What a great saying! So great, that at the beginning of this year I made it our theme for 2011. Now we are almost at mid-summer, I wonder how we’re doing making this theme a reality. I worry when we do things that seem ordinary, the kinds of things everyone else is doing. It scares me when we are referred to as ‘a church’ because that is far from what God called us to be. It bothers me when we fall into complacency and things going  ’pretty good’ is ‘good enough.’  I’m uncomfortable when things get too comfortable. We offer After-School Programs (my favorite program of all), and we have our Summer Camp Program that gives us a unique opportunity to reach kids like no other time in the year. We do Christmas programs, and the Back-to-School Blowout, but that’s not so unique anymore. In August we’ll be putting up a 100′ x 40′ tent up on the Westside where Pastor Verlinda and Pastor Jarrett will labor for an entire weekend to introduce and expand the ministry on the Westside (details to follow as we get closer) but will it be enough? Teen Night, Super Saturday, the Children’s Choir–can’t we do more? Community Breakfast, Lunches and Dinners are feeding and giving out over 2,000 meals per month–but is it enough?

Andrae Crouch once said, “I thought I was giving my all to God, then I heard Him ask for more.”

The fact is, the ministry is really doing well. We have more volunteers than ever, as more and more are catching the vision of the ministry. Don’t think that I am frustrated or defeated in any way. I’m not. But at the same time, I’m not satisfied either. I’m with Oswald Smith when he said, “I don’t think anyone should hear the gospel twice until everyone’s had a chance to hear it once.” So I ask for your prayers for this ministry. Pray that we are able to “reach the people no one else is reaching, by doing the things no one else is doing” and that we be anything but ordinary.

We really received a great blessing when we were contacted by Judy Stump, Program Director at Camp Adahi in Mohnton (PA). Thanks to a grant she was able to secure, our kids will be going to a full-day of camp at Camp Adahi every week. The most exciting part is they have this huge, beautiful pool, and our day at Adahi will give our kids a swim day absolutely free! We won’t need to pay the local swimming pool! Plus we get our kids out to the country, we are so excited!

God always makes a way to provide for our kids! He always gives us what we need, and often times just what we want!

Anyway, these guys just don’t listen. All year long I give them inspiring pep talks before each game, and they just go out and lose. So on a particular night when we were playing a team with a much better record, I decided to change up my approach to the pre-game pep talk. I said to them, “Tonight I want you guys to go out there and lose! You never listen to me anyway!” So what do they do? They go out and WIN! These guys just don’t want to listen to me! Now with 7 games left to go, I’m gonna ask them to lose every one of them! Lets see how that goes.

I give you all these figures for a couple of reasons; first that you would pray for us because this is really a big step of faith for us and secondly so we can share with you that we are able to even do this because of your faithful support of this ministry! THANK YOU!

We also need to thank our parent church, Spring Valley Church of God. Pastor Hinson, the Pastoral Staff, and the Finance Committee really got behind this project providing us with many different services to get the deal closed. Special thanks go out to Keith Thornton, Administrator at SV, for his many hours coordinating, researching and overseeing the entire project. Several people gave their services free of change to make this a reality -THANK YOU everybody!

Case in point, our Sunday Morning Alternative Service. I was contacted over the summer by my good friend Tony Bilotta about a ministry idea he had concerning a Worship Service for folks that live at the Hope Rescue Mission and any others that would like to join. I was interested, but we already have a Worship Service at 11:00am, just tell them to come then.

But the next thing Tony said got my attention, ” The guys at the mission get kicked out at eight o’clock on Sunday morning. They need a place to go and they are looking for something to eat.” This is when the Holy Spirit kicked in and He gave Tony a plan! We now put a bus at Hope Rescue Mission at 8:00am on Sunday morning. The men leave out of the mission and onto the bus. We get them to the center, they suck down some coffee and they have a service at 9:00am.

Tony conducts that service that concludes just in time for our Community Breakfast at 10:00am. It works perfectly! The service is more than guys from the Mission, others have joined in as well. They have become a community – like family.

So I ask the question, who is our family? It extends to anyone who needs the touch of God in their lives. The family of God goes far beyond the walls of our building, it extends to “whosoever will.”

