Christmas Eve @ Encounter

It's almost here again...Christmas Eve.
This December we've been in a message series titled:
Christmas: the untold story.

Though this Saturday evening will bring the series and this year of church services to an end, the message will focus on the never ending story of Christ's love and grace for people.

Come and be blessed by the message of the Good News of Christ.

The service starts at 5:00pm and is in Eli Pinney Elementary School in the Tartan Fields development of Dublin, OH

A Dream Come True Christmas Eve Service

With all the time and people who put forth the effort to make this years Christmas Eve service something God honoring and enjoyable for all ages, I can honestly say it was all worth it. We enjoyed a packed house (our largest service ever) full of kids, parents and grandparents. Rob Comfort was our host for the evening and did a bang up job. Our children's pageant went off without a hitch (too bad in a way) and having the band Azalia lead our Christmas carols was excellent. We heard a testimony from Mary Miles who accepted Christ as her Savior at last years Christmas Eve service. She shared about the growth she's experienced since receiving Christ including being baptized in June and going on a missions trip to Guatemala in July. I had the privilege of sharing from Matthew 2:1-12 about the wise men and how their three gifts pointed to more than just simply the birth of Christ.
As is the custom, we ended the service with singing Silent Night as we lit each others candles. It was a powerful moment.
The only thing we forgot to tell everyone was that there is not a church service on Sunday, December 26th. If you're reading this please pass this along to anyone you might think will show up on Sunday:-)
We will be back at Eli Pinney Elementary on Sunday, January 2nd at 10:00am for a family service with children three years and up in the room with us.

Christmas Eve's A Coming!

I'm getting nervous and excited all at once about the Christmas Eve service we're having Friday night at 5:00pm at Eli Pinney Elementary.

There's a lot we're packing into a one hour time frame. i.e.

*a children's pageant and kids choir

*a testimony of a gal who accepted Christ as her Savior at last years Christmas Eve service

*of course singing some carols

*a brief (at least brief for me:-), message about Jesus

*lighting of candles as a congregation while singing Silent Night

Here's the postcard we sent out to our neighbors in the greater Dublin area inviting them to join us.

Christmas message series

Today I started a new series using a tradition often seen in churches during the Christmas season. It is titled, "Advent" and I'm allowing it to be a gentle guide for what is taught each week.

Here are the weeks in order:

Dec. 5 The Advent of Hope
Dec. 12 The Advent of Peace
Dec. 19 The Advent of Joy
Dec. 24 The Advent of Jesus

There is no morning church service on Sunday, December 26.

Christmas Party a Blast

What a fun time last night with Encounterites and a bunch of guests.
There were just over 60 people who came out for some yummy Christmas treats, two silly games led by Chrissy & Matt Jacobs and a testimony from Scott & Bethany Schweitzer.
As a pastor it was fun for me to survey the crowd and see so much connecting going on at the game tables, over food and in the crowd during the games. Our people really enjoy being together and do such a great job of welcoming new folks. From my count there must have been just over a dozen guests among us. CLICK HERE to view a lot of funny pics. from the night.

Christmas Day 2009

It finally came and went. Another Christmas. For the Spoelstra's it was quite simple and quiet: no one coming into town and we didn't go out of town. It was nice not even leaving the house today.
We told the kids not to wake us up until 8:45am. They were allowed to hunt for their stockings before then though and Melissa and I giggled in bed when we heard their glee over the silly trinkets they found.
After making our morning cup of tea we began the relatively orderly process of present opening. The kids really got excited about their gifts and my sweetheart got a new laptop she was hoping for but didn't really think she'd get:-)
It was nice to talk to my parents and sister and basically laze around the house all day. Most of us stayed in our pj's all day.

BTW - I found out we has 196 at the Christmas Eve service.

Christmas lights, techno music and Amazing Grace

What says Merry Christmas more than listening to the age old classic hymn, "Amazing Grace", set to techno music, all the while being wowed by an electric light show of thousands of Christmas lights? Think I'm crazy...think again!
Follow this link and see:
http://vimeo.com/440842

Spoelstra Family Crossword Puzzle Answers

Here are the crossword puzzle answers to our annual Christmas letter. I hope you at least made an attempt at answering the puzzle questions before you get these answers:-)

Here they are...



DOWN:


1 - CATCHER
2 - RACHEL
3 - PREACHING
4 - FOURTH
5 - JESUS
6 - DRUMS
8 - VOLLEYBALL
11 - JAZZERSIZE
16 - BACK


ACROSS:


4 - FOOTBALL
7 - ENCOUNTER
9 - POOL
10 - LUNGS
12 - SCHOOLS
13 - HOME
14 - CATAN
15 - BIBLE
17 - PIANO
18 - BLESSED

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

Christmas lights finally up

Each year in the Spoelstra house December rolls around just after Thanksgiving with the families expectation of Christmas lights being hung with care before the snow flies. What you may not know is that I have more than a healthy fear of heights...I'm afraid of them. Getting up on our roof, even though it has a low grade pitch, and leaning over the edge to attach icicle lights makes me cringe inside. So this year with the suggestion of a neighbor and the permission from the kids I hung them with care whilst standing on a chair:-)

It's nothing really fancy but it met with everyone's approval.

A Multi-Cultural Christmas Party

How fun to see almost half of the people at this years party were not at last years. And then ad to that, there were eight Indians, two Syrians (I guess Ammar is technically American now), one China born guest and one Canadian:-)
Like I said two entries ago, the Grace Church basement was an ideal location for our party last year and this year was no exception.

Here is a link to view an album of pics. from last night.

The Annual Encounter Christmas Party

Who-hoo! Tonight is gonna be fun!
We're having it in our mother church's very nice basement. It has three sections: a game area, a cafe w/ tables & chairs and a stage & seating area. We will end up using all of it. People are bringing desserts or appetizers and the church budget is paying for the cups, plates, hot and cold drinks, etc. We'll leave a bunch of time at the beginning for people to arrive and connect and then we have Luke & Beth Fields giving a testimony about how the Lord has worked in their lives this past year. After that there is a very fun large group game my wife Melissa has helped put together. My hope is that people can relax and enjoy each others company, laugh a lot, and be encouraged to trust in God more.
I'll be sure to post some party pics. tonight or tomorrow.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Here is a well done video that tells of a tragic story but leaves you with hope. The narrator is a pastor friend of mine named Todd Scoles from Marysville Grace Brethren Church.

Have a very Merry Christmas and give a big hug to those close to you.


The Christmas Bells from Clay Productions on Vimeo.

ENCOUNTER CHURCH Christmas Party

Last night was really fun. Our mother church allowed us to use their very nice basement for our Christmas party. It allowed the perfect combination for connecting, playing games, enjoying desserts and listening to to a couple share about how they came to follow Jesus Christ. We had a number of visitors and almost the entire launch team present. There was much laughter and some deep conversations. Melissa, my sweetheart, led a very fun game for the whole group. Here's how it is played: -three people sit on stools, something is read allowed that is only true about one of them but they all have to answer questions from the crowd as though it is true of all of them -then the crowd votes on who they think it is and then the person it is true about stands up.
View the pictures from Sunday night by CLICKING HERE, then read the captions and then vote yourself about who the statement is about.