Prayer is this incredible communication tool that God has given to keep us in constant connection with His loving heart and grant us access to His awesome power. We pray in faith at Faith. But does prayer actually work? Does God say He will answer every prayer? Is there a special formula or method for always getting God to respond? What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? Is there a right and wrong way to pray? What do you do when prayer seems like it is a waste of time? Does the Holy Spirit have anything to do with an effective prayer life? Join with us each Sunday as Pastor John helps us discover from the Bible the life empowering answers to these and other questions. Here’s the truth: The stronger your life of prayer the stronger your life, period!

Special Christmas holiday times:

Sunday, December 18th @ 9 & 10:45am

A special morning of worship & celebration focusing our hearts &

minds on the CHRIST of Christmas!

Christmas Eve @ 5, 7 or 11pm

Enjoy carols, candles, candy canes & celebration as we explore &

enjoy God’s perfect Christmas gift!

Sunday, December 25th – celebrate Christmas at home

No regular worship services.

Sunday, January 1st @ 10:45am

Combined worship service to start the new year!

Prayer is this incredible communication tool that God has given to keep us in constant connection with His loving heart and grant us access to His awesome power. We pray in faith at Faith. But does prayer actually work? Does God say He will answer every prayer? Is there a special formula or method for always getting God to respond? What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? Is there a right and wrong way to pray? What do you do when prayer seems like it is a waste of time? Does the Holy Spirit have anything to do with an effective prayer life? Join with us each Sunday as Pastor John helps us discover from the Bible the life empowering answers to these and other questions. Here’s the truth: The stronger your life of prayer the stronger your life, period!

In the Old Testament, God’s people demonstrated their thankfulness to God through various “thanksgiving” offerings that they could give to God at any time of their own choosing. But there was also a special thanksgiving event that all of Israel entered into together as a nation. It was called the Feast of Sukkot. Sukkot means booth. According to Leviticus 23:33-44, this feast occurred in October at the close of harvest and lasted seven days. Its purpose was to thank God for His current faithfulness as demonstrated by the ingathering of the crops He supplied. And, it also served to remind Israel of God’s past faithfulness when they lived in booths (or tent-like structures) in the Wilderness prior to their entrance into the Promised Land. During Jesus’ day, the Jews would build a booth or shelter on the flat roof of their home. The structure was an open framework made of slats with green branches woven into the frame. The inside was ornately decorated by the children using flowers, fruits and vegetables. During this holiday everyone feasted together and no one was allowed to go hungry. Celebration and joy were the order of the day. Israel loved this time and it came to be labeled by the rabbis as The Season Of Our Rejoicing. The first observance of Thanksgiving by the Pilgrims in the United States is a direct spin-off of Sukkot taken from the pilgrim’s reading of Moses in Leviticus 23.

In the New Testament, Jesus gave to His followers a new thanksgiving event that we call communion. In Luke 22:19-20 we see that Christ’s sharing of the bread and cup (commemorative of His broken body & shed blood) grew out of what the Jews called a sacrifice or prayer of todah … of thanksgiving to the Father. Each time we celebrate communion together we are thanking God for the indescribable gift of His Son’s sacrifice for our salvation.

For the Christian, thanksgiving to the Lord as a lifestyle is so significant that in Ephesians 5:20 & 1Timothy the Apostle Paul teaches us to …

 Always give thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

to God the Father … No matter what happens, always be thankful,

for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

I find it very interesting that ancient rabbinic teaching holds that in the coming messianic age, all the sacrifices will cease, but the thank offering (todah) will always be celebrated. For me, America’s Thanksgiving Day is the most Biblical-like thing we do together as a national holiday.

This Thanksgiving I want you to know that Becky and I are truly thankful to Jesus for bringing us to be here at Faith with you. It has been two years now. Just today someone asked me if we are glad we came. Without hesitation I was able to give a resounding absolutely yes! The fellowship here is sweet. Unity is prevalent. Our leaders are Christ-like. Our worship is in spirit & truth. People are being saved, baptized & discipled. Small groups are increasing. Outreach to the community both locally & globally is growing. We are becoming the sort of house of prayer that Jesus described. New people keep coming. The Word is being taught and joyfully received. The Holy Spirit is transforming lives. Yes … we are very grateful to be here with you.

I want to invite you to our annual Faith Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, November 20th, at 5:00 pm. It is a simple light meal (soup, salad, rolls & dessert) for everyone that is part of the Faith family. In addition to the food, we will worship God with songs and prayers of thanksgiving praise. Please, prioritize this on your calendar.

