Prineville Presbyterian Church

Imagine my delight, I’ve been asked to share with representatives from nearly a hundred churches why I’m excited about Prineville Presbyterian. For openers we have 3 session members who will be at the meeting. This is a first!

New people are joining us for Sunday worship, and they’re getting plugged into other areas of our church life too. Over the past several months different people have separately offered conversations about beginning a 'new building' fund.

We have core group of youth forming through our 2^nd Sunday Youth Event Series. Some of these youth will be part of our 2^nd Sunday Advent worship service next month.

Our recent Autumn Fest raised over $2600 - the most ever! This comes after our earlier Spring Indoor Plant and Yard Sale, where - again for the first time ever - that sale alone generated enough for us to completely meet our mission budget.

Last year at this time my Pastor’s Corner ended with this:

“I’m excited more than ever for our future; I hope you are too. In our excitement we need to remember that we are servants, directed by God to come alongside all who feel hopeless – and this hopelessness shows up in new ways. We have to be ready to see something new, and always be willing to respond with God’s goodness.”

Looking back over the year we have been faithful to God’s goodness. Among other things: our monthly canned food collection helps St. Vincent DePaul feed the hungry; our Community Garden helped 8 Redemption House homeless shelter clients earn safe food handler cards as they seek employment; our very strong presence with Crook County Connect and Beyond provided lots of services to the poor; we offer real hope as well as cash aid to families struggling to pay power bills or rent; PPC is helping Young Life in their quest to get teenagers to know Jesus Christ.

When working with groups there’s a concept called critical mass. It’s a kind of self-sustaining energy that builds on its own as it brings about widespread action. There's good critical mass developing within the church and it is extending into the community too. I believe this is because:

#1 we're now doing more of the ministry things that people outside the church expect to see churches doing which makes them want to know what might be going on inside the church;

#2: When we weave these ministry actions together with faithfulness to the Word of God, it brings Jesus Christ to life and opens everybody to God’s Holy Spirit at work within them. 

In reflecting upon the past year and in preparing for the year ahead, I’m even more excited for our future. While I hope that you join in this excitement, first and foremost let us always remember that we are servants.

Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike