Monthly
News and Thoughts
by Pastor Daniel Graham
(To
Subscribe for this to be sent directly to your email click here)
October 23
News Bullets
-Our meetings have been going
well! What a blessing it is to study the Word and the message
for this time. Be in prayer as we seek to increase God's message
in our community.
-The nominating Committee will
be meeting soon. Please be in prayer about the ministry leadership
selections.
-I finished my Doctorate. Please
don't call me Doctor. Dan is fine! It was great to do my final
project on something that will help our church. Please pray that
God will give us His power to make God's will happen in our church.
-Redemption Presbyterian Church
will be renting our facilities on Sunday. They are a new church
plant in our community with approximately 40 persons. Pray that
this will work out good for them and us.
-May the Lord bless you greatly.
May your spiritual life with Jesus grow and may His character
become ours. Blessings, Pastor Dan
June 19
Life is busy. Hope your life is going well. I
was dissapointed because I had to make revisions to my rough draft
disseration, as though the rough draft would be perfect? (What
fantasy world was I living in?) But the process has been a great
learning experience and I am almost done.
At the church, the board voted to recommend to the church in business
session to build a new kitchen in our gymnasium. Based on several
estimates the cost to build one on the side would have been between
$30,000 to $80,000 more.
I hope that you have a great Sabbath and a great
week. May we live in the light of His grace and truth each day
filled with hope and love and purpose. Prayers and many Blessings
to you.
February 22-28
Dear Friends,
This month has flown
by with a flurry of activities and ministries. We had our first
Administrative and Ministry Boards this month and they both went
well and where well attended. I am excited about the ministry
teams that are planning great events and ministries for this year.
These ministries are the life of the church and we so much appreciate
the dedication of our faithful and creative team leaders. To
see our churches real time calendar click here.
Next week (March
6-7) we will be closing the Church for weekend services and spending
some retreat time at North Florida Campmeeting at Camp Kulaqua.
This is always a great event to invite friends to and spend a
relaxing day praising God and fellowshipping with others. We will
enjoy potluck lunch together and enjoy the many activities they
have planned. Click
here for Directions.
I’ve been
thinking about how we can be a blessing in the community more
and was thinking about helping to build a Habitat for Humanity
House. What do you think? Currently many of our High School young
people are helping to build some things on a mission trip to Costa
Rica (pray for them) and I think these kinds of service projects
are great.
Currently, through
your generosity we have raised approximately $7,000 for the Fire
Alarm system. I am thankful that so many are giving to this project
because we all hate debt, especially for God’s House. Together,
we can continue to conquer this challenge.
As most of you know
we have been putting together a strategic plan for this church.
The school is also working on a mission statement and corporate
vision. Continue to pray that as we all hammer these things out,
God will lead us and guide us every step of the way.
May God bless you
and your family during these challenging times. May God’s
grace fill you with hope and courage to press on until that perfect
day when He comes.
Sincerely,
Daniel Graham
January 25-31
Dear Friends,
This past week has been a blessing
in so many ways; I pray that your week has been good and that
God’s presence has been felt in your life.
Last Thursday at our Church Board
meeting the Board voted to accept the recommendation to create
an Administrative Committee that will handle administrative items
which will enable our Church Board (Church Ministry Board) to
focus on the ministries of the church. I believe this organizational
step will help clear the way so that more attention can be given
to both Church administration and Church ministries. I believe
it will also help our church leadership be more effective because
the board agenda’s can now be more about issues relevant
to either ministry or administration. Large decisions will be
made with a joint meeting of both groups and all board members
are welcome as voting members at either meeting. I am encouraged
by the overwhelming support for this change which I pray will
be for the glory of God. To read all the details click
here.
We had a great Officer Breakfast
and Orientation. Elder Tim Brown makes great scrambled eggs! A
special thanks to the Elders who served, those who cleaned up,
and my blessed wife who did most of the cooking. Great things
are in store for the ministry of the people here in Gainesville,
souls will be in the kingdom because of the “little things”
you do in the name of the Lord. To download the powerpoint presentation
of the orientation click here.
For a ministry job description, click
here.
Tuesday night we had a school board
meeting and good things were decided and discussed. A task force
was put together to study the preferred future of the school (vision
statement). The faculty will be working on the School’s
Mission Statement. Financially the school is breaking even, but
as always, needs our continued prayers and support. If you are
a regular donor to the school you are automatically part of the
Committee of 100 (a group of school supporters who give at least
$100 per year per person). If you would like become a member come
to the Saturday night Gala in the Gym at 7pm (dinner and a program
by the young people). What a great thing to rally together to
help our young people. To email our Principal, Frances Young,
Click Here.
Last night I had the privilege of
meeting with Kevin. Kevin is a friend of Frantz and has been attending
our church. Kevin has given his live over to Jesus and will enter
the waters of baptism this Sabbath, also his two children will
be dedicated to the Lord. What a joy it is to be a part of a Church
which connects people with Christ and with a group of believers
who will love them and nurture them in discipleship.