Finally, thank you for your financial partnership in this ministry. Our goal is to give faithfully and spend wisely in service to Jesus. It is amazing to think that what we do with our finances today can literally impact all of eternity. Your help in meeting and (Lord willing) exceeding our budget goals is vital. As you will note from looking at the figures below, we do need your help. May God bless you to be His blessing.

To start with, I am feeling some healthy fear. And that is a very good thing. As we learned in the first message, prayer breaks down our self-reliant pride, which will ruin a person if it isn’t brought into submission to Christ. Honestly, I ask myself: Who am I to lead this? It isn’t like I am some championship prayer warrior. I need these prayer truths as much as anyone else. There is no way I can do this for God. I need Him to do this through me. So, please, pray that the Lord will graciously use me to help us all clearly hear & see Him as we dive into the Word’s rich teachings on prayer.

Another feeling I am having is tremendous excitement. What if Faith didn’t just learn about prayer, but really began praying to the Lord more than ever before? What if our prayers were filled with more faith and anticipation of God than ever before? What if in this process of prayer we actually became closer to the Father, more like Jesus and more under the Holy Spirit’s control, than ever before? What if through experiencing praying together we actually learned to love & support one another more than ever before? How do you think our Savior would feel about all of this and respond to all of this? Here’s what I know. When God’s people really do decide to accept His invitation to meet with Him in prayer, then the Lord is the most engaged participant of all! He is also the only one who is all-powerful. He is also the only one who possesses all wisdom. He is also the only one who has nothing but total love in His heart for you and me. Hmm, it is safe to say that the more the family of Faith prays (privately & together), then the more we will be actually giving up our puny human expectations and grasping what it means to anticipate God alone. And the more we do that, well, the more Almighty God will astound us!

The great evangelist D.L. Moody once said: Most prayers need to be cut short on both ends and set ablaze in the middle! I love that. And I see that reflected in the short but amazingly powerful prayers of the Bible. So, to that end I pray for Faith …

Does God really answer such prayers? With tears in my eyes I tell you that indeed He does. Right in the midst of penning this prayer for us to share, I received a phone call from an anonymous donor couple. For years the Lord has been speaking to their heart about making a special gift to a special need. Their call was to inform me that they wanted to contribute $6000.00 to Faith, over & above their regular tithe, to enable us to hire an intern from Adelphia Bible School to help our youth ministries reach more students for Christ. Astounding. Only God. Your God. What timing He has.

As always, I want to thank you for your partnership in this wonderful church family that we call Faith. Under the leadership of Jesus, we are seeing lives transformed for eternity. Everything you do and give to this ministry is being put to effective use as we share the Gospel of Christ with our community and world. The Lord has chosen to work His plans through our tithes & offerings. I ask you to continue to join with Becky and me as we commit to financial faithfulness in giving to God right here at Faith. And as you give, remember God’s promise from 2 Corinthians 9:8…

God will generously provide all you need.

Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

A life of generosity like that is truly a “God thing!” I want my life to be a God thing. How ’bout you? Love ya!

Your brother in Jesus,

John K. Nagle

Lead Pastor

In terms of the Home Connection Groups, they are opportunities to meet, in homes, during the week with other believers from our church family in a small group setting. The primary emphasis is on godly relationship building, supported by a secondary focus on Biblical application from the Sunday messages. These small groups (8-14 adults) get close to one another through prayer, discussion of the Sunday morning message from an applicational perspective, and active support of one another in the bonds of loving friendship.  They are a great way to develop a “sense of knowing & being known” that normally can’t happen in the context of the larger Sunday morning worship setting.  Since Jesus Himself and the Apostle Paul both “did life” in the context of supportive small groups, I’d encourage you to do the same.  You may sign-up to join a Home Connection Group at the Small Groups registration table on Sunday mornings.

The Adult Spiritual Growth Groups occur on Sunday mornings and run concurrent with our worship services.  The idea is to give every adult at Faith the opportunity to attend both a worship service and a growth group, all in the convenience of a single morning timeframe. These groups are larger than a small group but still quite a bit smaller than a worship service.  Their primary focus is to help teach Biblical truth that we need to know about God and His will for all the many arenas & issues of life.  As a secondary focus, they do help you get to know more people at Faith, though usually not as quickly nor intimately as the small groups.  I’ve included a list of the classes offered this next quarter, starting on Sunday, September 11th.  As you look at all the classes you will see what I’m talking about.  They are excellent opportunities to learn how to allow Jesus to truly be our Lord in areas of life where we all need growth!

