January 5, 2024, 2:00 PM
Greetings in Christ Jesus!
I hope and pray that everyone has had a great start to the New Year!
Here are a few updates:
First off, Our Worship Leader Billy Holland has accepted the position of leading the traditional worship service at Jessamine Christian Church in Nicholasville, KY. Jessamine Christian is a dynamic church about 5 minutes from his house. It is a great opportunity.
Billy enjoyed being at FCC and was torn about what to do. I know that he even considered trying to do both positions for a time. He could finish doing the traditional service and be at FCC by around 10 am on Sunday mornings.
However, after much thought and prayer, he has decided to take the position at Jessamine and end his ministry here at FCC.
I support Billy in his decision and believe it is best to not try and do both (even for a short time).
This coming Sunday, January 07, 2024, will be Billy's last Sunday with us at FCC.
Billy has been a great asset to us at First Christian. He has helped us tremendously in making our worship much more participatory and not just a planned performance by a few. Under Billy's watch, we've made great strives to have a blended worship service with both contemporary/newer songs and traditional hymns every week. He will be greatly missed.
We are developing a short-term plan that will give us time to pray, think, and plan for the longer term.
Second, this coming Sunday (January 07) will be the time that we install our leadership for the upcoming year.
In any organization, or any group of people who are trying to accomplish some sort of goal, leadership matters. If you and I were to closely examine any situation - a Company, an Organization, a Sports Team, a Family, or a Nation - things are either improving or they are getting worse and most of the time the reason for that goes back to leadership. It is no different when it comes to the Lord’s Church.
The men serving as Elders in 2024 are as follows: Arthur Abshire, Bob Clark, Brian Cobb, Joe Esenbock, Mike Meadows, and Steve Smith.
The men serving as Deacons in 2024 are as follows: Jeff Elam, Rob Elam, Rafaelito Fraden, Joey Milburn, and Philip Reed.
Please pray for these men and their families.
Finally, I will be starting a new sermon series called "First Things First" this coming Sunday, January 07.
I will be bringing some messages from the little Old Testament book of Haggai.
That may sound like a shocker. Why use a minor prophet like Haggai to kick off a New Year?
I believe there are strong parallels to today. Under the New Covenant, we, the church, are God’s people of today. And, like the Jewish people of the Old Testament, we are to be obedient and continue with the work to be done.
During Haggai's time, in the Sixth Century BC, many of the Jewish people had come home from being in exile in Babylon.
The people were excited about coming back home and re-establishing the temple to worship God. However, things came up that seemed to kill their enthusiasm and halt their progress.
The focus of Haggai's prophecy was reminding the Jewish people to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem as God had commanded them.
We, the church, need to be reminded of this today.
Are there challenges? Yes, of course.
However, we must be careful that we do not start focusing more on our flimsy excuses and the problems presented by the enemy rather than the provisions of the Lord.
As we go into a New Year with many obstacles and challenges, let us all ask ourselves an important question: Are we working on building God’s kingdom, or is our top priority to build our own personal kingdoms?
I hope and pray you will join us Sunday - Bible School at 9:30 am and Worship at 10:30 am.
God Bless,
Greg H
