Throughout the letters that make up the Bible, we see
occasions where the people of God stopped to celebrate the evidence of God’s
activity in their life and in history. For example, after creating the universe
and everything that exists out of nothing, God stopped to rest and reflect on
His activity in creating history. God then commanded the Jewish people to pause
every week for the Sabbath, which was designed for followers of God to follow
the example of God and rest and reflect on His activity in their lives.
Then, in the book of Exodus, we see God command the
Jewish people to celebrate the Passover so that they would reflect, remember,
and celebrate God’s activity in the past that resulted in their deliverance
from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. In the New Testament, Jesus
instituted communion, where we pause to reflect, remember, and celebrate the
message of the gospel that provides us forgiveness and the relationship with
God that we were created for as a result of placing our trust in what Jesus did
for us through His life, death, and resurrection.
Throughout the history of God’s movement in history
called the church, followers of Jesus have paused to reflect, remember, and
celebrate the evidence of God’s activity in their lives. So last week, as we came
to the end of 2018, we spent last Sunday reflecting, remembering, and
celebrating the evidence of God’s activity this past year at the church where I
serve, City Bible Church. To do that, we shared with the church a top ten list.
This top ten list involves the top ten
things that we are celebrating when it comes to the evidence of God’s activity
this past year at City Bible Church. So with that in mind, lets jump into this
top ten list together.
Number 10 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s activity
in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our annual Saturday of Service. On
January 27, 2018, we continued a yearly practice of loving and serving the city
of Bullhead City in a real and practical way through various service projects. The
Saturday of Service is designed to let the community know that as a church, we
consider ourselves a part of the community and desire to partner with the
community to make it a better place to live.
In 2018, we completed three specific projects in
partnership with the city. First, a group of people from the church were
involved in a landscaping project on a median island located on Riviera Blvd
and Riverfront Drive. This was a part of the city’s efforts to beautify some of
the roadways within the city limits. A second group of people from the church
were involved in beautifying Rotary Park and the riverfront by picking up
trash.
At the same time, two additional groups from the
church were involved in a painting project designed to beautify the bathrooms
at Rotary Park. We were able to complete every project while representing Jesus
well to those in the community and to the city workers who worked alongside us.
As a church we are looking forward to our next Saturday of service which will
be on Saturday, January, 12, 2019.
Number 9 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s
activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our participation in the
Angel Tree project. For those who are
not familiar, Angel Tree is a project where we adopt local families where one
or more parents are incarcerated and unable to spend Christmas with their
families. As part of adopting these local families, we purchase Christmas gifts
on behalf of the incarcerated parent. We then have the privilege of being that
hands and feet of that parent by delivering the gifts to the children. This
provides us the opportunity to reveal and reflect the love of Jesus to local
families as we bring a glimpse of the light and love of the kingdom of Heaven
to these families in a time that could be otherwise very discouraging and
disappointing.
This past year, as part of the partnership with Angel
Tree ministries, we were able to purchase gifts for 94 children and impact 41
families with the love of Jesus. Angel tree has provided the opportunity to
engage children and their families by developing relationships that invite them
to explore faith and experience genuine and authentic community, and we look
forward to being a part of Angel Tree next year as well.
Number 8 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s
activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our participation in the Boys
and Girls Club Scholarship Outreach. As we have engaged our local community
over the years, one of the pressing needs that many families have during the
summer months involves providing childcare for their children. When school is
out for the summer, many families are faced with the prospect of leaving their
children home alone while they go to work to provide for their families. The
cost of childcare in many cases, is beyond their reach. In addition, while to
Boys and Girls Club provides a summer program, the cost is also beyond what
many local families can afford.
As a result of these realities, as a church we raised
resources in an attempt to be able to scholarship children that would otherwise
be unable to participate in the program. As a result of your open-handed generosity
over and above your regular giving, this past spring we were able to raise the
resources to scholarship 46 children to participate in the 8-week summer
program at the Boys and Girls Club. The impact of your generosity can not be
overrated for the lives of local children and families, and we look forward to
continuing our partnership with the Boys and Girls Club this spring.
Number 7 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s
activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our engagement of the community
through our annual Candyland Carnival that past Halloween. Every Halloween we take
the opportunity to turn our west parking lot into a carnival atmosphere with
games, bounce houses, and food, at no cost to our community. The purpose of
Candyland is to create a safe space on Halloween night that reaches out to our
local community in a way that reveals and reflects the love of Jesus to our
community. Candyland provides us the opportunity to redeem the evening for
Jesus as we reveal and reflect Jesus to the community.
This past Halloween, over 2,100 individuals from our
community were able to enjoy the fun fan family friendly atmosphere at
Candyland. What is so encouraging is
that for many individuals and families who call C.B.C. home, their initial
encounter with the church was through Candyland. As a church we are so thankful
for the many individuals who invested their time, talents and treasure to make
Candyland such a success by helping with set up and take down, by managing a game
booth, and by helping prepare and serve food for the children and families that
were a part of this event.
Number 6 on the top ten list of evidences of God’s
activity in 2018 here at City Bible Church involved our involvement in the
Global Leadership Summit. This past August, we had the opportunity as a church
to be a host site for the Global Leadership Summit, which is held at Willow
Creek Community Church in Chicago and is one of the best leadership conferences
in the country. The opportunity to be a
host site provides the ability for us to provide top notch training to those
who would not have the opportunity to normally attend such a conference.
As a result of the success that we had as a church in
hosting what is referred to as a private viewing, we now have the opportunity
to invite other churches to be a part of the Global Leadership Summit as a
public viewing venue. One of our priorities as a church is to develop
spiritually growing leaders within our church, while providing spaces and
opportunities for other local churches to develop their leaders as well.
While we are a local church, we want to be open handed
and generous to other churches in a way that helps the big C Church advance the
kingdom mission we all have been given by Jesus. We look forward to the
opportunities we now have to help equip, empower, and unleash leaders from
C.B.C. and other local churches to make a difference for Jesus in our community
and beyond.
Friday, we will look at numbers 5-1 on the top ten
list…
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