April 30, 2021

Dear Pine Glen Church Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I trust you are well and enjoying this beautiful spring weather. The Bible says, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3). Truly, there is no god like Jehovah!

I want to thank you for your prayers and support while I was sick with Covid last week. It is never fun being down and out with an illness of any kind, let alone Covid. I am grateful for how the Lord brought me through it all. I wrote a blog post about my experience with the virus and if you haven’t already read it, you can access it here: https://pastoral-theology.com/2021/04/27/covid-and-me/

I am excited to announce that this Sunday (May 2), Randy’s band “Common Ground” will be leading the music during our time of worship. I hope that you will be able to join us as we “worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (Psalm 96:9). I also want to remind you that this Sunday is also a “Communion” Sunday where we have the great privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Supper together.

Another announcement pertains to our upcoming VBS. The VBS planning committee has been doing an outstanding job preparing for this event, which is scheduled for June 16-18. Please be in prayer that God would use this ministry to reach children and families with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also pray for Willie Byers as he continues to battle Covid-19. As you know, his situation is very serious and we want to lift him up in prayer. Continue to pray for Gerald Koontz, Ron Rowe, and others that are not feeling well and need our prayers at this time.

Why do we pray? We pray because we believe in the power of God to heal and deliver, and it is an enormous privilege to call upon the name of the Lord. I love the simple words of 1 Thessalonians 5:25: “Brothers, pray for us.” Yes! May we be faithful to lift one another up in prayer.

While on the subject of prayer, let’s not forget to pray for our International Workers. On May 9^th Bruce and Stephanie Beers will be ministering during our morning worship service. I am looking forward to getting to know them and learning more about their ministry in South America. Also, our very own Ross and Elaine Moore will be ministering at Pine Glen on June 6^th. It will be a joy have them back home for a time and learn about how the gospel of Jesus Christ is advancing in Mali.

Galatians 5:13 says, “Through love serve one another.” This is a simple, yet powerful reminder of our Christian calling. 1 John 4:11-12 explains it in a slightly different manner. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

It is always a tremendous encouragement to me to hear some of the ways you are loving, serving, reaching out, and ministering to one another. Indeed, we love because God first loved us! God has brought us together because we need the encouragement of one another, and all the more as we see “the Day” drawing near (Hebrews 10:25).

The church is so special! May we never forget that it is Christ’s church and He has promised to build it (Matthew 16:18). Nothing can stand against God’s plans for his church, not even Satan himself.

Beloved, never forget that you are loved (Romans 1:7), forgiven (Romans 3:23-26) and justified by faith (Romans 5:1-2). God is so good and gracious and merciful and worthy of our praise!

Have a great day and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Dan