Weekly Update// Pastor Chris
Dear Asbury Family,
You never quite know how someone will connect to our church.
Last Sunday morning, I was talking to a young mom who visited one of our services with her infant son. This woman recently moved to the area but delayed finding a church due to the pandemic (something that wasn’t easy for her to do). Eventually she decided to give Asbury a try. When I asked how she heard about our church, she told me that she had been driving around the area and was moved by the beauty of our Lakeside Chapel. After visiting the space, she thought to herself, I should check this church out! Now she’s worshipped at one of our services.
As I thought about this young mom’s experience, I found myself filled with gratitude for countless people who, over the years, have worked so hard to invest in our facilities, making sure that our church is a hospitable, warm, and welcoming place for ALL.
Speaking of investing in our facilities, I want to share that over the past week, by God’s grace, we’ve raised more than $10,000 to help with the cost of replacing our fire alarm system (which I mentioned last week is going to cost around $42,000) and saving money for future repairs. I don’t know what to say other than THANK YOU! Seriously. Your generosity continues to amaze me. If you’d like to give toward this cause, you can do so by making your donation payable to Asbury and indicating that it’s for our Capital Reserves Fund.
Last Sunday, Hannah King, our summer intern, preached a great a message on Jeremiah 29:11. Many of you shared with me how moved you were by Hannah’s sermon, and how impressed you were by both her content and delivery. We’re thankful to have Hannah with us during these summer months. By God’s grace, she has a number of gifts and has been a real blessing to our church.
This Sunday (July 25), we start a new sermon series on the sacraments called “Sacramentum” (the Latin word for "oath"). This series is going to look at the two sacraments of baptism and holy communion. This weekend’s message will focus on baptism. If you’ve ever wondered about baptism (including why we baptize infants and children), this is a sermon you don’t want to miss.
Don’t forget Vacation Bible School is NEXT WEEK (July 26-30). I can’t wait for all the fun we will experience at VBS. If you’d like to register a child or sign up to volunteer, reach out to Laura Malloy (childrensministry@asburymaitland.org).
Have a wonderful rest of your week, and we’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings,
Chris
p.s., Our leadership team continues to monitor the rise of COVID cases in our state. For the safety and wellbeing of everyone (and out of an abundance of caution), we've decided to suspend the time of greeting at both services. We hope to be able to bring it back soon. Thanks for your understanding and patience.