Praise the Lord, God is so good to us!  Amid the constant barage of activity, God is at work in our lives.  Let me give you a look at what is ahead for us in the weeks to come. 

You should have received a postcard announcing the sermon series for Lent, Mighty is the Power of the Cross.  The series begins on March 4th.  Tomorrow, it is our pleasure and privlege to welcome Rev. John Carrick to our worship services.  John is a missionary to Paraguay.  He pastor's a church in Asuncion after having pastored churches in Southern Indiana.  John is an Asbury Theological Seminary Grad and a missionary with the United Methodist Mission Society (missionsociety.org).  You will be blessed for having heard John present his call to Paraguay and his ongoing missional activity.

Tomorrow night is also Women's Bible Study at the home of Dawn Danser.  Her address is 101 Kirkwood Road, Gibbsboro, 08026 for mapquesters.  Her home is on the left hand side as you go down Kirkwood School from Gibbsboro.  It is just after the Post Office on the left. 

The Blood drive is to be held on March 3rd (next Saturday) so prepare to donate.

Special thanks to our worship team members who met on Thursday night.  This is going to be a blessing to our church and to our weekly services of worship. 

Finally, what is your passion?  What do you feel we, as a community of faith, should be involved in doing?  What would you like to accomplish for the sake of the kingdom of God?  Let me know so that we can begin to plan new avenues and ministries in the days and months ahead.  You are such a blessing and God is up to something Good! 

I would like to invite you to experience "The Compass: Spiritual Direction for the rest of us!"  This page will be updated each week to give you an opportunity to grow as a disciple through a variety of disciplines.  This week the task is to journey through Mark 9 as Lent begins.  There are two places where the death of Christ is foretold.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  Blessings,  Pastor Rob

A few of us have been involved in the process of ice removal at the front of the church- not an easy task after that wolloping storm!  In some places in front of the church the ice was a foot thick! 

It has been interesting to watch where the ice melts away, even in the frigid temperatures.  The ice melts where it receives sunlight. 

In my own driveway, I noticed that all of the parts of the driveway were thawed except for one large patch.  As I watched throughout the day, I noticed that the patch that was still hard and frozen was the patch that matched the shadow of the pine tree in our front yard.  The shadow kept the ice from melting!

That is reminiscent of the gospel, to me.  The light of Christ's presence can shine in the dark places and thaw even the most frozen of souls.  When we place our own "pine trees" in the way, though, it makes the thawing process much more difficult. 

My prayer for you is that you'll allow yourself to experience the fullness of God's presence and allow the Spirit to warm your heart with God's holy love!  God Bless!

Here is an update for you, true believers!  Yesterday's sermon is uploaded and ready for you.  More things will be added on Wednesday.

On Saturday, February 17th from 9-1 there will be a special worship seminar at the St. Andrews UMC in Cherry Hill (near Ponzio's on route 70).  Marcia McPhee will be the presenter.  Let me know if you are interested in going.

I talked about Spiritual Direction on Sunday.  Developing one's spiritual life is not an easy process.  It requires energy, creativity, and discipline while focusing on the intention to grow in discipleship.  We are also not just talking about any kind of discipleship but the kind of discipleship that is rooted and grounded in the person of Jesus Christ.  We aren't learning to follow a pattern but a person who happens to be dynamically interested in us as beloved children.

I want to invite you to join in on that journey to becoming full fledged disciples of Jesus Christ.  Each day this week, I want to invite you to read a Psalm.  Start with the first one, read one each day as you begin your day.  Let me know what effect this has on your week. 

You can find yesterday's sermon and the Revelation Bible study at the downloadable page.  I hope these resources are beneficial for you.  Thanks to everyone who attended the superbowl party.  We enjoyed a good time of fellowship on Sunday Night.  I don't know if any of you caught the news conferences after the game but Tony Dungy's comments were really on the mark.  He wanted to emphasize that you can be a believer in Jesus Christ and still be effective as a man and as a football coach.  He said that the only agenda he has is to be resolute in his faith.  His comments were nationally covered and many sportscasters lauded his comments but clearly demonstrated an unfamiliarity with what Dungy was trying to point to.  Nonetheless, being able to name the name of Christ as a demonstration of one's faith in a national context is extremely strategic.  Dungy has been outspoken in his faith over the course of his career and it was great to see that on football's largest stage, he spoke clearly about his faith.  He could speak this way because on the smaller, littler stages all along the way, he has been speaking about his faith too.  Not a bad way to go.

For those of you who check the site, a bit of inside info for Sunday morning.  Wear your favorite jersey or team sweater to church tomorrow.  Remember, we have our super bowl party tomorrow at 6PM!  See you on Sunday,  Pastor Rob