July Milestones

As a parent it’s easy to miss your child growing up.  I’m not talking about being absent.  I’m talking about being with them every day…every week…every year and then still one day looking down at your daughter or son and saying “How did they get to be so grown up”?  When did they stop being a baby, or a toddler, or a child?  When did they become a young lady…or a young man?

I think it’s important to mark milestones.  It’s important to stop and take notice of progress that is being made.   I think this July will be a month we remember as we think back on the story of actionchurch “growing up”.  Here’s a few milestones that you may have missed this month:

  • First time EVER for a sermon series at actionchurch with one consistent theme…and FOUR individual teachers. (if you’re wondering, an “in-house” teaching team has been one of the dreams and goals since the very beginning. this is the first time we’ve ever attempted it.)
  • First time EVER that Josiah and I have not provided the majority of the content for a sermon series.  (Kate Whitcomb was this months series artist, and James, Steve, and Rich all developed, researched, and prepped their own sermons.)
  • First time EVER since our launch as a church 4 1/2 years ago that I have been able to take a month away from the immediate demands of preparing the content for Sunday…and concentrate on the some longer term thinking about our future.   The rest of the year’s sermon series are planned, and I’m mentally rested, inspired and EXCITED to preach the “at the movies” series in August.   I’m also very excited about hearing more from some really talented communicators that it turns out have been sitting right there in our seats all along.
  • First Time EVER that July has not been a financial crunch for us as a church.  Every year we “give away the store” at Relay for Life in June.  It’s a huge effort…and a huge expense. In the past, with July bringing people traveling for vacations, and a week that we don’t collect donations at our annual Barbecue and Baptism,  (It’s this SUNDAY 7/29), I’ll just say that it’s usually pretty DIFFICULT to pay the bills in July.  This year, thanks to everyone’s generosity in providing the items needed for Relay for Life last month, and your consistent giving this month, we have been able not only to meet expenses, but also help some folks with some really difficult situations.  We’ve also been able to purchase and give away some pretty amazing Action Bibles to so many kids in actionkidz!  We were also able to be the  sponsor of the $1 children’s movie series at Frank Theaters this Summer.  Thank you.  Your faithfulness matters…and it is making a difference in our ability to “take action” in the lives of others!

I am thankful and grateful for what God is doing THROUGH HIS PEOPLE  at actionchurch.  I’m older, grayer, and a lot more tired :-) than when we began this journey…but I am more hopeful and excited than EVER about the possibilities that God has for us in the future as a church.  Thank you all of you who are a part of that each week.

-Don

 

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