February 17, 2010, Christ Community Assembly of God Church, Nashville, Tn.~
Pastor Delcambre' here. Sorry for not writing sooner; the pastoral staff has been exceptionally busy. Thought "business" would slacken off, now that the holidays are overwith; this is proving not to be the case, as you will soon see.
I thought I would write in here before services this evening; they start in just a little under an hour from now.
Our Valentine's Day Gospel Sing went without a hitch: had the McGruders of Missouri and the Spencers of Ohio ministering to the attendees in song; what a wonderful, anointed time in the presence of the Lord! It was awesome!
Our Super Bowl party of nearly two weeks ago went very well too; the men of our church really enjoyed the chili cook off (and I enjoyed the outcome of the game: my beloved New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl!! :) YES!!). The kids and ladies, meanwhile, enjoyed game night and playing in the gym respectively. And the little ones enjoyed being in the nursery, where loving "sitters" read to them, changed them, or gave them a tasty snack to eat while their families were having fun.
We are getting ready to restart our small home team groups (we do this to keep everyone connected to God and to get to know each other), and the spring edition of our Cleansing Stream classes will soon begin in earnest. The Cleansing Stream Retreat is in May of this year, on the weekend of May 21-22, 2010 (that's on a Friday and Saturday); we know that God is going to do wonderful miracles for those who partake in the classes and the retreat!
Yesterday, my family had a little bit of fun: our city held its annual Mardi Gras Celebration downtown. I enjoyed it, as it felt like a little bit of my former home in Louisiana had returned. The festival featured a parade, Cajun music (and much dancing), food out the wazoo, and of course, the customary tradition of having beads (and other trinkets) thrown off floats at the guests. It got a little crazy at times, but at least the weather co-operated and at least everyone was in a festival mood!
Now it is Lent; that means giving up something for forty days; it is the start of the high holy days prior to Easter. Myself, I gave up listening to my Cajun music and focusing entirely on God and His will for my life and in the lives of my family and church members/staff.
I have done this every year since coming to Tennessee, and God's been very faithful in rewarding me for stickin' to my guns (or rather, His guns!). :)
The choir, fresh from their successful Christmas Cantata, is at it again: practicing again, this time for their Easter Cantata. Those are the two big dates for the choir; they put everything into their practices, and it clearly shows in their performances. I am indeed blessed to have such gifted/talented singers/musicians in our church family!
We are going to start something new this summer: we are going to have "Financial Peace University", which is a thirteen-week class for people to learn how to manage their finances and to get out of debt, the way God intended them to do. David Ramsey, the world-famous author/speaker is the brainchild behind this course, and it's saved thousands of Christian families from the snares of debt or financial strife and has literally saved them thousands of dollars.
We are also going to have Bible Summer Camp for the teens/youth/kids the first week of June; they will participate in wild/crazy games, sing songs, make crafts, and all the time they are having fun, they will be learning about God and His infinite love for them. This will take place the first week after school lets out for the summer.
My wife, Becky, and our five children (Josiah, Brendt, Tamara, Jennafer, and Gideon), are busy as well. Besides our church business, we have the older kids' sports games (as well as Jenna's dance lessons) to contend with. We also have to take our youngest child, Gideon, to therapy or doctor's appointments; he was born with Down syndrome, but he is such an enchanting little ham! We feel so blessed that God allowed him to live and teach us about true love, even through a child who wasn't supposed to live when he was born three years ago.
Gideon has made tremendous progress. While he will always be "slow", in comparison to his older sisters and brothers, he isn't afraid to try new things, and there is certainly nothing "disabled" about his can-do spirit!
Gideon can communicate with sign language, and he is very good at expressing his feelings. He can also count to three and can recognize family members or friends. He absolutely loves church; he looks forward to going every week, even to the point of asking us every day, "Church t'day? Church?" (in sign language, of course).
Well, Gideon can laugh all he wants because tonight is "church night". Church is where he shines; he absolutely loves singing (signing??) his "Jesus-songs", and he loves being with his friends at the nursery!
Well, I hate to make this short, but I have to get ready. I am preaching tonight; Pastor Bilkey is out with a stomach virus. He came down with it on Sunday, after he and his wife went out to eat at a Chinese buffet place; personally, I think he has a touch of food poisoning because his wife, Toni, didn't get sick. I will have to ask God to touch our senior pastor with His healing hand.
I will write in here again; take care, and may God bless you mightily!
~In His service, Pastor Tim Delcambre'. :)
