***Well, sorry to say, summer is just about over and all that we love about this time of year is beginning to turn toward autumn. The good news is that we have re-ignited our CMCC life-giving machine to full power.
Our academy is back in session and mid-week service, Beacon University classes, Senior Citizen’s fellowship dinners, True Beauties and Royal Rangers have all started up again. In addition, we have a full plate of guest ministers, conferences and fresh activities coming up during this next season.
Looking backward just one more time, let’s praise God for the summer of 2008 by remembering some of the life we enjoyed at CMCC:
- During June we hosted a ministry weekend with Pastor Bob and Cara Grimm from Washington State which concluded with some CMCC members taking a quick sight-seeing trip to New York City. We also hosted Susan Brown of Arising to Excellence Ministries in Texas for a series of women’s meetings and we participated in the unveiling ceremony of the Trooper David Brinkerhoff Memorial at the Middletown Town Hall.
- In June, CMCA graduated four seniors from high school: Deanna Barto, Sarah Keator, Morgan Spaulding and Lani Odato. Pastor Alan Babcock from Greenville , NY gave the commencement address at the graduation ceremony. Our academy also hosted a year-end picnic at Little Pond State Park. In early June, I began a summer Sunday evening weekly discussion meeting with our CMCC college-age kids.
- In July, famous Christian author, psychologist and apostolic leader, Dr. Larry Keefauver, spent a weekend training our leaders, meeting with our college group and ministering Sunday morning. Also in July, over forty youth and parents from CMCC attended the 3 day ‘Generation Youth’ conference in Utica featuring national speakers and top music performers. In addition, our youth group conducted several fund raising activities including a car wash, two bake sales and a Sunday church barbeque to raise money for their own conference, entitled 'Sanctified'.
- In July, high adventure was enjoyed by ten CMCC members under the leadership of Pastor Renard Barto as they traveled to a remote mountain village in Mexico to bring the love of Jesus. This ten day trip was conducted in partnership with Victorious Life Christian Church in Troy, NY.
- In August we packed our chapel out with young people for a concert by Christian rock band, ‘After Edmund.’ We also hosted our ‘Sanctified’ youth conference featuring Pastor Mark and Mary Meyers from Florida. Pastor Mark also led a ‘praise & worship’ night and preached on Sunday morning. We received the following letter from Mark and Mary Meyers shortly after their five day visit:
Dear Catskill Mountain Christian Center Family,
What can we say to show our love and appreciation to all of you!! You guys are one incredible group of people and we have been bragging about all of you since we have returned home to Orlando!!!
You generosity, you kindness and love towards us, and your love and service to the Lord is just an incredible testimony of how the Body of Christ should function. It was such an honor and privilege for both of us to be with you, and you made us feel right at home!! What a blessing to have the opportunity to minister to the incredible young people and then to experience His presence in an awesome way with your church family on Saturday evening. And then to top it off by having the honor to minister and hang-out with all of you on Sunday!!
Our lives were truly blessed and changed! You are so blessed to have such awesome pastors and leaders in Pastor Bob and Nancy, and then they are blessed to have all of you in their lives and working along side of them to tell people about Jesus and to further His Kingdom.
As good as it has been so far, we are convinced that the Lord has great plans for all of you and your best days and CMCC's greatest days are still ahead of you. Keep dreaming and keep chasing after God because He loves you so much! We consider you family and please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers and we look forward to seeing you in the future!! We love you!! Mark & Mary
- Also in August we had a Royal Rangers camping trip and we hosted a summer movie night with a viewing of the movie, ‘Bella.’
- Finally, in August we said goodbye to six of our young people who are headed off for a year of study at Elim Bible Institute. Lauren and Lani Odato and Sheila, Ryder, Jared and Morgan Spaulding are all taking a year off of their academic careers to become strengthened in their walk with God. Marie Spaulding, the mother of four of the students wrote the following narrative about how the Lord provided financially for her children to attend:
Our children, Sheila, Ryder, Jared, and Morgan, were accepted to Elim Bible Institute earlier this year. We began to pray and thank the Lord for all He was doing in our lives. We visited the Elim campus and felt the presence of God all over—we loved it.
Next, we started the financial planning step and unfortunately, although we tried every option, we could not get the financing. We eventually concluded that God must have a ‘plan B’ for our children. Although initially somewhat disappointed, we accepted it by faith and our children prepared to go back to SUNY Delhi. All was well.
On Sat. August 23, I sent a short e-mail to Elim stating our children would like to attend next September instead of this year. The following Monday we received a phone call telling us that my e-mail had been forwarded to the president of the college and he wanted to see what was needed to get my kids there. I was so filled with a sense of God’s presence that I could hardly breathe. I gave them our information and waited.
On Tuesday August 26th, at 3:30pm the call came in. It had been arranged for our children to have work study jobs, partial scholarships, and with their saved money and our monthly payments – All four children are in! Our God can move mountains. We are thankful for our Father’s love and provision. -Marie Spaulding.
***One of CMCC’s effective ministries is our web site: www.cmcconline.org Jessica Moore does a wonderful job keeping our site updated with fresh and relevant material. The web site includes streaming sermons from various guest ministers, many of Nancy's messages and my Sunday messages. It also includes our monthly calendar, upcoming events and my blog, ‘The Way I See It,’ with posts on a variety of subjects. Following is the web site report for this past summer:
www.cmcconline.org Summary
During June through August 2008, the www.cmcconline.org web site had 1,450 unique visitors of which, 647 were first-time visitors. Total page loads were 3069. Nationwide visitors came from 18 US states: NY, OH, VA, AL, MA, CA, OR, LA, NJ, PA, WA, TX, NE, TN, DC, IN, CO and ME. Internationally, our visitors came from Kenya , India , South Africa , Germany , and Canada .
