Hello Folks,
     This past week-end was one of great joy in the life of our congregation.  It was Faith Promise Sunday and our speaker was Bill Konstontoupolous (?) or as I have known him for years Bill K.  God used him to lead our congregation to a great victory.  Over the past year and especially since June Kim Trantham, our Steward of Worship and her team, have done everything possible to inform the congregation about the projects that we are going to invest in throughout the world.  From Haiti to Equador to Turkey this congregation will send offerings to help in the ministries that take place in those countries and many other countries as well.  The goal was $30,000 and the total promised was $44,000.  Praise be to God that, along with out tithe will mean that lives will changed, congregations started, children fed and educated, homes built and numerous others will be introduced to Christ.  As the pastor of this congregation I give thanks to God for your faith!
      I have been reading  a book by Dennis Kinlaw and John N. Oswalt called Lectures In Old Testament Theology that has been extremely rich even though I have only read about 20 pages so far.  It is not the normal dry book written by theologians who have little experience out side of academia but it is written by someone who appears to have a sense of the need of people!  So in its pages one of the matters that is presented is that of what the term knowing in the bible means.  They clearly state that the meaning of the biblical term knowing is not "knowing about" but "knowing of."  It is the idea of having relationship with someone and even, as they say, communion.  I would encourage anyone to read this book.  the first chapter is worth the cost of it and I look forward to the rest of it as well.

May He bless you all.

H. G. Rudd