Dear Central Family:
As we say goodbye to the Christmas season (it officially ends tomorrow) and hello to the New Years, I want to take a second and give you some news of ways you can be plugged in at church in the coming weeks.
First, a reminder that tomorrow evening is the communication meeting for Sunday’s church conference, when we will vote on the church budget for 2015. We did a wonderful job of helping to catch up on our finances this last December, but the challenge remains for our church to be faithful in our giving, and making decisions about how we allocate money goes a long way toward being informed in how we give. I strongly encourage you to be there for this discussion. We will be serving pizza and salad for dinner, so please let us know if you are coming, to make sure that we have enough. Also tomorrow, we will be introducing Cathi Stevens and her husband Rodger, who have volunteered to serve in cooking Wednesday night meals. Cathi has served before in cooking meals at her church in West Virginia, and is developing a menu for coming weeks and months.
Then this Thursday, starting at 4 pm, we will be taking down the Christmas decorations from the sanctuary. This is a pretty big job, and we would love to have some help from people like you. We need people who can help with everything from taking apart the Chrismas tree, to organizing and packing lights and ornaments, to helping to pack the tree. Please give the church a call and let us know you are planning to be there, so we’ll know how to divide the labor.
Finally, and importantly, this Friday from 5-7 pm, Lifetree Café is hosting an open house for people of the community and the church to see what Lifetree is all about. Over the last two years, Lifetree has brought in many visitors, and many new members, as well as helping to raise awareness of Central Baptist Church. It has also trained lots of folks on the Lifetree team in how to welcome people from the community who are reticent and weary of churches, and given them an entrée into church. I hope that you will take a moment or two to drop by and see what Lifetree is about, and tell the Lifetree team how much you appreciate what they are doing in our church.
About Fairview Avenue closing: Many of you have already experienced the frustration of getting to church during the week this week. There is work being done on Fairview Avenue this month, between Beach St. and US-1. We are told this will last through February 5th, so Fairview Avenue is closed during work hours Monday through Friday for this month. However, it is open to local traffic, so you can get to Bible Studies, support groups and so on. The best way to do this is to park in the West Parking lot, or to pull through the West parking lot and then around to the front parking lot. You may also get onto Fairview from Beach Street, just tell the worker that you are headed to the church. This should not affect Wednesday nights or Sunday Worship. If you have any questions, you can call Gwen, and she can give you more directions.
Blessings, and I hope that you have a wonderful week!
Sonny