Treasurer … Spring 2016
I don’t know why I am still amazed when God’s orchestrates everything to come to together. Here is the latest in how He brought this article together.
Last October, I chose the following verse to be the topic of my next Witness article:
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:16 NIV
Then, last week in our high school Sunday School, I selected a music video by Andy Mineo entitled “Uncomfortable.” Now although I am very fond of contemporary Christian music, even this genre stretches my taste. It is a classic urban rap style, but the lyrics are an exceptionally astute representation of today’s society. They go…
Nobody told me you could die like this
Nobody told me you could die from bliss, yeah
Nobody told me, nobody told me
We never ever saw it comin’, no, no
Live it up, live it up
Corrupted by the comfort we…LOVE
Focused on what you been given more than becomin’ who you are
I tried to point ’em to the Son, but why they callin’ me a star?
I got enough but I want more, want more
He said it’s hard for a rich man to get to heaven
When we feel like we don’t need God, then we forget Him
We tell ’em that, “If you don’t make me money or make me happy
Then I ain’t makin’ time for ya’, so make it snappy”
I had more when I had less
I think I got too comfortable, yeah
I know I got, I think I got
I know I got, a little too comfortableRead more: Andy Mineo – Uncomfortable Lyrics | MetroLyrics
In class, we talked about when we become too comfortable in our lives that we grow to be complacent and lazy; we do not want to do anything that makes us uncomfortable. This includes evangelizing (‘I won’t know what to say”), going to a nursing home (“We don’t have anything in common”, or working with the under privileged (“They’re just looking for a handout”).
As I am having this discussion with the teens, the LORD is working on my heart saying” Are YOU any better? Look how comfortable YOU have become!”
Then I go to Convention and am truly blessed to listen to Christine Roush’s Bible study for 3 days.
God used to her bring all the pieces together. She talked about how the church needs to change. We cannot expect to stay in OUR comfy Church pews, and expect people to come to OUR church and support OUR programs. It’s not about us! It is about being Christ’s hands and feet to the hurting society.
We get in ruts and we like to stay in our ruts because our ruts mold to us-it has taken us years to make these ruts. This is where my theme verse (that I chose 6 months ago) comes back into play: In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16, NIV
God is calling us to get out of our pews and GO into our community. He wants us to SEE the needs of our community and meet those needs in Christ’s name. We cannot do this with some expectation that OUR church may gain new members or get some benefit out of it.
We must do it with selflessness as Christ was selfless. I want to reiterate what I said in the last edition, because it bears repeating.
In one of our theme scriptures Luke 10:27b, Jesus tells us to “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
As that passage continues, He teaches us that our neighbors are anyone who needs help, and especially those who are not in a position to help themselves. So as we go about our lives, let us remember that Jesus placed us where we should be at that exact moment so that we “see” what He wants us to see, and then respond as He would.
This is the sole reason we exist as ABW women and the reason we support the work of ABW Ministries in NYS and nationally. God calls us not only to See but then to Do!
At the end of the fiscal year, these are the balances of the NYS funds: Note in the NYS General fund some of this is designated to replenish investment funds that were withdrawn during a time of need.
For 2015-2016 we have received the following contributions to be forwarded to national ministries:
The following offerings were collected at Convention.
This brought the total we received for the 2015-2016 NYS Special Project of the ABWM Cultural Reality Initiative to $6,600.00.
Thank you for giving generously to each of these funds. We must praise God for enabling us to meet the needs of this organization. I thank Jesus for each one of you who have given, served or prayed for this organization.