Having pastored many people for many years, I can attest to you that Christians who wholeheartedly involve themselves in the worship service, along with a relationally oriented small group and a teaching oriented growth group, are definitely headed in the right direction when it comes to spiritual health.  These involvements are time investments that yield significant eternal dividends!  Faith’s hope & prayer is to effectively train our people to be those that the Holy Spirit is free to use to reach our community for Christ.  In light of the ten year remembrance of 9/11, the importance of such an undertaking cannot be emphasized enough.  If our country is to survive, it must dramatically move toward the ways & teachings of Jesus Christ.  The only ones who can help make this happen are strong, spiritually robust followers of God who are living examples of how Jesus can wonderfully transform lives!

Thank you for your financial support of the many ministries of Faith.  We never take what you give for granted.  And, I can tell you honestly that we prayerfully strive to spend everything you give in the wisest manner possible.  Our goal for this ministry remains the same: Faith is here to lovingly help people everywhere become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.  Please, we really do need your ongoing financial faithfulness.  May the Lord bless you for your generosity!  I do love you and thank the Lord for you!

Your brother in Jesus,

John K, Nagle

Lead Pastor

Here are the names of the men that your current Leadership Team believes the Lord would have serve as Faith’s initial team of elder leaders.  The brothers are:  Tim Larson, Jeff Dial, Mark Young, Brian Aaby, Curtis Benner, Ellery Heer, Jack Cooper, Rod Allen, Greg Plett, Gary Stanton, Greg Sisley, and myself.  Each of these men were nominated by individuals in our church body and were interviewed extensively by a select team of godly leaders currently serving within Faith.  The evaluation revolved around Christ-like character, sense of calling, team compatibility, leadership competence and relational camaraderie. This group represents a healthy spectrum of ages, experience and godly vision for Faith’s future in service to Christ.  All of these candidates have sought the Holy Spirit’s inner confirmation and genuinely believe they have received “the green light.”  We will produce a short “bio” on each of these men which will be available soon in our Sunday program.  If you have any questions that you need answered about these candidates or desire more information about them, please feel free to speak with them personally.  You’ll find them to be Christ’s men who will do their best to help you get better acquainted with who they are and how God has been working in their lives.  The church office will gladly help you if you need contact information.

On Sunday, August 21st, the church membership will be asked to validate, by ballot vote, each of these brothers individually.  The one exception to this procedure involves me as lead pastor.  Under both the old & new constitutions, the lead pastor serves as an automatic member of leadership by virtue of his call to the office of lead pastor.  That’s why my name will not appear on the ballot.  The results of the congregational vote will be available on Monday (August 22nd) through the church office and will be published the following Sunday (August 28th).  Three Sundays later, in our morning services on September 11th, the newly formed team of elders will be recognized, prayerfully commissioned and will officially take office. 

There are few things in any arena of life as important as leadership.  I have always believed, and studies verify, that what leadership becomes in “microcosm”  the larger group will become in “macrocosm.”  That’s why it is so important that at Faith our team of elders be God’s chosen men who are visionary, unified, courageous, gifted and called of Christ to exemplify for us, through their own life example, what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide this whole process to the conclusion that He has in mind. Pray that our new elders will be used mightily to help Faith anticipate God so that God will astound us with a ministry outreach that transforms more lives for Jesus than we ever imagined possible!  The truth is, this is the only kind of church worth being.  My soul tells me that this is what the Lord has in mind for us and it is what we have in heart to be for Him.

As I close, please know that your financial giving helps us to move forward in our quest to see people come to Christ and be discipled to walk in His ways.  We have just wrapped up a wonderful Mega Kidz Camp.  This Fall we will be launching seven new adult Sunday School classes.  I will be starting a new series on prayer that will Biblically teach us about the importance of prayer, the power of prayer and the “how to” of effective praying.  More small groups than ever will be starting at the same time as well.  So, indeed, your investment of time, treasure & talent is well worth it!  As the summer progresses, I would ask you to stay true to your commitment to help Faith operate faithfully “in the black.”  You have no doubt noticed that each month we enclose  self-addressed “Faith” offering envelopes for your convenience.  Please feel free to use them.  May the Lord bless you as you follow Him.

Luv ya,

John K. Nagle

Lead Pastor