May God bless you in your faith
journey this week. May God comfort you in your spirit, guide you
with His power and grace, and daily fill you with His Holy Spirit.
Pastor Dan Graham
January 18-24
Dear
Friends:
There
is Hope in the New Year. This past year has been difficult for
many with financial, health, relational, and spiritual challenges.
But there is hope. This past week Barak Obama (who ran on hope
and change) was sworn in (twice) as the President of the United
States. I have to say, I'm glad to see we have an African American
President. I know color or race shouldn't matter, but after slavery,
the injustice of prejudice, and the civil rights struggle this
is a great day from that perspective (disclaimer: of course I
disagree with some of Barak's policies that are not in keeping
with my Christian values, I don't publicly endorse political candidates
or parties, we must pray for him). But the point is hope is powerful
and we have hope because of Jesus. If things are bad, only know
that Jesus is with you and there will be a better day, so place
your hope and trust in Jesus Christ.
-This
week we have been working with the Florida Conference to approve
an $18,000 loan from the Southern Union Revolving Fund so we can
get started on the Fire Alarm System (we have run into some snags
with them). We have to take a loan because we have to get started,
but hopefully we can pay off the debt in a few months from what
you are continuing to give toward it. Thank you for your sacrificial
giving.
-As
most of you know Mr. ZL Sung left our School some money in his
estate. We are in a lawsuit with His trustees since they haven't
honored Mr. Sung's wishes in rendering the School their portion.
I have been impressed that God will never give us a great financial
blessing if it will be to our detriment. Let me explain. Often
people argue over money: people complain that it isn't being spent
right, people gripe that they aren't getting some for their own
interests. Especially when it is a large amount there can be conflict.
This has not happened yet, but should the money come it could.
First, we must know that God will only give us this blessing if
it will help us, if it will hurt us and cause disunity at our
school community He will not give it. This is why leadership is
developing a plan to make sure the money is used in accordance
with Mr. Sung's wishes, the mission of the school. We will be
asking for your input (school constituency) and finish putting
a plan in place. This I believe, along with your prayers, will
clear the way for this blessing to happen. Please keep this whole
process and our Lawyer Mr. David Cox in your prayers.
-This
week at Wednesday night small group I was amazed with all the
prayer requests and needs that there are. But God is a God who
answers prayer. This year we are reading through the book Patriarchs
and Prophets and there was a great quote on page 509 about prayer.
It says, "The secret of success is the union of divine power
with human effort. Those who achieve the greatest results are
those who rely most implicitly upon the Almighty Arm. The man
who commanded, "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou,
Moon, in the valley of Ajalon," is the man who for hours
lay prostrate upon the earth in prayer in the camp of Gilgal.
The men of prayer are the men of power." We need to BE men
and women of power and prayer here at our church and Gainesville
Community. January 30th through February 1 is the Florida Conference
Annual Prayer Retreat at Camp Kulaqua. I am planning on going
and encourage as many of you that can, to come (I will be back
to preach in Gainesville Sabbath morning). You can register and
get meals if you wish by calling the camp @ 386-454-1351.
-Continue
to pray for the Church ministry teams and ministries at our church.
We are praying for a great year of ministry through God using
you to make a difference in people's lives. Our Church Ministry
Breakfast and Orientation for all volunteers is this Sunday, January
25th at 9:30am.
May
God bless you greatly!
Pastor Daniel Graham
January 11-17,
2009
Dear
Friends:
The
new year is upon us and moving ever quicker. We are thankful for
God's blessings upon us in the New Year and pray His continued
watch care over us.
-The church and school are going well. Elder Tim Merryman preached
this past Sabbath at GVSDA. I was in Cross City and had an enjoyable
time preaching at the prison and the new church. I spoke on Living
the Spiritual Disciplines as it is a great idea to get our time
with God in sync and make it a habit in the beginning of a new
year. Nobody makes potato salad as good as Mr. Edmonds at Cross
City.
- Saturday night we had our church business meeting and discussed
the Committee of 100 which will help our school reach its mission
of educating our children to be servants of God. There was an
unanimous decision to borrow the $18,000 so that we could get
started on the alarm system. We are actively raising these funds
so we won't have to pay loan interest long. Elder Ferguson also
shared about a prayer initiative that is encouraging all church
members to start the day off praying for each other, the church
and its mission.
-Sunday the Florida Conference Literature Evangelism Department
conducted a seminar on becoming a literature evangelist. Their
new program is all about getting the books out. The prices are
a lot less and makes it a lot easier to Literature Evangelists
to make a living and sell the literature for less. It was really
inspiring.
- This week we met with the Lawyer with the ZL Sung Bequest. Please
continue to pray for this case. Also, please keep those on the
church prayer list in your prayers.
-Also pray for our church ministries. We will be having a church
ministry breakfast and orientation for all volunteers on Sunday,
January 25th at 9:30am. We want to kick off our ministries and
have the best year ever serving the Lord!
