Dear Church Family,
It is exciting to be back home and in good health. Many of you know that I traveled to the Holy Land in February. I spent 10 days on a journey that I believe will impact my ministry in very significant ways. I wish I could package the experience up in a one-page article and share it with you today, but the more I reflect on it, the more I realize it will take weeks for me to unpack it for myself, let alone share it all with you. As a personal Lenten practice, I am going to be spending time reflecting on my trip. I am hoping that I will be able to put together a presentation for you to cover much of the trip sometime after Easter. In the meantime, I will share pictures and stories with you a little at a time.
I can tell you that Chanda and I had an amazing time. Wesley enjoyed his time with grandma and grandpa. I think we all did much better than we thought we would with the separation. We certainly appreciated your prayers. The weather was wonderful on our trip. Before we left, I checked the forecast, and it called for rain every day that we were there. However, we never saw one drop of rain. Amazingly the weather did not delay our arrival or return to Israel. The only change to our itinerary was to fly out of Cincinnati instead of Dayton, but we made it to Israel at our scheduled time. Thanks again for your prayers and support through this trip!
While the weather did not delay my trip, it has certainly affected us here in West Milton. It seems that the snow always comes just in time for Sunday morning worship. While we have not cancelled any services, our average worship attendance has been 148. To reach our 2014 goal, we need to average about 200 for the rest of the year. We could adjust our goal, but I think the better approach is to pray and expect God to do something great at Hoffman this year. Weather cannot hold us back from doing all that God wants us to do. Another unfortunate byproduct has been that our giving has been down significantly during these winter months. However, I don’t want to dwell on that. Instead, I want to thank you for your continued generosity. I know that we will come out of this season with vigor.
I am very excited about the series that we are going to be doing this Lent. Beginning in March, we are going to be looking at "24 Hours that Changed the World." We are going to spend 7 weeks looking at the last 24 hours of Jesus' life. As we look at the events that lead to Christ's death and burial, I will also be sharing stories about my trip to Israel. I am going to try to bring to life these events by showing pictures and telling stories about the places where Jesus spent his last 24 hours. I am very excited about journeying with you through this series.
During Lent, I want to invite some of you to share your stories with us during worship. Please be in prayer about whether God is calling you to share with us. You can share any way in which you have experienced God working in your life. As a prompt, you might consider thinking about 24 hours that changed your life. What was a transformative experience for you? Please let me know if you are willing to share with us. I would like to begin these stories on March 9.
This series will culminate with Easter Sunday where we will celebrate the fact that the last 24 hours of Jesus' life are not the end of the story. After Easter this year, we will be doing a series on the questions that you have always wanted to ask God or a pastor. I will be giving you the opportunity to submit your questions during Lent. The questions will be compiled and considered as sermon topics for the Post-Easter series. I look forward to hearing from you.
In January, Ad Council approved the formation of the Maximizing Mission and Ministry Team. This team has begun looking at our current governance/leadership structure at Hoffman to determine if there is a more effective and efficient way for us to care for our administrative and ministry needs. One of the goals of the team is to move people from administration into ministry. Please pray for this team as we continue our efforts to discover how we can maximize mission and ministry at Hoffman.
Yours in Christ’s Service,
Pastor Justin
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