Hello Folks,
If you were not here this past Sunday p.m. you should have been. The church family met in the Family Life Center and had a wonderful Christmas dinner with each other. We had about 10 new folks who have started attending our congregation in the past year with us and over 200 of the rest of you. Those individuals who worked so hard to make it so successful deserve our thanks. David Dotson and his ministry team worked hard to set up, clean up, serve and do all the other things that had to be done. All of you who cooked and brought food did a wonderful job as well. Something that I noticed was the fact that many of you did all you could to get to know the newer folks to our congregation. Inspite of the cold and the snow we had a good turn out and for that I am very thankful.
Ruth and I will be going to visit our children and grandchildren in Indiana and Illinois next week and will miss being with you over next Sunday. I am thankful that you allow me the privilege of taking my vacation at this time of year so I can spend this holiday with my family. We look forward to being with them and watching them as they open gifts and enjoy the company of the entire family. I pray that you have the same opportunity this year. May you enjoy the company of those you love so dearly and may God make this Christmas season be filled with His grace in your life.
As we move toward the new year I ask you to pray that I will be able to give the leadership that is needed for our congregation. One of the great desires I have is to fulfill the will of God in my life individually and to be able to provide the direction that He wants for this congregation. I need you to pray for me so that I can hear the voice of God where this matter in particular is concerned. We must reach souls for Jesus Christ and we must develop people so they can be reproducing disciples in the Kingdom of God. The pastoral and adminstrative staff is working hard in an effort to figure out how we can best do that. The Stewards want to do the things that are needed for us to fulfill the call of God in all of our lives. We need your prayers.
May He Bless you all,
Pastor H. G. Rudd
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Hello Folks,
This past week-end was very cold with some snow and our attendance showed it. Anytime East Tennessee gets just a little snow people will stay home and I have come to realize that. After having lived in Illinois for 21 years and being raised in Ohio I have been used to snow but folks around here just are not! Besides that some of the side roads around here are pretty narrow and have a lot of curves so that adds to the danger. We pastors hate to see a snowy week-end.
Sunday p.m. we had our True Love Waits ceremony where our youth who have completed about a 3 month series of training pledge themselves to sexual purity. We had about 15 youth who had never been through it and they committed themselves to being what God woud have them to be in their lives. They pledged in front of the congregation to wait until marriage to engage in sex. We always have a lot of visitors for that service and last Sunday p.m. was no exception. Anita Miller, our youth pastor, always does an excellent job in teaching the youth and in making that worship time special. Thanks to Anita for all her good work along with all of the other youth workers and counselors. What they do is of the utmost importance in the lives of those young people.
As part of the True Love Wait sermon we honored about 8 couples who were in attendance and who had been married over 50 years. We placed their wedding photo's on the screen and had them stand to be honored. I also read some of the information that we had about their lives. It was very insightful for me to look at those individuals and see how they have given their lives to each other and to the Lord through those years. God is really good and allowing us to have those kinds of role models is absolutely amazing.
May He Bless you today,
Pastor H. G. Rudd
This past week-end was very cold with some snow and our attendance showed it. Anytime East Tennessee gets just a little snow people will stay home and I have come to realize that. After having lived in Illinois for 21 years and being raised in Ohio I have been used to snow but folks around here just are not! Besides that some of the side roads around here are pretty narrow and have a lot of curves so that adds to the danger. We pastors hate to see a snowy week-end.
Sunday p.m. we had our True Love Waits ceremony where our youth who have completed about a 3 month series of training pledge themselves to sexual purity. We had about 15 youth who had never been through it and they committed themselves to being what God woud have them to be in their lives. They pledged in front of the congregation to wait until marriage to engage in sex. We always have a lot of visitors for that service and last Sunday p.m. was no exception. Anita Miller, our youth pastor, always does an excellent job in teaching the youth and in making that worship time special. Thanks to Anita for all her good work along with all of the other youth workers and counselors. What they do is of the utmost importance in the lives of those young people.
As part of the True Love Wait sermon we honored about 8 couples who were in attendance and who had been married over 50 years. We placed their wedding photo's on the screen and had them stand to be honored. I also read some of the information that we had about their lives. It was very insightful for me to look at those individuals and see how they have given their lives to each other and to the Lord through those years. God is really good and allowing us to have those kinds of role models is absolutely amazing.
May He Bless you today,
Pastor H. G. Rudd
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