To God's Beloved @ Cloverdale Baptist Church:
October is Reformation Month: What does this mean? On October 31, 1517, a monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg. He did not want to separate from the church of Rome, but he did want the church to take a serious look at God's Word and obey it. This action took courage, and changed the face of Christianity. We are still benefitting from this precious day and all that it accomplished. This year, take the time to read some good history on the Reformation, sign up for our conference, where excellent speakers will share the impact of the Reformation, and how it should still shape us today, and praise God for those who have gone before us that still shape us! A great book, is, Beyond The 95 Theses, by Stephen J. Nichols. I will give a copy of this to the first 4 people that reply to this email and ask for it. So send me an email, and seek to understand better how our history has shaped us today.
October is Thanksgiving Month: Take the time to share with 10 others 10 things you are thankful for! We as God's people are called to be thankful all of the time, and although this is not easy, it is commanded...so take the time to use your mouth as an overflow of your heart to be thankful loudly :) . The more we use our mouth for thanksgiving the less we will use it for gossip, or slander, and the more Jesus will be honoured with our lives! BE THANKFUL!
October is Anti Bullying month. As Christians we should be those who sound this trumpet the loudest as we seek to protect those who are being bullied. This includes domestic situations (it is also Anti Domestic Violence month), but this usually is an overflow of what is happening with our young people in schools. As we seek to protect those who could be hurt emotionally and physically by this we must also seek to offer spiritual hope. There has been much information flowing about new curriculum that is coming into some of our schools that seeks to push the agenda of the LGBT world in the name of anti-bullying. While we support in love anti-bullying, we do not want children inundated with a lifestyle that we believe does not honour God. As Christians we want to be loving, and also seek to protect children from harmful misinformation. As we respond in love, it is essential that we know the facts, and that we do not take any actions that would cause people to think we are haters, rather we want to continually act in such a way that we will be known for our love for one another, and for those who need this love. This is not easy, so please pray for children, teachers that know Jesus in the system, and the proper loving response as we desire to be salt and light, and share the Gospel in God's grace with people in our world.
We often have opportunities to serve, and lately we have been getting requests from students and seniors for rides to church. If you are willing to give a ride to someone to church, we would ask that you let the office know.
We are rejoicing, and grieving as Tracy Franson has gone to be with Jesus. Please pray for the family as they grieve, and rejoice. The memorial service will be on Saturday, October 14 at Cloverdale Baptist Church at 2:00.
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOD DOING?
We had the great privilege on Sunday night to hear from our youth who were involved in short term missions. What a joy to hear of eternity being changed through our prayers, and their ministry. Thank you for praying! Pray for DEAN EDEN as he continues to serve Ukraine. Over the summer he was involved in many outreaches and saw the Gospel go forward. At the boys camp he was involved in, 6 boys gave their lives to Jesus! Dean continues to covet our prayers as a widow they visited gave her life to Jesus. God is at work around the world, and we have the amazing privilege of joining in this in prayer!
Sunday Is Coming:
Billy Kim will be speaking on Revival out of Habakkuk. This is a man with a great reputation, and will be exciting to have in our church family. Please be in prayer for him, and the children's choir that is coming with him as they come to seek God's glory with us!
I am thankful to be your pastor,
Rob