A Note From Greg

I was glad when they said unto me, “let us go into the house of the Lord together.”

When I was first hired at Eastern Hills there was a statistic floating around that the kids who were in church at that time would grow up to be adults who did not take their children to church. It wasn’t just at Eastern Hills or Montgomery. It was a national statistic. The reason cited was that the CHURCH was not being perceived as relevant. I know that all the ministries at Eastern Hills exist to lead everyone into a closer walk with the Lord. We don’t do anything just for the sake of doing things. From cradle roll to our oldest senior adult class, everything has a purpose.

We have a lot going on in October. First will be our newly beginning Discipleship Classes. There is something there for everyone. Even our Preschoolers and Children are learning names of God and the different names for Jesus. This past week the Children learned that the first name of God was Elohim which is plural and means God Almighty, the Creator. How can it be plural if there is only One True God? We learned about the Trinity and how God being called ALMIGHTY can help us in whatever circumstances we encounter.

Movie under the Stars. On Friday the 13th, we will be watching the movie SING. We will be in the back parking lot in the grassy area. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, friends and neighbors. There will be free hotdogs, chips and drinks. Dinner at 6:30 pm and movie at 6:45 pm.

Next is our Marriage Retreat. There are quite a few people signed up for the retreat. It will be a great time of fellowship and learning, great food, great teaching and some quality time together as a couple.

Last in October is the Fall Festival. This is one of the largest outreach events we do. This is why we involve the entire church. We want to put our best foot forward and let this community know that there is a church at the top of the hill and it is here to love and minister to everyone. This brings me back to my opening statement about everything having a purpose. Our Fall Festival is highly evangelistic. By the end of the evening these families will have heard the complete plan of Salvation at least four times. They will have been exposed to our Youth Ministry, Preschool and Children’s Ministry, Choir Ministry, R.A.s, G.A.s, Mission Friends, Women’s Ministry and Men’s Ministry. They will see that Eastern Hills has a lot to offer for their whole family. Please plan on being involved with your class or just parking a car and handing out candy. (By the way, decorating your trunk is a blast!)

Praying for a great October and rest of the year.

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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