Were you slower to anger than you were the week before?  Do you continue to struggle with anger?  No matter where you are, let me encourage you with a few key verses: Ephesians 4:26 and Proverbs 19:11.

I had a great first week back from my sabbatical.  One of many pleasant surprises was a visit by the president of our denomination, Dr. Gary Benedict, who spent Wednesday morning with our staff.  Dr. Benedict was excited to see the great ethnic diversity in our state, and very glad to hear that so many different backgrounds are represented in our church today.

But this diversity extends well beyond our building.  Did you know that as part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance we are among 2 000 diverse churches in the United States, and an even greater number in 51 countries?  I bet you didn’t know that our denomination supports more than 1 500 people working in various overseas missionary enterprises.  And I bet you didn’t realize that our denomination is the only Christian organization that continues to plant overseas churches who send their own missionaries to share God’s grace in other countries.  We are part of a pretty cool family…

This weekend we have the honor of welcoming Richard Herring to our services.  Richard oversees missionary work by the C&MA in several Asian countries, and he will tell you a little more about our work there during each of the worship services.  Steve Mayer will then continue our current series as he speaks from Proverbs 3.

See you this weekend!