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"Let the Word of Christ dwell in your richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God."

Our Women’s Community Bible Study has drawn women into the Word for years, and continues to minister to women from other churches, and even some in our community who don’t attend a church. A number of other ministries (Youth, VBS, etc.) are also actively trying to find better ways to build bridges to the community, to make it easier for people to learn about the gospel. We even had some men host an evangelistic men’s study, using the More Than a Carpenter material to investigate the claims of Christ. Here are some other specific examples.

Vacation Bible School

In addition to our regular week-long activities, several families helped with VBS-concurrent and post-VBS events, seeking to offer common grounds to build new friendships.  One of the offerings was a playdate in the park, for VBS families to further connect. Another was the Coffee & Donuts, where parents met after dropping-off their children for the morning.  We made connections with several parents who attended, and one mom “just happened” to sit next to a new person, before learning that they had recently become neighbors! 

As for the week itself, nearly 60% of the kids were not from MCC, and 18% of them listed no home church.  Many, many specific prayers were answered, where the Lord helped us to love sacrificially, and learn to share truth with grace and patience. 

One particular divine appointment happened when a worker was sharing with her class, and during the lesson mentioned that her own parents were now in heaven. Two girls, siblings, then shared that their parents were also in heaven. The worker later learned that the children, part of a group of 7 siblings, had lost their parents just a few months before, in a car accident in Texas. But this spontaneous testimony helped to open the door for her to love them and bless them. The Lord had opportunities like this that were ordained for us throughout the week, and we were privileged to walk in them!

Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS)

After launching a sister MOPS group out of the one at MCC, the leadership team had a daunting rebuilding task before this year.  But Michelle, Charity, Susan, Carrie, Hope, Kelli, Jeanette, Patty and Penny have invested in the lives of moms and children with a passion!  Michelle reports that they have had many new moms from the community this year, and they have worked together to do a bit of even further outreach to the community through the Fall Fire Safety Fiesta, and globally by packing 15 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. She writes, “it has all been a pleasure and a joy to be a part of.  Many mamas come together searching for a place of connection ... and in our little group I feel like they get that and more!  They not only connect to other mamas but they get a connection to friends, community, a network of resources and the ultimate connection… to Christ’s love.”

Food Pantry

Our little Food Pantry continues to watch God open doors, and make new connections.  We have established relationships with several families, and there are a few of the monthly visitors who regularly stay to have tea, share stories, be loved on, and have their prayer requests lifted up.  There’s too much to include here, so stay tuned for a full report from Barbara later this week! 

Office

In much the same way, the Lord has allowed our church office to be a place of His presence for passersby and people in need.  We have had opportunities to pray with a Culligan man, a UPS man, and the manager at the Shell Gas Station.  We have given the Bible to a non-believer, and shared the gospel with a homeless man who slept on our back steps. 

He is teaching us to rely on Him every week, and surprising us with His blessings.

Watch for the final post in the "God's Grace in 2018" series later this week!

“... I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  ~Mt. 16:18

“... the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

                                              ~ Lk. 17:21

Christ came into the world to re-establish His kingdom. Although His kingdom is “not of this world”, yet He came into the world to do His kingdom work here. He is reclaiming what is His ... and transforming lives in the process. He works in human hearts, families, communities, and particularly through His Church. 

What a privilege to be a part of that work!  We have seen Him changing lives in 2018! Let’s rejoice, in the ways that He has been willing to use us. Let’s celebrate, as He works in our going out, our bringing in, and in our building up.

Here are a few of the highlights from this year:

Shine Partnership

As we continue to be drawn into deeper relationships with teachers and families at A. Montoya through our Shine school partnership we have had the privilege of praying teachers, parents and kids through hard times, getting food into the hands of kids in food-unstable homes, and even providing assistance to a teacher in need of running water. We have learned so much from our hard-working teachers and parents. We have watched children share the good news of the gospel with one another in the library. Throughout the year, God has provided the means with which to bless teachers with needed supplies, a child with glasses he required, tons of kids with books, and some families with necessities. 

God has often given us the opportunity to encourage and speak truth into people’s lives because they are now our friends.  He has blessed us as well, through the encouragement they have given us, and through the investment of their friendship.  Our hearts are being continually woven closer together, all to God’s glory.

The Villa Santa Maria

The Lord has really flung open the doors to our relationship with the Villa Santa Maria.  The Villa is a residential treatment community for children, located right here in Cedar Crest.  While we have had the privilege of being asked to meet with individual residents there for Bible study over the years, the end of 2017 and this year saw the doors open for us to meet with as many as 5 boys and 4 girls in two groups!  We are also getting to better know and encourage the staff.  They are sharing prayer requests with us and inviting us to take part in celebrations, mediations, and conversations!  One child from the Villa was baptized in conjunction with her parents’ visit over the summer.  And we have met with staff to ask about how to better lead Bible study and discussions with this audience.  We learn so much from this community, and are humbled by the care-givers (some believers and some not) who invest so much of themselves.  While transformation tends to come slowly, the whole community has allowed us to take a little part in it, and we see God regularly at work in them and in us. 

