A Day of Thanks and New Beginnings

Wow! What a Church! Sunday was such a good day on so many levels. We had a good attendance, there was a great spirit and we got to celebrate the generous God we serve in our Expansion Project Dedication. Mike and Amy were on vacation and I always miss them when they are not here, but as I said Sunday what a blessing to be a part of a church that has so many talented people who can pick right up and fill in when someone is gone. David Wheeler led worship in place of Mike and Lynn Bowman directed the choir and orchestra in place of Mike and Cheryl Dejonge played for the choir special instead of Lynn. Thanks to all of you for making our Sunday worship so terrific.

The special music was especially good. Dave Brubaker sang the song “Every Need Supplied”. He began his song by reminding us of how God has supplied the needs of New Life over the past 20 years. It was a perfect song and Dave was as good as ever. The second special was the choir, directed by Lynn doing the number, “Good Morning Mercy” with David Wheeler doing the solo. The song reflects the words of Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.”

Following each service we gathered in the completed addition to our Fellowship Center building to thank God for providing such a useful tool for the ministry of New Life. I know 175 people gathered after the first service and I am quite sure that an equal number was present after the second service. We gathered, we read Scripture, and we prayed. Many of the people who attended had not seen any of the addition.

I pointed out how useful the additional space will be as we continue to add Life Groups. I think there are 30 ready to begin the fall season. Not every group will use our building, but many will.

I would love to be able to tell you we will occupy the building debt-free, but we have not received enough gifts to make that a reality. As of right now, our indebtedness is about $700,000.00. It would be great to pay it off and head into 2026 debt-free. It is a large amount of money, but given the size of our church, it is not a staggering amount. If you haven’t contributed to the expansion, perhaps you will consider doing so now that you have seen what a blessing it will be. Maybe you have already contributed, but feel led to give another gift. That is good too. In our 20 years, I have seen New Life, with the help of the Lord, do some amazing things. I haven’t given up on being out of debt by 2026.