It was good to be back with our Dwell Church family this past Sunday. Thank you again for receiving Bernard Emerson and Alvin Lin. In your prayers, please remember them as Bernard continues to lead his church plant towards regular worship services with The Way Church in Oakland. Pray for Alvin and our sister church East Valley as they will also be undergoing a leadership transition. Pastor John Helveston has served East Valley for 25 years and will be retiring to care for his ailing mother in Mississippi.
I want to follow up on a couple of ministry updates we have given in the past week. Many of you have been awaiting an update on a new projector. We received a quote that we gave to you that was much more than any of us expected. We are working hard to bring that number down as much as possible and even do what we can ourselves. We are working to balance what will enhance our worship experience, set us up for the future, and be as economical as possible. If you have further questions or concerns, please ask myself or any of our Elders.
The second thing I want to announce is that Beth Thompson will be our Children's Director! Dwell has hired Beth on a part-time basis to oversee the equipping and coordination of volunteers for the Children's Ministry and ensuring we have quality curriculum at every level. It is very important that we do children's ministry well and we now have the resources to pursue this.
One last thought I wanted to leave with you. Psalm 31:24 says, "Be strong, let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord." This is the last verse of a Psalm that cries out to the Lord to deliver the psalmist from various struggles in life. The theme of waiting on the Lord is frequent in the Psalms and we often move past it without reflecting on it much. Waiting in scripture is often an active waiting. It is not a call to be passive but to be diligent in reminding ourselves of God's grace, of pressing forward in faith He will act, and a charge for us not give up hope. Waiting on the Lord does not mean doing nothing. It means we speak to our hearts by reminding ourselves of the redemption he has secured for us in Christ. It means we continue to be faithful with all He has called us to do. So we press forward, not because there is nothing else to do, but because we might miss Him at work if we take our eyes off the prize.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Chris
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