We showed this movie at a Movie Night outreach we had recently. At the end of the movie, there were stations set up where people could write their own letter to God. Of the 57 in attendance, 32 wrote letters. Like the movie, there where prayer requests, thank you letters and “I don’t understand” letters. I was so moved by the letters in many ways. Some thanked God even though life has been tough. Some begged God to help them have contact with their estranged children, one mother shared worry about not having heat for her children this winter, others struggling with the death of family members. Other shared with God that they are mad at Him, one particular letter shared how they were homeless, living in a tent in the woods and how they fear for the winter. One asked God for restoration, another signed his letter “Without Hope.”

It was a reminder to all of us the challenges our people live with. Please remember our people in prayer. Pray for them to make a commitment to Christ and gain an assurance that God will see them through, and that all of us may learn to trust in God and that we enjoy God’s faithfulness as we are faithful to Him.

Feet on the Street is a wonderful ministry. They are a para-church urban outreach, similar  in many ways to City Light. Lead by Marvin and Beverly Zimmerman and their son Daryl and his wife Rebecca, Feet on the Street were looking to expand their already booming ministry. However, running their family business and Daryl & Rebecca just having had their first child, gave them little time to do more then they were already doing in the ministry. With their deep burden for the lost in their neighborhood, especially children and youth, they knew an After-school Program would be a great fit for their area. They were right! Under the direction of Pastor Verlinda , they are already getting 25-30 kids at the ASP and they are just getting started! Wait until it gets cold, that’s when they really come!

We look forward to working with Feet on the Street. Their strength is working with Teens and we look forward to learning all we can from them. But, it’s not about their ministry or ours, but rather a shared vision for God’s Kingdom here in Reading! You will remember we used this same model to start Southside, a shared space in the basement of First Century Worship Center. Later God blessed us with our own building and the ministry grew dramatically . We are believing the very same to happen on the Westside. We believe this after-school program will develop into a third center, perhaps in the northwest or further west towards Glenside. But that is all in the Lord’s hands. For now, we are going to be faithful to serve those precious children after school and just see what God’s going to do. Please remember us when you pray.
-Pastor Joe

The difference this year was that we sat people in small groups rather than gathering everyone together as one big group to hear the Gospel. It was wonderful to share with small groups because we knew they were really getting the message. We had the chance to be up close and personal with each person.

On this page there are three groups of people that really struck me as they came through. The one is all the little kids with their Mom/Grand mom Anna. Keeping the message to their level was a challenge. I spoke more about Heaven and less about Hell to this group. The photo with mainly adults was a friendly bunch. Some are involved with the ministry and brought along some friends that needed to hear the Word. What better night? There is a third photo of Teenagers that seemed as though they stopped by on the way to a party. They were wonderfully receptive to the message. I think they were thinking about Hell House long after the party was over.  Though attendance was a bit light this year, it was one of our best years. Over 100 people prayed to ask Jesus into their heart!

School is important and we want you ready to do your very best!

Our Ninth Annual Back -to-School BLOWOUT was our best one ever (of course I say that every year )! Over 120 students signed up for shoes and we filled every order, thanks to the help of so many of you who donated a pair of new sneakers for school. Thanks to you, many of our students will go to their first day of the new school year with brand-new shoes and with every step, they will be reminded that someone cared about them! Special thanks to those from Spring Valley Church, West Wyomissing Chapel, Pennsylvania Dialysis, Adult Ministry at City Light & Our Readers!

The BLOWOUT was a bit different this year. We combined it with our Sunday Morning Worship Service. We combined both Northside and Southside, adults and kids alike, and had well over 220 in attendance. With our emphasis on family ministry, we were pleased to meet many parents for the first time! During the service our Adult Worship Team rocked the house, then the City Light Children’s Choir blew the doors off the place! At the end of the service, all of the shoes were distributed and the kids participated in several carnival games where they won prizes – school supplies. We made sure everyone was a winner and the kids left loaded down with the essentials: pens, pencils, notebooks, erasers, glue, rulers, crayons, scissors, THE WORKS!

But this is just the beginning: soon our after-school programs, along with the rest of our Fall programs will be underway! THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THIS MINISTRY! You truly are God’s hand extended to the City of Reading!

-Pastor Joe