SunHills March Update
- Dan Haakenson
- Mar 2, 2010
The baptisms on Sunday afternoon were awesome – a huge joy and reason for celebration! The stories of these ten people who were baptized came as a clear testimony of God being at work – some who are new to the church and have just come to know the love and grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers; others who have been walking with God for some time and decided to take this important step of obedience; and students who have courageously proclaimed Jesus and have committed to follow Him. What a tremendous privilege and delight! Thanks to those of you who stepped out in baptism and shared some of your story with us; thanks to those who were there to support and celebrate; and thanks and praise to God for His work of grace through Jesus and the Spirit.
What we are about as a church is summarized by three core driving goals – love God, love people, and live the mission. The baptisms are a reflection of all three: love God – people coming into a relationship of loving God, receiving His love, and taking an important step of obedience in following Christ; love people – God has worked through people and their love of others in the stories of those being baptized, and the support and care in these relationships is vital; live the mission – seeing people receive the good news is a joy like no other; sharing that love and grace is a privilege; people were being baptized who had been welcomed by our congregation and even invited by people who have been living the mission.
Here are a few other updates and highlights under the headings of our mission:
LOVE GOD
I am thankful for the good ways that Jake is giving point leadership to worship ministries. We have great teams in this area that are serving faithfully. Thank you to all of you using your gifts in this arena! We are discussing how we can maximize our potential in this important area of ministry and are excited about moving ahead with continued growth in our worship ministries.
We’ve got some great things in the upcoming Sundays – in the next two weeks we’ll finish out 1 Peter with a look at humility (3/7) and then a final call to resist the enemy and stand strong (3/14). On March 21 we will begin Psalm 118 and will hear some excellent sharing from Stephanie Loos. March 28 is Palm Sunday, during which time we’ll come back to Psalm 118, as this Psalm was used in the preparation for Christ’s Passion Week. These are great times to invite friends – both for these weeks and also as we lead into Easter… be thinking and praying about whom you may invite.
LOVE PEOPLE
This Saturday – March 6 – is our campus work day. Please plan to come on out (8:30 am - 12:30pm)! This day will be a time of service and projects on the campus, but a big part of it is the relationships and time of serving we experience together, as well as getting to know others as we work alongside them. I hope that you will come for both, which is why I highlighted it under this heading of love people.
Nothing can take the place of personal relationships, which take a connection outside our Sunday morning gatherings. We’ve had some exciting things happen with small groups already this year. Are you connected in some way with others from SunHills outside of Sundays? If not, I’d strongly encourage you to do so. We are planning some new opportunities for this in the spring (after Easter). At this point I’d just ask you to consider making room for relational connections like these.
LIVE THE MISSION
In our services last Sunday we were able to hear from Devanand Samuel, the director of our ministry partners in India. It was good to have him speak to us about the challenges they face in their ministry for the gospel. As you think of them, please pray…. they are praying for us as well! If you’d like to discuss more about what this partnership in India means, please let me know.
Love God, love people, live the mission – we are seeing it unfold and we are striving for more…
With joy - dan
