WELCOME TO ELEVATION NORTH! If you are planning to walk through the doors of this place on Sunday … our prayer is that you will find a warm welcome as you are greeted with open arms! Since the birthing of this church, our vision has been to be a church that embraces people right where they are at. We are all at different places in our relationship with Christ … and wherever that is at – He longs to have us approach Him and draw ever closer. He never asks us to become perfect before we come to Him, because He knows that at our best, we can never attain perfection! He created us to be human, and He desires fellowship with us. It’s incredible, even hard to fathom, that at the very moment we invite Him into our heart to be our Savior, He calls us sons and daughters! None of us here are perfect … we all have a past. Everyone on the face of this earth does. But we also have a present and a future, and we are so excited about sharing your present and your future as together we embrace God’s Kingdom work in this place that God has brought us to! Did you know that together we can do mighty things for God - with His help? Things that before we perhaps never even saw ourselves doing? Things that we thought were way beyond the capability of our new, small church? (It is growing and expanding and multiplying – have you noticed?!) There’s a reason for that … God has more for us to accomplish! And how privileged we are to get to be a part of what He has planned for us … for us: Elevation North! That’s all of us together … yes! We, of course, do not know what lies ahead … what victories and challenges are in store – but what we DO know is that God gets the glory and honor in it all! What we DO know is that this ministry is built on the Solid Rock – our Lord Jesus Christ! We recognize that He is our very foundation! We tell Him over and over that Elevation North is ALL about Him … not any of us. Not even one of us! We desire for every part of it to point to our God, our King! When He is our basis for everything in the church, then people do not have to be disappointed because of us – because our God never disappoints! When we look to His Word for direction, when we seek Him for wisdom, when we pursue Him with passion, when we worship Him in humility and purity, when we trust Him with every part of our lives, when we obey Him in full surrender, when we faithfully follow – whatever the cost … then I think He knows He has a church who is devoted - in action, as well as in words. Lord, we implore You to help us be that church. You, O Lord our God, are invited to every gathering we hold. We gather in Your Name. We invite You to be present with us. We invite You to walk the aisles of Elevation North. We invite You to stop and touch each of us … this one – then that one, by Your Spirit and Your power. Deliver us, purge us, clean us up. Fill us with joy that knows no bounds. Take our little bit of faith and magnify it a thousand times over. Heal us and renew us and fix us. Where we are broken, make us whole. Where our own strong will reigns, melt it down to reflect Your will instead. May our demeanor point directly to You, so that people will recognize that “we’ve been with Jesus”! May our attitudes and our genuineness be like an appetizer for something better to come … so that after a taste of us, they will want what we have – which is Jesus! Yes, feasting on Jesus and His words and His ways – it’s the only thing that will satisfy our souls. Have you ever wondered why people have a hole in their heart? Why they search and search for satisfaction – but nothing is ever lasting? Why they feel empty and alone and abandoned? Well, we know why … it’s because Jesus is missing from their lives! And we want people like that to be able to find Jesus and the satisfaction He brings when they enter the doors of Elevation North! We want them to find Him in our open arms, in the message and the music, in our faces and fellowship, and in all kinds of opportunities to be like Him as we give and share and serve. We want them to find Jesus as we reach out to them, as we show we care, as they see that we are real. We want them to find freedom in expressing their worship and praise in ways that show God their depth of gratitude for what He’s done for them! This may be the month that we celebrate Thanksgiving, but we want every day to be a day of grateful celebration for our salvation and every good gift that comes from the Father above. (James 1:17) And for everyone that God has brought to our midst already, we are so thankful for YOU! Your lives bring a richness to us as a family in Christ that would not be complete without YOU! You are important and special, not just to us but to the living God, who loves you more than you can know! Always remember that as we continue to walk forward on this journey God has us on! We have much to do … He is coming soon!
- IN A NUTSHELL . . .
- IN A NUTSHELL . . .
- JOYFUL, JOYFUL, WE ADORE THEE … that’s how we feel as we come together to worship our Lord! What a joy it was to look around and see happy, joyful faces singing praises and glad to be in God’s House! What’s so exciting is that when we enter those doors … God loves us just the way we are – but TOO much to leave us that way! Each day we are a work in progress in the hands of God!
- SPECIAL THANKS to Matthias for taking the youth on a Paintball Adventure out in the country last Sunday!
- BIRTHDAY WISHES are sent out to Harold who will be celebrating on November 9th! May God bless you with an incredible year filled with His good gifts and loving favor!
- A SPECIAL WELCOME to Wayne and Verla from Nebraska, who will be worshipping with us this Sunday! We are so very grateful to them and all of our other supporters who are helping move forward the ministry and outreach of Elevation North! May God bless you abundantly, is our prayer!
- LOOKING AHEAD . . .
- THIS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH: 10:00 A.M. – WORSHIP & PRAISE in our new location: 217 N. Main in Medford! We are here, world … ready to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ wherever He places us! Let’s continue to impact our communities with the love of Jesus! Be sure to invite some friends to come with you this Sunday – you won’t want to miss Pastor Doug’s message, “The Choice is YOURS!”
- 11:15 A.M. – KINGDOM CONNECTION SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSES for all ages! Exciting topics from God’s Word for adults and teens … to Puppet Ministry with Marty and Kelly for the younger ones … even staffed nursery for our tiny ones – it’s all in place to minister to you and your family!
- WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH: 6:00 P.M. – FELLOWSHIP & WORK-NIGHT at the church, with lots of fun projects underway – so the more, the merrier! Come expecting a great time with your church friends!
- VETERAN’S DAY, NOVEMBER 11TH: May God bless all of our veterans for their great service to our nation! You are loved and appreciated, and we thank you for sacrifices made for our freedom!
- NEXT SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH: 10:00 A.M. – WORSHIP & PRAISE / 11:15 A.M. – SUNDAY SCHOOL
- SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH: 12:00 NOON - SPECIAL THANKSGIVING LUNCHEON at church following worship & praise! Check out the sign-up sheet and let us know what you will be bringing!
- CHANGE A LIFE CHILD SPONSORSHIP – Together Elevation North and Pastor Doug and Debbie have sponsored two children through World Vision … the monthly cost is $35 per child. Please pray for Tarike (a 7-year old girl in Ethiopia) and for Daouda (who is an 8 year old boy from Senegal). Let’s bring hope and love and provision to their lives! We want to share Jesus with them! We can send them notes and photos so they can get to know who we are – so feel free to bring them to the church and we will send them a packet each month!
- WHAT A PRIVILEGE it is to bring others to the Lord in prayer! This week we have the opportunity to thank God for so many answered prayers! Let’s lift up Shirley, Gerard, Jimmy, Elsie, Julia’s brother, Pam’s dad, Kay, Johnny & Cherry, Larry & Gloria, Lowell & Connie, Josh, Sarah, & boys, our veterans, and our church family!
- REMEMBER . . . “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
0 comments:
Post a Comment