December 2011 Update
December 13, 2011
Christmas Greetings!
As we enter this season, I want to thank you for participating in giving life. You see any financial offering we give builds the Kingdom of God and glorifies the King. That is why we are told to bring our offerings to Him. When we give we are not unlike the Wise Men who came from the East seeking the newborn Savior, “they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts” (Matthew 2:11). Many of you have opened your treasures and supplied the resources to reach and touch others. This is our worship.
Since we opened the Upland campus this fall, we have seen our attendance skyrocket! We have added nearly 600 people to our average attendance this fall. If we just look at the statistics, we miss the reality of what this represents. We received almost 1000 calls into our healing and caring department during our series on relationships. These calls are from hurting and needy people who Jesus has sent our way so we can carry on the work He has entrusted to us.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” is a statement Jesus made right before He communicated His reason in coming to earth. As we enter into the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas, it’s important to recognize what Jesus said was His purpose in coming. He says in Luke 4:17-18:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
These verses have been our call at Water of Life for more than 20 years now. They define what we are as a church, and they are the basis of our core values of Caring, Healing, Equipping, Sending, and Relationships. It is this mission that is born in our Passion for God and Compassion for People.
It’s your faithfulness to Jesus’ mission statement and our core values that has made 2011 a banner year of ministry in spite of the recession. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us as a church family and we are blessed to be a blessing to others.
There's so much to share I can only hit a few highlights:
• Food Warehouse – Your gifts are feeding 1000 hurting families in our community regularly.
• Counseling – Your 250 members of Shepherd’s staff provides thousands of free counseling sessions to our church family and community.
• Support Groups – Dozens of volunteers lead these specialized small groups that focus on acute needs. We support everything from Abuse to Addiction and everything in between.
• Baptisms – Hundreds of people demonstrated their new life in Christ through baptism this year.
• Joining our Family – Hundreds have attended DWOL in 2011 and are members in our church.
• Small Groups/Classes – Several thousand of our church families are meeting in homes and in classes on campus as a means to grow.
• School of Ministry – Nearly 500 people are taking our equipping value seriously and are preparing themselves to be better servants.
• Our Children's, Jr. High, Senior High & College Ministries - We are shaping thousands of young lives and seeing wonderful growth in the hearts of our next generation.
• Upland Campus – Nearly 400 people have discovered WOL at Upland. This not only positions us well to minister in that community, it has freed up seats at East Ave; and boy did they fill up fast.
• Love, Sex, and Dating – Hundreds of individuals and families have been deeply touched by God’s Spirit as we have taken an honest, transparent look at how we relate to one another.
• Bursting at the seams – Because the Spirit of the Lord is upon us we are experiencing record number of people attending weekend services; participating in classes, small groups, outreach, and serving our community.
With all that said, the importance of UTWWH can’t be overstated. God has been so gracious to us at WOL and it’s clear that God’s intent is to continue to bless Water of Life with the people He wants to transform through the ministries He has given us. It’s critical we continue to make progress in securing the land at Sierra, in order for God to accomplish everything we believe He wants. With so many lives needing touched, I wanted to underscore the importance of your faithful giving to UTWWH. The 40 acres at Sierra will provide the ministry space and place for us to reach thousands more with the transforming power of Christ. Sierra represents our future and I encourage you to continue to keep that vision in place; pray that we can accelerate our relocation plan; and certainly continue to be generous in your giving to UTWWH.
I love you so much. It is a deep privilege to be your pastor; and its all for the purpose of laboring Until the Whole World Hears.
Merry Christmas! Pastor Dan
Post a Comment
Comments for this post have been disabled.