One thing is sure.
You and I are the recipients of one generous love.
We have been lavished by God’s sufficient grace and abundant mercies, “poured out on us through in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6)
Regardless of our station in life, or the temporary seasons of trial and great difficulty that we all face, it is God’s love that continues to wake us each day. The heartbeats in our chest and the air in our lungs remind us that God has committed to keep loving us day by day, with a rhythmic, constant love, beat by beat, breath by breath.
That means there is quite a great story being written in all of our lives.
We are participants in the story of God’s generous love lavished upon all the world.
Everything that we do at Johns Creek Baptist is an attempt to participate well in that grand story unfolding around us and within us.
For example, it is for this reason that adult volunteers have committed to leading our children every Sunday morning during an all new worship experience called “Thrive.” Each week, these volunteers (under the leadership of Pastor Cass Brannan) nurture within our children a deep and abiding awareness of the abundance of God’s generous love being poured out in them every day.
For this same reason, our student ministry volunteers (under the leadership of Kep Pate-our Interim Youth Pastor), continue to build relationships with our students and walk alongside them demonstrating what the story of God’s generous love looks like and feels like through what can be the most exciting, challenging and confusing years of their early lives.
This week, even as we speak, another team of JCBC members is in the Dominican Republic. There, alongside Dominican brothers and sisters, they (under the leadership of Pastor Michael McCullar) honor the outpouring of God’s generous love by establishing two more clean water systems
The examples could go on and on. In each of the strategic areas of ministry at JCBC (Connections, Formations, Mobilization, and Worship), our every aim is to live up to and into the glorious story of God’s generous love for all the world.
You are a part of that story.
As you know by now, our church recently passed a new ministry budget for 2016. It is a courageous and faith-driven budget that will empower us to make great strides in connecting, forming, and mobilizing, and worshiping. Every dollar of this $4.3 million budget has the potential of writing amazing stories in the lives of real people.
That is why we have now begun a new stewardship drive entitled,
“Generous Love: One church. Many Stories. What’s yours?”
Every one of us has a story of how God’s great love has been lavished upon us. Over the next several weeks, we will have the opportunity to hear a few of these stories in worship. Several of our church members will be sharing how they have experienced the generous love of God, and how they are attempting to respond by pledging their support of the ministries of Johns Creek Baptist Church.
You can tell your story too! One of the simplest and strongest statements you can make about God’s generous love is to pledge your financial support for the 2016 ministry budget. More than simply pledging dollars, you are pledging your participation in what God is up to around us and in us as a congregation.
Pledging is a spiritual commitment that is possible for every member. Regardless of how large or small your pledge may be, your decision to participate in “Generous Love 2016” makes an enormous statement. It says “I’m in. I want to play a part in this amazing story being written in the life of our church.”
That is why I am boldly calling the entire JCBC family to 100% participation.
As we are reminded in scripture,
“Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. ~2 Corinthians 9:7-8
Remember, it is not a matter of equal giving, but equal sacrifice.
Pledging is something we can all do!
You can make your pledge now by clicking here.
By God’s Good Grace,
Shaun King
Senior Pastor
Johns Creek Baptist Church
