Awesome First Sunday of 2012

Last Sunday was a really special time for our congregation. Unlike most weeks, we started at 11:00am since the night before was filled with late night new years parties. We thought an hour extra rest would be nice and it allowed us to also end the service right at noon and roll into our potluck lunch.
The service had nine scheduled baptism's which were really special to witness. Then when I asked if anyone else wanted to be baptized that hadn't been yet since becoming a follower of Christ; two children stepped up...clothes and all! It was truly amazing. :-)
Here is the link to pictures from last Sunday on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/encounterchurch.us
As I do every first Sunday of the new year, I spoke about our vision statement: "Seeking HIS Kingdom First". I also used an object lesson with walnuts and rice to highlight our four core values that I will be teaching on over the next four Sundays.
I'm excited for what 2012 will bring in the life of Encounter Church.

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

Encounter People Give

This past Sunday I informed the people of Encounter Church how their financial giving met the needs of people in 2011.

Out of our benevolance fund (5%) and what we gifted over the year to our missionaries (10%) Encounter's giving will top $40,000.00 by years end! Wow!

I'm so proud of our people.

As we continue to "workout" our generosity muscles, they continue to get stronger and stronger:-)

I love my small group

Last night our small group Bible study had it's Christmas Party.

We did the typical white elephant gift exchange when you open the present and can steal others gifts and by the third owner it's frozen. We also played the board game, "Battle of the Sexes". The women won this year...but just barely:-) There was so much laughing and connecting, yummy food and drinks. It makes me really appreciate the fun we can have as the body of Christ.

Singing with my daughters

The other night my three daughters and I had the opportunity to partner with the Salvation Army by ringing the bell at our local grocery store. Rather than just standing there the whole time as people walked by I thought it'd be nice to sing Christmas carols. So I quickly printed off about nine of the most familiar songs and off we went.

Though a little scary at first, it became fun and many people thanked us and one guy even joined in for a little bit.