FROM THE PASTOR'S DESK

Greetings

Grace and peace be multiplied to the Arouca Revival Tabernacle church family. It has always been a joy serving the people of God and passionately seeking to advance the cause of Christ.

Let me take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for the expressed desire to be a part of the church in this part of the vineyard.

Thank you so very much for your multiple contributions in the areas of ministry service, prayer, and financial support.

Community spirit

Communication is a vital tool in cultivating a healthy community spirit.

Therefore, this newsletter and subsequent ones, seek to foster a sense of belonging, togetherness and cooperation-all these help in establishing a healthy atmosphere filled with friendship, fellowship, and furtherance of the cause of Christ

Leadership

John Maxwell once commented, "Everything starts with leadership", and "Without leadership, nothing long lasting can be accomplished."

As I seek to give leadership to this local assembly during these challenging times, three words occupy my mind:

Alignment, Authority, Assignment. Alignment to His Will; Authority of His Word; Assignment to His Work. Fulfilment of these fundamental elements is a TASK , in more ways than one:

• TRAINING- the process of developing attitude, skill, and knowledge

• ATTITUDE- the mind-set I bring to the task

• SKILL-the performance to mental or physical task

• KNOWLEDGE- what is to be done pertaining the task

A program called A.S.K. M.E. (Attitude, Skill, Knowledge, Ministry Empowerment) is being developed that would govern all activities at all levels throughout the church. I am truly excited in seeing the manifestation and fulfilment of this exercise.

What we hope to achieve:

~Make the necessary adjustment with our present structure (Alignment to His Will)

~Maximize our potential as declared in Scripture (Authority of His Word)

~Mobilize to fulfil the Mandate given to us by the resurrected Saviour (Assignment to His Work)

~Maintain our focus on our theme: "Embracing our Faith and Envisioning our Future."

Benefits of training

~ Improve individual knowledge and skill

~ Improve individual interpersonal communication skill

~ Develop new skill or knowledge in specific areas

~ Improve quality of service and delivery

~ Meet the desired level of performance

~ Satisfy the community being served, and in return be satisfied by the results.

Serving the Lord with gladness

What a great privilege it is to serve the Lord! Serving the Lord with gladness describes how the people of God live out their lives for His glory and in His presence (Acts 2: 46).

We must learn from the Mary and Martha narrative recorded in Luke 10: 38-42. Martha lost her joy in service because she neglected her time of communion with the Lord.

She became distracted, discouraged, distanced and deceived. Mary took the time to listen to the Saviour speak into her life. May the Lord bless us all so we can serve the Lord with gladness and come into His presence with singing.

Allow me to close this communiqué with the following quote: "The road to success is not straight.

There is a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called friends, red lights called enemies, caution lights called family.

You will have flats called jobs. But, if you have a spare called determination, and an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, and a driver name Jesus, you will make it to a place called success."