What is it that God sees in you that you have not accepted?  Is God calling you to a new job, a new location, or to make a commitment?  Do you have the confidence in God to step out on faith and trust God? Meditate on this today.  What is God calling you to do?  How can you trust God to manifest the best for you as you strive for excellence in 2012?

Pastor Sherri Wood-Powe, Chief Ministry Officer

2011 was the year of the breakthrough at St. James and in 2012 are focus will be on “Striving 4 Excellence” The areaes of focus are:
1. Stewardship
2. Worship
3. Outreach
4. Faith development

I believe that God wants us to give our best in everything we do. The goal of what we do should never be mediocrity, after all, we don’t serve a mediocre God. Our goal should be excellence or stated another way- Perfection. Jesus told his followers, “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Let 2012 be the year that you put your best foot forward in everything you do.  Strive 4 excellence!

Dr. 3

This is truly one of the most wonderful times of the year. This is when we celebrate the greatest gift the world has ever received. God cared (and still cares) so much about humanity that God gave the very best, Jesus. John 3:16 emphasizes that point, “For God so love the world that He gave is only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have life eternal.”

As we spend time with family eating and opening gifts please don’t forget what the season is all about. Please remember to celebrate the birth of our King-JESUS!

Dr. 3

We are less tan 10 days away from Christmas and things are starting to feel strange for me. For the first time in my life I am finally accepting that Christmas really has become a non-religious holiday and I am a part of the problem. For many the most important thing about Christmas is spending time with family. This is different from the other major Christian holiday of Easter. On resurrection day churches have more people in the sanctuary than on any other day. However, on Christmas a lot of congregations are reducing the number of worship experiences for that day because they anticipate low turnout. This is really crazy considering that Christ is Christmas and how can we celebrate it on the Lord’s Day without going to the Lord’s House. We are too busy celebrating Christmas with family, food, and gifts that there isn’t any room for Christ in our schedules on His Birthday. Sad!

Dr. 3

A few weeks ago Pastor Tyrone Gordon talked about the need for congregations to change in order to remain relevant in the 21st Century. There are many congregations that were once strong and vibrant now dealing with an aging membership and empty pews. The reason for this decline that is seen in congregations across denominational lines is the refusal to make the proper adjustments to keep up with the changing times.

What happens is tht congregations begin to believe that the way to grow and remain relevant is to do what they did in the past. “Let’s do what we did in the 90′s that helped us grow and become a strong church.” The problem with that is that what worked in the 90′s doesn’t work as effectively in 2011. If you don’t believe me go to Best Buy and see if you can buy a tv with a VHS video player.

The reason why so many new churcches are being formed is becasue it is becoming too hard to get existing congregations to undderstand the need to change. That’s exactly what Jesus was up against. Religious leaders did not want to change, therefore, a new movment was started.

Christians, Church leaders, denominational leaders, and pastors “WAKE UP!!!! IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE! THE CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA IS DYING WHILE WE ARE STILL HOLDING ON TO OUR TRADTIONS THAT AREN’T REACHING PEOPLE FOR JESUS CHRIST IN THE 21ST CENTURY.”

Dr. 3