UPDATE: We met our goal...!
Friday, December 12, 2014
Dear
Antioch Church Family,
Greetings
to you in the name of Jesus our Lord, the Babe of Bethlehem and the Savior of
the world! I trust your heart and home are filled with His presence as we
prepare to celebrate His birth.
I
am so thankful for what God is doing at Antioch Church...! Our November attendance
was up 40% compared with what it was before we moved into our new building.
Even more importantly, our facility is slowly becoming known as a house of
prayer for all people, the way Jesus desires as recorded in Mark 11:17. An
increasing number of people are asking us to intercede for them during our
Midweek Prayer Service and we are experiencing a precious sense of God’s
presence as we call out to Him.
During the month of December, I want to
ask you to give the most generous offering to our General Fund over and above
your normal tithe that you possibly can. Because work is being done on the roof and brick parapet of our
building, construction equipment and raw materials are occupying a number of
parking places that normally bring us revenue that supplements our Tithes and
Offerings. This drop in income is
taking place at the very same time that we have some unusual end-of-year
expenses. They include the annual license fees we must pay to the City
of Dallas for our frontage on the West End DART rail station platform and for
the “porch” area immediately outside our front doors.
Here is the “bottom-line”: We need an extra
$15,000 for our General Fund between now and the end of the year in order to be
able to meet all of our obligations. When you receive this letter, would
you please pause a moment and pray, asking God what He would have you to do to
help meet this need?
If
every one of us will incorporate a special gift to the work of the Lord at
Antioch Church into our Christmas budget, perhaps even making it the most
generous of any we give during this holiday season, we will be honoring God by
our act of faith and gratitude in the true spirit of Christmas as we celebrate
His great gift to us in His Son Jesus Christ. Each of us is in a different place financially, so I am not asking for
equal gifts, but for equal sacrifice. Together, we can meet this need and start
the year strong. As always, your contributions to Antioch Church are fully
tax-deductible according to IRS regulations, including gifts of stock or other
properties or assets. For your convenience, you can give online via the following link: give.teamantioch.com.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for
taking the time to read this letter and prayerfully reflect over what I have
written and for doing whatever God puts in your heart! Our church family is
the most generous of any church I have ever known – a true “Antioch” kind of
congregation (Acts 11:27-30) – and I am so happy to be a part of it.
In
closing, I want to encourage you to think about the promises contained in one
of my favorite passages in Scripture regarding the supernatural reality of
God’s kingdom economy:
2 Corinthians 9:6–12 (NLT) — 6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others…11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous…
Teresa
and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you and of raising
our children among you! May your heart and home be filled with the true spirit
of Christmas!
Pastor
Mark
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