February 7, 2025, 4:00 PM
Greetings in Christ! I hope and pray all is going well for you and your family!
It's been a good week here at First Christian Church.
This past Wednesday evening (February 5, 2025), was very special to me.
For the first time in my ministry at FCC, I felt as if things were starting to "come together." Let me explain.
Wednesday night was a snapshot of what I have envisioned FCC looking like since becoming your Lead Minister over two years ago.
At 6 pm, we began the evening with a record attendance of 59 people for our mid-week Bible study and Meal.
Between the meal and Bible study, I performed a brief wedding ceremony for a couple who were living together as both are part of a clean/sober living program housed close to the church building.
More than a few such houses owned by multiple clean/sober living programs are in our immediate area around the church building. We've been blessed to see more and more folks from those houses coming and joining us in worship and Bible studies.
Starting at 7 pm, we had just over 50 female college students from the University of Kentucky in a student-led Bible study sponsored by Delight Ministries.
Finally, at 8:30 pm, over 65 people (90% of them college students) gathered in the fellowship hall for another Bible study.
The fraternity next door to the church building, Delta Tau Delta, invited several other Greek organizations on the UK campus to a Bible study hosted at FCC!
I did not lead the Bible study but was asked by Campus Outreach (the sponsoring organization) to help. I led a discussion with a wonderful group of young men from Delta Tau Delta. I am praying that the seeds of a friendship were sown. They honestly seemed interested in starting a weekly Bible study. That would like me involved. I am beyond thrilled! Please keep that a matter of prayer!
This past Wednesday night was a little slice of what I thought God could make the First Christian Church be -- a place where many people from different backgrounds could come and learn more about Jesus.
I saw long-time church members, folks struggling to overcome drug addiction, as well as young people living on a college campus and trying to find out more about who they are.
This is the same vision I shared with the church leadership when I interviewed for the Lead Minister position at First Christian Church in 2022.
I am so thankful that FCC has been such a welcoming church to those who were different from those who normally attended FCC.
Ashley, the lady I performed the marriage ceremony for this week, commented that she has never felt so welcomed at a church as she has at First Christian. Ashley has several tattoos and doesn't look like what some would describe as a typical Sunday "churchgoer." That, however, has not stopped the FCC folks from loving and welcoming her. And that is so important and so Christ-like!
Jesus had the harshest words not for the noted sinners of his day but for the religious establishment - the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Teachers of the Law. Why? They looked good on the outside. They knew a lot about God's word. However, their hearts were not clean. In God's eyes, their inside did not match their outside.
Over the past 30 years, I've encountered many people who are part of the institutional church, but their HEARTS are far from God.
As Samuel told Jesse in 1 Samuel 16:7 about his son David being chosen by God, "Man looks at the outside appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (what's inside a person)."
You and I must be careful and not become like those religious leaders of Jesus' time. How can we avoid that from happening?
We can do that by staying close to Jesus daily and asking the Holy Spirit to convict us when pride and arrogance creep into our lives.
God bless and have a great weekend. I hope and pray to see you on Sunday at FCC!
Our Bible school starts at 9:30 am and our worship service at 10:30 am.
In Him,
Greg H.
