Hello Church Family,
I hope that you are doing well and have a great start to your week. I thought that the song that we did yesterday in worship was so appropriate as words went, “I will sing of the Goodness of God and God you have been so, so good.” It was appropriate as we thought about just how good God has been to our church over this past year. It was about this time a year ago that our church was in deep financial trouble, but God has been so good. He brought us through these difficult times and not only has He brought us through them, but He has blessed us beyond what we ever thought. We were blessed to have had Dr. Wheeler as our interim pastor for the 14 months that we were in transition. Pastor Brain shared yesterday the many ways that Dr. Wheeler led us and helped us through the difficult transition period. God was so good to send a man like Dr. Wheeler to us. We were blessed to see Pastor Carl and Pastor Josh in the same place yesterday to remind us how good God has been to us in the past and how good our future can be with Pastor Josh leading us. God is so so good!
I also wanted to share with you how good God was to us this year at summer camp. I kept telling our camp counselors all week just what a blessing it was to just to be there. We faced so many obstacles with financial uncertainty, as we were not even sure that we could do camp at the end of 2019. As we moved into 2020, we faced a new challenge and that was Covid 19. Covid 19 affected ministry in so many ways and we were not even sure that we could have camp until mid-June. It was at this point that Camp Oak Hill finally made the decision to move forward with their camp sessions. We also faced the difficulties of parents feeling comfortable sending their kids to a week of camp. In the end, we were down a few campers, but we still had 93 who went with us. As the time of camp moved closer, we saw the weather and the forecast was for a hurricane to come through North Carolina the first two days of camp. Although Monday was a little wet, God took care of us, we only had a change a few things in our schedule, and for the most part the week was dry. So through all of that, God was so good and we were able to have a week of camp. I love the phrase “God showed off”, and that is exactly what he did at camp. We had the best week of camp that I can remember. Our counselors and leaders were amazing and led our kids in deeper relationships with Christ. On Friday night, we saw nearly half our kids move during the time of invitation and of those who went to pray with a counselor 13 made first time decisions for Christ. 13 new believers for God’s kingdom! God is so so good.
So how has God been good to you? How has He been faithful to you? In my own life there are so many ways that I can share. He has given me a loving and wonderful spouse. I have three less than perfect kids, but I am so thankful to be their dad. God has been good to call me to ministry here at HHBC and give me a church family like all of you. God has been so good. So today, reflect on the goodness of God. Share His goodness with someone else. Share it on social media. Let the world know just how good God has been.
By way of announcement, this coming Wednesday night from 6:30 – 7:30 PM in the church gym we are going to do a celebration service of summer camp 2020. Please feel free to come join us even if you did not have a camper attend camp. We just want to share how good God was to us.
Have a great week, and I hope to see you on Wednesday night.
Mike Summy
Children's Pastor