Baptism This Sunday!

Do not miss celebrating with our church family for Baptism!
 
We have a few people who will be getting baptized this Sunday, We look forward to celebrating what God has done in their lives as they have come to faith in Him or a renewed faith. 
 
Baptism is a physical expression of a spiritual work that God does in our lives. It is symbolic of the former life being put to death and us being raised to new life in Christ. It is also an outward evidence of our submission to Christ in salvation and our public declaration that we are His followers. It identifies us with His people in His kingdom. “Then they that gladly received His word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (2:41; see also 10:47, 48 and 16:30–33). Jesus not only instructed us to be baptized (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16), but he himself was baptized as our example (Matthew 3:13-16).
 
If you would like to be baptized (this Sunday or any other time) please let us know!

Read more...

Building the Church in the Dominican Project Update

 
Thank you so much for giving towards the Church building project in La Romana, Dominican Republic.  Because of your faithful support, earlier this year the church was able to construct a temporary roof and begin work on the bathrooms. Also, they were able to install several windows and doors. This allowed them to begin meeting in the building!
 

While this is great news, there is still much work to be done. In recent months, several elements of the project had to be put on hold as they worked to address the global pandemic. Financial resources had to be redirected to meet immediate needs. This left the bathrooms incomplete and some work remaining on the temporary roof.

Pastor Juan Pablo shared, “When Covid-19 arrived, we had to stop the work of fixing the ceiling and doing the septic of the bathroom and with the money that we had to help the members and some neighbors of the Church most in need. One side of the ceiling was left unfinished to fix and the septic of the bathroom.”

We want to help them take care of these issues as soon as possible. The immediate need is approximately $3000 for the bathrooms and repairs of some spots leaking on the roof. With the Lord’s help, this is a need I believe we can address quickly. Also, in the coming months, we want to work towards the next major step in the project of pouring the permanent ceiling for the first floor. The cost of this step is approximately $50,000. This will serve as the roof until the construction of the second floor is complete.

Church family, this is the definition of “fertile soil” of which we can sow. As they work to build the building of the church, they are consistently caring for the members and those less fortunate. We ask that you continue to pray and give. The Lord has entrusted us with much. What will we do with it?

 

 


Read more...

Youth Kickball Night

Calling all our youth out for a fun night of KICKBALL! Join us Wednesday to play kickball or just to hangout. Come out at 7:00 PM to the Hackleburg Park at field 3. 
 
For questions, please reach out to Pastor David. 
 
 

Read more...

United in Prayer: Day 10

Today, we end our ten days of prayer and fasting. Looking back, we have covered inviting God to move in our lives, to clean our hearts, breaking negative relationships, and repositioning/refocusing our relationships with God, the Word, and Holy Spirit. We have prayed over our homes and families and our church. Today, as we end, let’s focus our prayers on this “new season”.

 
Through these past days, we have chosen to position ourselves to hear from God. We have chosen to trust God ..to ask for more. God can be trusted. He will move to meet us in our new season.
 
2 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
 
Throughout the word we can see those that waited on God, that journeyed into the unknown just to chase after Him. They didn’t know either of what to expect, but one thing they did know was that God is true and He will do what He says. The disciples were waiting indefinitely! They had a set mind–that they were not coming out until God showed up. 
(Acts 1:13)
 
Our prayer focus for today is for that new season approaching. We are praying for the “suddenly” in our lives and the life of the church. (Acts 2) We are crossing the threshold from one season to another. We always know the timing for the season change before we officially see the date on the calendar. For example, from summer to fall the weather begins to cool off with leaves falling and days getting shorter. We can notice it and then before we know it, we are standing in the new season and sometimes we can miss the transition into the new season. There is so much beauty in the transition if we stop to look. We are crossing into a new season and that means transitioning from one to the other and let’s focus our prayer that we don’t miss the beauty of the transition. Once in the new season, let’s move forward trusting God that we walking and moving in His plan for our lives and the life of the church. 
 
In Acts 2:41-47, we see the life of the church for the early believers. What we see here is the life breathed into the church after the day of Pentecost. We see what was breathed into that early church. We see God’s heart. We see believers that participated in the life of the church. 
 
  • 2:41 Salvations
  • 2:42 Community / Prayer Meetings
  • 2:43 God fear and awe / wonders / signs / miracles 
  • 2:44 Unity 
  • 2:45 Giving 
  • 2:46 & 47 Hunger / Meeting Together / Strengthening of One Another 
 
Prayer Focus:
 
God, I pray that we become believers that are caught up in the life of the church. That we step out and are vessels for you and not merely vessels that sit on the pew unchanged and not used. God that we see and feel Your heart for the ministry and that our focus is shifted to hear from heaven. God that we will seek Your will. God that we will see the transition and move into the new season not looking back but choosing to look forward leaving the past behind and having a heart that is chasing after You. That we will be a body collectively praying for the prodigals, to consistently pray and guard and Your presence that we will be whole and complete vessels that You can use. That there will be unity among the body with hearts that give knowing it is not for a “person”, but God, we give to honor You. God, we also pray for encounters with Your presence ..knowing that creates a hunger for more of You. God that we meet together building one another up in unity strengthening each other building Your church and Your name in this city. 
 
