On Saturday, October 9, 7:00 pm and at our morning worship, 9:30 am, Sunday, October 10 our church is going to hold revival services entitled “Ignite the Flame.” Last week our worship committee met to begin planning these great services. Former SUMC Pastor Bob and Norietta Miller and their Agape Ministry team will be coming to lead our church in these much-anticipated times of worship and praise.
The full schedule at our church will be a Bible study at 6:00 pm Saturday, October 9 followed by a worship service at 7:00 pm featuring music and testimonies by Agape Ministry musicians and leaders. Sunday morning, October 10, 9:30 am will feature more music and worship led by the Agape Ministry Team.
During Sunday school, 10:30 am, for those classes who choose to do so, an Agape Ministry team member will lead discussion during class time. Our week-end services will then conclude with an all-church celebration, carry-in meal at noon on Sunday, October 10.
Our title “Ignite the Flame” comes from our United Methodist logo featuring the familiar UMC cross and flame. It’s important for us to acknowledge our need to regularly be revived in our faith in Jesus Christ. It has occurred to me that revival of our faith in Christ works much the same as a vacation works from our day to day places of employment.Vacation is time spent away from our everyday routines intentionally recharging our batteries, enjoying rest and recreation so that when we return to work we do so with a renewed sense of vigor and dedication.
Just as months on end without a vacation can cause us to become stale and tired in our everyday work. The expressed goal in revival is much the same in our spiritual walk. Weekly Sunday morning worship serves us very well; however if our routine Sunday worship is the sum total of our deliberate time with God, we’ll have a tendency to become stale and tired in our spiritual lives. Thus deliberate times of revival are needed to spark and stoke the flames of our faith.
Throughout the last two millennia God has often sparked revival in the hearts of His people when the flames of faith have become dimmed by routine and the busyness of life. Thus our goal is nothing less than God visiting us with a mighty fanning of the flames of His Holy Spirit.
Interestingly one of the promotional tools we’ll be using for our Ignite the Flame services will be small cross and flame lapel pins with very small battery-powered red glowing flames. We’ll be selling these at cost (about $3.00 each) in the coming weeks. Yes, these will be noticeable as we wear them, hopefully drawing attention and offering perfect conversation starters for those who see and ask about them – thus giving us perfect opportunities to offer invitations to attend our services.
Be watching for more about our upcoming Ignite the Flame services. Will you join our worship planning team in prayer that God will fan the flames of our faith in mighty ways during these services ahead?
- Pastor Steve