What a good day today was. We were a little lower in attendance (73) as we had a lot of people missing, but it was a good worship gathering. We introduced the song Take My Life and Let It Be, the newer arrangement from Passion, and it went over ok. The music was a little too short this week, as I felt that it could have been longer - maybe add a song or two in...just my feelings anyway. Andy Becker played with us (on the bass) for the second week in a row.
My sermon was good, as it was titled Embracing Forgiveness. We finished out the month of Experiencing the Love of Jesus by talking about the necessity of forgiveness taken from Matthew 18 and the story of the unforgiving servant. It was a tough sermon in that it makes us face some difficult truths, but I must preach and teach it as God has given it to me. One note - it was nice to have Heather Branch and Kathy Boston in service together again. They laugh at all my jokes (which isn't always easy!) and it makes the atmosphere a little more enjoyable.
Jane Nelsbach was with us again today, as well as Ron Bennetter, and I hope that we will see them more as time goes along. Jane is a new Christian that I am trying to guide along, and Ron apparently has been a Christian for awhile. I look forward to getting to know both of them more.
But again, we were missing many people - enough that if we were to have had them, we would have been close to 100! We need to transition into two services, and be done with it already :)
Overall, it was a good day. I look forward to getting some of our people back, and packing the place out. Coundown: only 4 weeks left until we begin two services!
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Sunday, February 20, 2005
What a great day we had here at The Journey! To start off, we had 87 in service, which is our second highest in-service total yet. The two service date just cannot get here any sooner, and I think we will just have to set up some metal chairs in the process!
But the day was a good one. The music went well (a little rugged in a couple of spots), and Andy Becker (see baptism pic below) played the bass for us for the first time. He did a good job, and I am looking forward to more things to come out of Andy and his wife, Kim. What a blessing to watch these new believers grow! Also, we intro'd the song Holy Spirit Rain Down, which went fine, and Victoria (see pic below) played the clarinet as a solo for that song - it was great! Finally, after my message, I led the congregation in a newer version of Take My Life and Let It Be, a version done by Chris Tomlin and Louis Giglio. It went well.
I was a little emotional over the message, in which I preached on The Compassion of the Christ, and I used the story of the Good Samaritan and the film Hotel Rwanda (see my personal blog
) for some of my thoughts on this film. But I really wanted to stretch the congregation into thinking and living beyond themselves, and that's what compassion really involves - caring beyond ourselves. I think the sermon touched a chord with many, and I hope that it brings about a renewed compassion to love people wherever they are.
Along with that note, I have been in contact with World Help, an organization that has a four-fold missionary purpose: 1)plant and build new churches through nationals; 2)promote child-sponsorship; 3)provide humanitarian aide; and 4) distribute Bibles all over the world. I will be receiving more info, and I want to give our people the opportunity to really stretch themselves in the areas of compassion.
Some other great things that happened - we had several visitors: Jane from Rochester, who visited with her four-year old son, Austin. Jane raised her hand and gave her life to the Lord; Ron, from Farmington, who seems to be a believer, and expressed interest in coming back; and Amy's friend (can't remember her name) who Rod said also raised her hand that she accepted Christ; and Ally's friend (again, forgot the name) who seemed to paying attention throughout. I praise God that He continually blesses us with new people.
One last note: our offerings continue to remain good and solid, which is great news for plans that we are getting ready to make. What a great day! Praise You, Lord.
But the day was a good one. The music went well (a little rugged in a couple of spots), and Andy Becker (see baptism pic below) played the bass for us for the first time. He did a good job, and I am looking forward to more things to come out of Andy and his wife, Kim. What a blessing to watch these new believers grow! Also, we intro'd the song Holy Spirit Rain Down, which went fine, and Victoria (see pic below) played the clarinet as a solo for that song - it was great! Finally, after my message, I led the congregation in a newer version of Take My Life and Let It Be, a version done by Chris Tomlin and Louis Giglio. It went well.
I was a little emotional over the message, in which I preached on The Compassion of the Christ, and I used the story of the Good Samaritan and the film Hotel Rwanda (see my personal blog
) for some of my thoughts on this film. But I really wanted to stretch the congregation into thinking and living beyond themselves, and that's what compassion really involves - caring beyond ourselves. I think the sermon touched a chord with many, and I hope that it brings about a renewed compassion to love people wherever they are.
Along with that note, I have been in contact with World Help, an organization that has a four-fold missionary purpose: 1)plant and build new churches through nationals; 2)promote child-sponsorship; 3)provide humanitarian aide; and 4) distribute Bibles all over the world. I will be receiving more info, and I want to give our people the opportunity to really stretch themselves in the areas of compassion.
Some other great things that happened - we had several visitors: Jane from Rochester, who visited with her four-year old son, Austin. Jane raised her hand and gave her life to the Lord; Ron, from Farmington, who seems to be a believer, and expressed interest in coming back; and Amy's friend (can't remember her name) who Rod said also raised her hand that she accepted Christ; and Ally's friend (again, forgot the name) who seemed to paying attention throughout. I praise God that He continually blesses us with new people.
One last note: our offerings continue to remain good and solid, which is great news for plans that we are getting ready to make. What a great day! Praise You, Lord.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Hm. As I sit here typing about what happened today, I have many thoughts.
Overall, the day was good. Our attendance continues to be in the 80's (82), even with several people missing. We could very well have hit 100 today. And the spirit of the people was phenomenal! The key song for today was "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," and we emphasized the "dancing" part - it was great. And then we sang it right before we left, as an ending song, and we just had a good day of worship.
