This Wednesday Night: All-Church Call to Prayer

Dear Church Family,

 

I want to personally invite all of you to attend our All-Church Call to Prayer this Wednesday, April 1 from 7 to 8:30 pm in Adult 1-3. 

 

This past week, we as a church experienced grief in a large way, and we saw God work in powerful ways through testimonies of lives that were impacted this past Sunday. We need to come together to pray and ask for God’s care for the grieving families, for hearts of wisdom to be the men and women that God has called us to be, and for protection from the evil one as we as a church seek to embark on a new chapter of ministry as we move out to our new facility. 

 

Please make it a priority to attend this prayer gathering.  Divorce Care, Grief Share, and all the children’s programs will be held, but all other groups will meet in our Call to Prayer.  We will also see that there is nursery provided. 

 

Now more than ever we need our leaders, to step up, to “man up”, and to show up.  We need to call on the Lord and show Him we are serious about our dependence on Him. 

 

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday night.

 

Pastor Gay

 

 “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

Jim Elliott

 

CBC Pastoral E-Letter: March 26, 2009

Dear CBC Family,

 

     “We grieve, but not as those with no hope.” 

 

     Those words ring so loudly in my heart as we face all that we as a body have encountered this week.  On Wednesday we celebrated the life of Charles Alsdorf, who went home to be with the Lord.  Pray for Helen and Charles’ son Glenn as they process their loss. 

 

     This weekend we will celebrate the life of Alvin McNair.  The passing of Alvin has hit us all so very hard, and we have all been reminded of the brevity of life and the grace of God that sustains us.  Please continue to pray for Karla, Kari, Zack, Kassidy, and Kamaron that God will shower them all with His love, grace, and peace as they grieve the loss of their husband and dad.  I am so honored to be part of a congregation that has been expressing love in such tangible ways to both the Alsdorf and McNair families. 

 

     This Sunday, we will put on hold the regularly scheduled message series on Joshua to just come together as a body to worship, pray, and process God’s love for us.  I hope that you will be able to be with us at one of our worship services.  Please note that the 9:45 service will be combined in Allen Hall so that we can minister to one another as a united body. 

 

     Thank you for your support and prayers for these hurting families, and thank you for being available to be used by God to dispense His grace.

 

     In His Grace,

 

     Pastor

 

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To respond to Pastor Gay’s letter, feel free to post a comment on his blog. 

 

 

 

CBC Pastoral E-Letter: March 19, 2009

Dear CBC Family,

 

            I trust that God gave you great opportunities to step across the Jordan this past week!  If you are not sure what I am talking about, contact the office to get a DVD of last Sunday’s message.  I know God used last Sunday’s service to challenge me, and this has been one of those weeks of seeing Him work and see if I was willing to move out and trust Him! 

 

We will continue the series this week in the book of Joshua as we look at chapter 4.  I would encourage you to read this passage before Sunday morning so we can all be on the same page.  I think what is said in this ancient book is so relevant to our lives because it is so easy for us in the pace we live to forget and not take time to remember. Well, we are going to hit the pause button this week and take some time to remember and I think you will be blessed. 

 

By the way, speaking of blessing, this week we are going to be blessed in worship led by Pastor Jeremy and the Student Ministries praise band in the contemporary services.  Pastor Jeremy has also planned a creative element that will cause us all to think and help us to remember!

 

           So there you have it!  I hope you have a great week, and I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.  By the way, I wanted to let you know that we still have openings for the Pastor’s Prayer Team on Sunday morning.  We are looking for you to commit to pray during one worship service for one hour one Sunday per month in my office. Last Sunday we had a team at 9:45 and 11:00, and we saw the results as God worked through these people’s prayers--I have the testimonies to prove it!  If you are interested in serving in this special way that will impact lives for eternity, please reply to this e-mail to Gem Perkins and she will give you all the info you need.

 

Counting down till Sunday!

 

             A Grateful Pastor,

                Richard Gay

 

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To respond to Pastor Gay’s letter, feel free to post a comment on his blog. 

 

 

CBC Pastoral E-Letter: March 12, 2009

Greetings Central!

 

            WOW! What a week we had, between long-range planning by the pastors, meeting with people who have visions for their ministries to impact this community, furniture planning meetings, walking through the new building at least 7 times (I’m not kidding!), interacting with people seeking to be fully-devoted followers of Christ, studying, teaching, praying, and just sitting in awe of what God is doing, this has been a great week! 

 

I have to tell you I am amazed at God’s grace!  I am amazed at the awesome staff God has given us, I am amazed at the open doors that God is placing before us, and I am amazed at how you as a congregation are not pulling back!  You are inviting friends, you are giving sacrificially, and you are out there ministering to people on a daily basis.  I’ve got to say:  Central you rock! 

 

I hope you are going to be with us this Sunday as we continue our study in Joshua and learn what it means to Move On Out!  God has been challenging me in some exciting ways as I have prepared this message, and I can’t wait to share it with you.  

 

Have a great week!

 

An Amazed Pastor,

Richard Gay

 

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To respond to Pastor Gay’s letter, feel free to post a comment on his blog. 

 

CBC Pastoral E-Letter: March 5, 2009

Dear Central Family,

 

            Well I hope you enjoyed a little bit different pace this week with the snow that came on Sunday and Monday--I know that I did!  At the same time, I was really glad to be able to get back to work on Tuesday, because there is so much happening here at Central! 

 

I hope to see you this Sunday as I start a new series from the book of Joshua called Moving Out!  We are going to be looking at this practical Old Testament book and what God has to say to all of us about Moving Out in our daily lives to the Promised Land of Victory that He holds before us.  As I examine my life, I know there are areas that God wants me to experience His victory, but it seems like the giants that stand pretty strong can discourage me from that victorious life that God has provided for me.  I can’t wait to start this series, because I know that God has great things in store for all of us!

 

            Speaking of moving, I will be announcing some more details regarding our planned move out this spring to our new facility.  You will not want to miss this special announcement in all 4 of our worship services!  I was walking through our new building last evening, and as I did, I prayed for our congregation and our community.  I can’t wait till we can fling the doors open and invite everyone in!  It is going to be awesome. 

 

Please note that Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend, so don’t forget to set your clocks forward.  Enjoy the rest of your week and I will see you on Sunday!

 

An excited and grateful Pastor,

Richard Gay