Dear Lake Baldwin Church Family,
I hope this letter (from your Associate Pastor!) finds you well as we begin another Advent Season. 2019 has been a year of God at work in our midst, and before life gets too holiday-crazed I wanted to encourage you to prayerfully consider being a part of yet another work of God—His financial provision for our church.
A LOOK BACK ON 2019
Our youth ministry has grown to 40/week. They had their first ever Fall Retreat (“Launch”) in October.
Over 100 of you are serving over 100 kids on a monthly basis in SPLASH! The kids have organized back-packs for under-resourced students at Glenridge Middle School and have had Skype calls with missionary families. A number of kids have affirmed their faith in Christ and have joined the church. This fall we added 2 new Splash classrooms to accommodate our rapidly growing children’s ministry.
We had the privilege of encountering many stories of gospel transformation through our Telling God’s Story video series.
This year’s Easter service was our largest yet at nearly 500 people, with many non-churched in attendance to hear the good news of Christ. Additionally, adult attendance is up 21% since June.
This Summer Mike and Molly experienced the Holy Land, Ancient Ephesus and Corinth, and other European sites on their well-deserved (and much overdue!) sabbatical. They returned refreshed and excited to continue to serve and love our church!
In our August Vision Engagement Series, we taught on our church’s mission: to make disciples through helping people CONNECT, GROW, and LOVE.
In September, we announced the timeline and plan for the upcoming succession/transition plan involving Mike Tilley and the guy writing this letter.
Thanks to our missions team and the leadership of Sarah Bergeson, we enjoyed a creative take on a missions festival: a dedicated missions Sunday followed by missions-focused shepherding dinners.
God added new officers and leaders to strengthen our shepherding, care, and discipleship.
Many in our church continued their involvement in grass roots efforts in serving the city.
God has blessed us with a devoted and talented staff team. Our newest members, Margarita Smith and Katie Roggow, have both been such answers to prayer in 2019.
As you may already know, a portion of our 2019 budget went to help local ministries making a difference in our city, front-line church planters domestically, and missionaries world-wide.
We saw countless lives changed by the gospel through the various ministries of LBC this year.
FINANCIAL UPDATE
Due to the many who faithfully give to LBC, we have 91% of our YTD expenses funded as of the end of October. This means that in addition to our expenses for November and December, we need to make up a shortfall of $67,000 to meet our annual budget. We are believing that God will do this as each of us decides in our hearts and gives joyfully (2 Corinthians 9:7).
While there are many worthwhile ministries to which many of us give, we encourage you to make your local church a priority in your giving. This might be a chance to renew your monthly tithe, or to give a special year-end gift. As those who have walked this path can attest, on the other side of trusting God with our generosity is a tremendous joy.
And we want to thank you in advance, as every year we’re blown away by God’s provision through your generosity. Thank you for being a part of this mission with us!
In his grace,
Joe White and the Elder Team
P.S. You can give a secure gift here: https://lakebaldwinchurch.churchcenter.com/giving