Can you believe this Sunday will be the 2024 Christmas service? I am excited to have the opportunity to celebrate our 27th Christmas here at BCC! It was December of 1997 that Lisa, Brittany, Madison and I moved from Central Illinois to Bailey, MI. A lot has happened in those 27 years! God has blessed our daughters with great husbands, and we now have three beautiful grandchildren. Moreover, Bailey was the context in which our girls’ faith took root and began to grow. One of our prayers for our girls while they were growing up was that they would come to love and live for Jesus and love his church, as well. While living in a pastor’s home is not always easy on kids—having to watch the struggles that pastors and churches sometimes go through—our girls grew to embrace Jesus and even a call to serve in ministry. So, thank you, Bailey Christian Church for 27 years of loving our family and providing a breeding ground for faith that will continue to live on not only in and through our daughter’s lives, but through their husband’s and our grandchildren, as well!
A lot has also happened at BCC over the past 27 years. We have seen hundreds of people baptized into Christ and join the Bailey family. We have sent out numerous young people into church ministry and global missions. Likewise, God has used BCC to partner with ministries and missions—both local and global—to reach the world with the love of Jesus. I am so proud to call Bailey Christian Church my church home! Thank you for not only loving me and my family, but for embracing God’s vision for his people of expanding his kingdom right here in Bailey and beyond.
As we prepare for our Christmas service this Sunday, I want to encourage you to invite someone to join you. While I know that many folks are not necessarily sure about the whole “God-thing,” they are often open to being part of a service at Christmas time; and what better time than Christmas for someone to come to church! If they show up, they will get a chance to hear about God’s love and the gift of his Son. And, who knows? Maybe the person you bring this year will find what they have always been looking for even if they didn’t know it when they walked in our doors!
A last note about this Sunday. Since the Christmas service tends to be one of the largest services of the year, I want to invite our regular attenders to consider a couple of things:
1. Be on the lookout for new people, and go out of your way to warmly welcome them! You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and a smile and warm greeting can go a long way to helping a new person or family feel like this is a place they might want to come back to.
2. Since seating may be tight, please consider moving, if necessary, to help a new person find a spot. It may entail moving into the center of the row so someone else can find a spot on the end. Or it may even mean getting up and moving to the overflow area we will have set up in the upstairs youth room. I know this may feel like a sacrifice on your part, but I encourage you to consider the potential blessing it might be to a first-time guest!
As we each do our part to celebrate Jesus’ birth this Sunday and to minister to whomever God brings our way, let’s also be praying for God’s Spirit to move in a powerful way to open eyes and hearts to the true meaning of Christmas!