‘The Way I See It’ Blog Report
During June through August 2008, ‘The Way I See It’ had 370 unique readers. Of this amount, 292 were first-time visitors. Total page loads were 487. Nationwide, our blog visitors came from everywhere! Readers hailed from 25 of the 50 states: NY, FL, GA, LA, WA, MN, NJ, OH, IA, CA, MS, MI, TX, KY, CO, AL, MD, NV, AZ, IN, PA, OK, VA, MA, TN. Internationally, blog readers came from Australia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Egypt, Canada, Puerto Rico, Latvia, Germany, France, Finland and South Africa.
***We sometimes get letters or e mails from people who have visited one of our services or attended one of our activities. The following was received recently:
Good afternoon Neighbor, Today I attended your Sunday service. Until now I did not fully understand what the Lord Jesus was saying to us when he said Love thy Neighbor, I do now. I am your neighbor, a brother in Christ, a devout Christian and a new friend. I know that when I seek the Lord, all I have to do is look and I will find Him. I have read your literature and was pleased to see your statement, "We believe in the Bible, trinity, born of a virgin, raised from the dead and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” I will see you again next Sunday.
LOOKING AHEAD…
*** Winner's Circle Business Institute - Orientation, this Friday, September 12 at 7:00 pm. This is the beginning of a new arm of ministry at CMCC. It is our commitment to help God’s people to be successful in business so each one “may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 1:2). This training will integrate video lessons, live instruction, guest presenters and lab work. Anyone interested should attend this meeting.
***Ministry Weekend with Ron DePriest, September 20-21. Ron is author of two books. The first is his testimony book of his early life entitled, Loco, which tells of his background as an abused child, abusive man, life as an outlaw biker, inmate in San Quentin prison and ultimate surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. His story of redemption from a life of unbelievable violence is riveting. His second book is entitled, The Spiritual Mentor—Unlocking the Treasures of Coming Generations.
Today, Ron DePriest functions as founder of World Impact Network. He has a master’s degree in psychology and a PhD in Theology. He has been in ministry for over 30 years, during which he has appeared on many Christian TV and radio programs including PTL and the 700 Club with Pat Robertson.
All men are encouraged to come and bring a friend to hear Ron DePriest share at a men’s breakfast on Saturday, September 20 at 9:00 am. Ron will also be our guest minister at Sunday service on September 21. http://www.rondepriest.com/
***On October 3-5 Pastor David Engelhardt from Christian Life Center in Walla Walla , Washington will be our guest. David will minister to the academy, youth group and on Sunday morning, October 5th. www.christianlifeonline.net
***October 18-19, Ed Turose from Pittsburgh. Ed is an ordained minister who is also a motivational speaker and sales professional for Coca-Cola. He has a vision for releasing and encouraging marketplace ministries. www.edturose.com/
***October 30th – November 2nd Women’s conference and Sunday guest Naomi Dowdy. Naomi Dowdy is a true apostle and general in God’s modern army. She planted and raised-up a 5,000 member church in Singapore and now travels globally strengthening churches and functioning as a mouthpiece for the modern apostolic movement. It is a wonderful stroke of God’s grace that we have been so honored to get Naomi for our conference. www.naomidowdy.com
***November 13-15 CMCC annual men’s conference entitled Freedom Forum, at Frost Valley YMCA camp. This year’s keynote speaker is Pastor Tom Carey from Holbrook Long Island. Pastor Tom Carey, ably assisted by Denise, his wife of 27 years, and a strong leadership team, shepherds the flock at Word of Jesus Worship Center in Holbrook, L.I., just 50 miles east of New York City.
Swept into the kingdom during the revival of the 1970s, Pastor Tom has served in leadership in several churches since the mid 1980’s and as senior pastor since June ’95. Although he has ministered in Haiti, Puerto Rico, England, Ireland and Wales, Pastor Tom knows his calling is to the nearly three million souls on Long Island, New York.
Motivated by a heart for unity, he has helped organize several pastoral fellowships, serves as an elected trustee of the Suffolk County Evangelical Ministers Fellowship, and is the host church for the Long Island Regional Coalition, a semi-monthly gathering of Fivefold Ministers.
Pastor Tom’s humorous and practical approach to biblical truths will leave you not only informed, but challenged to allow God to work in you both to WILL and to DO His good pleasure according to Philippians 2:13.
***Spanish classes! For a long time, it has been our desire to reach out with the love of Jesus to the Spanish language members of our community. In fact, the vision is to hold a regular weekly, Saturday evening, Spanish language or bi-lingual service. To prepare, we are planning to form a weekly home group dedicated to studying the Spanish language. Rodrigo Villaseca has volunteered to tutor the group so we are looking for serious Christians with the commitment to be equipped for this important work. Membership will be limited. Call Katie at the church office to sign-up. 845-586-4848
***Every four years in the US we have the opportunity to choose a new president. Because this is a very powerful job and so much rides on this office it is vital for us all to pray fervently for God’s wisdom on the American people when choosing our new president. Our democratic form of government was designed to work best when people of good will are informed, active and passionate about righteousness.
How can we ever hope for God’s blessing to continue on our country when we have voted for representatives who protect the process that has killed 40 million innocent Americans in the past few decades? How can we expect God’s blessing on a country whose people vote for leaders committed to protecting smut on TV, the internet, in movies and spend public money on blasphemous arts & entertainment? How can we remotely hope for God’s blessing on a nation that ravages and bludgeons the institution of marriage and the concept of family by empowering a veritable Disneyland of deviant social and sexual mores? How can we expect God’s blessing on a country that prefers immorality to righteousness?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6
See you Sunday!
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