01 2022 In Review

January 01, 2023

Christopher C. Freeman

[Slide 1] 2022 in Review 1.) [Slide 2] The challenges of 2022 a. Sickness i. COVID – still (eyeroll) ii. RSV outbreak iii. Flu outbreak iv. In early January we actually had to do a reset Sunday specifically inviting only 100% healthy members to come to church. b. Physical issues i. Surgeries 1. Knees 2. ACLs 3. Cataracts ii. Injuries 1. Burns 2. Broken bones 3. Torn tendons c. Long trials i. Kathy LaForest was diagnosed with cancer this year ii. Linda stopped being able to walk this year iii. Eric’s heart started beating out of rhythm iv. Sandy Henig is enduring respiratory problems. v. Some that are not listed here are because the Lord freed them of their trails by taking them home. d. Deaths of church members, family and friends. i. Marilyn Ghekiere after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, was finally allowed to go home. ii. Warren, after a long battle with lung cancer and two strokes, was taken home too. iii. Others of us have lost fathers, mothers, brothers, neighbors and long-time friends. e. Eldership transition i. Although this certainly belongs into the blessings category… ii. There are still, even now, some growing pains as we understand what being Elder Led means practically. And those growing pains are a challenge for both the congregation and the Elders. f. Increasingly antagonistic culture toward the gospel and God’s people i. Not only do we see brothers and sisters cancelled, shouted down, and ostracized for holding biblical viewpoints on various matters ii. But this November the state of Michigan proved itself to be a very deep shade of blue. And while political parties and our affiliation to them is not a biblical matter directly – and even though, red or blue, there are things we as Christians ought to speak up to change – certainly the blue party is the greater of the two evils. iii. Nevertheless, our state has continued to pass some of the most aggressively anti-God measures while maintaining the offices of members of a party that is definitively against biblical ideology. iv. This whole thing also belongs in the blessings category. For in the darkness – the faintest light shines very brightly. And our faith, our hope, our love – is that tiny little light. 2.) [Slide 3] The blessings of 2022 a. Teaching – LOTS of teaching praise the Lord! i. Love and Respect study completed – perhaps another round on the horizon? ii. We invited Dr. Grady McMurtry from the Creation Worldview Ministries to be with us for 3 nights in April iii. We completed our investigation of the concept of Sacraments and seem to agree with the early Reformers that both the Lord’s Supper and Baptism are Physical signs of spiritual truths that God uses to dispense grace in order to grow our faith as we receive them. iv. We took several weeks to look at what the bible says specifically about Deacons. As a test – what is the difference between Deacon with a Capital D and deacon with a lowercase d? v. Foundations has gone from Amos to Micah, to II Kings and now in Hosea vi. In Sunday worship the Lord has taught us in His word as we finished 1 and 2 Peter and began the book of James this year. vii. Ladies’ bible study studied the first 11 Genesis viii. Senior Saints study through prominent people in church history. ix. Wednesday night prayer group’s expansion on the sermon has been a huge blessing allowing me to keep my sermons a little more approachable to more people. x. Probably more bible studies and gatherings that people don’t tell me about. Which is kinda great actually! b. Teaching being applied and the church growing! i. In Application of the teaching on the Sacraments 1. Elliott May was baptized this year, making a public application of the promise of Christ’s blood washing us clean and creating new life in Him. 2. We celebrated the Lord’s Supper 4 times this year together and have officially established a spring-time catered meal as a new church tradition. And perhaps a Lord’s Supper Christmas tradition is forming too. ii. As a result of the teaching on Elders and Deacons 1. We officially received 6 men as Elders of our church this year. We (The Elders) hit the ground running and have been attempting to Shepherd you for the last 8 months. (Wow – it has only been 8 months. We’ve done so much if feels longer) 2. As a direct result of the teaching on Deacons we have seen unprecedented involvement and activity as people from every corner have stepped in various ministries from coffee preparation all the way to visiting the sick and shut in and everything in between. We had a work day that was easily the biggest we’ve seen in many many years. And I give God the glory for showing us that Christ’s people are servants to each other. That is not outsourced to a person with a title. The title Christian is all that is required to serve one another. 3. As a direct result of the teaching on Deacons we were able to investigate and receive our first Deacon under the Elder Led model. Doug Bogen took office and has already begun organizing and facilitating ministry primarily toward the buildings and grounds. c. Missionary Moments and Movements from and to Asia Pacific i. We were blessed to have Eric and Cherie Daum with us for the first 5 months of this year. They have since gone back to Asia Pacific and we think are getting close to finding out where God would have them spend the next several years of ministry. Also – Cherie is pregnant with baby number 4. ii. The Behrendts spent the first 7 months of this year living in our parsonage. They too have now gone to the field in Asia Pacific and are doing a lot of language and culture learning. iii. We were blessed to have the Hattons visit us this year in August. They gave us an update on what is going on with the Amdu people and how we can pray for them. Two of their children are back in the states to attend Ethnos school. d. Membership additions i. Although we started the year by losing the Wrights who moved up to Wisconsin ii. We have added 7 new members join our church this year! iii. Because we have added so many, and even though we released a 2022 member directory – it is obvious that we need a 2023 member directory. That is coming soon. e. Praise Team expansion i. We started using a new presenting tool this year. It has worked out very well and we discovered that the free version of it is probably all we really need! ii. We also added 4 new members to the praise team this year! iii. And in November we did a night of praise which was basically an interactive praise team practice. It was actually kinda great and will most likely be repeated before winter’s end. f. Babies – We’ve had several grandchildren born this past year. g. Church finances held strong i. For having to up our budget going into 2023, our finances held strong this year. ii. We brought in more than we budgeted and we spent less than we budgeted. iii. Let that be an example for you and your family. h. Things Change and sometimes even for the better