Serving with thankful hearts
by Larry Leming, Missions Ministries Dir.
The holidays are upon us and as I sit here reflecting on one and looking forward to the other, I am filled with such awe and wonder. Thanksgiving allows us the opportunity to reflect upon the blessings of the past year and Christmas allows us the blessing of once again revisiting the Christ child in the manager. We, as God’s people, have so much to be thankful for and have been given the greatest gift the world has ever known.
As I was reflecting on what I am thankful for this year, my mind quickly went to the ministry God has called me to be a part of here in the Low Country. Within our own association, here are just a few of the blessings from this past year.
· Additional churches stepped forward to adopt a multihousing community for ongoing ministry while those already involved continued building relationships
· Many of our churches that were previously without a pastor, have now called Godly men to that position
· New work is beginning in the form of Crosspoint Bluffton under the leadership of Carl Martin and others
· Many volunteers, local and beyond, took an interest in the people of this region and came to share Christ with them
· A new outreach to military personnel and their families has been started at the Port Royal Ministry Center (formerly the Seafarers’ center)
What a great and mighty God we serve!!! And since we have been blessed, then doesn’t it stand to reason that part of our purpose 
here is to bless those around us by sharing with and serving them? I think we all know the answer to that one already. Serving others is what the Christian life is all about. Indeed, it is the example that Jesus left for us in the scriptures. Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” That one s
imple sentence truly sums it all up. During this Thanksgiving season we had the privilege to provide an evening of thanks in some of our multihousing locations (see pictures at right), where we worked with children, families and senior adults. What a beautiful time of coming together, sharing some food and fellowship and voicing our praises and thanksgiving to God.
As we now turn our thoughts toward Christmas and the celebration of Jesus’ birth, there are many ways you and/or your congregation can be involved in reaching out to those around you. Listed below are a few of the opportunities available.
· Happy Birthday Jesus Parties in many of our multihousing communities. These will be held on Monday and Tuesday evenings, December 17th and 18th at 6:00p.m.
· Collecting new toys and stocking stuffers to be used at our multihousing Christmas parties
· Provide Christmas for a child(ren) of a State of South Carolina prison inmate through the Angel Tree network. We currently have 73 children that need to be adopted for Christmas.
· Simply look around you and ask God to reveal those He has placed in your path that need to be served in His name
If you would like more information on any of these events or would like to be involved, then please e-mail Larry at
lcm@islc.net or call 726-8294. May each of you and your families have the most blessed Christmas season ever.
Serving together,
Larry
