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What a year it’s been at MCC!  God has blessed us and used us!  We are truly grateful to be a part of His divine work of transformation. There is too much to share in just one post, so here is the first installment. Enjoy, and join us as we thank God for all He has done this year!

We saw two teens give up their summer to invest in God’s work on mission trips to hard places. Another teen gave her summer to serve mid-schoolers for the Lord at summer camp; and an entire band of youth and adults from MCC made the journey to Bolivia, to further gospel community with the families in Sucre. 

We helped to train pastors in Ethiopia, drill wells and support gospel workers in Peru, and bring audio Bibles to military personnel around the world. 

There was the MOPS ministry creating community, respite and vision for the moms who often serve unnoticed at home; while also adopting a grandmother who is the primary caretaker for her grandchildren.

The Lord raised up two new servants for Fire and Ice, our Mid-High Youth Ministry.  Through Daniel and Joy’s leadership, and the entire youth leadership team, the students studied Scripture challenging them in how their faith should be alive and visible in their daily lives.  They took on two successful service projects - with Both Hands ministries, and with Operation Christmas Child - allowing our youth to reach out and share God’s love.  Our High School Youth also shared the love of Christ in the community, by not only partnering with these events, but also sharing gospel tracts door-to-door at Halloween.  And some of our youth are already making preparations to follow the Lord in going to Bolivia next Spring.

Our VBS last summer was an overwhelming success!  We had hoped for at least 100 students, planned for about 120...and were blessed with 139!  Of these, more than 60% were from outside MCC, and over a quarter were without any church home.  While we sang, and rehearsed the gospel, and walked through “Rome” together, many children prayed for the Roman guard to come to Christ, helped hide fellow Christians from the Roman authorities, and marveled at how different and enslaving the worship was for people of other faiths in that ancient day.

The Lord continued to grow and use the ministry of biblical counseling at our church.  Couples, singles, women, and men benefitted from opening the Word and letting God minister to their needs.  One woman who was fearful and bitter is now a woman of grace and joy.  A woman who was betrayed faithfully re-builds her marriage.  A woman, in the midst of terrible family conflict, serves her church family with great joy. And a sister in the throes of depression has learned the precious gift of perseverance.

The MCC Food Pantry is under new leadership, and has really made waves!  We had wonderful support from the body, and Barbara found new ways to reach those in need.  The Pantry partnered with Shine to help provide for meals throughout the entire Christmas season for several families from A. Montoya!  In addition, we provided abundantly for a family from Edgewood whose house burned down.  Some of those we served were very impressed when they learned that all of the donations had come from members of our church, and not from a large food bank.

And speaking of the Shine ministry, it has been a thrilling year!  God has truly built a bridge between us and the community at A. Montoya this year, and it is miraculous.  Who ever heard of a church being welcomed in to serve at a public school?  But we are!  We've been transformed as we’ve hugged weary moms at food pantry events, seen God provide cakes for a cake walk, created beauty with an indoor garden in the kindergarten wing, helped transform the library, created space in the teacher’s lounge where teachers can come for resources that they would otherwise purchase out-of-pocket, served alongside teachers in the classroom, and interviewed kids as they beamed about their Science Fair projects.

God has abundantly blessed MCC this year! We are so thankful for the eyes to see His grace on us! Though every one of these ministries inevitably faced struggles throughout the year, they can look back and see God’s hand in their decisions, service projects, volunteers and growth! We will be continuing this series to share how God has used other ministries at MCC to transform lives and communities!

We’d also encourage you to look around, to consider your life and/or your ministry, and to see how God is working in and transforming them! Give thanks that He sees and meets you right where you are!

One of the keys to Christian growth is learning to exercise faith as a child in our daily life. Exercising faith teaches us to trust God and recognize the blessings that He constantly bestows upon us. We can often fail to recognize God’s gifts, and the ways that He is at work.

In Mark 10:15, Jesus states, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”  

Early in my Christian life, God taught me how to trust His promises and exercise my faith. 

Second Peter 1:3-7 says,

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises ….”

