Tomorrow is Friend's Day for two churches close to my heart. Christian Life Center Assembly of God in Douglas, Arizona and Faith Hope and Love Center in Hollister, California.
CLC has a special day planned for the friends and family of their members. The church has just completed a full month of nightly prayer meetings. It seemed that everytime I called home, the pastors were at church in the Lord's presence. God truly has His hand on Christian Life Center. This Friend's Day, I know the Lord is saying to Christian Life Center, "you're my friend!"
The children of Faith Hope and Love Center will also celebrate Friend's Day tomorrow. Many of our kids have invited friends, classmates, and neighbors to enjoy worship, "A Snoodles Tale" (a VegieTales movie), pizza and cake.* Our kids have been extremely excited about sharing their church experiences with their friends. The We Build Kids/BGMC team is excited for them.
This has been a much anticipated day for both churches. When I last spoke with my mom, she said it was raining cats and dogs in Douglas. Well, the people are right behind them as far as I'm concerned. We pray that people will rain down and flood our altars.
Nothing can replace people-they are our greatest resources. Nothing comes close to finding God at an altar-it's the place where lives are changed. May people fill the altars of both churches and may God fill the people. Amen.
*Thanks to Papa John's Pizza, Sister Z, Junior, Sister Maria, Sister Cecilia, Lulu, Cynthia, Jessica, and Oscar for making this day special!
1 comment:
Friend's Day at both churches was a life-changing day for everybody involved.
In Hollister, we had 28 kids all together. After watching a "Snoodles Tale," we made an altar call and saw 4 young visitors, including one teenager, begin their relationship with God by following Christ. If you haven't seen this movie, I strongly recommend doing so. It speaks to all ages. When Martha and I first saw it, we were left with tears in our eyes. Why? Because, God was showing us through this VeggieTales movie how much He loves the individual. I heard that the Creator, Phil Vischer, wrote it in one day and when he read it to his wife, she was left with tears streaming down her cheeks. As Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber say, "God made you special and He loves you very much!" God will use any method to get His message of love across to people, even cartoons with talking vegetables.
In Douglas, my mom told me that they had a life-changing and church-changing experience as well. God spoke through testimonies of the pastor's healing (Pastor Morales), a sister's near death experience and miraculous recovery (Sister Franco), and a brother's salvation at a city dump after an angelic visitation (Brother Esqueda). My mom said that people were crying tears of joy and wonderment at God throughout the whole service.
This is the meaning of Friend's Day in one sentence: bring a friend to church, change a life! God wants to do the same with you. Follow Him and go to church with your newfound friend.
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