38 new members joined last month. A young gal came to our college gathering for the first time two weeks ago and came to know Christ. A car was delivered every week this year to a family in need. We hosted and fed 100 homeless neighbors on Thanksgiving day. Our Wednesday program for children tripled in size. Over $18,000 was collected on Christmas Eve for the He Cares, We Care ministry. And we started 50 new Community Groups. Not a bad year.

I am taking a few days to be with my family. I will not see you this weekend, but you won’t want to miss Steve Mayer’s message about looking to God as we dream for 2008. I’m already excited to start!

“We spend an inordinate amount of time focused on shopping and buying gifts, but really, what does any of this have to do with the birth of Jesus? We have families all over the nation killing themselves to buy a tree they can’t afford, running up their credit to buy toys and other gifts, all in an effort to make someone else happy.

“What if families decided to forego gifts, and instead, used their shopping days giving back to those in need? What if more of us went into our closets, grabbed old toys and clothes, repackaged them, and provided them as gifts to those without? Instead of gorging on food, what if we used some of the dough to feed those who are in need? What if we blew off those gift cards to electronic retailers and signed up with Network for Good, and gave someone a gift card to their favorite charity?”

These are the words of CNN commentator Roland Martin. It almost sounds as if he helped put together our December series!

I hope to see many of you through the weekend and on Monday evening. I can’t wait to celebrate Jesus as we end 2007 together. Don’t forget that the whole family will be together this Christmas Eve. Come at 6pm or 7:30pm with your whole crew. Here’s the scoop:

You will have the choice of dropping your infants and toddlers off at the Promised Land or keeping them with you for the entire service.

• 3-5 year olds will stay with the family in the sanctuary for the first half of the service, then guided by our helpers to the stage for a story, and then to the Promised Land for the second half of the service.
• Kindergarten through 5^th grade will follow the 3-5 year olds, except they will be taken to the Great Room (rather than Promised Land) for the second half of the service.

May the next week bless your family greatly.

See you this weekend.

If you are a regular attender, you probably know that this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) is when we usually receive your gifts to the He Cares, We Care ministry.

This Christmas, we’re making a small change: we’re postponing the benevolence offering for the weekend, so that we can receive it at the Christmas Eve services instead. This way all donations made on Christmas Eve will be used in their entirety to serve families in our community.