May 18, 2014, Nashville, Tennessee~

Dear One And All~

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

This is your friend, Pastor Bruce Bilkey, senior pastor at Christ Community Assembly of God Church here in Nashville, Tennessee, wiriting.  I hope this finds each and every one of you incredibly blessed and doing well.

I couldn't be more blessed; I don't deserve half of what God's done in my own life or within the lives of my church family; yet that's exactly what He keeps on doing: blessing us tenfold.  I am truly awed and humbled by His goodness.

We have moved into our new building; it is just up the street from where our old building is.  It is bigger, roomier, and beautiful.  The main sanctuary holds over 2,000 people when full and we have been averaging over 1,500 members and guests every Sunday during our services.  We have added a service on Tuesday nights exclusively for families with young children because the families have exploded in growth, not to mention, the number of children.  So now we have services on Sundays (8, 9:30, and 11:00 in the morning, and 6:00 in the evenings), Tuesdays at 6:00, and Wednesday nights at 7:00.

We're also thinking of having services on Saturday nights at 6:00 for those who can't make it to the other services, but that hasn't been set in stone yet.

Our church family is what keeps this old man going.  I couldn't have done what I do for a living without them, or the love and support of my team (the associate pastors, the children's and teen's pastors, the music pastor, the prayer pastor and the prayer team, the choir director, the drama/music teams, the office staff, the janitorial staff, on down to our children's workers and the volunteers).  So many different people make Christ Community Assembly of God run like a well-oiled machine.

My own family is doing well.  Toni, my beloved wife and partner, continues to do an amazing job caring for our burgeoning brood; the children continue to amaze us with their accomplishments and willingness to serve the Lord in their own special way, and life, as a whole, is good.  Very, very good, in fact.  I owe all of this to God; after all, it is HE who called me into the ministry when I was but a young man in my twenties back in my homestate of Louisiana.  (I'm in my middle forties now.)

He put a vision in my heart, and I acted on it.  I haven't looked back and it is exciting to see what the future holds not only for me and my family, but my church family and Christ Community Assembly of God Church as a whole.

The reason why I am not at church tonight?  I let our assistant pastor do the preaching tonight.  Hey, after all, a senior pastor can use a break every now and then.  :)  I did preach this morning; today's message was the conclusion of our series on Heroes of the Bible.  Today's message came from the Book of Esther.  I pray it challenges people to act on whatever God has placed upon their hearts and to do whatever God has called them to do.  I pray it penetrated hearts and minds and prompt people into action.

Well, I hate to go, but dear little Benjamin wants me, his Daddy, to join him and his brothers for a game of catch.  Well, I can't argue with that; I love spending daddy-and-son time with my precious boys!  Take care and may God bless you over and beyond what you can ever dream, hope, or imagine!

~In HIs Service, Pastor Bruce Bilkey.  :)