The Importance of Healthy Relationships

September 21, 2017 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members & Friends,

Last night we had a great time in bible study and a candid dialogue about the importance of  building “Healthy Relationships” and the impact that unhealthy relationships have on our ability to truly worship God in Spirit and Truth. In order to truly capture the essence and all the spiritual benefits you need to be present in regular bible study attendance on Wednesday night. This way you will make the study of God’s Word a priority in your life. You will be amazed at your growth by putting into practice what is being taught.

Allow me to give you a brief re-cap of our study last night and please spend quality time reviewing the slide deck and the scripture we discussed during your private personal devotional time with God.

We started last night by examining the question to Jesus by a Jewish religious expert in Matthew 22:36 and looked at the reply Jesus gave him. Jesus revealed to him in verse 37-40 that after loving God with our entire heart, soul and might that loving our neighbor next was the greatest and most important of all the commandments. This means that truly having a healthy relationship with people and genuinely loving them is essential to a successful walk with God!! After this we examined our text  and started with Colossians 3:1-17and looked at the prescription Paul gave the church at Colossae for building and keeping healthy relationships with people.

I concluded our study last night by giving out a homework assignment, asking our attendees to focus on building healthy relationship for the next 7 days by saying nothing negative about people or our church members for the next seven days. This is a challenging assignment because we live in a world conditioned to focus on the negative things and social media is all about pointing out the flaws in people!!!

We will never be the Christians God has called us to be if we don’t apply life application of the Word of God and put into practice what we are learning. I pray you select an accountability partner that will help you complete this assignment over the next seven days and hold you accountable to be a better man or woman of God. I hope you enjoy the attached power point presentation and more importantly, allow it to become a significant part of your personal devotional study time with God. Be honest with God and people if you fall short this week. Just keep doing your best and be intentional about improving your walk with God. You will be amazed how much you will grow in a few short months if you keep practicing life application with the Word of God.

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry

(09-20-17) Worship The Importance of Healthy Relationships

Rick ZimmermanThe Importance of Healthy Relationships
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Summer Reflections

August 11, 2017 Rick Zimmerman , , ,

Dear Central Members & Friends,

Summer is moving fast and the kids will be returning to school soon!! TIME has a way of escaping from us if we don’t focus and continue to be relentless about prioritization!!  This newsletter is a reminder of all the wonderful things God is doing for our church and what He has allowed to transpire in such a short time period.

Reflect for a moment on the Women’s ministry conference and their trip to Knoxville to enhance their spiritual walk and the fellowship that occurred by the women riding together on the bus!! The men’s ministry and how quickly they made a decision to enhance the media capabilities in Stokely Hall with a large screen and projector that can be used for church ministry, movie night and fellowship. Please don’t forget about the wonderful Animation Ministry that is absolutely fantastic for our children between the ages of 3-6 years old to enhance their spiritual growth.

There is still much work to do as we implement our strategic plan for Central. However, I am proud of what we have accomplished together and encouraged by all the new members who have joined our church, completed the seven week new members course and actively engaged in ministry within our Church.  When I see James leading a song in the choir and the members of the Hill family praise dancing and meet the people in our community who are blessed by acquiring a manna meal on Saturday, I am reassured by God that what we are doing is right and vitally important for our community.

Central, your prayers and grace sustain me and I pray you are more determined now than ever before to run this race with patience and endure hardship like a good solider and know that your labor is not in vain!! God understands every tear, every pain and will never leave you nor forsake you!!

Let’s continue to work together to Model Grace, Fellowship, Witness, and Worship our Lord and Savior while uniting our community for the good and glory of our Heavenly Father!!  This journey is never easy; you will be challenged and sometimes disappointed.  However, remember the battle is not ours “but God’s!!!!

I pray as you read this newsletter you are motivated and encouraged by all God is doing in our mist. We are not a perfect people, we are simply a determined people who recognize we all fall short in many areas, but because of God’s grace we continue to strive to do His will and extend grace to a society that is in desperate need of Jesus Christ!! What we need from you is a desire to serve and help us!!

