December Greetings

Greetings, friends

The time is quickly approaching for another long winter, but it’s not here yet. As I write this blog, it is 60 degrees outside! It took awhile for summer to get here, and it looks like it is taking awhile for winter to get here as well.

Not much has happened since the November blog. That’s sort of the nature of life around the holiday seasons. We enjoyed a good Thanksgiving with our daughter. She brought up a friend from Harding who had never been to New England before, so that was fun. We are anticipating a trip down to Oklahoma in a couple of weeks. We will be going to our son, Michael’s graduation from Oklahoma Christian University. Following that we will be spending time with Linda’s folks in Arkansas and my folks in southern Oklahoma over the Christmas season. So we are spending a lot of time in the meantime making arrangements for our dogs, getting gifts for the family, and battening down the hatches for winter.

My Christmas Choral Concert is this weekend. It is nice to get to know the people in the community, and to see them around town from time to time. One never can tell the evangelistic impact of such community involvement, but I feel it is important, if for nothing else, to promote a positive picture of the church in the community.

The church will be hosting our second community meal this coming Wednesday. At our last meal many of our guests said they would come back and bring friends with them, so we are hoping to have even more folks show up this month. Of course, this time of year you never can tell how weather is going to impact anything you have going on.

We are getting more excited about the upcoming youth rally. Craig Hicks from Tulsa will be our speaker and Andrew Moore from OVU will be leading the weekend’s worship time. This youth rally is so important for the church, not just because it is a place where lots of kids are encouraged in their Christian walk, which strengthens the churches in New England, but also because of the camaraderie that grows among the members of the congregation during this time. It is certainly a unifying time for the brethren here.

Well, I am going to let you go for now. May your Christmas holiday be filled with joy, family, and friends. Thanks again for all you have done in the past to contribute to our work here in Conway. We solicit your continued support, whether through financial means or through prayer. Despite the difficult financial situations many people are facing, may God bless you with provision for all of your needs through the coming year.

Blessings,

Leland