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.
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 this week, as we
come to the end of 2019, I would like for us to reflect, remember, and celebrate
the evidence of God’s activity this past year at the church where I serve,
which is City Bible Church in Bullhead City, Arizona. To do that, I would like
to share with you 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 2019 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. As we talked about with the Growing Faith Conference, 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.
Number 9 on the top
ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2019 here at City Bible Church involved
our participation in the Angel Tree project.
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 77 children and impact 34 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 2019 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 42
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 2019 here at City Bible Church
involved our involvement with the annual Fusion Prescott Pines Mission Trip. This
past July 19-22nd, 27 Fusion students and staff loved and served
Prescott Pines Camp by completing two different projects. This Mission Trip is
designed to give Jr. And Sr. High students the opportunity to selflessly serve
the camp during the day by completing projects that the camps staff is unable
to attend to during the busy summer months.
One Team of Fusion
students and staff created the forms necessary for the building of Yurts, which
are a hybrid tent building designed to replace the current Tee Pees used during
the summer to house children during summer camp. A second team completed a
renovation project of a former bathhouse that will be turned into a conference
space for adult visitors. After working on these projects during the day, the
students participate in team building projects and teaching on the three most
important questions that everyone asks and answers about life.
The impact of the
experience for these students provides a foundation for their life experiences
in the future and sets the stage for their engagement in the ministry here at
the church and their involvement in fusion during the year. As we have talked
about in the past, students are not the church of the future; they are the
church of the present and are actively involved in many of the ministries here
at C.B.C. We are excited about what God is doing in the lives of these students
and look forward to continuing our partnership with Prescott Pines in the
future.
Number 6 on the top
ten list of evidences of God’s activity in 2019 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, nearly
2,000 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.
Friday, we will look
at #5-1 on the Top Ten List…. in the meantime, what would be #10-6 on your Top Ten List of the evidences of God's activity in your life?