As you labor in love with us please look at us through the eyes of Jesus, who looked beyond our faults to see our needs!!!

Sincerely,

Your Brother In Christ and Co-Labor Servant in Ministry!!!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick ZimmermanSummer Reflections
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Witnessing Continues…

March 15, 2017 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members and Friends,

We have covered a lot of material over the last several months related to our series on Modeling Grace & Witnessing. I hope you have created an electronic file or manual file to refer back to these critical lessons for additional insight during your personal study and devotional time to be an even more effective leader and witness for our Lord and Savior.

I want to apologize for the volume of information that I shared during our Sunday service. I typically don’t do this but I packed two lessons into one on Sunday for several reasons. These reasons are highlighted below:

  1. I want to devote the balance of my attention for March and April preparing for “Resurrection Sunday!”
  2. The above reason requires me  to break away from our series on witnessing and I wanted you to have this critical biblical information now to better prepare and do your own personal study & devotional on witnessing and modeling grace while allowing God to speak to your heart as we approach “Resurrection Sunday”.
  3. I want you to utilize the attached lesson outline and PowerPoint slide to create your own personal bible study and utilize the material in small group studies with your family and others.

We become more effective leaders when we teach the material we study and learn. The greatest sermons are the ones we see and not the ones we hear. I admonish and encourage you to become a sermon that people see on a daily basis.

Allow me to take a moment and share where we will go from here during our Sunday sermons and study time and give you some insight into a few things that are not listed on the calendar. I will come back to our “Witnessing Series” after our celebration of  “Resurrection Sunday.” We have completed Four Segments of what will be an Eight part Segment on Witnessing. Our Media and Digital Ministry Team will put the entire series on CD.  This is something you may want to consider acquiring. Additionally, we will be uploading the sermon notes and PowerPoint slides to our church web-site and you will be able to download the material there as well very soon..

Our Strategic Planning team will be meeting in late April to continue our visioning work and evaluation of existing ministries to ensure we become even more effective at what we do to give God and our community our very best. God has impress upon me to start and ensure a very effective Evangelistic Outreach ministry to the unchurched in our community that includes transportation services to our church services. This is something you will be hearing more about in May as I discuss the details with our church leadership team during the month of April.

Finally, we will be dedicating the entire Month of April on Wednesday night Bible Study to our Leadership Accountability Series. This is where we will bring in outside experts each week to discuss things like Family Estate Planning, Funeral Planning & Arrangements, Retirement Planning, Legal & Audit requirements for church leaders & Trustees, and other critical and essential things that help us to become well-rounded and balanced as Christians.

I want to take a moment in this note to thank all of you who took the time to complete the evaluation form on me. I will be sharing this feedback and the areas you highlighted for me to improve during one of our upcoming Wednesday night bible studies.

I pray like me you are focused on how you can become even more effective in the service of the Lord and to His People which should be the ultimate focus of all Servant Leaders!!

Your Brother In Christ!!

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick ZimmermanWitnessing Continues…
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Second Cornerstone of 2017: Witnessing

February 13, 2017 Rick Zimmerman ,

Dear Central Members & Friends

As I pen this letter to you I pray that you have been diligently applying all that we have learned from our biblical studies and the sermons on “Modeling Grace” one of our four cornerstones for 2017. We are now camped-out on our second cornerstone “Witnessing” and will be learning and growing together in this study for the balance of the 1st quarter of 2017.

One of the best ways to apply what we are learning about witnessing is to actively engaged in the process by bringing a guest to church each Sunday. This will require courage and discipline on your part to find a family member or individual who doesn’t have a church home and invite them to ride with you or join you for our worship service each Sunday. I am counting on all of us to be diligent and engaged in this process for the building up of God’s kingdom. The most effective way to learn and grow as a Christian is to be actively engaged in applying all the principles outlined in the word of God by obeying that which God has commanded us to do as believers.

