This is Christmas week. Christmas Eve, Rich will wrap up the series 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 Prince of Peace. If you want to prepare for this message, read Isaiah 9:6.
Come and be blessed at one of our 3 Christmas Eve Services!! Now is the time for you to start talking to friends and neighbors about our Christmas Eve Services at 3pm, 5pm, 7pm on the 24th.
Worship songs for Christmas Eve are:I Believe, Behold, O Come All Ye Faithful, Prince of Peace, Silent Night
Sunday, Noah will be bringing us the message. Worship songs for Sunday are:Hosanna, Way Maker, Worthy Of It All, Jesus Is My Healer
Three services will be starting on January 4th, 2026. The services will be at 8am, 9:30am, and 11am. Check with your Sunday Connect Group for new class times.
Speaking of Volunteers! We need your help. 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 .
Of course, as our attendance continues to grow, our Children’s Ministry grows with it. If you want to volunteer to pour into our children’s spiritual foundation, contact Laura@centralstpete.com .
Please continue to park at Northwest Park on Sunday morning. It will be a great help with parking for our many Visitors every Sunday if you can use one of our beautiful Shuttle Vans. With our last Sunday service times, (9 & 10:45am) there is plenty of time to shuttle to services. The new service times in 2026 (8, 9:30, & 11am) will still allow for plenty of time to shuttle.
I hope you have been keeping up with your Bible Recap study. This Sunday, December 28th, will be Day 362. This Sunday we should be reading Revelation 1-5.
Work continues on the bathrooms in the Connect Center. Some construction issues (termites and water lines) have slowed us down but we are progressing. You have seen some of the impacts of our construction (safety tape on our main entry walkway). We appreciate your patience. 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.
Our Capital Campaign called Pass the Baton had its big kick-off on Christmas Eve. 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. Our BIG kickoff date will be on Christmas Eve. You can give directly or If you want to make a pledge for the campaign, you can also do that on the 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.
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.
