PJ's January 2013 Blog

Dear Friends, Greetings to you in the powerful name of Jesus Christ! I love a good story – don’t you? There is something about a good story that draws you into the drama of people places and things that it become hard to put it down. Well – there is a story that we are going to explore this fall and winter that you will not want to miss. It is simply called – “THE STORY”! We will explore stories like stubborn Jonah and his improbable fish tale or a family patriarch named Abraham whose with filled with surprises and hope, or Ruth who showed such courage when life seemed impossible or Peter who was willing to except an invitation to step out of a boat our Job who struggled to understand the reason for suffering and how God was present in it. Yes these are the stories of faith that shape who we are as children of God. But among all these remarkable stories we will come face to face with God’s Son. We will look long into the eyes of Jesus Christ and hear his claim that he is the alpha and omega the beginning and the end. It will be in The Story that we will come to discover together how our stories of life are found in God’s Story. Our journey will begin on January 1st as we begin a period of prayer. We will pray that the Holy Spirit will open our hearts to this journey! Each day an email will go out to the members of Atonement and will be posted on my face book inviting you to be in prayer for a few moments. There will be a short devotional and some suggested things to be in prayer about during the day! This time of Prayer is followed by a kick of Sunday that will take place on Sunday – January 13th . The sermon that Sunday will be an invitation to join thousands of others on a journey that will be life changing. We will open THE STORY together to discover what God is doing and how we are part of God’s Story. Each Sunday The Story for the week will be part of the children’s message followed during the week by a number of small groups that will explore further The Story. There will be small groups at a number of times and places: *Sunday morning during Sunday School *Sunday late afternoon in a members home *Thursday morning at 6:30AM in Herbie’s Café *Thursday evening at 6:30PM in Herbie’s Café *Bethany’s Talk Group(day of the week to be announced). Your help is needed as we hope that every member of the Atonement Church Family will participate. I need helpers to work with me in preparation for this remarkable adventure in the following areas: *Prayer Ministry Organizer *Small Group Organizer * Publicity Coordinator *Sunday Morning Worship Planning *Food Organizer *Face Book Coordinator *Other Please give me a call if you would like to help me prepare for this churchwide campaign as we walk together through THE STORY!! You can reach me at 920-468-0713 or james.gerth@yahoo.com In Christ, Pastor Jim Gerth (P.J.)