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My Family in Christ,

The Lord has blessed our church this year in a great many ways! Here are some highlights from this past year of ministry.

Sabbath Days

We had so many very special times of worship this year. One of my favorite was Heritage Sabbath where we celebrated our covenant renewal and communion with many of our emerging SDB leaders from around the country. You may have noticed many new faces. It is great to have a growing church body! I pray that our fellowship and unity grows as the Lord adds to our number.

Children and Youth Ministry

Our Awana club, kids Sabbath School, and children’s church are powerful ways that we are raising up our children in the knowledge of Christ. I love the fact that the gospel is always preached to our kids and that they are so lovingly and intentionally disciples in the Lord!

Our youth ministry has had such a great addition with Tony Reynel-Hernandez who has been serving as our youth intern. Our youth have such soft and tender hearts to the Lord and are growing in the grace of God.

Camp Wakonda

This year, as always, camp made a great impact on our children. We have such a dedicated team that prepares for and maintains camp year round along with those who share their lives with the campers during camp weeks. 

Baptisms, Members, Membership class

This year we had one baptism-Rosemary Rennhack. Seven new members were added: Rosemary, Pastor John and Tabatha Pethtel, Hayden and Mackynzie Rotzoll, Debbie Johnson, and Dawn Scoville. We held a membership class in the fall which was well attended. Most but not all have decided to take the step toward church membership.

Outreach

We changed our outreach emphasis from June to the last Sabbath in February in order to coordinate with the Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society’s Missions Week. Our partnership with the Missionary Society is important to us, and we want to facilitate this in a number of ways. In general, this year was a quiet year for outreach as we’ve spent time listening to the Lord and discerning what new plans he has for us. Many of our regular outreach ministries have continued without interruption but perhaps with slight changes like Operation Christmas Child where for the first time in many years we didn’t do an in person.

Prayer and Bible Study

Every week we have multiple prayer and Bible study groups. The Lord is doing great things in these gatherings. My hope is that we add disciple gatherings for prayer, study, and fellowship in the coming year.

School and Coaching

On a more personal note, I am so grateful for the support of the church in my doctoral studies which I finished in December! The Lord has done great work in me through this study and I know the fruit of this study will continue to grow and bless the church. In addition, I have had more opportunities to coach leaders in and outside of the church this year. It is something that the Lord has been preparing in me for a long time, and I pray that he uses me through coaching for tremendous kingdom impact.

I hope that you are encouraged in the Lord by the good work he has done through the church this year! You are the church! If you are not actively involved in ministry in the church or know of anyone in the church who is not, come talk to me and we will work on changing that! 

Let’s believe that God will do great things in and through his church in 2025!!

He loves you, and I love you too!  

Pastor Nate