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December 11, 2003
Dear First Free Family,
Merry Christmas from the staff at First Free! During this Christmas
season we celebrate God's great gift in His Son Jesus Christ. And
here at First Free we also celebrate what God is doing in lives and
in our church.
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For the second year in a row, we had aspiritual growth
campaign that was focused on God's 5 purposes for us as
individuals and for us as a church. This year we called it
"Got Purpose?" with an outreach focus. (Starting January
19th on Monday nights, there will be another opportunity
for outreach, called 10 Keys for Unlocking the Bible-watch for
details!) We saw many new faces. And we heard some great stories
about what God has been doing in personal lives. We concluded our
series again with a Celebration Service and over 275 at our
Celebration Dinner on a snowy Sunday morning.
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Our Adult Bible Fellowships have increased in
numbers. The Chaim ABF (20's & 30's) and the Sojourner's ABF
(30's & 40's) have both been growing. We have added a Young
Adult ABF lead by Wayne and Julie Danielson and they are about to
outgrow their space. We have also added a second ABF for
Internationals.
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We have had to divide some of our children's Sunday school
classes (K-6th grade) - they were getting too
large. We now have 5 children's classes on Sunday morning, fully
staffed.
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This past summer we again had a baptism service at Lake
Nokomis followed by an all-church picnic. We baptized 8
individuals on a beautiful summer day.
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Nine from the Sr. High ministry attended the North
Central District's ministry retreat at Camp Shamineau this past
weekend. These nine lead the whole retreat, students and adults
from other Evangelical Free churches, in worship for the whole
weekend.
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Our worship on Sunday mornings has continued to grow
and develop. The worship team, musicians, and choir continue to
lead us in our celebration of God - who He is and what He has done
in our lives. Our average attendance at our worship this fall has
been 283.
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With Scott Beckett as our church custodian for the
past year, we have been able to keep the building in great shape.
We also made some necessary repairs to a steam pipe, and we are
adding some new lighting to the front of the sanctuary.
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God continues to bless us financially. In our weekly
giving we are slightly behind our budget, yet we are ahead in our
giving from a year ago. We are confident that December will be a
strong giving month with the end of the year gifts.
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Our mission giving, though, is behind budget. Last
year we felt our missions giving would grow, and it has slightly,
but not enough to meet our obligations. Because of this we have not
added any new missionaries or increased our support of current
missionaries. We pray that our missions giving will increase,
because as a church, we are committed to God's work here in our
community and around the world!
Celebrate His goodness this Christmas season! And join with me in
prayer that God will continue to use us here at First Free for His
purposes!
Yours and His,
Pastor Joel
P.S. Why not right now begin to think and pray about whom you could
invite to our 4:30 pm Christmas Eve Service?
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