills to go to Boca and work in their field of expertise and help Colin and his wife Coral as they minister on that campus. If you have any questions about this opportunity, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We’re praying that God would send a team of 6 to 10 people to go with Colin and Coral as they begin this ministry.
I want to thank our church family for the love you have shown to Kelly and I. It’s hard to put into words what North Central means to us. You have nurtured us in all seasons of our lives and God has allowed us to have a unique partnership through the years. I’m so thankful for our staff and for the diligence with which they carry out their tasks and ministry. We are truly a blessed congregation. Let’s continue to bathe our church in prayer as we seek to make a difference for Christ in Gainesville and around the world.
It is such a joy to be your Pastor. I am thankful for you!
