Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
A gentle reminder: I will be away on Sabbatical beginning on June 1st, returning on September 1st. The Church Council recognized my right to a Sabbatical back in December of 2024 (following 7 years of service since the end of my last Sabbatical) and granted that I take my six-month Sabbatical over the course of two summers – 2025 and 2026. This allows me to spend time together with my family when they are out of school. So, this is the last update before my Sabbatical. Elder Wu will be sending updates throughout the summer. I’ll be back to providing updates in September. If you do need to talk with a pastor or elder while I’m on Sabbatical, reach out to Elder Wu, Minister Charles, Minister Jin or the Senior Pastor, Sean Lee. They are glad to help if you have an urgent pastoral care need.
My hope for you this summer is that you will not just come to church, but that you will be the church. My hope is that you will work together towards our vision of Equipping the Next Generation to Advance God’s Kingdom, while fulfilling our vision to glorify God, love people and transform lives through Christ. And, by way of reminder, please work to fulfill the measures we have as a congregation. You can find that list here. As we all work to serve the Lord our God, may be become more and more like Him so that others around us are drawn to him, count the cost and begin to follow Him through our work and witness.
Please continue to pray for the nations of Iran and Israel/Gaza and Ukraine/Russia and Sudan. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. And https://worldrelief.org/blog-prayer-for-israel-and-gaza/ And here are other prayers for peace in general: https://worldrelief.org/prayers-for-peace-in-the-world/ Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza and Lebanon, and Sudan, and Iran and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age.
Further announcements can be found in the weekly spotlight. And other church wide announcements can be found in our weekly bulletin.
For Prayer:
1. From Bishop J.C. Ryle – “To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction…It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.” Please join our Wednesday night prayer meeting (7:45 – 9:00 pm) even if you can’t participate the whole time.
https://zoom.us/j/758587937?pwd=aS9sZUdxcm1janNNM2I2aXJ6Smx2QT09
Meeting ID: 758 587 937
Password: 030086
Join by phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
2. We’d be glad to pray for you. If you need prayer, you can submit your prayer request via the following link: https://www.cbcgl.org/pray/
In Christ, your servant, SDG,
Pastor Nathan Willems
Associate Pastor of CrossPoint Community – A Ministry of CBCGL