– April Price

Read more...

United in Prayer: Day 9

As we continue moving outward in our prayer focus, let’s shift to the church.
 
Yes, we are the church, and ministry lies within us. But we should also be just as consistent in praying over our place of gathering. For so many, “the building” is where they know to go if they want God in their life, and for that reason the enemy attacks in ways that the church has trouble ministering to the full intention God has for that place.
The enemy almost like a game plants discord and waits for it to start to grow then feeds it and intends to break the unity within the body. God not only has plans and purposes for us individually in our lives, but He also has plans and purposes for His church. He has always wanted to be with His creation and He wants to use us as living breathing vessels to minister His will and purpose to others. He wants to speak through us and through our ministries to the people we are being called to reach. 
 
Our church, CC, is just one of many places God has chosen to manifest His presence to take a seat among us..to be with us. We as a body need to protect that and we need to water it ..we need to guard the presence..we need to fight for the purpose and plans of God for CC that they return to Him fulfilled accomplishing everything He intended when He first breathed life into a little red brick building next to the school. As we are preparing to enter a new season, I believe the church is crossing a new season as well, but the church will only cross into that season as much as we carry it there. 
 
Today, let’s focus on praying for the ministries of CC. Let’s pray for our pastors, worship leaders, and worship team. Let’s pray for the prayer ministry, children’s ministry, youth ministry, women’s ministry, and men’s ministry as well as connect groups and the jail ministry. Let’s cover CC from head to toe praying that as a body we (ministry/leaders) hide behind the cross, presenting all that Jesus is and nothing of who we are. We present Jesus. We are asking for Holy Spirit leading and guiding. We are asking for the presence of God among us that we will guard and protect His seat among us. 
 
Matthew 18:20 For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them. 
 
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). 
 
God has a plan for CC and I pray we are the body that carries that plan, guarding and tending and protecting, into its intended new season. That the plan God has breathes and lives and grows with no attacks of the enemy being successful because we are the watchmen that are vigilantly standing guard. 
 
    -April Price
 
Prayer Starter:
 
Father, we are asking for your perfect will for our church. We ask not for ourselves but for your purpose to be accomplished in all that CC is and becomes. We know you have a new season for our church, we ask you to guide us into it. Help us carry our weight, help us water that purpose. In Jesus’s name, we rebuke divisions and we ask you, Father, to guard our hearts individually to protect the unity of your church. 

Read more...

United in Prayer: Day 8

Yesterday, we shifted our prayer focus moving outwardly praying for our families. Today, let’s continue that outward focus as we pray over our homes and our land.

 
Praying over our homes and land should be a consistent part of our spiritual lives. I like to view it as I do physically knowing that my house needs to be cleaned and there are times that it needs cleaning out. Closets, cabinets, and drawers are too full, so we clean out and sell, or donate, or throw away just to declutter our homes. How much more should we do spiritually?
 
Spiritually things come into our homes by either invitation or attaching itself to other things that are allowed into the home. The enemy likes to stay attached to things, hidden or tucked away refusing to leave and all the while affecting the spiritual atmosphere in your home. Our homes should carry an atmosphere that welcomes the presence of God. A place where our sleep is sweet.
 
Proverbs 3:24 When you lie down, you shall not be afraid; yes, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet. 
 
We want our homes to be a place that welcomes the presence of God. A place where we have encounters that change our view and or perception of God. 
 
Psalm 84: 1-4; 4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. 
 
The presence is supposed to be the place where things are birthed. Yes, we can feel and know His presence at church, but how much more in our homes? The true presence of God in our homes will wreck our lives filling our home with a fragrance that can’t be bought and fighting warfare we never knew we were fighting. 
 
Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Highest shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty Whose power no foe can withstand. 
 
That secret place with God develops through your relationship affecting everything around you. The more we stay under His wing, the louder and clearer His voice is in our lives and the farther distant and weaker the voice of the enemy is in our lives. But also true, the farther we walk out from under His wing, the louder and more clear is the voice of the enemy while God’s voice becomes distant.
 
Prayer Starter:
 
Take time today to walk through your home and your property lines. (Speak Psalm 91 over your home) As you walk ask God to show you things that need to be removed anything that the enemy has attached itself to that is attacking your life. Ask God to show you the things you know and also the things you may not even know about. Ask God to reveal anything that would offend His presence in your home. Ask Holy Spirit to breathe through your home cleansing the atmosphere spiritually and physically leaving behind the fragrance of God. 
 
– April Price

Read more...

Final 3 Days of United in Prayer

I want to invite you to join us for the final three days of our United in Prayer. These 10 days have and will prove to be powerful as we obey the Lord in seeking God. We are walking the same road as the disciples as they waited on the Promise. I am excited to see what God will do in our New Season starting Pentecost Sunday (May 31). 
 
I encourage you to pray and fast for God to lead us. For God’s full power to work freely. We cannot expect God to just ‘perform’ because we show up. Jesus said somethings only come through prayer and fasting. Would you unite these final three days with us?
 
