On Sunday morning May 11th at our main service, Dr.Costa encouraged us to open our eyes of faith and believe God for the promised miraculous power to heal the sick and expect signs and wonders. The Notre Dame educated former NFL star has a unique ministry style that is non-emotional and intelligent, and his faith is so matter-of-fact that he is the veritable anti-type of the stereotypical healing evangelist. During his ministry Sunday morning several notable reports of people feeling a healing touch from God were reported including relief from pain in problem knees, back pain gone, and arthritis pain subsided. In particular was the testimony of one of our members who is battling serious lung disease and on his way out of church remarked that he had not breathed so freely in months! Thank you Lord Jesus!
On Sunday evening Dr. Costa met with our college-age group and taught the kids how to pray for one another for blessings and healing. Of special note was the way Dr. Costa did not actually pray for the people himself but taught our members how to pray for others and be open for the genuine power of God to be displayed.Great fun!
***Last Monday a group of CMCC members traveled to Latham for the annual Alight Care Center banquet. Alight is a help & health center for women-in-need run by our friends at Victorious Life Christian Church in Troy. The center offers pregnancy counseling, parenting classes, anger management classes, clothing and referral support. Alight saw over 3,000 clients in the past year. Attending from CMCC were Pastor Bob and Nancy Engelhardt, Pastor Renard and Gina Barto, Lynn Keator, Marie Spaulding, Stephanie Seminara and Toby Roe.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Bob Paeglow, a physician from downtown Albany who has sacrificed big-money medicine to serve, mostly for free, the poorest of the poor in inner city Albany. His office, ‘Compassion in Action/Koinonia Primary Care’ is part of a larger ministry called the Capital District Prayer and Healing Center where their mission is caring for people spiritually and physically. Dr. Paeglow has been widely recognized for his good work and received many honors including winning the Albany Medical College Humanism in Medicine Award and being named a2006 People Magazine Hometown Hero. There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches. (Proverbs 13:7)
***This past Wednesday evening’s mid-week service was a very special time of impartation from Nancy Engelhardt when she taught a message entitled, ‘So Close and Yet So Far.’ Using the story of the healing of Naaman the Leper by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5), Nancy focused on Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, who secretly took the payment offered by Naaman despite Elisha’s orders not to take it.
Gehazi was the closest servant of the greatest living prophet of the time and yet his love of money twisted his heart and in the end, he ended up with the very leprosy that was cleansed from Naaman. In our materialist society it is vital that we remember the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not covet’ (See my blog entry for April 28th). The truth is that we can be very involved in church and good work and never catch God’s heart. What a shame to think that all of the effort and sacrifice that goes into our faith could be for nothing if we don’t obey when it counts. So close and yet so far! Come out this Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm for a great mid-week boost.
***On Thursday evening, May 15, Pastor Bob and Nancy Engelhardt along with CMCC members Ron and Julie Odato attended a 60th Birthday Party/Banquet for Israel at the United Nations in New York City. The event was supported by a diverse group of religious, government and business leaders from both the Christian and Jewish communities and was lead by Rev. Robert Stearns of Eagles’ Wings Ministries. Because of CMCC’s support over the years for Eagles’ Wings mission in building bridges with Israel, our group was given VIP status, enjoying a special pre-banquet reception. This sunset reception was held outdoors on a magnificent terrace several stories up in the UN complex overlooking the East River.
The banquet was attended by Pat & Shirley Boone, Paula White, Michael Little (President of CBN), Rev. John Hagee (the keynote speaker) and many other national leaders from the Christian community. In addition, the Jewish community was very well represented includingspeakers: Asaf Sharif, the Counsel General of Israel in New York; and Rabbi Dr. Schlomo Riskin, an internationally renowned educator, speaker and author. Other distinguished members of the Jewish Community were businessmen/philanthropists Ziel Feldmen, Harvey Krueger, Irwin Hochberg, Robert Rothenberg, and Israel Borovich (Chairman, El Al Israel Airlines).
An especially touching moment was a presentation by German pastor, Rev. Daniel Mueller, leader of one of Europe’s largest evangelical churches. His church has supported Israel since 1982 through social work, community improvement projects and establishing 38 schools in Jerusalem. He is a pioneer in establishing Jewish-Christian relationships and his humble presence at the 60th birthday of modern Israel, given the still-vivid memory of the Holocaust was truly powerful.
***From 2002-2004 CMCC had a billboard on Route 28 near Pine Hill, visible to westbound traffic. Over the years many have shared how they miss seeing our words, ‘Welcome to God’s Country’ and how it used to warm their heart. Well, we are back in business! Within the next four weeks the same spot will be used to post our new and improved ad and greeting to those coming into our region. It will still say “Welcome to God’s Country,” but this time we are adding a full-color photo of our campus and our most recent slogan:Catskill Mountain Christian Center, A World-Class Church with a Hometown Heart. I think you’re going to love it! Thanks to Jessie Moore for the design work.
***Please keep Sherry Bush in your prayers for healing as well as Matty Beutel, Irena Lanzilotta and Lee Jenkins. As always, please also remember our brave American heroes protecting us from harm in the military, law enforcement and fire service.
***Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
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