On behalf of our staff here at Church on the Bluff, I want to say thank you to our church family for the gracious “Pastor and Staff Appreciation Day”. We appreciate the recognition and the words of love and encouragement. You can tell a lot about a church by the length of time that a staff serves and we are unique in that respect. Cornelius Yelding has been our custodian (I call him our Minister of Clean) here for 45 years. Kaye Davis has served as our pianist for 42 years and Duane Terpo has been Minister of Music for 18 years. Sharron Atkinson has ministered as our Ministry Assistant for 13 years. Angie and I have been fortunate to have served for 13 years, and Cindy Adams has been our organist/keyboardist for 5 years.
Your acceptance and support of us is amazing and allows us to minister with a freedom that is refreshing and, I believe, beneficial to the church family. It allows us to utilize the individual gifts that the Lord has given us even as we mesh those gifts together in our service. I know I speak for all of us when I say that we look forward to what God is going to do through Church on the Bluff in the time ahead of us.
And speaking of what lies ahead of us, this is our busiest time of the year both as a church family and as individual families. The fall season is beautiful and brings relief from the scorching heat thus allowing a lot of outdoor activities. Thanksgiving isn’t that far away and (dare I say it?) Christmas will be here before you know it. Pray for every church activity and prepare your hearts for these times of the year when we have one of the best opportunities to speak publicly about our Savior. This is also a time for personal reflection. Don’t let all the activities take you away from a close communion with God. Let every season, every holiday, remind you that we serve a great and gracious God.
And, as we look forward, I’ll close with this mysterious and cryptic question: “Who’s your One?”
Say good things about your Savior and His Church on the Bluff.
Bro. Tony
