Summery h 2023 VBS - Faith Promo

(SLIDE - Picture of Clear Lake)

How many of you have ever had the opportunity to lead someone else to Christ?

I am telling you, there is no greater joy than sitting with a lost sinner and seeing their eyes opened to the truth, and seeing them placing their faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Let me share with you a quick story about our small church in Clear Lake, Iowa and then offer you an opportunity to be part of something God is doing in our community.

Story of CLRBC

Last June, 17 months ago, a group of 22 people met in our church in Clear lake

and As we sat there I asked the People How many chairs does our auditorium have?

SLIDE CHANGE

We counted and it had 125 chairs. and I asked

When was the last time we filled these chairs with 125 people.

and the answer was we haven’t even come close.

So I asked, what would it take for us to fill every chair in the auditorium on a Sunday morning. Something that we have never even come close to.

Is it even Possible for us to do.

The answer was we have tried and nothing seems to work.

And then we began our Bible study in Ephesians 3:20-21

Ephesians 3:20–21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

SLIDE CHANGE

“Do you believe that God could fill this auditorium with 125 People on a Sunday Morning worship service with in one year?>

And so we began to, pray fervently as a church that God would do more than we could ever ask or think- We prayed very specifically that in one year God would blow us a away and do more than we truly believed possible, We prayed that he would bring 125 people into our church for a Sunday worship service.

A month later we went from 35 - 45

3 months later our attendance was running in the 60’s

6 months later we were rejoicing because more than 70 people coming to church each week.

but we were still far short of what we were praying for.

On Sunday June 5th we had 106 people in church which was more than we have ever had, and it was amazing. God was working-

The next Sunday was a baptismal Sunday where 3 adults 1 teenager who had all just accepted jesus were going to be baptised and they invited many of their unsaved friends and family to come see what God was doing in their life.

This Baptismal Sunday was one year from when we began to pray that God would do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or thing.

SLIDE CHANGE

and on that Sunday we had 146 people sitting in our service- Hearing the gospel =many for the first time in their lives.

and the best part for me was when a gracious older lady came up to me with tears of joy in her eyes, and said pastor can you believe how God answered our prayers - he literally did more than I ever thought possible.

I share this story with you for two reason-

1 Because I want you to get excited about serving a God who can do the impossible in your local church - A God who is just waiting to blow you mind away with how big He is. And He wants to use you in reaching people for Salvation.

2. 2ndly I share this story with you. Because I want to invite you to be part of what God is doing in our community in clear lake,

Our church has committed to praying for God to do the impossible once again, and we believe that he is going to to do immeasurably ,more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Next Summer we are going to step outside of the box of normality for our church ministries and instead of inviting kids to come to our church we want to take the gospel to the kids

We want to reach the unreached kids of Clear Lake Iowa with the gospel of Jesus Christ and we want you to be part of it!

-

I am asking you to prayerfully consider Joining us for a week of ministry in Clear Lake.

-you see our community is quite unique-

Because we have a premier lake in Iowa, their are many wealthy families in this community, But because we are in an agriculture and industrial area as well, there are many kids who don’t have as much.

In fact in our community of 7,500 people, we have 5 trailer parks that are full of Kids who need jesus. And God has placed them on my heart.

As I was looking at our community and praying how our church could effectively reach these kids, when many of them have no way of getting to our church building, I realized something very special about our community

SLIDE CHANGE Click through all 4

Everyone of these trailer parks is right across the street from a city park. (how cool is that!!!?)

We are going to do a Traveling Vacation Bible School

FROM JULY 9-15TH

Each day we will be in a different park in the Clear Lake community taking the gospel to where the kids live and play.

-morning - Invest in the community

you will have the opportunity to invest in the kids of the community through games,Bible studies, crafts, songs and food.

-Afternoons- Invite more of the community

will be spent canvasing the neighborhoods, interacting and inviting `kids to the following days events.

evenings - Immerse within the community

We want you to experience lake life in Clear Lake . the best way to reach a community for Christ is to be part of that community and do what that community does. .We want you to have fun in our community

Saturday Cookout: Introduce church to the community

We will have a community cookout for all the kids and their families to join us at the church for carnival games, inflatables and food.

Our church has committed to praying for God to do the impossible once again

Our goal in this ministry is to meet our community neighbors so that Gospel relationships with these families can be developed.

We also want to invest in you, we want to be part in God growing you for the ministry of the gospel.

Don’t waste your summer- Use it to serve Jesus

Some of you are going to get the opportunity to serve in a ministry all summer, at camps, on the mission field, or even in an internship at local churches.

Others of you may need to work or be back hoe with the family.

if you have a passion for sharing Christ with the lost- we would love to have you join us next summer in CLEAR LAKE Iowa for a week of Christ centered Gospel impact in our community.

Would you consider partnering with us to see God do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine in our community?

If you would like to know more about this opportunity, I’ll be here this morning and would love to talk with you.

Thanks