“Grace to you and peace from God our Father the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:2 NRSV). We are very excited to be serving as your pastors here in Mt. Carmel at the beginning of a new millennium. As Paul wrote further in Philippians “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.” We do pray and give thanks for each of you in prayer every day.

We all continue to be called to the business stated in the second half of this verse of sharing the gospel from the first day until now. If we all follow this advice from Paul the future looks bright for our church family. If we fail to follow this advice from Paul the future of our church family is in question. We must always be looking for new ways to include others in our church family. We must always strive for different ways to present the Good News of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to a lost world that desperately needs this message of hope and love. We are confident as your co-pastors that God through Jesus Christ will lead the way for this church family.

We have many things to be proud of as a church family. Our outreach ministries, both local and world wide, are growing as we move to help people in the name of Jesus Christ. Our stewardship giving continues to be a tremendous asset in our congregational life. This church family offers a loving and caring place to experience Christ. Let us continue to follow the commission of Jesus who said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything that I have commanded you. And remember; I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 19-20 NRSV)