***Update as of April 14, 2023:
By God's grace, we've already exceeded our goal for the 2023 Easter Offering! As of this week, over $38,000 have been contributed to our effort to upgrade the audio, video, and lighting systems in our building (as of April 14, 2023).
An opportunity remains for those who desire to bless the work the Lord is doing through Life Church in this season. It has become necessary to replace the sliding doors that serve as the main entrance to our building - a project that will cost close to $20,000. If we are able to collect another $15,000 through the Easter offering, we would be able to complete that project without drawing from our reserve funds.
Remember that 20% of everything given to this offering will be passed on to our local, domestic, and international ministry partners. We’ll continue to receive gifts dedicated to this effort through the end of April. To give to the Easter offering online, click here. (Select “Easter Offering 2023” from the drop-down menu.) To give in person to this effort, mark “Easter Offering” on the memo line of your check or cash envelope and drop your contribution in the box in the auditorium.
To the many who have given generously, sacrificially, and cheerfully toward this effort, thank you!
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Recently as a church, we studied one of my favorite, short parables of our Lord Jesus. In Mark 4, Jesus taught: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how…” (Mark 4:26-27). Jesus goes on to say more about the growth of this seed. But I am always challenged and encouraged by those final few words of verse 27: the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.
Here’s the implication of the parable: God, not the farmer, produces the growth of the seed. Yes, the farmer works the soil and scatters the seed and everything else. But the farmer doesn’t produce the growth. God does.
By all observable measures, God’s seed is growing at Life Church. Attendance in our worship gatherings is up in all demographics. Your generous giving to our church has exceeded our budgeted need for three consecutive months. Every one of our Life Groups is at capacity, full of people desiring to grow together. We have worked and labored together to see these things come to fruition. Yet still: we know not how the seed grows, because it is the Lord, and the Lord alone, who brings such growth.
That brings me to the purpose of this email. I would like to invite you to contribute toward a special offering we will collect this Easter season.
As our church grows, our needs grow, as well. For years, we have made due with obsolete and outdated audio, video, and lighting systems in our auditorium and Clubhouse (the space utilized by our elementary-aged students on Sunday mornings and by our middle- and high-school-aged students on Wednesday nights). By conviction, we are content with “simple” systems in these spaces. We intend for corporate worship to look and feel like corporate worship, not a theatrical production. However, the time has come for us to replace systems that are past their usefulness and useability.
To this end, we have applied for a grant from a local charitable foundation, with the hopes of purchasing and installing modest-but-modern technology in our gathering spaces. However, that grant proposal relies on our church contributing around $30,000 to the total project cost of $75,000. Therefore our elders are asking you - the people of Life Church - to consider prayerfully giving toward this work beyond your regular giving in the month of April.
Because we prioritize our work in our community even as we upgrade our facilities, our elders have committed to giving away 20% of the funds we receive through this offering. We are excited to bless some of our local ministry partners with these funds in the months ahead. Life Church’s mission is never about Life Church, but about Christ’s kingdom work in and through us. I believe it is in no small part due to our commitment to these things that the Lord has chosen to bring us growth in this season.
Thank you for being part of what the Lord is doing here at Life Church. It is my sincere joy to serve as one of your pastors. I pray that you will join me in giving sacrificially and generously to this project.
Blessings in Christ,
James Sharp
Pastor of Teaching and Vision
To give to the Easter offering online, click the button below. (Select “Easter Offering 2023” from the drop-down menu.)
To give in person to this effort, mark “Easter Offering” on the memo line of your check or cash envelope and drop your contribution in the box in the auditorium.