Merry Christmas!

Karen and I wish you a hope-filled, joy-filled celebration this week! Rejoice in the Gospel. God loves you and he has come for you in Jesus. Give thanks for his saving power. Take the hand of the Good Shepherd and let him lead you on the journey of life. Each day lived with Jesus is sweeter than the one before and the best is yet to come! May his peace dwell in your home. Joy to the world!

We love you all and we are grateful to serve in ministry with you. We never cease to be amazed by the talent, enthusiasm and generosity of this congregation. It’s been a challenging year and we’ve needed to make some adjustments to sustain our mission and move forward. Thank you for doing it with grace and goodwill to all. Because of your support our Christian witness has broadened beyond imagination. People from other cities, other states and even other countries are now worshiping with us regularly online. Wow!

Despite the pandemic we’ve baptized new believers, we’ve given generously to flood victims, fire victims and to children in Highland Elementary, Pontiac, Detroit and South Africa--just to name a few. More than a thousand people in 352 cars poured through our Live Nativity--the greatest single Christian witness we’ve offered in our time! More than a hundred of you participated as actors, actresses and support people. Sensational! Let’s pray the seeds we sowed will bring a harvest of new faith in 2021! The Sower sculpture reminds us each day: we are the sowers of Jesus’ love. Thank you for your inspirational faithfulness to this task!

Karen and I rejoiced in our 40th anniversary this summer. We are grateful that we were able to paddle with our children deep into the wilderness of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. We even snuck into Canada to see some amazing ancient Indian rock art still visible on the cliffs of Lac La Croix. We swam each day, slept in the sun and ate fresh fish dinners. We just can’t bring ourselves to curse the past year as unrelentingly bad. We’ve been repeatedly confronted by the surprising grace of God at every turn!

The New Year is unfolding with great promise. Vaccines are here! A new congress, a new court and a new president will begin working with each other. A new Methodist denomination will emerge later in the year dedicated to a new emphasis on congregational freedom, evangelism and renewed faithfulness to the Gospel teaching of Jesus Christ! Renovations in our Family Life Center will soon be complete. Student ministry will grow. We’re going to become debt-free! We can’t wait to be a part of the new things God is doing. Thank you again for letting us take this journey with you as your pastor and spouse!

Merry Christmas,

Tom and Karen Anderson