Praise and Prayer!

I am still basking in the glow of our Christmas Eve Celebrations! God was present and God was greatly honored by your worship. My email box has been barraged with notes from your family and friends saying they had a God encounter Christmas Eve. Thank you to all of the servants, lay and staff, who sacrificed family time to make sure everything was read to celebrate Jesus Birthday. From the parking lot to the chair and pew God was honored and people were blessed. Thank you to everyone who invited someone, brought a coat and a financial gift to Jesus. Thank you to everyone who showed up to celebrate Jesus birthday.

Below is an accounting of what God did through you on Christmas Eve. Numbers are important only because they represent the fruit of your labor and evidence of God working in the lives of his people.
                                                               3 Worship Celebrations

Attendance 1755

Coats 358

Birthday Gift to Jesus $87,762

 Praise be to God! I have been worshipping and offering prayers of thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness and your obedient generosity for four straight days and counting. You are in incredible people and I am so proud to serve as your Senior Pastor.

Coats will be distributed very soon and our mission team will be heading to Ethiopia the afternoon of January 23rd. We will keep you posted on both and share pictures from both endeavors.

As you get ready for the New Year, I have a special request. I am deep into the preparation for our next message series, "Spiritual Warfare" and I sense God leading Dallas and me to pray for you and your family in a more personal way. Continue to place any prayer requests in the offering plate or contact the prayer line, but please email me, rick.owen@stmattcpc.org, with the same accompanied with more detail about the request.

What keeps you up at night? What occupies your mind? Where do you need to grow spiritually? Where is procrastination and rationalization wrecking havoc with your life? What is your life dream? Who are you concerned about? What burdens your mind and heart?

Prayers of praise are also welcome but I especially want to know where the evil one has built a stronghold and is hindering your quality of life. I will NOT be able to respond to each and every prayer request but I promise that Dallas and I will keep your prayer requests confidential and jointly pray for you as we approach this new series beginning January 8-9.

I covet your prayers also knowing full well that when darkness is exposed attacks are inevitable. I am eager to share what God is teaching me about this long ignored but important subject. I pray God’s revelation will empower and embolden you in your journey to follow Jesus.

 Peace,

   Rick
 "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me that when ever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel...."
                                                                                    Ephesians 6:18-19