A New Year

As I look back over 2010, I stand amazed at God’s faithfulness to our faith community. Here are my Top 7 ministry highlights for 2010:

· Conducted our very first “Ministry Fair”

· Trained more servants than ever for ministry

· Blessed with a record attendance of 1350 at Easter

· Saw 654 profess faith in Honduras

· Raised $15,000 to clothe 216 kids in Santa Elena, Honduras

· Overwhelmingly adopted our 10-year vision plan

· Baptized more teenagers than in any year since 1993

Wow!! Our God is so faithful. Like you, I realize that we cannot sit back and rest while the lostness of humanity grows. We must hear Paul’s advice to the Philippians as if he were speaking directly to us:

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:12-14)

I am making this passage my life verses for 2011. I want to “press on.” I want to be a man who, like Paul, is expectant and positive about the things which are before him. Most people are afraid of the future. Uncertainty and insecurity about the days that lie ahead fill the heart with fear and anxiety, but you and I need not fear! Jesus is on the throne. He is in control. He is powerful enough to do anything.

Let’s look to the future with expectancy and excitement. Let’s Look to the future in a positive light, because we know that there is a God in heaven who says, "If He be for us, who can be against us", who gives us the confidence to say; "I can do all things through Christ Jesus which strengthens me."

Let’s “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." What greater achievement in life can we have than to give our all in this life, knowing that one day we will be crowned by Christ on that day and hearing Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant" (2 Tim. 4:7-8) This is the high calling of God in Christ. I look forward to our journey together!

Dr. Derek