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Compassion Week – Day 5 Encouragement

October 23, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

All INDear Enews Friends,

This is a very special day for friends of Eastside who are completing a 5 day food and water challenge.  It will be a huge relief to be able to have a normal dinner tonight, won’t it?  For me the toughest part was only drinking tap water.  The boredom of tap water started to get to me.  And then I realized that my drinking water was crystal clear, absolutely safe and unlimited.  It poured instantaneously out of any faucet in my house.  If it had been polluted, or if I had to walk 2 miles to get it…well, I can barely imagine.

Others of you mentioned that the beans and rice diet just about put you over the edge.  Imagine eating that restrictively for a lifetime.

I am so proud of all of you who let God work in your life in a new way this week.  We had close to 500 different volunteers to show up to help pack meals for Feed My Starving Children. Here is the wonderful news…WE PACKED 106,000 meals as a church and a community.  One little girl told her mommy last night after she got through packing meals, “Mommy, I felt like I made a difference today in someone’s life.” All I can say is….Only God.

This weekend will be unforgettable. We are going for an all time attendance record. We are asking for everyone to be ALL IN this Sunday. We will be worshipping the Lord through song, communion, testimonies, and video slide show.  You will be challenged and inspired.

Thanks again, Eastside, for not just playing church.  Thanks for seeking first the Kingdom of God, and for stretching to serve the poor.  I am humbled to be numbered among you.

Love and Prayers,

Pastor VG

Compassion Week – Day 4 Encouragement

October 22, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

IMG_0245Dear Friend,

“Lord, to those who hunger, give bread. And to those who have bread, give the hunger for justice.” Latin American Prayer

As you start a new day on a hungry stomach, what is the hunger that God is stirring in your soul?

What are you really hungry for as you near the end of this challenge?

We only have 5 meals left until we cross the finish line. I wonder what will be different as we go back to our routines. I wonder what God is up to. I know He is working in each of us individually, in our families, and in our church. I love the promise God gives us in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” I hope you will create some space, even a moment, in your schedule today to connect with God and pay attention to the hunger stirring in you.

Come ready to share your experience this week at High Attendance Sunday this Sunday. I have been dreaming for some time and thinking about what Eastside would look like if everyone showed up on the same Sunday. Join us as we Celebrate, Rejoice, Praise The Lord through worship, observing The Lord’s Supper, and sharing testimonies.  

In Gratitude,

Pastor Virgil

P.S. If you have a story or example of what God is doing in you or in someone you know through this challenge, please pass it along! I would love to hear about it!

Compassion Week – Day 3 Encouragement

October 21, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

IMG_0205Dear Partial Fast Friends,

We are at the halfway point, and if you’re anything like me, the lack of food and the monotony of meals are probably getting to you. If it is any consolation, I haven’t talked to anyone who has had an easy time with this challenge.

If you are tempted to quit the challenge or to cut a few corners, just focus on getting through today. In places like Zimbabwe, people often have nowhere to turn when they are desperate for food. I was told recently about children in Zimbabwe who go along the side of the road with old plastic bottles, looking for corn kernels, green soybeans or anything else edible that may have fallen from someone’s food sack as they were walking along. Even worse, I learned that some are so desperate, they pluck undigested corn kernels from cow dung. They wash the kernels, pound them out, and cook them. We really have no idea what it is like to be hungry.

I long for the day when the promises of Revelation 9:16-17 are fulfilled: “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore . . . for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Until that day, may we live out our call to be the Church in this world.

Working/Praying for His Global Glorification,

Pastor Virgil

Compassion Week – Day 2 Encouragement

October 20, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

Compassion and JusticeHello Hungry Friends!

Congratulations on making it through Day 1!  I, like many of you, found it to be a very challenging day. Guess what? I haven’t had caffeine for 48 hours now and I AM STILL ALIVE! Although I didn’t have much to eat yesterday…what I eat was more than most children will eat in a given day. There are approximately 1 billion people who live on less than $1 a day!