Please don’t be disappointed or give up when you invite someone and they turn you down. This is part of the growth journey for you and the person. I am so grateful for all of the people who actively engaged in witnessing to me when I was lost and didn’t realize that I was only hurting myself when I said no to the invitation to discover Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Our role is to be faithful and loving so they can see the light of Christ in us. As I reflect on Jesus words about the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 we must remember that He commissioned not only the eleven apostles, but all who were present, more than five hundred disciples. However, note something of crucial importance: it was impossible for that generation to reach the whole world in its lifetime. Therefore, the commission given to the first generation of believers extends beyond to all generations of believers. The very same charge given to them is given to us. Our Lord charges us with the very same words, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations…..”

This requires active engagement from all of us individually and collectively within the Body of Christ, not just the church leaders. Therefore, I am counting on all of us to do our part in learning how to be an even more effective “witness” for Christ. I can’t wait to see you each Sunday during service as we “dig a deeper well and grow together during this series on witnessing”.

Sincerely Your Brother In Christ!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

 

Rick ZimmermanSecond Cornerstone of 2017: Witnessing
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The Extra Plus In Leadership

The Extra Plus In Leadership

December 10, 2016 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members & Friends,

As we embark on this leadership study together for the month of December and January I pray that your focus like mine is asking God to be the potter in this journey and mode and shape us into the spiritual leaders that we have the potential to become!!

Each individual will get the most out of this course of study by focusing on their individual shortcomings instead of looking at the shortcomings of others. As leaders we all have strengths and weakness that require constant effort and assistance from God in order that we may become more effective on earth for His kingdom building.

This journey will be challenging for each of us and I can promise you that if you stick with the course of study and spend quality time with God during your private devotion that you will see growth and maturity in your behavior as a leader. It has been my experience that those who believe they already know everything and there is little others can tell or teach them, will experience the least from this course of study and frankly typically acquire the least from any biblical study because they allow their own conduct to get in the way of their spiritual development & growth.

God’s Word promises us that it will not to return back void. We are constantly reminded that “They that hunger and thirst after righteousness should be filled.” Matthew 5:6.

Let’s grow together on this exciting journey that will help us get to the next level as church family during 2017. 

Your Brother In Christ,

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick ZimmermanThe Extra Plus In Leadership
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Modeling Grace part 3 – Philippians 4:8

Modeling Grace part 3 – Philippians 4:8

October 27, 2016 andrea ,

Dear Members and Friends of Central,

As we are now approaching lesson 3 of my “sermon series on modeling grace” I pray that you are truly engaged in asking God what you can personally do to be a better person and working each day to model grace to our membership and others you come into contact with. God does not want us to hear the Word of God and turn around in our daily lives and conduct ourselves in a manner that is contrary to the word of God. Life is not easy and filled with many challenges. However, God is pleased with us when we take what we learn in each sermon and do our best to live out the sermon in our interactions with other church members and people we come into contact with on a daily basis within our local community.

Often I find that we can’t see our own shortcomings and unintentionally we are a lot harder on the behavior and conduct of other people than we are on ourselves and our family members. A great way for us to model grace is to see people through the eyes of Jesus. Consider this  thought for just a moment, if Jesus gave all of us what we deserved we would all be condemned to hell!!!

I am extremely grateful for a God who looked beyond our faults to see our needs and sent his son to reconcile us back to himself!!! As we  prepare for Sunday and approach the third message in my series on modeling grace ask God to help you see people through the eyes of Jesus and focus  the remainder of this week on the below scripture found in Phillippians 4:8.

I can’t wait to see you on Sunday and I am praying that you will join me for the remainder of this week trying to model grace in a way that would please our Heavenly Father.

Your Brother In Christ!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

http://bibleencyclopedia.com/kjvslides/philippians/4-8.htm

andreaModeling Grace part 3 – Philippians 4:8
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From the Pastor's Desk