2016 Urban Hope Work Weekend

Here are some updates from our 2016 Urban Hope Work Weekend in Philadelphia.

Picture above is from a year ago when the building had been gutted and we began laying out and framing the rooms.

This is a picture of what it looks like now. This is from the first floor where a meeting room and kitchen are located. Bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs.

Here is a picture of the outside of the Balmer building in which we stayed which is where the construction from last year took place.

This is the beginning of one of our projects this year. Follow This Link for more pictures of this year's projects. Two bathrooms were also tiled, but I don't have pictures of that. Thanks to the men who went and served those who serve.

Date Night

Had a great time at "Date Night" on Friday, February 12. Thanks for those who invested the time to make it happen - planning, decorating, child care, etc. It was a fun time, even with the snow. Thanks to Victor Cebotari for the music - "The One Man Band".

Apologies for no pics of the food and fellowship.

Welcome Chip & Peggy Jones to Membership

This is from the Powerpoint slide shown at church. Click on the picture to expand.

How To Make Your Life Count ~ Sermon Notes from Sunday - 11/29/2015

I have been reflecting on Sunday's message - "How to Make Your Life Count" from Psalm 90. We first looked at the Three Foundational truths which we need to consider, and then Four Specific prayer requests.

I. Three Foundational Truths - vv 1-11
* We need to know who God is (His character Person) -- vv 1-2
* We Need to Know the Brevity of Life - vv 3-6
* We Need to Understand the Difficulty of Life - vv 7-11

II. Resulting Prayer to Make Our Days Count - vv 12-17
* Prayer to Gain a Heart for Wisdom - v 12
* Four things for which to Pray Daily - vv 13-17
   - Prayer for Satisfaction in God - vv 13-14
   - Prayer that God would make us Glad in the Morning - v 15
   - Prayer that we would see God work through us - daily - v 16
   - Prayer that we might leave a legacy for God - v 17

I encourage each of us to add those four specific areas to our daily prayer time.

That's the Cliff Notes version. If you want to listen to the message itself, fleshed out, here is the link: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121151016223

Sunday Evening Christmas Kick-Off

Wanted to thank the Praise Team for putting together a great Christmas Kick-off on Sunday evening. Music was really enjoyable. The children had a great time using the different rhythm instruments to "accompany" the Praise Team. The refreshments and fellowship were enjoyed as well.

2015 Fall Church Picnic

A great time at the Fall Church picnic. Thanks for all who made it happen. Lots of good food & fellowship and then games outside. Final group packed up about 4:30 pm.

Click Here for more pics and some short videos of Hantis and other activities. Sorry for no pictures of the good food!

Brighten the Night 2015

Here’s a summary of the night's events for those who were or weren’t able to be there.

1.       We gave out 350 gift bags, which only went to children

2.       We gave out around 500 hot dogs (we ran out with a line of people still waiting)(you’ll have to ask Brandon & Willie about the battle of the grills)

3.       We gave out I can’t even count how many hundreds of bags of popcorn

4.       The line for the cotton candy was the longest line most of the night

5.       We served gallons of hot chocolate

6.       We had roughly 500-600 people stop by

7.       One group came from as far away as Greencastle

8.       Five ladies kept very busy most of the night doing face painting

9.       We had about 40 of you helping which freed up the teens as well as me to spend the entire evening just being friendly and having conversations with community people

10.   There were several conversations about spiritual things

11.   The bounce house was busy all night with no break in kids wanting to jump around

12.   The Praise Team had at times 50 or more people inside listening to them worship & praise the Lord in song

13.   There were several who indicated an interest in attending a service

14.   We as a church received countless “Thank You” comments from the people, some who said they come every year because we do such a great job

15.   Plenty of you stayed around to clean up, so that went very quickly

(Click Here for a link to more pics)