This is Week 1 of our Christmas series. This series is called A Child is Born. Pastor Rich will be talking about all the names and titles of Jesus – and what they mean. This week he will be bringing the message Wonderful Counselor. If you want to prepare for this message, read Isaiah 9:6.
Some additional Passages: I Timothy 6:6; Ephesians 3:16-19; Jeremiah 18:6.
Worship songs for this Sunday are:Behold; I Believe; Holy Hands; Jesus Be the Name
I know you have heard that there is a third service in our future. It is less than 30 days away, starting on January 4th, 2026. The services will be at 8am, 9:30am, and 11am.
Speaking of Volunteers! With 3 services there will be more opportunities to serve on Sunday morning. Where can you serve? Children’s, Student, Worship, Greeters ?? Get more involved – Central is YOUR church – Be the church.
Our Parking & Shuttle Ministries are looking for more volunteers to assist in making coming to Central a pleasant experience for our partners and visitors. Contact Martin Mickey martin_mickey@hotmail.com for Parking Ministry or Bill Phillips 1969firebird1@gmail.com for our Shuttle Ministry. Your help is needed in both ministries - it’s a great way to get connected and an excellent way to serve fellow partners here at Central.
Our Safety Team could also use some additional members. Do you have any enforcement or medical experience that you’d like to put to use serving the Kingdom here at Central? If so, contact Rob Breese pewter55@msn.com .
December 14th is our congregational meeting (not the 7th as previously listed) where we approve our new Elder Board slate and approve our 2026 Budget. The 2026 Budget is available at the Welcome Center for your review. Matt Lameyer and Tony Lowe will be retiring from the Elder Board this year, please remember to thank them for their service. Renewing this year are Rob Breese and Will Crandle, they deserve our appreciation as well. The new Elder on the slate is Bob Strube, who has served in the past. You can contact any of our Elders (listed below) if you have any questions or comments. Voting (you must be a partner) will take place at the end of each service on the 14th.
Please continue to park at Northwest Park for both first and second service on Sunday morning. It will be a great help with parking for our many Visitors every Sunday if you can use one of our great Shuttle Vans. With our current service times, (9 & 10:45am) there is plenty of time to shuttle to services. The new service times next year will still allow for plenty of time to shuttle.
I hope you have been keeping up with your Bible Recap study. This Sunday, December 7th, will be Day 342. This Sunday we should be reading Romans, Chapters 4 thru 7.
Work continues on the bathrooms in the Connect Center. Some construction issues have slowed us down but we are progressing. At this time there are no bathrooms available in the Connect Center but soon we will have new larger men’s and women’s bathrooms there. For now, we will have to use the bathrooms in the NextGen House or Main Building. Thank you for bearing with us as the work is being completed.
We have kicked off our $1.5 million Capital Campaign called Pass the Baton. The main items that we are targeting are:
- Main Worship Space Renovation Updating seating, floors, walls and upgrading sound to accommodate growth and enhance our worship space.
- Bathroom Renovation Our main building bathrooms are in dire need of updating and expanding.
- A/C Unit Replacement Replacing our two main building 40-ton A/C units (each costing $270,000) to ensure reliable comfort for everyone who worships and serves at Central.
- Mortgage Payoff Paying off our $305,000+ mortgage balance to free up our resources for ministry, missions, and outreach.
All of our giving methods have been updated to accommodate the new campaign. If you want to make a pledge for the campaign, you can also do that on our website - https://centralstpete.com/pass-the-baton .
The Central staff & Elders pray for the health and safety of you and your family every week. We pray for your physical health but also for your spiritual & emotional health. We pray that there will be harmony and unity within His church. Please continue to submit prayer requests on our Connection Cards, Linktree, or through our Central App. You can also stop by our Prayer Room on any Sunday morning to submit a prayer or meet with a prayer warrior. We are a church that believes in the power of prayer and we see it working every day in our lives.
There are always visitors, some new, some repeat, showing up every Sunday morning. What a blessing!! God brings them to us; it’s our job to make them feel welcome and share the good news. Don’t forget to invite our visitors back to worship with us again. Invite them to your class or small group.
Now is the time for you to start talking to friends and neighbors about our 3 Christmas Eve Services at 3pm, 5pm, 7pm on the 24th. INVITE! It will be a blessing to them.
Be bold and share your Jesus story. Your first testimony is the joy that they see on your face and in your heart. Let them see Jesus’ love through you.
Feel free to reach out to your Elder or any Elder with any questions or concerns you may have. The Elders are listed at the end of this email with the partners in their group, by last name.
YOU are a blessing to Central in so many ways. The Lord has brought you here to be a part of His kingdom work.
We appreciate your heart for worship, giving, caring, and serving and are grateful to God for you.