As a young Christian, I read Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret.  Hudson Taylor was the founder of the China Inland Mission and grew up in London, England during the late 1800s.  He wanted to go to the mission field in China and tried to grow spiritually in every way that he could.  (He even learned Chinese on his own.)  His employer was very forgetful and often had to be reminded to provide his earnings.  Rather than asking for his paycheck, he decided to trust God to remind his employer that he needed it. 

As he expected, a couple of weeks later his employer forgot to pay him.  He didn’t ask for his paycheck and trusted God to remind his employer to pay him.  He ate his last apple on a day when he went to minister to the poor in London.  On his way home, he was hungry and rather despondent that God hadn’t met his need.  He wasn’t paying attention to his route home and “just happened” to walk by his employer’s home.  His employer saw him walking by through the window, called him to his door, and paid him. 

Hudson Taylor saw his simple faith develop into complete trust years later as he had to depend upon God to provide not only his need, but the need of his ministry on a daily basis.

I have also seen God provide for my food, when I ran out of money.  I chose to trust Him, and He provided an unsolicited check on the day that I ate my last can of tuna.  Since that time, I have seen God work mightily to answer prayer in many other ways.  Exercising faith has made me feel like a child in a candy store of God’s goodness.

God wants to answer prayer and He wants us to grow our faith.  Consider an action today where you might see God grow your faith.

As a church, we celebrate Advent as the “Expectant Waiting for Christ”. We celebrate the birth of our infant Savior, whose long promised prophecy was fulfilled. The world’s salvation came to earth that night so long ago in Bethlehem.  

Perhaps you’ve followed along with the Advent readings, the lighting of the candles, and even reached out to the weary world during this season. If so, you might be asking yourself, “Now what?”  What are we called to do after we’ve celebrated Christ’s birth? Is this merely a ceremony that we will repeat next year? I would submit that there is far more to Christmas than just the waiting and celebration.

What we do after Christmas is just as important as what we do leading up to Christmas!

You see, there is something more to be celebrated, to be considered, to be shared….something we don’t want to miss.

Take note of the shepherds’ response to seeing baby Jesus lying in the manger of a stable, in Bethlehem, wrapped in strips of cloth, just as the Angel told them He would be.

Upon hearing about the Messiah’s birth, the shepherds went immediately.

They saw the hope of generations, just as they had been told by the angel, and they couldn’t help but respond! How often does that happen with you? If we’re being honest, I would confess that I might remember God’s call on my heart and then drag my feet when it comes to telling others. I’d ask if He’s sure I’m the one for this, maybe, procrastinate a bit…..you get the point.

But not the shepherds! Instead, they said,

“Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” And then, they acted! “ So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them” (Luke 2: 15-18)

Unlike me, the shepherds saw and heard the angels, went and saw for themselves, and then ACTED. They told everyone!  

It seems to me that the time just after Advent is where the rubber meets the road.

How will you respond to our Savior in light of this season?

Will you go out and tell the world what you’ve experienced? Will you share His story, His love and perhaps your testimony? There is no better time than right now. Don’t wait until January 1^st because New Year’s resolutions have nothing on the Gospel! This is too important to wait.

Who did you mean to share the gospel with this year, but didn’t? Who did you mean to serve, but got too busy too? What ministry do you intend to get involved in, but never did?

Did God lay a call on your heart that you didn’t act on?  

Don’t be discouraged, pray over how God would use you right now, today, and in the coming year, and then, like the shepherds, ACT!

Hurry to fulfill His purpose for you and be astonished at how He uses you, and how He transforms you, as you fulfill His purpose.

The wait is over…..the time is now.  Act on God’s heart.

For our family, the focus of Christmas was Christmas Eve.  Yes, we shopped for presents, listened to Christmas music, put up a Christmas tree, looked forward to posole and tamales Christmas Eve, spent time with Joan’s family in Albuquerque or mine in Kansas, and opened presents Christmas morning. But, from the time our children were small, we always looked forward to a Christmas Eve church service followed by a family time. 

That time started with reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (with each member rubbing the fuzzy surface of Santa’s clothes), then several children’s books built around Jesus’ birth.  Next, I would read about His birth from the Bible and we would have a short time of prayer. The kids would then go off to bed while Joan and I finished wrapping presents. 

