My original intention today was simply to do a post on the Sunday School and Small Group plans. And I will – see the next post. But since it’s been so long since I blogged I thought I’d first give a few other updates that might be of interest:
Alarm System – when you come to church tomorrow (January 3rd) you’ll notice that all the fire alarm device – strobes, sirens, smoke detectors, etc. are gone. Don’t be alarmed! (Sorry, couldn’t resist that.) We are in the process of having a whole new system put it, and praise God, it is all being paid for by our insurance. The system was significantly destroyed by Ike and we’ve been unable to get repair estimates. Finally we asked a company for a full replacement estimate, and were floored by the cost. It turns out that to meet current codes, especially Americans with Disabilities Act standards, we need a strobe in every closed space. That adds up. But we sent the estimate to the insurance, and it turns out we have a rider on our policy to cover code upgrades in case replacement is needed. So they are covering the whole cost. We expect the work to be ongoing for the next several weeks.
Work Day – We had a great workday in the fall, but some of what we wanted to accomplish just couldn’t be finished in one day. So we have several ceilings, some painting and other projects that still need to be done. We have scheduled another workday for Saturday, January 23rd, and we hope you will put it on your calendar. We’re also looking for a couple of guys to take responsibility for the preparation and coordination of the day. Please contact me if you would like to participate or coordinate.
Benevolence – Praise God that we were able to make significant contributions in several directions through the Christmas season. However, our benevolence balance is now low as a result, and we have several places where we need or want to give. These include giving to the Reeds for the children’s schooling, which we committed to last summer, giving other regularly scheduled gifts, and helping Todd Cobbs as much as possible with his tuition as he continues at the College of Biblical Studies. If you are interested in giving, please put a note with your check, or just mark all or part of your check as ‘Benevolence’ by writing in the memo field. (Example: memo Benevolence, $1,000,000)
My Schedule – As I announced last week, I’ll be out of the pulpit for three weeks at the beginning of this month. The first week I’m supposed to be in Dallas for my Doctor of Ministry course. It turns out the course was cancelled due to not enough participants, so I won’t actually be in Dallas. But don’t tell anyone, because I arranged to take the course by independent study, and I’m trying to read three thousand pages on ‘Christ and Culture’ during this little break.
The second Sunday I will be preaching at Oak Creek. The third Sunday I’ll be running the Houston Half Marathon. I did a pretty good twelve mile run this morning, so I’m hoping to get through it without leg cramps.