Praise God that He has blessed us to enter another year. Each new year is a fresh new opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose and plans for our lives. God’s purpose and plans are fulfilled for our lives individually and corporately – that is, as a church family.
Prayerfully, God is revealing to you how He is desiring to use you – personally. As He provides revelation, I pray you are getting excited about the prospects of the opportunity to be a part of building God’s Kingdom.
As a church, God is leading Pilgrim Rest to center our vision around Restoring what it means for the church (Pilgrim Rest) to be the anchor of the community. We desire to be a church that is a resource to and for the church and the community. Certainly, we are not able to meet every need that the church and community has. However, we can be instrumental in directing them to where the fulfillment of their needs is possible.
As we accomplish this, we will fulfill the meaning of our name. That is, we will become a place where a Pilgrim who is weary and worn from the journey of life may find Rest. Indeed, God has blessed us over the years to have witnessed numerous individuals and families find the rest that they were seeking because of the ministry of Pilgrim Rest.
Our 2016 emphasis will assist us in both restoring Pilgrim Rest as the anchor of the community, and becoming a place where a Pilgrim can find Rest. Our 2016 emphasis is built upon our 2014 and 2015 emphases:
2014 The Best Is Yet To Come
2015 Expecting Greater Things: The Best keeps Getting Better
2016 Expecting Greater Things For Others
Our Scripture Reference is, “11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes 1:11, 12)
We will be encouraged to press beyond the expectation of great and greater things for ourselves to expecting great and greater things for others. As Paul shares in the above scripture, we expect that God will fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the outcome of the faith of those to whom God will send us and send to us.
