So let me end by sharing this picture and thanking God for His tremendous BLESSINGS!  Have a blessed day and remember to thank God for all He is doing!

I truly appreciate authors like Mark that make us rethink our steps and help us evaluate ourselves!  Thank You Mark for your contribution to this Christian walk!

To order this awesome book click the picture below:

1.  Let me begin by saying that Camille is still pregnant and we are certainly eager to see our two little girls when it is their appointed time to come into this world!

2.  Over the Thanksgiving season we were able to provide Thanksgiving meals for over 60 families in the communities around us.  This was a remarkable blessing as we had the chance to enter the homes of all these families that we had never met before.  One woman came to church as a result of this outreach effort and with tears streaming down her face she gave her life to Jesus!  It is awesome to know that God still saves!

3.  The first Friday in December we hosted the Village of South Holland as we welcomed Santa to town.  Once again this year it was an incredible time as we had nearly 200 kids in our building waiting to make their request to Santa.  The best part about this event is that we are able to open our doors to people in our community that may have never entered had we not had an event like this.  Last Sunday we had several visitors that came as a result to the Santa event.

4.  This weekend we did our big Annual Christmas Gift Give-Away!  We served a generous portion of God’s love to almost 350 people!  Every child received a couple of gifts and everyone walked out with plenty of snacks.  Praise God for the provision He has supplied through local partnerships that have made this event possible!  Watch the video below for a sample of what it was like:

Lastly, don’t forget to pick up a daily bible and An Instrumental Christmas CD for everyone on your gift list this year!  We have them available in the lobby beginning this week.

Now keep watching this blog as I will be providing a detailed review of Mark Batterson’s soon to be released book Primal A Quest For The Lost Soul Of Christianity, I received an advance copy and I have to tell you…this is going to be a must read book for 2010!

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601421319

The Youth Convetion began for our group early Friday morning as they boarded the bus bound for Springfield.  This is the first year that did not attend and I must say it was very painful to know that I was going to miss such a great time.  Yet with my wife having some delivery issues I felt that it would be a wise thing to stay home.  Dexter assumed the lead in my absence and from the reports that I recieved back it is clear that he did a great job!  The bus came back just in time to get the young people fed and ready to help out for our annual Fall Festival.

Slime Time was another success event as we made some minor adjustments from what we did last year.  I am happy to say that we served over 409 children and 189 adults bringing our total to 598 people that were impacted with the love and creativity of our savior!

After all was said and done I called my wife only to find that she was still in a lot of pain and I convinced her to go into the hospital so they could check things out.  Good thing we did as the contractions had really gotten severe and began dialating.  While the two of us are extreemly anxious to meet these girls we also kniw that it is better for them to not come out this early.  So we prayed and prayed and the doctors started her on meds that would help to control the contractions.  Around three in the morning on Sunday morning I realized that we are at a crucial point and I knew that my wife would need me to be here by her side.  I sent Dexter a text message asking him to handle service so I could stay by Camille’s side.  Around 9am on Sunday it hit me that I would not be at church.  I was suddenly overcome with saddness for missing my church family and a sick feeling knowing that I would not be there.  Please understand I knew that ROCC was in good hands with Dexter and our leadership team all doing what needed to be done, yet I felt as though I was neglecting the church.  It was confirmed that as much as I labor in this position as the pastor of ROCC I realize that I am called to it by the feelings I experienced when not able to be there.

I am happy to say that I have heard nothing but positive feedback from the worship and message.  God moved and did what He wanted to do and I was able to be right here by Camille through what was a very rough night.  God is good and His mercy is everlasting!

Saturday, I had the chance to meet with one of our young couples that is making the next step in their relationship and preparing for their upcoming marriage.  It is always encouraging seeing young adults that are obviously committed to each other go forward in this commitment to the Lord.  I believe this is one of the best things we have going at ROCC.  Young people giving their lives to the Lord and them making the serious decisions to honor Him and live for Him and set an example of Godly living for others to see.  I thank God that we have all the young people that we do and continue to praise Him for what He is doing in this congregation.  Later in the afternoon I was able to hang out with one of our Jamaican families for a birthday celebration and let me tell you this…the food was off the hook!  I ate a lot more than I should have!

Sunday, started off with a bang!  Now that Tony is in place and working with our worship team my wife was able to come to church a little later than normal and just enjoy being a part of this really great team.  Tony adds a lot to the team that is in place and I am confident that we are heading in a great direction with our worship team.  Make sure you begin getting to church early so that you don’t miss this awesome opportunity to lay down our cares and worship the Living God.  The message was a tough one to preach yet I have to say I was very encouraged to see 9 people come forward to ask Christ into their lives!  Praise God!  After service Camille and I had lunch with a couple that recently began attending the church and it was awesome to begin a new relationship with an incredible couple.  Again Praise God for bringing really great people into our life!  Later in the afternoon I had to stop by Rodney’s house to apologize to him for saying that the Bengals were going to get smashed by the Bears, (it was a humbling process).  Then the day ended with a great New Member class with 10 adults and 4 children coming on board and deciding to be part of our family.  The thing I like best about this group is the diversity in age and experiences and knowing that God is truly expanding our territory.   

Late in the night Sunday I was awakened by Camille getting dressed at 2am.  She told me that she needed to go to the Doctor and off we went.  Praise God that she woke up when she did as she was having some really strong contractions and the doctors had to quickly treat her to stop the contractions.  The staff at the University of Chicago Hospital took great care of her and then the doctor made the decision that she needed to be admitted.  So our Sunday turned into Monday and after about 25 hours they had finally slowed the contractions and allowed Camille to eat.  What a journey!

I can say this…around 3pm yesterday we had plenty of people praying and then we began playing worship music from our phone and God allowed us to finally fall asleep and rest and the Lord brought His comfort!  When we woke up the contractions were spread out more and not as intense!  Have I said Praise God?!?

PRAISE GOD for He is good!