Annual Meeting 2023

Posted on March 12, 2023

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Annual Meeting 2023

Acts 9:10-16

Acts 4:32-37

1 Timothy 4:1-10

Mark 6:30-44

Another church year has come and gone and we have a time now to reflect on all of the things that God has done for us in the past year. It is a time to reflect on our struggles and our blessings. It is a time for us to see our own limitations and how limitless our God is. It is a time to remember that even though we struggle in life our God is still faithful to us.

Every year around this time I am sent a report from Panera of all the leftover inventory that was donated to us. I am always amazed by the numbers that we receive and give away. We received over $40,000 in food from Panera this past year. We collect Panera to give away twice a week on Tuesday and Friday nights and there are days that we receive a lot of bread and other days that we receive very little. It all depends on how well the predicted their business would be certain days and how much bread they baked. However, what is amazing is how much just a little bit can turn into a whole bunch over a certain amount of time. $40,000 in a year averages $770 a week. However, just for another perspective. If we look at how much over all we have collected and given away over the years it would be nearly half a million dollars since we first started this ministry. To me this is nothing to sneer at. God can do a lot with just a little bit.

We have continued to record our services over this past year giving us more of an online presence. Sometimes it may feel like these recordings are pointless and that no one is really watching. However, just because we cannot see them in person with us in the service does not mean that they are not there with us and worshipping with us. Last year we added 2 more subscribers to our YouTube channel and totaled 521 views for the year. This averages 10 viewers a week worshiping with us that would not be in church otherwise if not for our uploading these service recordings. What was even more interesting to me is that the analytics also show me which services have the most views. The service with the most views this past year was my sermon titled Justice of the Lord. This sermon brought to light the truth about proposal 3 in our last election. It is unfortunate that this proposal passed, therefore legalizing abortion and child transgenderism without parental consent and up to the point of birth. This is now a law in our constitution but the battle of the right to life is not yet finished.

In our board meetings over this past year, we have had many conversations about our effectiveness in ministry through our church. We have discussed what has been working and what has not been working. One of these ministries that has been of discussion is Celebrate Recovery. When we started Celebrate Recovery it was a time within our church that it was very much needed and it had a lot of participation right from the get go. At that time, I think it was very effective and it was transforming many lives. I am pleased to say that many of those people that have began their recovery Journey with us those many years ago are doing quite well now in life and it is to the glory of God that this is so. However, over the last several years and especially since 2020, Celebrate Recovery has become rarely attended ministry and just does not seem to be an effective ministry for us right now. Therefore, we made the difficult decision as a board to discontinue Celebrate Recovery in our church.

However, the next question comes to how do we then be more effective in our ministry? How might we be used to transform lives. How might we be used to preach and spread the Gospel to the world around us. To answer this question we need to go back in history and get back to the roots of what it is to be the Church of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:32-37 we read about the early church, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”

One of the things that we have noticed in such a small ministry that we have is that not really everyone is given a chance to participate in ministry as much as we would like to see. I believe that there is something wonderful and powerful about participation in being the church to those in need. I am an avid listener of the radio when I am driving to and from work. There is only one station that I listen to and that is 103.5 WMUZ. For many years now this station has had a ministry which they have come to call the RCF which means the Radio Church Family. In the morning radio show there are people who donate gift cards to give away to listeners in need and they call this paying it forward. There are also those who call in or email that have needs and are seeking help. Day after day I listen to people who are complete strangers and just a random because God put it in their heart to help. Through the radio people are being put into connection with each other and meeting each other’s needs. Heating bills have been paid, vehicles have been repaired, wheel chair ramps have been given and installed, power wheel chairs have been given, plumbing has been repaired, yard work has been done, plane tickets have been paid for so that someone could get to where they needed to go to get a kidney transplant. There is just story after story of just random people helping other people and being the church to others just as we read in the book of Acts and all being connected to each other from the radio.

Therefore, I wonder, what if we could do that here in our own church. What if we could all participate together to help someone in need or to even help each other when we are in need? What if we could be the church? Our mission as the Living Hope Church of the Nazarene is to seek, find, and make disciples of all nations teaching them how to live and obey the truth of biblical scripture. How can we do that most effectively. I believe by being the church. We have people seeking out help all the time from our church. There are people who call and leave messages on our answering machine seeking help. For those that we can help we do so. However, I think the problem up until now is that you the Church have not been given the opportunity to hear about it. We would like all of that to change. Therefore, as needs are made known to us then we are going to take the time to share these with you on Sunday mornings and giving all of you listening both in person and online the opportunity to help meet these needs if you feel called to do so. These needs may not always be monetary. It could be just giving of your time. It could be just giving your friendship. Maybe someone may need something that you have at home and are not using or maybe you have extra and you can give according to your excess blessings. I really don’t know what or how this will evolve. However, we are trusting in God to see what miracles he may produce. We will also have a time of testimony for sharing what God has done from these miracles.

Many of you may think, what can I do for I really have very little and don’t know how I can help. The truth is that little is much when God is in it. It does not have to be just you. It can be the whole church family working together. Mark 6:30-44 tells us how much God can do with just a little. People were coming everywhere from the cities and into the wilderness to hear Jesus preach his message. With all of these people it became a humanitarian crisis just like at the recent Asbury revival. There were just too many people and they did not have enough or if any food to eat but they desperately wanted to be fed by Jesus’ words. The disciples explain their concerns about this crisis as there were so many. Jesus then tells them to give them something to eat. I am sure they were all dumbfounded by this statement. For how would any of them being who they were, ever would be carrying enough food on them to feed 5,000 plus people? Jesus asks them what they do have and they have 2 fish and 5 loaves of barley bread. With this Jesus says that he can do a lot. So, he gave thanks to the Lord and broke it, giving it to his disciples to distribute to the people. We are told that all ate and were satisfied and there were 12 baskets left over. Little is much when God is in it.

You might say that you have little but if we are truly being the church then your little bit can be added to someone else’s little bit and then all of these little bits can be added up together to become a lot of bit and therefore meeting a need. This is our opportunity to be the church as the church as a whole and see what God does. My hope and prayer is that the church hears the call for the needs and that it answers the call with the help of the Lord and that through this we will effectively share the Gospel with those whom we help. He will have the glory for us being the church he has called us to be.