Goals for a Healthy Church . . . and a Healthy Christian

Aloha MLCC family-

Coming up with a topic for my last message at MLCC has been a struggle. I wanted it to be an opportunity for some great Bible teaching and a little personal. After a lot of prayer and reflection I realized I had the topic right in front of me. For several weeks before leaving for Hawaii, I had been leading a group of young men through one of my favorite books in the Bible - 1 Timothy. The Apostle Paul wrote this book as a guide for his protégé Timothy as he undertook being the leader of the church in Ephesus. While doing research on 1 Timothy, I came across a list of questions for church leaders to consider when looking at the health of their churches. As I looked closer at this list, I thought it would be perfect for my last message at MLCC.

The list I'll share on Sunday has been heavily modified from the original - I made it more personal to MLCC and us. As I further went through preparing this message, I realized that it pertains to us individual Christians as well, after all we are the church. In chapter 3 Paul describes the church as the 'household of God' (1 Timothy 3:15 NASB). So Sunday my message will look at God's little mountain church (or household) as well as us individuals.

The goal list ties in with many of the New Year's resolutions I challenged you with at the end of last year, so we'll check in on the progress of some of those goals as well. I also plan to share how God has abundantly blessed MLCC and myself the past several years. I have so much to be thankful for - indeed my cup overflows with gratitude!

See you Sunday in church! Please stick around for some light refreshments and fellowship after the service that will include a couple songs from Kelvin and a short slide presentation.

Mahalo!

Curt