I got to hang out with the Youth Group at our Sandown this week. What an awesome group of youth people. Love them!
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" That was God's message to the people of Israel, spoken through the prophet Isaiah. Even though those words were recorded about 2700 years ago, I feel like God is speaking them to us today. Right here in Rock Church Ministries God is moving in new and powerful ways, and it is exciting!
Just this past weekend as we celebrated Easter over our three campuses we hit an all time high for Sunday morning worship services. We had almost 1000 people in total attendance. By our best count (not everyone fills out connection cards so it is hard to be exact) we had over 20 first time guests and over a dozen people prayed to invite Jesus into their lives. In light of our core conviction that everyone needs Jesus, THAT IS EXCITING NEWS!
Speaking of new things, I have two other pieces of exciting news to share with you. The first is that Dan Elliott has completed his training and District Committee on Ministry evaluation to be approved as a CLM (Certified Lay Minister). Dan has already been providing leadership for the team that leads the Rock@6 Sunday evening service. This approval as CLM will allow him to officially serve as the campus pastor for that service. This Sunday evening at 6, as a part of our Rock@6 service, we will be consecrating Dan for that role. We invite everyone to join us in celebrating this important step for Dan and for our church.
The Pancake Breakfast and Egg Hunt in Amesbury raised over $250 for the Amesbury PTO and blessed many families with the Good News of Jesus.
I also have news to share regarding Newburyport. You may recall that a number of months ago we were asked by the Annual Conference to partner in the launching of a new ministry in Newburyport under the leadership of David Kemper. Unfortunately, around the start of the year David shared with us that he was going to have to step back from leading that work.
Without David to lead that new campus, but still convinced that God has called us to reach out to the hurting people in the Newburyport area, we pushed the pause button as we began the search for a new pastor. Around that same time, Paul Nolden and his wife Lisa began worshiping with us at our Amesbury campus. Paul is an ordained United Methodist Pastor who had recently relocated to the north-east after serving a number of years in the Chicago area. Paul is a very gifted pastor who, among other things, has experience as a successful church planter. Paul’s timely arrival was a God thing and I'm excited to announce that after a time of prayer and discernment Paul has agreed to head up our new campus in Newburyport. The work will begin with building a core team and one or more lifegroups in Newburyport, but we will not be launching Sunday morning worship there immediately. So Paul and Lisa will continue to participate in Amesbury as they develop a core group for Newburyport.
New Series begins this week at all campuses!
Please keep both Dan and Paul in your prayers as they launch out in new and exciting ways as leaders in our ministry. God is doing new and exciting things at the Rock! I looking forward to seeing you all this Sunday as we launch into a new series, 1 Heart and Mind. I promise this is going to be such an awesome series you will not want to miss a single week.
God Bless,
Pastor Steve
