Well church…April is here! Spring has sprung and I want to begin by pointing out a few evidences of God’s grace in answering our prayers to breathe new life:
We have had the joy of celebrating new marriages within our fellowship
Lord willing we will have the joy of celebrating new births with families
By the grace of God, we have FIVE Community Groups meeting every week and,
This last Sunday, we had the joy of welcoming two new members into the church!
Praise God for showing us there is life on the vine church! Let’s continue abiding in the True Vine who reminds us, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Whatever fruit we have experienced and will experience we credit to God’s abundant grace! I pray we will continue to experience even more together in days, months, and years ahead.
Moving into a new month, I would like to share with you two important updates from the elders. Starting this month, we will have a church wide breakfast fellowship on the last Sunday of each month. On these Sundays there will not be any HRF Institute classes for kids, students, or adults. We encourage everyone to bring a breakfast item to share as we enjoy some extended time of fellowship together as a church. We pray this will provide our ministry volunteers some rest and allow us as a church family to continue growing together.
The other important update is we now have an elder assigned as a point of contact (POC) for our various ministry teams. There will be a document posted on the Member Portal to show you which elder is assigned to which ministry should you ever have questions or concerns. Please know we as elders will continue praying for and providing oversight to these ministries as a plurality.
Below are a few more things to pray for, be on the lookout for, and get involved in this month:
Men’s & Women’s Bible Studies - The women will be meeting on Monday April 10 and the men will be meeting on Monday April 17. Details can be found in the Weekly Announcements.
Care Net Walk 4 Life - We have at least 4 members signed up as fundraisers so far! If you are not able to commit to fundraising, that is perfectly ok. Would you prayerfully consider helping a fellow member reach their fundraising goal? All of it counts toward our overall HRF goal. Also, please save the date (May 13) and let’s show our support for the ministry of Care Net together as a church family. Any questions regarding the event please contact Erika Speight or Sandy Johnson.
Peninsula Rescue Mission - There will be no meal/chapel service this month. We will be dropping off pizza for the men of PRM and resuming a meal next month. PRM is also in need of chapstick and shaving cream. Any questions about PRM please contact Brent Sanders or Nate Andrew.
USS George Washington - Pray for the spouses of those onboard the Washington as they gather inside our building for a pre-deployment briefing. The Lord has blessed us with this space and it has been a joy to serve the Navy with it in different ways. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel and more opportunities to extend an invitation to join us on Sundays for worship.
Passover Seder Meal - Please pray for our children (and adults) as we gather on April 15 for this event.
Churchwide Breakfast Fellowship - April 30. Look for more details in the weekly announcements.
Elders’ Meetings - We elders meet on the first and third Tuesday evening of each month. We covet your prayers as we meet this month on April 4 and April 18.
2023 Vision Posts - Next one is coming soon!
Members’ Meeting - This is a Members’ Meeting month! Mark your calendars for April 30th at 3PM!
May we continue striving to live God-centered, Christ exalting, and gospel driven lives together, trusting that Christ is with and for us.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Paul