As our children became adults and we began adding grandchildren, we continued meeting at our house for Christmas and the Christmas Eve service followed by the family time (without changes – including the mandatory rubbing of Santa’s clothes).

Then the Lord sent Joan and me to Africa and we missed the tradition for 6 years.  In the U.S. the meeting place moved to our daughter’s home since she had children and our son was not yet married.  But, other than that, Christmas Eve was the same.

In Nigeria, things were different. The months leading up to Christmas were marked by an increased rate of armed robberies. And there were no Christmas Eve services because it was too dangerous to be out after dark. So Christian families gathered in their homes early. There was little outward evidence of Christmas and, because of unreliable phone service, the likelihood that we could communicate with our children in the U.S. was slim to none.  But we had God’s Word, knew His abiding presence, and had experienced His utter faithfulness, and they were more than enough.

Now that Joan and I are back in the U.S., we still meet at our daughter’s home as they did when we were gone.  And now that we have grown grandchildren (as well as an infant grandson), the tradition still holds, always ending with Scripture.

The time in Nigeria was a real blessing to us in many ways.  One of them was in moving more of the Point of Christmas more from our heads to our hearts.  No matter the tradition of the culture where one is living, there are things that are firm and unchangeable. 

Particularly that “God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son..”  By itself, that fact is an absolute wonder!  And He did it for a purpose “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). The accounts of His birth carry evidence that Jesus met all the requirements for the long awaited Savior of the world; the only One who could reconcile us to God as we put our faith in Him.

At the end of the day, our confidence and comfort are in Him and Him alone.  What a great privilege we have to be able to celebrate His birth openly and without fear!

May the reality of His presence fill you with His peace and joy this Christmas and always.

Christmas cards! A sparkly, happy and festive reminder of the people we care about reaching out to us, sharing their news and remembering us during the Holidays. With photos of happy, smiling families or reindeer smiling gaily you may hang them on your tree, a wreath, a swag across the door, or in some other Pinterest-worthy presentation.

The idea is almost antiquated, surpassed by technology, opportunity, and convenience. Yet, surprisingly, happily, the cards still come. Keeping us in touch with loved ones in a way that still surpasses Facebook.

But the holidays pass. We take down our decorations and then what? Do those cards go in the recycling or trash? Maybe you’re crafty and add them to a holiday book……but then the book ends up in the box with last year’s and the years’ before that, forgotten and collecting dust. A sweet reminder of friends, quickly laid aside, as the excitement of the New Year comes upon us.

What if there was a different way to “use” these Christmas Cards, one with a value greater than the glitter, foil-print, gloss and ribbon?

What if your Christmas Cards became Prayer Cards?

What if those Christmas letters sharing the excitement, success, perhaps sorrow, or changes of your friends’ and family’s previous year were used as an insight on how you can pray for them? Wouldn’t that change your perspective on Christmas cards completely? For them and for you!

Several years ago, close friends of ours, prayers warriors, shared how they “use” their Christmas Cards as Prayer Cards. As the Christmas Cards come in throughout the month of December, and a few in January, they are indeed used to decorate. But once the season is past, they are added to a simple basket on the dining room table.

At each meal throughout the year one card is taken out, perhaps the card or letter is reread, and then they pray over that family or individual. Specifically. By name. By occasion; giving thanks, supplication, or prayerful request.

This family now gets our card every year! We never know what day they might be praying for us. But HE does and they do. And we take strength from their commitment to caring for us. This has become our tradition, as well.

We keep a simple basket at our table, or sometimes on the mantle, filled with Christmas cards of the ones we love as a constant reminder to pray for friends and family, near and far. We pray for their lives; for their relationships; for their salvation. This is not saving the planet. We are not recycling.

We are reaffirming and reinvesting our love and commitment to family and friends throughout the year. We are re-dedicating ourselves and our lives to use God’s precious power to help those we love.

What would it look like for your family to pray over Christmas cards? How would it change your prayer life and the lives of those you care about most?