Warm greetings from Charlotte!
There is encouraging news to report about growth in God’s Work. A good number of baptisms have already taken place this year. Church attendance is steady with a gradual increase overall and pockets of good growth here and there. Income is very solid and we were able to operate within our projected budget for the first quarter of this year. However, please come before God, on the upcoming Holy Days, with a generous offering that you have prayerfully considered, remembering the growing needs in the Work of God. Although we have been experiencing some severe trials this year and learning many lessons along the way, we are also being blessed and guided by our all-powerful and merciful High Priest, Jesus Christ.
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION Living Youth Camp Camp applications are now available online at www.youth-web.org. Please note that while the application can be filled out online, it must still be printed, signed in all the appropriate locations, a picture attached, and then it must be sent in. Filling it out online will ensure that all fields are completed and that we can read the applications. For those who do not have computer access, you may still order a camp application for the Michigan teen camp by following the directions found on the back cover of the January/February Living Church News.—Gerald Weston, Youth Director
Texas Pre-Teen Camp The Texas Pre-Teen camp will be held from June 5-10 in Fort Parker State Park (near Mexia, 90 miles south of Dallas). Tuition for campers is $75 ($65 for the second camper from the same family and $55 for the third). Tuition for high school and adult staff is $20. High school workers must be 15 or older; young adult workers are those aged 19 to 24. You may request an application by mail from Mr. John Ogwyn, PO Box 478, Kilgore, TX 75662, by e-mail jogwyn@cogl.org, or by phone at (979) 709-2712 (please ask for Lori Forrestier).
MEDIA Our new station in Houston, KHWB, drew 17 calls. Our new station in Memphis, KPTY, brought in seven. We received excellent news from England this morning. Fifty-one calls came in yesterday from Eurobird. Six of the calls were from the 6:30 am airing, and 43 calls from the 10 am airing. Our total count through yesterday is now up to 82. INI’s (Inspiration Network International) advertising is taking effect!—Wayne Pyle
COMMENTS We are making final preparations for the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, coming up very shortly. This is the most important time of the year in God’s Church, in many respects, and while it is a sobering time of reflection and examination, it should not be morbid or negative. In addition to the serious part of these days, we also celebrate the joy of deliverance and freedom through Jesus Christ who makes it all possible. Notice Romans 6:4-6, 11-13, 17-18, 22-23, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. [...] Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. […] But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. […] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So let us come before God, during this spring Festival season, with balance and dignity, with proper sobriety, and also with appropriate rejoicing and thankfulness. Romans 5:11, “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [reconciliation].” This will please our great God and serve to strengthen us all. Have a wonderful Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread.
In Christian love,
Charles E. Bryce
Bob Thiel, 2005