Hi Church Family,
Happy August!!! This is the month each year when we 'power down' here at CMCC and cancel many of our regularly scheduled activities (obviously, this does NOT affect Sunday services). Enjoy the break!!!!! Our church performs many good works but we must remember, even God took a scheduled break from His work (see Genesis chapter one) and established the same for His people in the Ten Commandments (see Exodus chapter twenty). Enjoy your time off and remember: Christians who fail to pace themselves never make the long haul. Our Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint.
***We had an amazing week hosting Apostle John Kelly. Apostle Kelly from Dallas, TX is the head of ICA, International Coalition of Apostles ( http://www.coalitionofapostles.com ). He preached at a CMCC men's meeting, women's meeting and at our Sunday morning main service. Rev. Kelly asked me to share with you all, the members of CMCC, how impressed he is with you and the work we are doing for Jesus here in the mountains. Great job gang! He lovingly calls CMCC the 'Mega-church in the Mountains!' The seal of approval by Apostle Kelly is an important endorsement because he is one of the foremost church experts of our day.
***Our Wednesday evening bluegrass concert series is going really well! Meeting on the CMCC front lawn each week at 7:00 PM we've been having great crowds which include our youth group selling refreshments and a large number of non-CMCC members attending. It is our hope to encourage the heart of our community by offering an evening summer music series and we decided on bluegrass because it uniquely connects with both locals, second homeowners and area visitors. Fun music!!! Every band brings a slightly different flavor and mix of music and almost all of them have a gospel song or two in their repertoire. Fiddles, banjos, mandolins, stand-up bass, guitars, from-the-heart lyrics and down-home harmonies... Come on out! Check our website for details and schedules: www.cmcconline.org
***Our church planting arm, FAITH-CONNECT, is doing very well as you can see from the following:
From Chenengo Christian Center, Pastor Brad Keator reports: We are currently meeting in the ballroom at Howard Johnson's Sunday mornings but the exciting news is that we are very close to closing a deal on a permanent storefront space in one of the plazas in Norwich! 36 CCC members are going to the Kingdom Bound Christian music event at Darien Lake including six sponsored underprivileged youth. Every Friday night in July CCC hosted "Fresh Air Flicks" which included yard games and a family friendly movie complete with pop corn machine, cotton candy machine, hot dogs & burgers on the grill, drinks etc..... We have been hearing talk about "the church that shows movies on Silver street" all over town......been a big hit!
Pastor Dean and Jeanne Malaxos are doing a wonderful job leading Word of Jesus Church in Holbrook, Long Island. The church recently held a set-in service and installed new deacons into office. This is an important part of growing and maintaining a New Testament church because the biblical call to ministry includes everyone. In fact, the church that the original founding apostles planted in the Bible was an 'all-hands-on-deck' organization! That means that everyone gets to participate, in some capacity, in the work of the ministry. The Bible says, It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up... Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV) Therefore healthy churches are always in the business of developing leaders to oversee and carry out ministry and good works. Congrats, to our recently installed Word of Jesus deacons!
From our Costa Rica church plant: Ron and Julie Odato have been holding the only English language weekly services in their entire area. In fact, there are many English-only speaking Americans who have transplanted to their region in Costa Rica but have no English speaking church to go to. Ron reports: I spend my days fishing. Our bait is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This morning a businessman said, "I am an agnostic.... but my wife is a believer. She and my son travel very far to church on Sundays and she asked me if it would be OK to try your service right here. I told her it would save a lot of money on gas. She wants to make sure you believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. Perhaps I could attend with her because her English is not quite good yet....." Word is getting around that this Jesus' Food is Good!
Kudos to CMCC's own Pastor Keven Beutel who has been traveling for the past several months as needed to cover Sunday services at the Conesville Chapel Church.
***FaithConnect/CMCC women's conference coming up October 12th. The title is 'Walking in the Garden in the Cool of the Day' and will be held in Long Island this year.
***Ladies watch for details on the upcoming cultural outing to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown on August 26.
***CMCC church picnic after Sunday church on August 19. Details to come.
***We are re-starting weekly intercessory prayer meeting on Thursday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM. Anyone able to make a three month long weekly commitment please contact Michelle Beutel to sign up @ 586-4848. "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel..." Ephesians 6:18-19 (NIV)
***Nancy Engelhardt is a leader for the upcoming 'America for Jesus 2012' event to be held in Philadelphia this September 28 & 29. Take some time and look over the website. We'll be bringing you more information soon. http://www.afj2012.org/
***Eddie Rivera and Warren Johnson are two CMCC members who belong to the Christian Motorcycle Association (CMA) regional chapter, The Righteous Riders. This is a great organization conducting many activities and joint rides in the summer. Whether you're a Wild Hog or Mild Frog (Renard Barto line) it is good to share interests and Christian fellowship with others. Website: http://cmaner5.org/NY/RIGHTEOUSRIDERS/default.aspx
***If you haven't seen it closely, stop by and check out our beautiful 20 year memorial stone fountain along side the chapel. Ron Odato constructed this masterpiece made up of stones gathered from CMCC member's lands throughout the region. The stones were anointed in a ceremony one year ago and represent Margaretville, Dunraven, Andes, Delhi, Downsville, Arkville, Roxbury, Grand Gorge, Gilboa, Fleischmanns, Pine Hill, Shandaken and other neighborhoods throughout our region! 20 years of God's Miracles! Thank you, Jesus!
***Sheila Spaulding recently hosted an overnight slumber party for our Precious Pearls, young girls' group. Little sleep. Lotta snacks. Lotta fun. Thank you, Sheila for pouring the love of Jesus and God's Word into these little ones!
***Did you ever notice how nice CMCC looks, inside and out? This is only because of the efforts of many CMCC unsung heroes. Marie Spaulding, Ryder Spaulding, Joshua Spaulding, Courtney Spaulding, Sheila Spaulding, Diana Engelhardt, Georgie Piskacek, Coby Piskacek, Brett Piskacek, Jenna Piskacek, Jeff Surgent, Noah Beutel, Cam Beutel, Paul Engelhardt, Athena Gill and many others... thanks!!!!
***New Believers and CMCC new members class coming soon... watch for details.
*** CMCC 'Art for Life' has had a successful summer season with recent drawing classes and now looking forward to an outing to visit the Hudson River School artist, Frederic Church's magnificent nineteen century Persian style home, Olana, in September. http://www.olana.org/
***My new book, 'Hidden in Plain View' (working title) is being considered by at least two national publishers right now. Please pray for wisdom for all involved that this work might reach many people for the benefit of God's Kingdom and Jesus' wonderful Church!
***Sad news, kids, but our Catskill Mountain Christian Academy staff is already busy at work preparing for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. Enjoy the rest of your summer but come back in September ready to work hard!
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See you Sunday in church!BlessingsPastor Bob Engelhardt
"After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." Mark 16:19-20 (NIV)
