You will receive this morning a roster of those who qualify to serve as deacons for our church according to the guidelines outlined in the Constitution and By-Laws. A deacon is someone who serves the fellowship and ministry of our church in keeping with the Biblical principles given to us in God’s word:
 
“Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.” (I Timothy 3:8-10)
 
The ministry of serving as a deacon is certainly subject to a high biblical standard. It is the spiritual duty of every church member to pray for those who have been nominated. Each person on the list is precious to the life and work of our church. Each one represents the spirit of love and service that we desire and expect of those we choose. You will next Sunday morning, August 30th, during the worship service, be asked to select two names to serve three-year terms with a third choice to serve an unexpired two-year term. You will be choosing three names in all from the list to serve.
 
Ask God to lead you to select those whom you believe will be faithful in honoring this call to service. We praise God for the ones that the Holy Spirit will lead our congregation to appoint. We pledge ourselves to pray for and serve alongside those who are chosen by our church family.
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You will also be given today an outline of the restated plan for completing the renovations of our upper and lower buildings. The original plan of hiring a general contractor and sub-contractors to complete the work has turned out to be cost prohibitive and beyond our means. Our church would have to incur significant debt that would significantly burden our church budget and hinder our ongoing ministries. The Renovation Dream Team has reconsidered our planning and has developed a new plan by which our church will do the work through volunteer labor much like we did to complete the upper facility. The Team is unanimous in its presentation of the new plan to the church congregation. The Team will present this revised plan to the church on Sunday morning, August 30th for approval.
 
The church family will have opportunity at that time to ask questions for clarification and to thoroughly discuss it before being called to vote. Please study the plan and pray for God’s leadership as we consider its merits. We know that God has led us to this place where we now worship and serve. We have seen God bless and grow our fellowship despite the difficulties we have faced in the present pandemic which has delayed the completion of the lower building renovations. Our church has not had one Sunday since we have moved to this location where we have not received significant contributions to apply to our Relocation and Renovation Fund. We now have on hand $170,000 to apply toward this new plan. God truly is working. We are ready to join Him in completing what was started when moved us to this place.

When John the Baptist first saw Jesus approaching, he immediately recognized who he was. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John knew who Jesus was. John saw in Jesus, God’s plan of salvation wearing a robe and sandals walking toward Him like an old friend that he was eager to welcome and embrace.
 
Does Jesus seem distant to you?
Are you eager to welcome Jesus and embrace His goodness into your life?
 
Sometimes when people think about Jesus that think He is old fashioned and removed from their current situation. To them Jesus is past tense, somebody their grandparents used to talk about. 
 
Still other people think that Jesus is somewhere else. He’s up there, or out there, or anywhere but in here. I recently heard somebody say, “I believe in Jesus, but I still sin, get confused, discouraged and heart broken. I thought when you believed in Jesus things were supposed to get better.” That person speaks for a lot of people who believe that Jesus is AWOL. He is absentee when it comes to things that really matter.
 
Listen to what the popular Christian singing “Casting Crowns” group says about Jesus, “People aren’t confused by the Gospel. They’re confused by us. Jesus is the only way to God, but we are not the only way to Jesus. The world does not need my tie, my hoodie, my denomination or my interpretation of the Bible. They just need Jesus. We can be passionate about what we believe, but we can’t strap ourselves to the gospel, because we are slowing it down. Jesus is going to save the world, but maybe the best thing we can do is just get out of the way.”
 
I agree that people are confused about who Jesus is and what He is all about. I agree that sometimes we miss the mark and slow the gospel down to a snail’s pace. But, to detach and disengage and “get out of the way” is just contrary to what I believe about Jesus.
 
Jesus was anything but detached, He “…became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14)
 
Jesus used His robe to teach a lesson about God’s love when the father told his servants to put the family robe on the prodigal son. (Luke 15:22)
 
He walked everywhere he went in his sandals and great multitudes followed Him. (Matthew 4:25)
 
He identified Himself as a Jew and taught the scriptures in the Synagogues. (Luke 4:16)
 
Jesus was well known for His interpretation and teaching of the scripture. (Matthew 7:29)
 
Jesus, in fact, commanded that His people do anything but withdraw to get out of the way, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves…But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.” (Matthew 10:16,19)
 
Casting Crowns sell millions of recordings and produce great contemporary Christian music. I love what they do, but when it comes to “…getting out of the way,” no thank you. Jesus got in the way so that I might get in the way too.

 
GET IN THE WAY!

BE THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT!

THROW A MONKEY WRENCH IN THE SOUP!

​When you do that, you are doing the gospel the Jesus way. Like John the Baptist, others will see Jesus in you.

 
Our active deacon body met this past Sunday afternoon to pray and plan for the ongoing ministry of our church. A report was received by Rose Joseph concerning her ministry to Haiti. It was no surprise to learn that her trip had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. All of the ministry boxes filled by donations from our church family have been shipped and are currently meeting the needs of people there. Rose is not sure when it will be safe to plan another visit to her home country, but she will inform our church when plans to return are underway. The deacons received her report with thanksgiving for her missionary heart and prayed for her and her ministry as future plans develop.
 
Our deacons gave individual reports in reference to their contacts with church families. The Deacon Family Ministry is averaging over 100 contacts per week either by phone conversations, emails or personal encounters. We praise God during these days of sheltering at home, social distancing, face-coverings and interruptions in our convenience and routines that our deacon body continues to reach out keeping our fellowship together. THANK YOU, DEACONS!
 
It was reported that our on-campus police officer each week is now taking initiative to contact the church to let us know who will be on site each week. Instead of us calling the officer, the officer responsible for our church now fills the schedule and lets us know who will be serving. The process is moving forward in a stable and normal fashion. We are grateful for the service these uniformed officers provide securing our facilities and managing the traffic flow each Sunday.
 
The deacons discussed methods whereby our church may begin to introduce the collection of offerings each week back into the flow of our worship service. It was agreed that having the offering plates in the atrium where folks can drop their tithes and offerings each week leaves something missing from our worship service. The deacons agreed to work with ushers to bring the offering plates back into the worship center after the Praise Team completes its singing and before Pastor Mike preaches. The plates will be placed on the communion table with a prayer of thanksgiving offered for the faithfulness of our people and the blessings God has provided.
 
God is truly blessing our church financially through the faithful giving of our people. As of last Sunday, our 2020 Church Budget needs was $99,877.20. To date, tithes and offerings received amounted to $100,202.63. We are now ahead of our budget needs by $325.43. PRAISE GOD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS!
 
Deacon Body Actions Approved:
1. Research and Plan to Administer Individual Lord’s Supper Packets on August 30th.
2. Approved items for inclusion in the 50 new Promise Outreach Packs up to $2,000.
3. Begin planning for potential Grace 70th Anniversary Celebration on October 25th, 2020.
4. Approved Children’s Ministry Restart Schedule
        a)Pastor’s Children’s Sermon – August 16th,
        b)Resume Children’s Church – October 4th
        c)Family Spook Night for Children – October 30th
5. These plans are tentative based on conditions related to the coronavirus. 

We are thankful that God continues His blessings upon the ministry of our church. We praise Him for every leader and faithful member who through patience and faithful commitment keeps our church moving forward. Imagine the disciples who were in the boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee when the storm was raging and threatening to take them all down. The Bible says that Jesus was in the stern of the boat when He spoke to the wind, “Hush, be still.  And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm” (Mark 4:39). It is easy to see that Jesus is with us saying, “Hush!” to the winds of this pandemic. With Him close by, we will make it through this present storm.