December 13, 2006

Dear First Free Family,

Merry Christmas from the staff at First Free! During this Christmas season we are celebrating the Immanuel Intersection - "God with us". God, in the giving of His Son Jesus Christ, has intersected our lives in such a way that we are changed forever!

This past year, God has continued to change us here at First Free. Here are some highlights:

• The most notable change has taken place on Sunday mornings - we added a second service last Easter. This fall we have continued with our two worship service format. A second service has meant a lot more work for our staff, our worship team and choir, our nursery workers and pre-school teachers, and our Welcome Force members. I want to thank all of these people for the extra time they have committed. I believe we have seen God's blessing! We continue to see growth in our Sunday morning worship attendance - with the average combined attendance this fall at 400. Praise God! We are able to reach more people for Christ!
• Our Adult Bible Fellowships have increased in numbers. Our classroom space on Sunday mornings is full and a couple of the ABF's are fast outgrowing their rooms.
• We have dedicated 24 babies, added 12 new members, and baptized 6 believers in 2006.
• God is also working in the hearts of our Jr. and Sr. High students. Not only have they doubled in size on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, but many of them are responding to God in the areas of intentionally loving each other and loving Christ.
• Our children's ministry has doubled over the past two years. New friends are being invited to the Wednesday night Girl's Rock and boy's Christian Service Brigade programs. Fourteen teachers have stepped up and are dividing the huge load of working with our 30 preschool children. As the number of baby dedications indicates, the nursery is bursting at the seams.
• Our outreach to Mothers of Preschoolers has added a Thursday night MOPS group, while continuing to have a waiting list for the original Friday morning group.
• Two work teams have traveled down to serve and minister with Castle Rock and Urban Impact. Their hands-on help has made a real difference in lives down in the inner city of New Orleans as well as in their own lives.
• Through most of '05 I preached through the Bible in our year long preaching series, "God's Big Picture: 45 Key Passages of Scripture". The response was overwhelming as we gained a grasp of the whole of the Bible and how it all fits together.
• This fall we tackled a tough sermon series called "Money Matters". As a result we have seen couples and individuals begin the challenging process of getting their finances reordered to reflect God's heart. Sixteen people were involved in a Crown Ministries 10 week study, and another 24 individuals have indicated an interest in being part of another study in this new year. My prayer is that God will continue to show us how to live as His stewards, reflecting the generosity of our Heavenly Father.

During this Christmas season we invite you to celebrate the fact that God chose to intersect our lives when he came as a little baby. Because of Him we will never be the same!

Yours and His,

Pastor Joel

P.S. Why not right now begin to think and pray about who you could invite to either our 11:00 am or 4:00 pm Christmas Eve services!