What Matters Most?

Our Annual Business Meeting was well attended on Sunday night. God was extremely good to us in 08 and we are looking forward to a great 09. If you were unable to attend, you may pick up the financial reports at the information center on Sunday.

Let me encourage you again to get involved in our Prayer Ministry. There is a prayer meeting every Sunday morning at 9:00 AM. Beginning on Friday February 6th there will be a prayer meeting on the first and last Friday night of each month at 7:30. If you have any questions about the Prayer Ministry or the prayer meetings you may contact Richard Guerrero at justprayvbc@gmail.com.

God has blessed our church with wonderful musical talent. We are always looking for other people who are musically talented and want to use that talent for God. So…we are holding open auditions for singers and musicians on Tuesday night February 24th @ 8:30 PM. If you would like to audition please make your plans to be with us. If you have any questions, please direct them to me.

This Sunday I am going to begin a new series of messages called This Is It. For the next four Sundays we are going to focus our attention on this question. What if you had just one month to live? What would change? What would take priority? I believe that it will be a thought provoking and life changing series. I will see you on Sunday for Message One: What Matters Most.


Upcoming Events:
February 5th – CLASS 101
February 8th – Men’s Ministry
February 21st – Women’s Ministry
February 24th – Music Auditions

A New Day

Sunday night is our Annual Business Meeting. I hope that all of you will plan to attend. We will look back and see how good God was to us in 2008. We will look forward to 2009. If you are not familiar with these meetings here is the gist of what happens. We will review financial statements from 2008. We will approve a budget and ministry teams for 2009. That is pretty much it. The meeting should not be long. Plan to join us Sunday night at 6:00 in the Worship Center.

One of the new ministries that sprang forth in 2008 was a Prayer Ministry. The ministry consists of a prayer meeting every Sunday morning at 9:00. Beginning in February, in addition to the Sunday prayer meeting, there will be a prayer meeting every first and last Friday in the Worship Center at 7:30 PM. If you have any questions about the Prayer Ministry or the prayer meetings you may contact Richard Guerrero at justprayvbc@gmail.com.

And finally I must say that it is an exciting day in these United States of America. I am praying for our new President. I am praying for wisdom, clarity, and guidance from the Scriptures for him. And I am praying for his safety and the safety of his family. I am praying for our country. I am praying for the unity that is necessary for us to accomplish all that is necessary in these trying and difficult times. I am praying that we would be a nation that is pleasing to God, a nation that honors God, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Upcoming Events:
January 25th – Annual Business Meeting
February 5th – CLASS 101
February 8th – Men’s Ministry
February 21st – Women’s Ministry

Faith to Change

I am praying for your week. Please pray for Amy and me. We are on a little cruise to Ensenada this week. It is an annual conference with other pastors and their wives. We will be out of the office this week.

We are talking about Venice Values on Sunday mornings. This Sunday we are going to talk about The Faith to Change. You may want to read Hebrews chapter 11 in advance of our study.

As I mentioned last week, the Missions Trip to Panama is coming up very quickly. This Sunday we are going to be receiving an offering to raise money for those who are going on the trip. Please pray this week about what God would have you give and then come prepared on Sunday to participate in this special offering. I know that you want to have a part in sending some of our folks to “the ends of the earth”. Any and all questions about the Missions Trip can be directed to Daniel & Kristen Nehrig @ jenkrist@yahoo.com.


Upcoming Events:
January 25th – Annual Business Meeting
February 5th – CLASS 101
February 8th – Men’s Ministry
February 21st – Women’s Ministry

Resolve

I hope that your New Year is off to a good start with all of your resolutions in place. My resolution this year was “no resolutions”. Don’t get me wrong. I am working on me and God is really working on me, but I didn’t want to deal with failed resolutions.

My desire for each one of us and for our church is pretty much the same every year. I want us to love God and people more. Jesus teaches us that if we love God with all that we have and love our neighbor as ourselves everything else will fall into place. Let’s attack that with some resolve in 2009. As always we will do our best to encourage you to live this way through our teaching and through our small groups and through our ministries.

We are talking about Venice Values on Sunday mornings. One of the things that we value is staying power. We will talk about staying with God’s plan for the long haul this Sunday. I hope to see you then.


Upcoming Events:
January 10th – Men’s Ministry Meeting
January 25th – Annual Business Meeting
February 8th – Men’s Ministry
February 21st – Women’s Ministry