Posts with the category “from-the-pastor-s-heart”

From The Pastor’s Heart:  The Greatest, and the Most Broken Commandment  “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me.” Deuteronomy 5: 6-7This is the foundation of all the Ten Commandments and the “Greatest Commandment” which Jesus declares in Matthew 22: 37-38.  This is also the most broken commandment not only...  Read More

Our planning team, staff and volunteers are going all out to share the Greatest Story Ever Told—The Birth of Christ through these Celebrations…Christmas Fest Celebration December 14 from 4PM-8PM:5PM and 6:30PM - A Christmas Play by our CCKids telling the story of Jesus’ birthJourney to Bethlehem HayrideInflatables, games, great food, s’mores, and a visit with St. NicholasA Ride on CC’s Polar Expre...  Read More

We have so much to be thankful for and I want to thank you as worshippers of Christ Church for the following: CC has kicked off our 500 Plus Campaign with 537 persons agreeing to invite one person per week to attend worship. This would mean 32,320 invites over the next 60 weeks! So far this year we have witnessed 58 baptisms with more scheduled before the end of the year! So far we’ve had 46 perso...  Read More

Gratitude—Our Motivation and Drive for “Operation 500 Plus” on November 17The least valued of all the virtues is one of the most impactful - “Gratitude”!In Luke 17 we find Jesus encountering ten lepers. Jesus heals all ten lepers, then we read these sad words, 17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?Now before we are too harsh on the nine lepers who didn’t return, we recal...  Read More

Our series Caring Enough To Ask has centered on this one primary question….Do we really care for our neighbors, our friends, our family members, acquaintances whom we meet everyday in our community?  Do we care about their current well being and do we ultimately care where they are going to spend eternity? On November 17,  your Campus Pastors of Christ Church will be calling forward 500 Plus perso...  Read More

"So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River …But as for me and my family,  we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24: 14-15What is Joshua Sunday?  Two Sundays ago we preached on “Authentic Christianity”.  What does it mean to truly live for Jesus?  For over 25 years the lay leaders of Christ Church and past...  Read More

This is such a powerful statement in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church and to Christ Church.  The campus pastors and I can genuinely say that the worshippers of Christ Church have been “…living by God’s power” since our summer season began:Our Ghana Medical Mission Team planted three new churches in Shama, Ghana, giving medical care to 607 people and baptizing 95 persons in three villages. We...  Read More

I love birthday parties! It is a joy to celebrate new life!  Last Sunday hundreds of persons at all of our campuses came forward to receive God’s Word spoken over them:·You are wonderfully made in the image of God.  (Psalm 139)·You are a Royal Priesthood—God’s own possession.  (I Peter 2:9)You are the Light of the World. (Matthew 5:14)So many wept as they received these powerful words which God ha...  Read More

As we enter into May we cannot go further without giving God thanks for the past five weeks of seeing the Holy Spirit move among us at Christ Church.  Easter week we witnessed historical attendance with 6,126 persons worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ and affirming the power of the Resurrection to transform lives!  We celebrated 19 baptisms in the month of April and several persons joining the Chri...  Read More

Recently I cast vision for our Leadership Team at Christ Church. Our key text for our 2024 Leadership Retreat was from Exodus 2:24-25, “God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.”   God heard the cry of the many and took action through One leader! God values the “One”.  In Luke 1...  Read More

When Jesus witnessed the religious leaders allowing scams in the house of God he turned over the tables of the money changers and said, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”   This is why Christ Church has maintained a high commitment to not allow fundraising at any of our campuses.  We believe that it is more vital to teach tithing and give of...  Read More

Many of us have been reading from Amos in our One Year Bible readings revealing God’s judgment upon Israel’s sin and rebellion.  They have mistreated the poor and forgotten God. However it is refreshing to read in Amos 9 that God wants to bring “Good News” to us: 11 “In that day I will restore the fallen house of David.  I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore...  Read More

From The Pastor’s Heart: Celebrating Joshua Sunday—The Heart and Soul of Christ ChurchNovember 19, 2023What does it mean to follow Jesus? How do we authentically follow Jesus?  This Sunday we will gather at all five locations of Christ Church and commit to following Jesus through our six-fold commitment which comes right out of Acts 2: 42-47Worshipping regularly -  vs. 46 “They worshiped together ...  Read More

From The Pastor’s Heart: Disaffiliation is Complete, Going Deeper by PREP & Sowing FinanciallyOur reading from the One Year Bible this week speaks of God’s reciprocity as we can’t expect a harvest of blessings without sowing into God’s Kingdom.  This is true not only for financial blessings as we give tithes into the storehouse of God, but it’s equally true as we sow into our own lives by reading ...  Read More

In chapter one of Mark’s Gospel we witness Jesus inviting the disciples “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people! And they left their nets at once and followed him.” Jesus could have simply done ministry by himself. After all, no one would have done ministry as well as Jesus.  Yet, Jesus knew this was not the way to multiply God’s Kingdom with major impact.  Jesus poured three ...  Read More

Our One Year Bible Reading from Colossians 3 “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds us all together i...  Read More