November 2014 Letter from Pastor

From the November 2013 Newsletter1 Thessalonians 1.2-3 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. These verses were used to inspire and guide our stewardship here at Cross of Christ. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who participated on so many different levels… who helped send mailings, who cooked & prepared the wonderful celebration dinner, who planned and guided us all as we learned more about God’s call to us to love one another and in doing so recognizing our time, talents, and treasures as gifts from God. And thank you to our congregational president Jim Pemberton who led us through Scripture and the act of humbleness together.

I have always loved Paul’s letter writing. He opens with a thank you to those whom he serves and so I do to… thank you so very much for all of the diverse and creative ways that you serve our Lord and Savior through our church, community and world. We are looking to strengthen our financial giving to the Paper Pantry that continues to serve hundreds of people each week. We are seeking ways to involve more of our congregation as volunteers in different ways through a plethora of choices on the time and talent sheets with even open spaces for your creativity. If you haven’t filled one out, please do! AND we are seeking ways to strengthen the consistency of our giving as stewards. Changes are happening at Cross of Christ and for these changes we feel so very blessed. Hold on to your hats as we let the Spirit INSPIRE our evangelism efforts, our outreach and service in helping others, and our spiritual practices and new opportunities!

The other day I received a phone call from Meredith Brown from Kilwins on Howard Street in Petoskey. She called to ask if I had any use for 60+ sets of advent candles. I said of course and so with gratefulness I picked up 60+ sets of advent candles for our congregation! The community knows who we are and what we are doing and they celebrate with us! We are receiving donations from brothers and sisters in Christ towards our paper pantry and some of them don’t even live in our area, but out of state. Your mission is loud and clear! We are so very blessed and so THANK YOU! Thank you for your faithfulness to our Lord and Savior and all of the ministries here at Cross of Christ! We are a church in reform, always evolving to serve and love the Lord our God. Change is inevitable as the Gospel INSPIRES us in so many different ways. This is an exciting time! We are visioning! Small groups will be receiving information about visioning for 2014 on. We are looking for a core group of people who will help lead the vision…. do you feel called to work with the congregation and hear where God is calling us to be? The process is so very exciting and blessed with prayer, intentionality and listening to the power of the Holy Spirit for INSPIRATION!

Thank you all! We have a blessed ministry with wonderful folks….keep the doors open and let us be INSPIRED together! We are indeed one in the Spirit!

Pastor Sherry McGuffin 
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