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Hello to you all! I was sad to miss you in worship yesterday, Scott and I enjoyed a fast weekend away at the cabin with my family. As dairy and chicken farmers, these opportunities to get away are few and far between! We had a great weekend together enjoying each other's company. I trust that your Sunday together was a blessing!

Last week many of you were here for our Fall Congregational Business Meeting. Even if you missed the meeting, continue to pray for the work of the church and the many ministries within our body. May we never take lightly the responsibility that we have to steward God’s kingdom into the world through the various avenues he calls us to!

We’re back for a regularly scheduled Wednesday Roots Night this week. The Lil’ and Bridge (4-6th grade) Roots will continue their learning on the Trinity, this week they’ll be learning about God the Son - The Doer! The Youth Roots are split girls and guys for this school year. The girls are continuing in their mentorship program, “More Than Pearls” and will talk about Body Image, Acceptance and Comparison this week. The guys are defining “Kingdom Character” through the example of Jesus and other adult men in our church family. This week they’ll be talking about the characteristics of Simplicity. Pastor Kevin will be starting a new Adult Bible Study, an Advent study, for the adults. Don’t miss out on that seasonal discussion!

Then of course, we are not far away from Thanksgiving Eve Service. On Wednesday, November 26th at 7pm. We’ll hear stories of thankfulness from every generation while we worship and share gratitude together. 

That following Sunday, November 30th, begins the Advent Season. Though it will be a fast transition from Thanksgiving to Advent, we are excited about the ways we will worship together this season! The 30th is Every Generation Sunday, where we will launch into the Advent season during our combined Sunday School hour. Remember, this is for EVERY Generation! I hope all to see all ages together as we meet in the Sanctuary at 9:30am to begin with worship, then transition to the Family Life Center where households will work together to build their own Advent “Wreath,” or a simplified and modernized version of a way to display the 5 advent candles. I am very grateful for the Nurture Commission and their efforts towards these intergenerational-gatherings. They are always a joyful time together!

We will light the traditional Advent candles during each service. If you regularly attend first service, you may want to stick around after Sunday School for a few minutes as each week some Lil’ Roots will light the Advent candles using the traditional acolyte. I am sure many of you will remember this being used on the regular in Mechanic Grove worship services. 

2025 is winding down quickly. For me, this year has felt like a whirlwind, for a lot of reasons. Maybe you feel the same way. Hopefully this next week and a half can bring time of reflection and gratitude to “count the fruit,” as I often say, and see what great things our God has done!

 

What WE’RE Learning This Week: A nugget of what our Lil’, Youth and Adults Roots heard this week

Our Family Theme: God Deserves the Glory

Our Root Text: Revelation 4:11 NIrV

How Every Generation Lives This Out: This week as a family, help each other find ways that each of you can GROW in how you’re glorifying God in their thoughts, actions, words and their body. 

Check Out This Week’s PODCAST EPISODE

 

What I’M Learning This Week: Sharing what I’m reading and listening to lately

I know I shared a bit from an Alistair Begg sermon the other week, but I’ve slowly been working through his sermon series on Romans 8 and wanted to share these other nuggets with you today. 

He’s referencing Romans 8:23 and 25 which read… “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies… But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Here’s what he says…

“And what he’s saying here is, “If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” What do we not yet have? We don’t have the joy of seeing Jesus face-to-face. We don’t have the joy of being set free from the bondage to decay which is part and parcel of our lives―hence our illnesses and our sicknesses and our disappointments and so on. There is a still yet more for us to enjoy in Christ. And that not yet dimension we have been born into. Hope is a sure and certain reality not yet enjoyed. It is reserved. It is kept for us.

And in verse 23, we are “eagerly” awaiting, and in verse 25, we are “patiently” waiting. Some of us are pretty good at the eager waiting, and some of us are a little better at the patient waiting. And as you try and put those two things together, you come across a wonderful sentence like this from the inimitable John Stott, and this is what he says: “We are to wait neither so eagerly that we lose our patience, nor so patiently that we lose our expectation.” The balance is absolutely important, lest in overemphasizing the need for patience we become lethargic and apathetic and pessimistic―and I meet people like that, sadly, with relative frequency―or, in growing impatient, we seek somehow, as if we could, to force God’s hand.”

Ah yes, waiting. One of our favorite tasks (said no one ever)! Maybe this reminder of why and how we wait will help increase in you, your gratitude towards Jesus this season. Maybe it will help you grow in anticipation of the LIGHT that is coming! Amen!

 

Make Every Week Count: Parenting, Grandparenting & Spiritual Mentoring Resources

**Advent is quickly approaching! Over the next several weeks I’ll be sharing a variety of Advent resources that you may want to check out to guide you through the season.

Something to Read: ADVENT RESOURCE - I recently grabbed a copy of this book. It is a really neat Advent family devotional! Promises Made Promises Kept : A Family Devotional for Christmas

Something to Listen to: The Young Adults are working through a Bible Study by Bryce Crawford, a popular Christian voice in the youth and young adult space. (He spoke at the MVMNT Conference this summer and was one of our favorites!) Listen to this really practical, simply conversation he has with David Platt about “The Bible's Warning About the End Times”

Something to Follow: ADVENT RESOURCE - New on RightNow Media, check out this Advent series… The Wonder of Christmas by Jarrett Stephens

 

How Can You Pray? Prayer Requests and Praises from Roots Ministries

PRAY for our Roots Night teachers and leaders as they bring the Word of God to our church family!

PRAISE for our Sprouts Nursery workers! What a gift they are to our littlest family members!