Check out this definition of hunger:

hun-ger

  1. the discomfort, weakness, or pain caused by prolonged lack of food
  2. to have a strong or compelling desire

As we each experience discomfort this week, my prayer is that God will stir in us a strong and compelling desire to be more like Him and to see His Kingdom come here on earth.

To grow spiritually, we need to embrace these challenges for the nourishment of our souls.” May this week be “sustenance” for you spiritually.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” Isaiah 58:6-8

For His Globe Glorification,

 Pastor Virgil

 P.S. I’d love to hear about your experience this week.

Compassion Week – Day 1 Encouragement

October 19, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

Compassion Week LogoDear Friends,

Thank you for having an incredible heart to stretch yourself and connect with the poor through Eastside’s 5 Day Challenge. Or maybe you haven’t committed yourself to the 5 Day Partial Fast and are wondering what you will give up?

Maybe you are like my one friend who is fasting from “cussing.” Or maybe you are like my wife who is already panicking. She is trying to rationalize her coffee addiction. She has agreed to limit herself to one cup of coffee per day. Maybe you are still justifying to yourself, “After all, it’s just beans and water.”

Regardless, I am proud of you for taking this first step. I truly believe the next five days are going to shape each and every one of us.

While we experience the pangs of hunger today and the monotony of our food choices, it will take great discipline to fully commit to this challenge. While I’m eating rice and beans today, I will be thinking about the situation around the world. Today there will be close to 30,000 children who will die today due to starvation and/or treatable disease. Let’s declare that that’s not okay. Our theme verse for Compassion Week is Proverbs 22:9 “Blessed are those who are generous because they feed the poor.”

Remember why we are participating in this 5 Day Challenge/Partial Fast: To position ourselves so that we can hear a FRESH WORD from the Lord. 

Richard Foster writes, “Our fasting is a sign that nothing will stop us in our struggle on behalf of the broken and oppressed.”

For God’s Global Glorification,

Pastor Virgil

PS Remember we are packing 100,000 meals for Feed My Starving Children at The Home Store & More today from 6-8 pm (across from Clark Moores Middle School).

Attendance & Financial Figures – Past Year

October 15, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

listening

Dear Friends,

Each year Eastside praticipates in annual church profile which we turn into the Southern Baptist Convention. This profile is affectionally referred to as the “ACP.” The ACP calendar year is September 1 thru August 31st of each year.

Here are the numbers from September 1, 2008 thru August 31, 2009:

Total Members: 600

Baptisms: 32

Other Additions (via letter, statement, etc): 23

Weekly Church Attendance: 300

Weekly Small Group Attendance:312

Undesignated Receipts: $414, 328.00

Designated Receipts: $93,977.00

Cooperative Program Giving: $20,854

Associational Giving: $1,520.00

Other Mission Giving: $49,988.00

Way to go Eastside Baptist Church Family.

Weekend Reflections

October 15, 2009 in Thoughts with 0 Comments

crossimageDear Friends,

I am really pumped about what is coming our way as a church…

Next Monday morning (October 19, 2009) is the start of our Compassion Week. Three things will be taking place this week:

Eastside will be packing meals for Feed My Starving Children at the Home Store and More on 25 south across from Clark Moores Middle School. We are going to pack over 100,000 meals in 10 hours and with 500 volunteers. Any questions about this event…contact Vivian Wallace at vivwallace@gmail.com

Eastside Family is being asked to participate in fasting. Fasting can take on any form. You can learn more about our partial fast commitment by clicking here. Remember why we are fasting: to position ourselves to hear a word from God. I have now fasted for over 48 hours from Facebook and Twitter.

“ALL IN” HIGH ATTENDANCE SUNDAY is coming up on Sunday, October 25, 2009. Click here to learn more. I am asking everyone to be in attendance on this Sunday morning. I just want to see what it would look like for us to have everyone show up on the same Sunday Morning.

Love and Prayers.

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