Assumptions

A Christian friend asked me to pray for his ailing family member. I asked if she was a Christian. He wasn't sure. I asked if she had ever heard the gospel message. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Of course she has! She lives in America. There is a church on every corner, church on TV and even on the radio. Of course she has heard the gospel!" How many of us actually believe we don't need to share the gospel with those God brings into our lives because they must have already heard it? After all, we live in America!

Sanctuary Choir Begins

This past Wednesday evening we began the new season of our Sanctuary Choir. This choir sings each Sunday for our Classical service. Beyond that we present a Christmas program at El Camino and Fellowship Square and our Easter program, "The Living Lord's Supper" With many of our regulars returning we also had 3 new members join us for this season. Now is a great time to come and join with us as we minister through music. We meet Wednesday evenings at 7p.m. on the backstage of the Worship Center. I hope to see "you" next Wednesday evening.

Dick Dillender

Spend Time In Peaceful Wonder

The past couple of weeks I have felt like noise has enveloped me. I am constantly around people, dealing with issues, making decisions. I usually have my quiet time with God in the mornings but many times I get distracted by what I have to do that day.

So last night around 8pm I took my Bible, my devotional journal and my new little kitten Milo out on the back patio. It was already quite dark and the stars were out. I spent some time reading from Isaiah and then just looked at the stars...and was quiet. I watched as Milo gnawed at the chair I was sitting in. I prayed for our church for all the events coming up and for our leaders. I sang "God Of Wonders". And that was it. It was simple. It was serene.

In I Kings 19:11-12, Elijah finds out that God wasn't in the wind, in the earthquake or in the fire. He was in the still, small voice...the one that we have to stop our busyness and listen for.

Hoss

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A new book on Bonhoeffer recently came out written by Eric Metaxas. I was asked to read it. The book has startled me by the amazing similarities between the rise of Hitler and the Nazi agenda and the current political condition in the United States as they relate to the Church and God. One great historian said, "The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history." If the USA is not careful, we will find that the church will be facing the same sort of conditions that it faced with the rise of Hitler. Do we follow the government's clear anti-God agenda or do we stand for truth and get slaughtered? The church needs to rise up, pray, and step forward in action. Pray for revival. Without it, I believe we are in deep trouble.

Priorities

Today is my day off. I love days off. It has been a wonderful week, extra busy, but wonderful!

Tomorrow we have our Back 2 School Volunteer Rally. It is going to be a great weekend! Today after I take some missionary friends to the airport, I have a few details to attend to for the training. Then I have the rest of the afternoon and evening free. I can spend it any way I choose. Therein lies the dilemma quietly, gently nagging at my heart.

My husband and I have been praying diligently for our next door neighbors, some family members, and a few specific friends. They do not have a personal relationship with Jesus…yet. We love them dearly and want them to spend eternity with Him. But, how will they know unless someone tells them?(Romans 10:14) We have been praying for them since at least January, and for many of these people, much longer, yet have made no conscious effort to share the life giving gospel with them.

It is so easy to justify our lack of follow through. We are legitimately busy people, serving God in many ways, and still periodically investing in the lives of our growing children and aging parents. Plus, we are thoroughly enjoying this new stage of freedom in our marriage of having grown children. It is so easy to make pleasurable choices with our discretionary time. And that is exactly what we tend to choose.

“Lord, You have placed these people in our lives because You trust us to share Your plan of salvation with them. Please give us Your heart for these precious, perishing people. Burden us with thoughts of what their eternity apart from You will be like. Help us to care more about their eternal destiny than our momentary pleasures. Remove our laziness. Motivate us to take the initiative to get together with them, to enthusiastically invest in their lives in meaningful ways, to purpose to share you directly, clearly, boldly, lovingly…soon. “

New Worship Ministry Season

September for me is the beginning of a new season. The summer events are done and most everyone is back home and settling in for the next nine months. With the start of the new season it always means Choir is back in session. Last season we had a great time of ministry as we shared most Sunday mornings in the Classical service and then at Christmas and Easter. I'm always looking for new people to sing with us and this is your invitation to join us September 1st at 7:00 p.m. on the Backstage of the Worship Center. Choir is a unique group as it allows a variety of people with many different vocal skill levels to come together in singing praise to the Lord and to enjoy great fellowship. I'm looking forward to a wonderful season of singing with the Sanctuary Choir, come join us.

Dick Dillender

Mud Bowl Ministry

Last week we had over 100 kids invovled in our two mud bowls - most of them were ECBC kids and the friends they brought. Why did we get muddy? Well, it's a lot of fun to play in the mud, but more importantly, this event was designed specifically to draw in kids at the start of the school year - both new and old kids - which it did (Praise God)!

The hard work now starts: to get the kids who came to the mud bowls to regularly come to our groups and grow in their walk with God - Please join me in prayer to this end as we continue to reach out into the community around ECBC!