As we begin this New Year our shepherds thought it might be beneficial to pause and look back over the ministry milestones of 2009.  Last year was, by any measure, an extraordinary year for our church family, as we continue to be richly blessed in so many ways.  Here are some of the major highlights:

In spite of tough economic times our people pledged over $1 million dollars to our "Building for the Future" campaign and have already given over $700,000.  On April 5 we formally dedicated our new, 10,800 square foot East Wing. We took advantage of    this spacious education facility and completely revamped our adult Bible class format, creating a lineup of seven Sunday morning adult classes and experiencing an immediate boost in participation           in this vital program.  During 2009 we also adopted a new children’s curriculum to make our Bible classes even more effective.

We added seven men to our deacon staff;  we now have a total of 35 good men serving in our growing ministries

On April 19 we celebrated a record-breaking Friend Day, with 692 people in attendance.

We inaugurated our first-ever Ladies Grief Recovery Support Group, which was a tremendous blessing to those who participated.  This ministry is being repeated during the spring quarter.

Bill & Carole Hale came from the North Atlanta church in March to hold a Recovery Seminar in March and they were very complimentary of the good work being doing in our Recovery Ministry;  Barbara Hogg and Linda Reynolds began a weekly ladies class at the South Arkansas Substance Abuse Center.

We created an all-new 62-page Member Guidebook which is being used in our newly created “Welcome To The Family” orientation class.

Kid’s Camp had its largest enrollment ever, with over 80 campers, and the other two sessions of camp were also well attended.

We had our first-ever blood drive, with outstanding participation (the next drive will be February 17).

In addition, we saw great things happening in many of our ministries.  For example, our people donated $11,901.06 in the annual “Change for Children” coin can campaign the Children’s Home in Paragould and generously provided Christmas presents for 64 young people at the Home.  In addition, our children gave $1784.14 in their weekly offerings for the Southern Children’s Home in Morrilton.

We made an impact in our community by participating in a number of good works, including providing a significant amount of supplies, cash, and man hours for the School Supply drive to provide much-needed resources for 320 children at the beginning of the school year.  We also distributed over six cases of paperback Bibles to the residents of the South Arkansas Substance Abuse Center. 

Through our community partnership with Northwest Elementary School we provided 47 winter coats for children who lacked one and supplied 15 Christmas meals for families in need.  Throughout the school year our folks also saved their newspapers, plastic bottles, and Wal-Mart sacks to be recycled to benefit the school.

Our Ladies Ministry continued to grow and hosted many classes, retreats, and fellowship gatherings all throughout the year.  For example, 45 women gathered for the fifth annual Ladies Retreat in January, and 109 attended the Friendship Banquet in November.  In addition, Jamie Gunter established a Women’s Ministry blog page on the web: it may be found at www.cacocsistertalk.blogspot.com.  Several of our women attended the WINGS conference at Harding in February and the LifeWay Women’s Conference in Nashville in November. 

In 2009 we laid the foundation for our Men’s Ministry by appointing three deacons:  Greg Humphreys, Bruce Simpson, and John David Turbeville.  They are working on a mission statement and a proposed budget for 2010.   In September of last year ten of our men helped with the Habitat for Humanity Build on September 26, and over a dozen from our congregation attend the Sportsman’s Banquet to benefit the mission efforts of the Junction City church.

Several of our men also provided funds and labor to build a ramp to make a home handicapped accessible.   Most recently, during the winter quarter Kent Jobe and Bruce Simpson began a men’s class called “Wild At Heart” to help men reach their full potential for God.

Many other programs, such as our Prime-Timers or our Scouts, had a great year.  We are thankful to God for the growth we experienced last year, and are looking forward to continuing to experience His blessings in 2010! 

MY READING LIST:  What am I reading now?

Pilgrim Heart - Darryl Tippens

Pastoral Ministry According to Paul - James Thompson

The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

Hand Me Another Brick - Charles Swindoll

Breakout Churches - Thom Ranier

Guns, Germs, & Steel - Jared Diamond

The Wisdom of History - Rufus Fears

01-11-2009

College Avenue