Wow! Church planting, it sure has been a wild ride! We’ve had our ups and downs and turnarounds. It’s hard to believe that CCLC is already turning a year old. I can remember back to when we first began with a bible study on a Tuesday night in Altamont and we had 3 people coming. God sure has blossomed the church since that time! Some folks were weary of us planting a church in Altamont, Ks. a town of one-thousand people… 27 baptisms in one year. That’s why! The gospel message will not come back void.
I remember our Grand Opening (August 2015) like it was yesterday. I was in the midst of taking 23 credit hours at Ozark Christian College (what in God’s creation was I thinking?) and prepping for a full month’s worth of events and outreaches. We had bounce houses, outside bands come in, barbecues, testimonies, baptisms and much more…
We’ve seen people come and stay and people leave for one reason or another. CCLC has grown into a very unique family that exemplifies a place that people can just take their masks off and be real people; a place where people don’t need to fake it and pretend to be someone that they’re not. That’s perhaps exactly what the Kingdom should look like. A Kingdom where people can be honest about who they are because we serve a King that will not allow us to stay there but continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Son and be transformed by the Spirit so that we can look more and more like our Lord Jesus.
It gives me such joy to see how God has changed so many lives in the short amount of time that CCLC has been in existence. People that have given up alcohol and drugs, people that refused to allow Satan to attack their marriages, people that have found their place in the Kingdom of God, people that no longer cheat, people that no longer lash out at others but exemplify the love that they’ve been shown by Jesus. We see people take seriously the saying that is so very popular around this place “Let God love you. Let God love others through you.” I can’t wait to see the way the Lord moves from day to day in Labette County!
I’m so thrilled to see the next chapter of CCLC’s story. As we continue to seek out the Lord’s Will and love on people as we’ve been commanded, CCLC will continue to push God’s mission forward.
We named this church Christ’s Church of Labette County for a reason! We want to reach folks all around us, not just in our small community. So far, we’ve seen this come to life. We have people attending CCLC from all but 2 towns (those 2 towns have a grand total population of about 60 people) in Labette County. Praise God!
How will you let God love others through you this month?
What are our next steps?
1. Finish remodeling the East Wing so that we can dedicate the entire West Wing to Kid’s Ministry (We love kids).
2. Family Groups! We want to see a Family Group in every town in Labette County by the Fall of 2017!
3. Get everyone plugged into the ministry that they fit best with.
4. We want to see our first daughter church this year! CCLC gives 10% of all of our offerings to Church Planting! Our next target area is Winfield, Ks. Pray for this endeavor!
5. Continue to make outreaches our priority! One of our core values is to be Engaged in Community. We don’t want to ever forget why we are here: to seek and save the lost.
1 year Anniversary lineup:
August 7: Guest Speaker, David Bycroft, from Tyro Christian Church (one of our sponsoring churches) https://cclcfamily.org/event/cclcs-1st-anniversary/
August 14: Supper and Games at the Dilldine home
August 21: New Believer Celebration https://cclcfamily.org/event/new-believer-celebration/
August 28: Building God’s Kingdom Together (Ministry Fair) https://cclcfamily.org/event/ministry-fair/
We hope that you’ll join us as we celebrate our 1 year anniversary!
Clinging to the Cross,
- Pastor Blade
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