Hi Buffalo Covenant!

I'm praising God for a good meeting on Sunday night. And by that I am not referring to the results of the elections so much as the spirit and tone. When I shared my devotional at the meeting that night, I quoted from Acts 15:28:

"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...".  

This was the very first 'congregational meeting', called the Jerusalem Council by commentators, in which a critical decision was made about just what was the Gospel and how did a person get saved. Was it by obedience to the ceremonial Mosaic law of circumcision, or was it completely by faith in Jesus Christ. Fortunately for all of us, the Church came to the right decision. But they did not do so alone. God helped them; specifically God the Holy Spirit guided them in the decision-making process. That's why they could announce in their letter to the Gentiles announcing their decision that "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us..." They very much believed that God met with them and guided their decision-making process.

And that is what I shared with the Congregation on Sunday night; that my prayer would be that God the Holy Spirit would guide us together towards His will for Christ's church body here at BCC. I believe that God continues to guide His people as we seek His face in our service to Him. And I do believe that God led us at that meeting.

There were three motions decided upon by the voting membership at this meeting:

1st - Creating a Technology Commission to help us pursue our ministries with excellence.  This motion passed with 99% approval.

2nd - To approve the remodel of the worship center, parking lot, and related items. This motion passed with 88% approval.

3rd - To provide up to $200,000 in additional finance if necessary to get the whole project done together. This motion passed with 80% approval.

There was, of course, much discussion about the two motions related to the remodel. There were a lot of good questions. What was most encouraging to me was the priorities demonstrated by the questions being asked. They were all coming from strong Christian values which are important for us as a church. They were related to what is the best way to provide for the discipleship of our children, youth, and adults? How can we make sure that we can stay focused on making disciples? What can we do to very quickly eliminate the debt which we may be incurring?  These are all coming from excellent Christian values which we want to continue to teach as a church. 

I was also encouraged by the good tone exhibited by people after the meeting. I spoke with some who were opposed to the motions, and could honestly share their reasons why, and yet were not carrying a grudge. For this I am praising God.

I guess the point is that what I saw on Sunday evening was mature Christians coming together to make a decision, because we believe that we can do more for the Kingdom of Heaven by working together.  And that is what we want to do, is figure out the very best way to obey Jesus together to help fulfill our portion of the Great Commission.

For Christ and His Kingdom,

Pastor Bill