Our hearts are being continually woven closer together, all to God’s glory.

Missions

In 2015, we originally sent two MCC elders to Ethiopia to train pastors and evangelists with Training Leaders International.  The training was received with joy and enthusiasm, as church leaders there learned to more capably handle God’s Word, and how to study it for themselves.  And as these Elders worked with the African leaders who so love the Lord, they were blessed by their infectious spirit.  Though these interactions, the Lord opened the door for us to partner with local missionaries to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to unreached people groups in southern Ethiopia.  The MCC Missions Team investigated the opportunity, and we supported one national missionary in 2017.  This year, we began to support four local missionaries in this work of taking Christ where His name is not known.

A third elder, Vince, has connections and has served the Lord in well-drilling and evangelism in the jungles of Peru.  These, too, are opportunities to work with unchurched tribes.  In the past year, this work has expanded to include our support of a traveling evangelist.  He continually returns to visit the areas where wells have been gifted, and furthers the gospel ministry there.  Many of these areas can be reached only by float plane, and represent some very hard-to-reach places.

All of this broadens our appreciation for common grace, and grows our own hearts for God’s special grace to be known by everyone we meet!

Our real introduction to “mutual transformation” ministry came through Food for the Hungry, and our relationship with Sucre, Bolivia.  Last Spring we continued to deepen our impact and deepen our own understanding, as we sent another team to the second community that we’ve partnered with there, in Villa Margarita.  Not only do our teams get to bless and love the children and families in the community, but they are a strategic and life-giving support to the national FH staff! 

In turn, our teams are humbled by the love and joy that shower them on each visit.  Through this relationship, the Lord opened the door for us to learn about Sutisana - a ministry to women in the red-light district in La Paz.  Marvin has begun to consult with the ministry there, to assist them as they endeavor to build life-sustaining businesses for these women.  As they learn to walk in the light and grace of Christ, they are also getting skills for rebuilding their world.  This year we also helped to fund this business-as-mission endeavor for the first time, coming alongside their national leaders with love to help them make this God-sized dream a reality.

Gideons - Helps Ministry - Wood Ministry - Shield

We prayed for the Gideon’s International Scripture “Blitz” in September.  Mike Brazie reported that the combined efforts of Gideons from here and other states, helped to give away 40,000 Scriptures.  He personally heard stories of 6 people who made decisions for Christ during those days. 

The Wood Ministry has hosted several work days this fall, already involving families from the community in not only procuring wood for themselves, but in strengthening their relationships.  The Helps ministry leaders assisted a woman who needed help with her water heater. 

And the Shield ministry has raised up intercessors for our own MCC first-responders and their families.  At appreciation dinners, testimonies were shared about answered prayer and God’s presence with these men and their families as they go about their work. Along the way, in all of this, we have gotten to make wonderful new friends, and learn from the lives of others.  All of this broadens our appreciation for common grace, and grows our own hearts for God’s special grace to be known by everyone we meet!

Join us in gifting thanks for all the ways God has used MCC Ministries in 2018 and check back on Monday for Part II in this series, "God's Grace in 2018 - Bringing In."

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  ~John 1:1

When Michael and I started dating, we would write each other little notes, poems, songs, and cards.  Some were silly, some serious, but all were treasured. We each had to learn the lingo that the other used, though. He was from California and some of his terminology was foreign to this New Mexico girl.

Reading the written words of love were powerful; I still have them in a box.  Someday, I will give them to Gabriel to read. They are a reminder of our marriage, long after his death.  Although they bring sorrow, knowing he is with our Lord brings comfort.

Why?  Because God, Himself, has written about Himself too! Think about this – God gave us language, and has given us Scripture so that we can know Him! God uses His Word to draw us near to Him, that we would fall in love with Him. Words that can be read, re-read and read again!

On Sunday, we had the privilege of hearing from Mike Brazie, and the ministry of Gideons International. Hearing the testimonies of how the Lord uses His Word may also remind you of how rich it is for you personally.  If you are looking for a plan or some encouragement, we'd love to help. We want to encourage you to start the new year by setting aside some time to better know the God who created everything!

We get it: knowing where to start, how to go about reading the Bible, can feel overwhelming. But it’s worth it! Pastor Frank has compiled a list of Bible Reading plans to help you started!

Here are a few great links for Bible reading plans:

• 5-Day Reading Plan
• Reading Plan app 
• Not-free apps for reading Scripture in chunks, from "She Reads Truth"
• Many other options, from Ligonier ministries

Bruce Cockburn’s song, ”Cry of A Tiny Babe” and the book, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara Robinson are two of my favorite Christmas traditions. The words of the song and book translate the meaning of John 3:16 -18 (NKJV) for me in the everyday reality of our world.

