Campaign Newsletter #1

Dear church family,

First Samuel, chapter seventeen, contains a literal example of the eternal struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, and life and death.  It is the classic story of David and Goliath, wherein a terrible Philistine giant, who has managed to paralyze the Israelite army with fear for forty long days, is suddenly defeated by a newly arrived little lad whose only weapons are a simple sling, a handful of smooth stone, and an unwavering faith in God.  The story reminds us of several important truths.

#1:  GOD’S ENEMIES WILL ALWAYS TAUNT GOD’S PEOPLE.  Goliath was a literal soldier of enormous size.  But he represents much more than just one day in the lives of the ancient Israelites as they struggled for their existence.  He represents the fact that God’s people in every generation have been taunted by those who are opposed to God and His purposes.

#2:  GOD’S PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS TRUST GOD’S POWER.  Likewise, David, the little lad from Bethlehem who was destined one day to become King of all Israel, shows us that the greatest weapon a servant of God possesses is not the armor offered him by Israel’s king, or even a trusty sling with which we he had previously killed a bear and a lion that attacked his father’s sheep.  Rather, his greatest weapon was his faith in an Almighty God!

#3:  GOD’S POWER WILL ALWAYS TRUMP GOD’S ENEMIES. The outcome of all of this was the unleashing of God’s miraculous power.  Miraculously, the small smooth stone flung by little David found its mark in one of the few vulnerable places in which the giant was exposed.  And down he came.  Thereafter, David pounced upon the now fallen and prone giant, and dispatched him with his own sword.  What is more, emboldened by this one act, the Israelite army rallied and attacked the Philistine army, utterly routing them in the process.

The three truths still apply today.  God’s people are still under assault from evil giants.  Among them are the giants of fear, doubt, temptation, guilt, and despair.  In our own strength, we cannot overcome these colossal things.  But in the power of God, we can be victorious!

Our church family is also being taunted by a terrible giant today.  His name is DEBT and he stands 5.3 million dollars tall!  In our own strength, we are powerless to handle him.  But in the strength and power of Almighty God, he will fall!  In fact, I am trusting that we will knock him down over the next three years of this campaign.  I am also trusting that we will leave him in such a state that we are able to finish him off and dispatch him completely three years from now!  In truth, even now, his days are numbered!

As we prepare for our upcoming capital stewardship campaign titled “IMPACT”, I ask you to begin praying even now about your part in the victory God will surely give us!  My prayer is that a thousand small smooth stones will be hurled in faith at this enormous ogre by the people of God here in this place!  I pray also that this will be done with the full confidence that God will deliver him into our hands!  And that this will also be done in order that, as a young and enthusiastic David told the doomed Goliath, the entire world will know that there is a God who provides victory for His people!

– Pastor Jack