Yesterday was a wonderful day filled with some great wins for Sunset Chapel. Here are a few of the highlight's...
*Gathered for pre-service prayer in my office prior to the start of the service with everyone on the music team as well as our church ministry leaders! You could sense the difference that having bathed the service in prayer and going through the order of service made!
*We started our service "ON TIME"!! That is no small miracle!
*During worship we took the opportunity to pray with those who were hurting and burdened. God showed in a BIG TIME way in several hearts! There were some sincere tears flowing around the altar!
*I am extremely grateful to "Yvonne" who stepped out and joined our KID"S INC ministry and provided a much needed boost to our volunteer team! Two of our team members will be stepping away shortly from this key ministry here at Sunset Chapel for a break as they anticipate the new additions arriving in their families! Our nursery is about to welcome a total of five new babies! That's awesome!!
* Our missionaries to Spain Guillermo and Elena Monzon hit a homerun as they connected to our SC crowd with their presentation concerning the opportunities that God is creating and how we as a local church can partner with them in prayer and financial support as "Global Christians"!!
*Had a blast hanging out at our house with all our UM, FIU, and Miami-Dade college students after the service! Good times were had by all!! Shared about an upcoming Single Adult Retreat coming up in Gatlinburg, TN during the first part of January! More details will be coming soon!! Will post a few comments and pics from this gathering later today!!
*I thought the final message in our "Joyful Giving" series went well. I am encouraged by the numerous comments I've received concerning this topic and I am ecstatic over the tremendous jump in giving we've observed take place throughout the entire month of October!
*Stay posted there will be lot's of outstanding ways for you to get connected to what's happening here at Sunset Chapel throughout the coming month of November!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tailgate Sunday!
I had intended on posting some of the pictures from our recent Tailgate Sunday (Oct 23) sooner! It was a great time of fellowship and fun after the morning service!! It took me three days to recover from the soreness and pain of playing flag football! We've already heard numerous comments about everyone wanting to get together more often and enjoying more activities like this!! Enjoy the pics!!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Sunday Splash!
We launched a new message series today entitled "Joyful Giving". It's been over two years since we last addressed the subject of stewardship at Sunset Chapel. Every consistent Bible reader knows that the scriptures have quite a bit to say on the subject of giving. As we glean from this message series the principles of giving and put them into action. It is my firm belief that your life will be forever changed! Following the teaching I really appreciated all the positive comments I received from individuals after the service. As we are all faithful to be open handed towards God's work. He will continue to pour into our lives numerous and great blessings!
There are two ways to make contributions to God's work at Sunset Chapel:
1. Each week you can place your tithe and offering envelope in the offering bag as it is passed down your row of seats!
2. You can go to sunsetchapel.com and follow the instructions to set up a one time or regular weekly or monthly online disbursement!
Believing that God has called me to trust Him more in my own life including the critical area of finances, my wife and I have made the choice to give up our regular salary for the next two weeks and trust that God will provide for our needs. Forgoing our regular salary will help the church with it's current financial needs. Stepping out into faith I've asked the board to receive an extra offering at the end of each service for the next two weeks and we will use whatever the amount that people contribute in this offering to meet our family obligations. We've been up front with everyone that the summer months have placed a real burden on the church budget, so we have decided after much prayer to live out Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty,"and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." We are returning our entire regular salary to the church and we are trusting that God will do an incredible and surprising work of provision in our lives. I hope you will all stand with us in faith as we trust him to supply our needs.
Today we kicked off our month long new members class and it's always exciting to me to see people take the next steps towards their personal involvement and spiritual growth. Growth in membership indicates the willingness of others to have a stake in the effectiveness, growth and vitality of a local church. It also affords me the opportunity to develop relationships with the many new people who have started to make Sunset Chapel their home church! God continues to lay the ground work for our future success in ministry!