 
 


Read more...

United in Prayer: Day 7

So far, we have been praying inwardly focusing on ourselves and our relationships. Today, we will begin to focus our prayers moving outwardly and to those around us. We will start by praying for those closest to us in our lives and our homes and that is our families. 

I once had someone speak into my life the importance of consistently praying over my family. I was taught that through consistent prayers regardless of what I see, I am praying prayers that are active and living for my family. This ties back to that consistent relationship with the Word of God. The more we sow into that relationship, the more we understand, and the more we can release the Word into our lives and the lives of others. When we speak His Word, we are releasing His words! In response, the Word of God tells us that even the angels move to respond to the voice of the Word. 

Psalm 103:20 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His Word.

When we speak the Word, angels are on the move to fulfill it. When we speak the Word, we are choosing to release what God says about the situation other than what we see. Speaking the Word is us releases our faith that we are choosing to believe God what God says. 

As a parent, our hearts for our children from the moment they are born is remarkable. We love them, we hope for them, we protect them, we believe the best even when their lives may take a direction we didn’t expect. If our hearts as a parent is just a portion God lets us feel compared to His heart as Father. Can you imagine the love God has for us? He just, like us, has hope and love for us wanting to protect and believe the very best for our lives. 

Let’s take time today to ask God to show us our family through His eyes and His heart. Asking God to show us how to pray for our spouses, and our children. What would He want us to pray over them? 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. 

Romans 11:29 For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. He never withdraws them when once they are given and He does not change His mind about those to whom He give His grace or in whom He sends His call. 

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me voice without producing any effect, useless, but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper the thing for which I sent it. 

Prayer Starter: 

God, I lift my family up to you realizing that You have a purpose and plan for their lives. God that you have giftings and callings within them that You won’t take back. God that You won’t change Your mind about them. God, You have a purpose for my family and God, I ask You to help me see how to pray for my family through Your heart. I am choosing to pray and speak Your Word, and Your heart over the lives of my family knowing that in that choice, I am releasing angels that are moving in response to Your word. Also, God releasing Your word means that it will not come back without producing. God show me the words to speak. God, I thank You for Your heart, for Your protection, and Your hope for my family. 

  • April Price

Read more...

VISION

 
CONNECT: Our greatest desire is to see everyone CONNECT to Know Christ in a personal relationship. Through CONNECT Groups we build relationships with Christ and other believers while doing life together.
 
GROW: We seek to GROW spiritually strong in Christ to be a fully committed follower of Christ. Our Growth Journey series helps to provide the tools to GROW stronger in Christ from new believers to seasoned saints.
 
SERVE:We become complete as we SERVE to make an Impact for Christ. Through Impact Teams everyone can use their unique gifts and talents to Serve in and through the church to make an Impact in our community, region and world.

Read more...

United in Prayer: Day 6

For the past few days, we have been focusing our prayers on the relationships in our lives. Today, let’s focus a little further on the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit.
 
God intended for us to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Jesus shows us this.
 
John 14: 16-17, And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever. The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart) because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you constantly and will be in you. 14:26 But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything that I have told you.
 
The Holy Spirit is a promise; a gift for us and for every generation after us. Acts 2:39 For the promise of the Holy Spirit is to and for you and your children, and to and for all that are far away, even to and for as many as the Lord our God invites and bids to come to Himself. (A gift for all–Acts 10:43-47)
 
If you are reading this and think..okay, I am good with Holy Spirit…hang on we will focus there shortly. If on the other hand, you know that you haven’t been filled with the Holy Spirit having the evidence then let’s stop here for a few minutes.
 
I once sat under teaching that explained that receiving the Holy Spirit and His gifts were as simple as how I would receive a gift from a friend. If a friend was giving me a beautifully wrapped gift and this friend was so happy to give the gift to me, my response would determine how that friend would feel. Now, I could say, yes, I will take the gift and hold my hands out to receive or I could say, well I don’t deserve that gift. There are so many directions, but we usually take the gifts. The Holy Spirit is a beautifully wrapped gift from God that Jesus left us with; yet when we feel that gift, we can back away. If you haven’t received that gift, let me encourage you to hold your hands out and simply say, yes I receive the beautifully wrapped gift from You God. Ask God to completely fill you and keep you ever filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 5:18)
 
Now, for those that say, I am good ..filled with the Holy Spirit……as believers we have the Holy Spirit, but how much does the Holy Spirit have you?
 
Let’s examine our relationship with the Holy Spirit today.
 
Prayer Starter:
 
God, I pray that I live my life being led and guided by the Holy Spirit. I ask that You, Holy Spirit show me where I have pushed Your voice aside. Reveal areas in my life that I have been hesitant to change. Fill me fresh. I need Your Holy Spirit in me to be my guide, comforter, counselor, advocate, helper, intercessor, strengthener, and standby. I need you to pray through me when everything around me is so hard to understand. I need to see my life, and those around me through Your eyes. Holy Spirit I need You in my life…my family ..and my future.
 
   – April Price

Read more...