Coming in January

The first Sunday of January we'll renew our covenant with God as Methodists have done for 300 years. We'll join for a Concert of Prayer at 5pm Sunday. This will be a congregation-wide time of prayer for the church, community, nation, and world. We'll be praying for a fresh move of God in our lives & families. If you have prayer needs, bring them to this event and we'll take time to pray for you. This is one way we fulfill our desire to be a church of prayer.

Sunday January 12 will be a big day. In the morning Dr. Jason Vickers will be our guest preacher. He is the William J. Abraham Chair of Wesleyan Studies at Truett Seminary at Baylor. I've gotten to know Jason over the years through participation in the Wesleyan Theological Society. With our GMC mission statement making an explicit recovery of John Wesley's focus on "spreading scriptural holiness," I've asked him to focus on that subject from scripture.

In the evening we'll join other GMC churches from our area at Linden GMC for our Area Revival. Carolyn Moore, one of the bishops elected at our General Conference in September, will be the preacher. She's been a pastor and church planter in Georgia for many years. You can get an idea where she's coming from by listening to her Art of Holiness podcast. The revival will be an opportunity to hear great preaching, meet other Global Methodists from our area, and experience a move of God in our lives.

My Sunday evening Bible study will be turning to the Gospel of John starting 6pm Sunday, January 19th. My habit is to go very slowly through the books we study, putting a higher value on building understanding than on speed. A good way to prepare for the Bible study would be to read the whole gospel. We're more likely to understand the parts once we understand the whole (just as we're more likely to understand the whole if we understand the parts). This is a Bible study that will work for beginners or for those with long experience.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Rev. Richard Heyduck