A Loss in Our Church Family

Curtis Anderson passed in his sleep during Sunday night. Arrangements have not been made, but we will send out an announcement as soon as we know. Our love and prayers are with Linda and all of Curtis’ family. May the Lord remind them that Curtis is feeling great now in the presence of the Lord and all of his family who went before him.

This Coming Sunday

Mary is back and will be preaching for us. Blake will be gone, but Julian Rodriquez will sing for us. Expect some high tenor notes.

Sunday, at church time, it will be 50 degrees under a bright sun.

Good weather for church. And don’t forget breakfast—at 10:30 before worship.

End-of Year Reporting

On Monday, we turned in “the numbers” (our finances and membership statement) to the Conference, as we do every January. We had a successful year. Our people were faithful. All bills were paid.

In the coming year, I would encourage us to continue to be careful with our spending. A church growth expert has said a church needs to hold a third of their yearly budget in reserve. We do not have that much, but we do have some.

And we can depend on the faithfulness of our people. We also depend on the power of the gospel to continue to draw people to our church.

Every few Sundays we see new faces in our midst.

I am excited about 2024.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

God bless—MB

What a Good—COLD—Sunday!

Well—I lied—inadvertently—in last week’s newsletter. I said—jokingly–the heat would be working on the cold upcoming Sunday. Of course, it
would. It always has been.

But not last Sunday. It wasn’t working properly. It got up to 55 degrees in the sanctuary. Everybody kept their coats on and we had a great time.

The heat is being fixed this week.

(Fortunately, the rest of the church was warm.)

This Sunday

I always wind my old grandfather clock in my living room every Sunday. I was doing so last Sunday evening and was suddenly fascinated by the thing that provides the power that keeps it running. And I decided what I want to preach on this Sunday. My scripture is the story of Jesus casting out an “unclean spirit” (Luke 4:31-37). My sermon title is “The Source of Power.”

Mary is gone one more Sunday.

Kristi will be back.

The heat WILL be on.

Expect a time of joyful worship.

God bless—MB

Do NOT forget the great breakfast Winston prepares for us every week—10:30 before worship. It has become a great time f fellowship.

See you at breakfast.

It Was a Good Year

I hesitate to say that. It may have been a hard year for some of our people. But 2023 was a good year in our church.

We reached many with the Gospel.

Our people have been wonderfully faithful.

We may as well face something as we move forward. The church is no longer just the folks in the pews on Sundays. We have many people who cannot come but who are faithful in watching online and faithful in giving. And there are even readers of Friday’s Word who think of St. Matthew as their church, or one of their churches. They may attend another church regularly and still watch us every week.

It’s a new day.

But one thing we want to do in the new year is to get more people into our pews on Sundays. We want them in on the fellowship—if this is possible.

I like to see you when I am preaching.

But I do thank God for all of you who can now be with us in spirit—or in Spirit—if not in person.

This larger church, beyond our walls, is important to us now.

A Bit More

I’m preaching at Lakewood Village (now, Christian Care Community) Sunday afternoon. If some of the residents there wanted to come to St. Matthew on Sundays—would there be a way?

Mary will be gone for two Sundays.

She will preach for us when she returns.

Expect a time of joyful worship this Sunday.

Don’t worry if it’s cold.

The heating is working.

God bless—MB

Tracy Maxwell is back home and improving after surgery.

Doug Montgomery’s mom passed away—aged 97. Our love to Doug and Cindy and all of Doug’s family.

We remember Larry Norris and those who loved him.