The preaching was ok. I really worked hard on this message, but I had a difficult time bringing it all together like I wanted. The execution of it was fine, but I still felt that the overall power and content of the message was missing something. I am my own worst critic, but I know when it hits home and when it doesn't. I didn't feel like it did today.
But the last thing we did before leaving was baptism. Today I baptized 6 people (pictures below) - Victoria, Katie Rice, Andy & Kim Becker, and Dave & Dory Gibson. It was a sweet time to see these people take that next step in their Christian walk. I am always so honored to be able to lead people, and I have enjoyed watching these people grow in their faith. They are a direct result of Rod & Elizabeth's example, and I am so grateful that God used the Kesselrings to bring the Beckers and Gibsons to Him.
After church, we did the marriage seminar from 1-3, which was a great time. I had the Thompson, Gibsons, and Beckers there, and we went through the 2nd week of the Making Marriage Work study. NOTE: We had more people on Friday at this study, but Sunday was an optional day.
One other quick note, many of the men from the men's group took their wives to eat out at the 103 Restaurant on Sunday evening while the kids were watched at the church. We had a great time!
Overall, it was a tiring day for me personally, but it was a great day of God continuing to work at The Journey.
Overall, the day was good. Our attendance continues to be in the 80's (82), even with several people missing. We could very well have hit 100 today. And the spirit of the people was phenomenal! The key song for today was "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," and we emphasized the "dancing" part - it was great. And then we sang it right before we left, as an ending song, and we just had a good day of worship.
The preaching was ok. I really worked hard on this message, but I had a difficult time bringing it all together like I wanted. The execution of it was fine, but I still felt that the overall power and content of the message was missing something. I am my own worst critic, but I know when it hits home and when it doesn't. I didn't feel like it did today.
But the last thing we did before leaving was baptism. Today I baptized 6 people (pictures below) - Victoria, Katie Rice, Andy & Kim Becker, and Dave & Dory Gibson. It was a sweet time to see these people take that next step in their Christian walk. I am always so honored to be able to lead people, and I have enjoyed watching these people grow in their faith. They are a direct result of Rod & Elizabeth's example, and I am so grateful that God used the Kesselrings to bring the Beckers and Gibsons to Him.
After church, we did the marriage seminar from 1-3, which was a great time. I had the Thompson, Gibsons, and Beckers there, and we went through the 2nd week of the Making Marriage Work study. NOTE: We had more people on Friday at this study, but Sunday was an optional day.
One other quick note, many of the men from the men's group took their wives to eat out at the 103 Restaurant on Sunday evening while the kids were watched at the church. We had a great time!
Overall, it was a tiring day for me personally, but it was a great day of God continuing to work at The Journey.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Super Bowl Sunday, February 6, 2005
There were so many reasons I was excited about today.
1) I love Sundays.
2) I love watching the Patriots play.
3) I love watching the Patriots play in the Superbowl.
4) I love tailgate parties.
5) I love getting together with God's people.
So this day had all the ingredients for an exciting day...although it started out on a bad note. Our drummer, Ed, dislocated his shoulder while sledding the night before on a teen activity, and so it altered our music ever so slightly (!). But we prayed for Ed, and we went on, and although our music took a hit, the day still was huge success.
Rod and I team taught as we were sports announcers talking about the Clash of the Titans between God's Love and Sin's Penalty. It went very well, as we were trying to mimic Al Michaels and John Madden. I was pleased with it, and I think everyone got it.
We had several new faces in our service today - Jay, Amy (?), and Stan's friend Roland. I am excited to see God bring new people into our doors, and each of these people was a direct invite of one of our members. That is the best kind of evangelism there is. Also, we had several back for a second time, including Jeremy and Amanda Grieb and Andy's friend, Stanley.
All in all, we had 76 in attendance and a great offering.
Well, after the morning service, from 3-5, we held our first week of marriage seminar called, Making Marriage Work, by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. It was really good, as we had 10 couples (including Krista and I) there. Jeremy and Amanda also attended this, which is a great thing.
The third part of the day was the tailgate and Superbowl party. We had 47 (?) here, and it was funny because most of the people were those who have not been with us for very long. It was a great time as we rooted on a Patriots victory over the Eagles 24-21. Pictures are posted below.
1) I love Sundays.
2) I love watching the Patriots play.
3) I love watching the Patriots play in the Superbowl.
4) I love tailgate parties.
5) I love getting together with God's people.
So this day had all the ingredients for an exciting day...although it started out on a bad note. Our drummer, Ed, dislocated his shoulder while sledding the night before on a teen activity, and so it altered our music ever so slightly (!). But we prayed for Ed, and we went on, and although our music took a hit, the day still was huge success.
Rod and I team taught as we were sports announcers talking about the Clash of the Titans between God's Love and Sin's Penalty. It went very well, as we were trying to mimic Al Michaels and John Madden. I was pleased with it, and I think everyone got it.
We had several new faces in our service today - Jay, Amy (?), and Stan's friend Roland. I am excited to see God bring new people into our doors, and each of these people was a direct invite of one of our members. That is the best kind of evangelism there is. Also, we had several back for a second time, including Jeremy and Amanda Grieb and Andy's friend, Stanley.
All in all, we had 76 in attendance and a great offering.
Well, after the morning service, from 3-5, we held our first week of marriage seminar called, Making Marriage Work, by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. It was really good, as we had 10 couples (including Krista and I) there. Jeremy and Amanda also attended this, which is a great thing.
The third part of the day was the tailgate and Superbowl party. We had 47 (?) here, and it was funny because most of the people were those who have not been with us for very long. It was a great time as we rooted on a Patriots victory over the Eagles 24-21. Pictures are posted below.
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