Friday, December 18, 2015

December 17, 2015 - Concrete Slab, Christmas Eve, End-of-Year Giving

Hi Everyone!
We have a slab!! The slab for the expansion was poured on Tuesday. Weather permitting the blocks will be delivered and the masonry work will begin on Thursday or Friday. Progress on the renovation continues with framing, HVAC installation, electrical work and security system modifications. It's exciting to watch the dream take shape and envision how God will use our renovated and expanded space to grow his church. What a blessing it is to be able to do this project! I am grateful for the generous and faithful stewardship of our church family that is making this possible. 

I was surprised by my kids. I don't remember exactly when it happened but there was a time many years ago when my kids started giving each other gifts at Christmas. Allyson must have been about 9 or 10 and Sara about 7 or 8. They first started making gifts for each other. It was the cutest thing to see them secretly working on something for a week or two before Christmas to give to each other and to their little sister, Emily (3-4 yrs.). It was usually a custom work of art, but sometimes it included a trinket from the "Dollar" store (purchased with their money). I loved watching there faces as their siblings opened their love inspired gifts. They enjoyed giving to each other more than opening their own gifts. As they grew their gifts got more expensive, and they often saved for months to buy gifts for their family members. I was surprised by their generosity and by how much they enjoyed giving. As they have become adults they have maintained that same spirit of giving to each other and to God's work. They learned that giving is more rewarding than receiving. That's what Jesus said would happen to all who give, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35). 

I urge you to give generously and be blessed this Christmas. Here are some possibilities to consider at Canopy Roads:
  • Special Christmas Eve Offering. We will give the first $5,000 of the Christmas Eve offering to a small local church to pay for a much needed new sound system. Their old one is completely dead, and they spent all of their reserves on essential building repairs. 
  • International Missions (Lottie Moon) Offering. 100% of the Lottie Moon Mission Offering goes to support over 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries outside of North America. Envelopes for the offering are located in the backs of chairs in the worship center. 
  • Church budget or All In Campaign. We are still a little over $10,000 from meeting our operating budget for this year. We hope to meet that goal this Sunday. We need an additional $263,000 above what is currently pledged to the All In Campaign to pay for the construction costs. Wouldn't it be great to knock a huge chunk of this off before the end of the year?
Let's finish the year strong! This is a great time of year to catch up on your tithe or give a generous "above and beyond" offering to God's work. Please remember that in order to qualify for tax credit this year, donations must be received in the church office, processed online or postmarked by December 31st. The church office will be closed December 25th through January 1st.
Christmas Eve Services will be at 5 & 7 PM. Invite unchurched friends and family to attend with you on Christmas Eve. This may be the easiest ask all year for someone who is unchurched. Pray and invite! By the way, we need help with childcare at each service. Can you come to one service and volunteer to serve at the other? If so, email Diane Abrams to tell her which service you can volunteer.

The Christmas series, "Our Coming Savior" continues this Sunday. This week the focus will be on Mary and Joseph.

Blessings,
Matt

Thursday, December 3, 2015

December 3, 2015 - Movies in the Park, COOKIES!, Parent-Child Dedication

Hi Everyone,

Movies in the Park is a little over a week away, and we still need about 200 dozen cookies!We also need lots of volunteers to help with set up, take down, serving food and drinks, greeting, and more. To volunteer to bake cookies or work at the event, email Cathy Dangerfield. Begin praying now for beautiful weather!! That's by far the most critical part of MITP, and we have no control over it. Pray that God will bless our preparation for the event and lead hundreds and hundreds of unchurched people to attend. Post about MITP on Facebook and Twitter. Give a personal invitation to your friends, neighbors and work associates. It's one of the best, free family events of the Christmas season in Tallahassee. 

We will have Parent/Child Dedication during our morning worship services on Sunday, December 13. The purpose of this ceremony is for parents to commit to teach their children about Jesus and the Bible and bring them up in a loving, Christ-centered home. If you have an infant or other preschooler who has not participated in the Parent/Child Dedication, I would love to talk with you about it. Just email me. 

Big changes have taken place with the construction this week. The demolition of the kitchen should be complete by the end of the day tomorrow. Man, does it look different in there! With the walls and ceiling tiles gone, it's apparent how big the new cafe and lobby will be. It's going to be awesome!! Yesterday during the rain the footers were poured for the new addition. It was messy for the workers but the rain did not adversely affect the integrity of the concrete. The concrete supplier made adjustments in the formula of the mix so that it would work well in the wet conditions, and the workers used a sump pump to remove water from the trench as the concrete was poured in. Next week the rest of the foundation will be completed.

Watch your step! 
If you come by to look at the construction during the week, watch where you step to avoid stepping on nails or tripping over debris. It's best to keep children out of the demolition areas. We don't want anyone to get hurt.  Please do not walk through the demolition areas and into the worship center or preschool rooms. We want to keep these areas as clean as possible. 

New Christmas series continues this Sunday. I will be teaching about King Herod this week. He did everything he could to eliminate Jesus and stop God's plan to give us hope, but he failed. Is there a "Herod" in your life who is threatening to kill your joy or steal your hope? Join us this week for a fresh look at this part of the Christmas story.