Greetings to one & all from warm sunny Tucson! I am loving this 70 degree weather at this time of the year. Just look out your window & envision walking around in shirtsleeves & perfect warmth. That is the way it is here right now. Wow.
Looking Back
This past Sunday was we prayed in the AM service for Dr. Carl Herbster & Pastor Eric Fisher & their ministries in MO & SC respectively. We had 135 in the AM service where I preached from Mark 12:41-44 on “Someone Is Watching You Give.” I do not enjoy preaching on financial giving, but it is my duty as a pastor & I felt that this message connected with the people. The choir did a good job on, “Glorious Savior” especially the basses & altos. Then Pastor Seth’s piano solo offertory of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” was a great reminder of how faithful our God really is to us!
The evening service (on Super Bowl Sunday no less) was only 68. Missionary Art Cunningham (a church planter to England) did a fine job in the evening service from Genesis 32. There was also a vibrant question-and-answer time with him about Muslims, missions, & the British Isles in general. Afterwards the Sunday School Staff met with me for our monthly meeting.
BTW, on Monday night GROW Team # 1 made 137 fresh contacts in our outreach program. Wow-wow & PTL!
Looking Ahead
This coming Sunday we have Dr. Marty Marriot, the new President of Maranatha Baptist Bible College, speaking in the morning service! He will address the men also during the SS Hour & his wife, Miriam, will speak to the adult ladies simultaneously. It should be a wonderful morning with these great servants of the Lord!
The Spanish ministry has a big pow-wow after the morning service with Dr. Dave Barba about some of the research he has been doing the last two weeks in helping them to get transplanted to a more populated area with Spanish speakers. He has done a tremendous job scouting out & finding some possibilities which he will share with them.
The evening service this week will feature Pastor Seth preaching. Diane & I will journey up north (after the pow-wow at our church) to the San Carlos Indian Reservation where I will speak in the evening at their annual Sweetheart Banquet. It sounds like fun & we look forward to be with Kevin & Pam Barthel who are the missionaries there!
Finish the job
So there you have it for this week: a report on what happened & a vision of what’s ahead. Thank you for looking & listening& caring about what’s going on at Bethel. We truly appreciate folks like YOU!
Pastor Stertzbach