John 3:16 (NKJV) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  God’s love is immense, big enough for the whole world, no one is left out! No one not even those of us like the Herdmans in Ms. Robinson’s story or the “shepherds and street people, hookers and bums” of Mr. Cockburn’s song are left out by God.

John 3:17  (NKJV) “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  God’s love is exonerating, absolving, saving, for the whole world!  His Love, sent to save even  “The Herdmans, [who], were the  absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.”  Page 1 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

John 3:18 (NKJV)  “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  God’s love transcends sin.  The whole world was already condemned because of sin - all of us- until we accepted God’s greatest gift of love, his own Son’s punishment redeeming us from our condemnation.  “Like a stone on the surface of a still river/Driving the ripples on forever/Redemption rips through the surface of time/In the cry of a tiny babe”  Bruce Cockburn’s message in Cry of a Tiny Babe.

"God’s love transcends sin." 

As I listen to and read these Christmas treasures, I ask myself, and maybe you will ask yourself:

What condemning sin is so great that I can’t wrap my love around the sinner? 

“We figured they were headed straight for hell, by way of the state penitentiary...until they got themselves mixed up with the church...”  page 14 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Who wouldn’t I want to accept this most marvelous gift of exonerating love? 

“...and there they sat, the closest thing to criminals that we knew about, and they were going to represent the best and most beautiful.”  Page 39 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

How can I, knowing His great love, be a light pointing a way to His gift for someone who doesn’t feel His love?  “After all, that was the whole point of Jesus—that he didn’t come down on a cloud like something out of “Amazing Comics,” but that he was born and lived...a real person.”  Page 74 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

As I answer these questions I search my heart for the dark places where I have drawn a line in the sand condemning when I should be loving.  I am hoping this Christmas to shine with the wonder of Imogene Herdman who “had walked into the corner of the choir-robe cabinet, in a kind of daze- as if she had just caught onto the idea of God, and the wonder of Christmas.” Page 79 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Have A Wonder Filled Christmas!

What is it about waking up early to see that snow has fallen while you were sleeping?   As I stand on the porch, I don’t hear anything.   Just a calm quietness. All around are fresh patches of snow that haven’t been disturbed by any critters, neither the two footed nor four footed kind. The white is so bright that even in the early hours, the darkness seems to evaporate. The cold is beginning to seep in, but I remain outside feeling no motivation to begin my day scurrying from this activity to the next. I’d rather just stand and enjoy because……it’s just so…..peaceful. 

As Jesus is talking to HIS disciples in John 14, HE promises in verse 27:

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” 

If you are like me, you can so easily find yourself asking (or in my case, demanding), “Jesus, where is that peace!?!”  

And if you’re like me, you might be just as apt to be reminded by Him that Paul told you where that peace is in Philippians 4:4-7:

“Rejoice in the LORD always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The LORD is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”     

So simple right? It’s right there for the receiving, and Paul laid out exactly what I need to do to have that peace.  

But it’s often easy to believe the world: I need to make more money.  AND build a bigger house.  AND bake food for all the neighbors within an 80 mile radius. AND participate in the 12 Dinner Parties of 2018. AND go into debt in order to have ample things for my family and friends under the tree. AND either have myself or my children participate in every activity offered in our area. AND…. AND…..no! There are no “ANDs” for what I need to do, and the list is so simple.  

Rejoice. It’s so simple, he even repeats himself….again, I will say, rejoice! Pray with a thankful heart.  

That’s it. It doesn’t require more money. It doesn’t require more time working at the office or around the house. It doesn’t require any great skills. It transcends age, work experience, or any other demographic.   Simply rejoice and pray with a thankful heart. THEN, that peace will come. 

So simple, but I get so caught up in other things that I miss it. I think that’s why I love this time of year.  Not just because it’s a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior, but I find myself finishing the story and moving ahead to what He did for me on the cross. Knowing I would still struggle with certain sins, still struggle with wanting to “be good enough”, still struggle with dying to self, My Savior still chose to leave His throne and come in the form of a baby, the weakest creation, to submit Himself to His Father’s will, to place Himself at the mercy of those around Him to care for His needs as an infant and child, to grow in wisdom and stature, to face trial upon trial, to be persecuted, to refrain from commanding His army of angels to come to His defense, to walk that painful path to His death, and to conquer death……..simply to give me life everlasting. Not only me, but anyone who will repent and call upon HIS name and Believe. 

Rejoice. Again, I will say, rejoice!!  Webster defines rejoice this way, “to experience joy and gladness in a high degree; to exult.” 

When I consider Christ lying in that humble manger, I can’t help but rejoice and pray with thanksgiving for what HE willingly has done for me, and as HE promised, HIS peace comes. Filling me completely. Causing my anxieties to evaporate.  Without fanfare. Quietly. So that in the midst of the chaos of the world…..I am peaceful. Just like the snow.