Also this past Saturday I had the privilege of investing in the lives of three couples whose weddings I will be conducting in the next few months. Together we initiated 5-6 weeks of premarital counseling sessions that will help prepare them for their future as married couples. I am incredibly thrilled that they are making every effort to insure that their upcoming marriages are filled with lots of meaningful moments as they navigate through life together! I highly recommend every couple that is considering marriage to get premarital counseling to help prepare for their marriage! Topics such as communication, problem-solving, finances/budgeting, intimacy, spiritual priorities, etc are critical to the wholesome development of a great marriage!
During the morning service I announced two upcoming activities!
Our Second Annual "Thrill of the Grill-Tailgate Sunday" will be held on Sunday October 23! Immediately after our morning service everyone is invited to stick around and break out their grill for an afternoon of great food, fun and fellowship! (I will personally make my way around our parking lot to sample everyone's cooking expertise!) There will be a huge football game involving both guys and gals!! Other activities and games will be included! You will also have the opportunity to watch our local Dolphins play the Broncos and cheer them on to victory!!
We have also scheduled a College Connection Event for all our UM, FIU and Miami-Dade Community College students to join together for an afternoon hangout at our home on Sunday October 30th from 1:00-4:30 PM!! I am hoping that all our students will take this opportunity to connect together and hear my heart for your generation!!
Hope everyone has a great week!!
Pastor Russ
There are two ways to make contributions to God's work at Sunset Chapel:
1. Each week you can place your tithe and offering envelope in the offering bag as it is passed down your row of seats!
2. You can go to sunsetchapel.com and follow the instructions to set up a one time or regular weekly or monthly online disbursement!
Believing that God has called me to trust Him more in my own life including the critical area of finances, my wife and I have made the choice to give up our regular salary for the next two weeks and trust that God will provide for our needs. Forgoing our regular salary will help the church with it's current financial needs. Stepping out into faith I've asked the board to receive an extra offering at the end of each service for the next two weeks and we will use whatever the amount that people contribute in this offering to meet our family obligations. We've been up front with everyone that the summer months have placed a real burden on the church budget, so we have decided after much prayer to live out Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty,"and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." We are returning our entire regular salary to the church and we are trusting that God will do an incredible and surprising work of provision in our lives. I hope you will all stand with us in faith as we trust him to supply our needs.
Today we kicked off our month long new members class and it's always exciting to me to see people take the next steps towards their personal involvement and spiritual growth. Growth in membership indicates the willingness of others to have a stake in the effectiveness, growth and vitality of a local church. It also affords me the opportunity to develop relationships with the many new people who have started to make Sunset Chapel their home church! God continues to lay the ground work for our future success in ministry!
Also this past Saturday I had the privilege of investing in the lives of three couples whose weddings I will be conducting in the next few months. Together we initiated 5-6 weeks of premarital counseling sessions that will help prepare them for their future as married couples. I am incredibly thrilled that they are making every effort to insure that their upcoming marriages are filled with lots of meaningful moments as they navigate through life together! I highly recommend every couple that is considering marriage to get premarital counseling to help prepare for their marriage! Topics such as communication, problem-solving, finances/budgeting, intimacy, spiritual priorities, etc are critical to the wholesome development of a great marriage!
During the morning service I announced two upcoming activities!
Our Second Annual "Thrill of the Grill-Tailgate Sunday" will be held on Sunday October 23! Immediately after our morning service everyone is invited to stick around and break out their grill for an afternoon of great food, fun and fellowship! (I will personally make my way around our parking lot to sample everyone's cooking expertise!) There will be a huge football game involving both guys and gals!! Other activities and games will be included! You will also have the opportunity to watch our local Dolphins play the Broncos and cheer them on to victory!!
We have also scheduled a College Connection Event for all our UM, FIU and Miami-Dade Community College students to join together for an afternoon hangout at our home on Sunday October 30th from 1:00-4:30 PM!! I am hoping that all our students will take this opportunity to connect together and hear my heart for your generation!!
Hope everyone has a great week!!
Pastor Russ
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