Newsletter for September 3, 2025

Join us tonight at 6:00 PM as we kick off Family Night Supper.

Tonight, we will be introducing our new church app and website!
Be sure to bring your phone or tablet—we’ll help you download the app, set up your notifications, and show you how to get the most out of these new tools.

Don’t miss this evening of food, fellowship, and getting connected!

Grilled Hamburgers, Potato Chips, and Ice Cream Sundaes

Meet in Bill Hardin's SS Classroom
You're invited to be part of a wonderful group of ladies! Join us each month for our WMU (Women's Missionary Union) meeting—a time for women of all ages to gather in fellowship, grow in our faith, and focus on missions near and far. Discover how God is working through women just like you and missionaries worldwide.

We are excited to begin collecting items for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes!
For the month of September, we are focusing on toys and school supplies.

Suggested Toys: Small dolls, stuffed animals, jump ropes, balls, cars, puzzles, card games, musical toys (like harmonicas or recorders).

Suggested School Supplies:
Crayons, markers, colored pencils, small notebooks, rulers, erasers,
or pencil sharpeners

 Please Do Not Include:
Toy guns or weapons of any kind
War-related toys

 Drop-off boxes are located outside the church office.

Let’s join together to bless children around the world with the love of Christ through a simple shoebox gift!

First Ashburn,
Thank you all for the blessing and honor of preaching revival.  My heart and life were blessed to worship and share God’s Word!  I pray each of you will continue to follow and be used by our Lord!
 
Jason Jones

Don’t miss Brother David’s Mid-Week Devotions in Psalms!
New messages are posted every Wednesday on our media page—take a midweek moment to be encouraged and refreshed in God’s Word.

Budget for 2025 . . . . . . . .  $329,624.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . $222,064.15
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $186,421.48       
Needed for weekly budget . . . $6,344.69
Tithes Received this week . .  . $2,660.38

Have you ever noticed how resistant we can be to change? We are creatures of habit, and we often find comfort in the familiar, even when it isn’t the best. When my parents moved in with my grandmother to help look after her, they brought in a newer, faster microwave to replace her old one. The two microwaves sat side by side on the counter because my grandmother refused to use the newer one. She knew exactly how to use her old microwave and wasn't about to learn a new machine.

Unfortunately, the old microwave eventually heated its last plate of food and died. Even then, my grandmother still wouldn't learn the new one's functions. She eventually figured out that if she just hit the "start" button, it would heat for one minute. Therefore, if she needed to heat something for three minutes, she would stand there, hitting the "start" button three times, one minute at a time.

That reminds me that change, while sometimes unsettling, isn't always a bad thing. In fact, it is often a necessary part of growth. Think about a caterpillar. For it to become a beautiful butterfly, it must transform. It can't stay in its familiar, comfortable state; it must transform into something completely new. This transformation, though it appears to be a death, is the path to its new life and purpose.

The Bible is filled with stories of God leading His people through significant changes. He called Abraham to leave his homeland and go to a foreign land, promising him a new nation. He led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and through the wilderness, a forty-year journey that was difficult but necessary for them to become His people. The disciples had to adopt a radically new way of life after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, shifting from following a physical man to being filled with the Holy Spirit and spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In each of these stories, God's purpose was not to move His people but to transform them.

God is constantly at work, making us into "a new creation." Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." God desires to make all things new in our hearts, in our relationships, and in our lives. We are to be people who are not just open to change but who actively seek to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Wednesday night, we launched our new church app. We know that for some, this might feel a bit like my grandmother's new microwave, unfamiliar and maybe even unnecessary. But we believe this app is a great way to help us grow together and stay connected in ways we never could before. It’s a change that, once we get used to it, will make our church community stronger and more engaged in ministry.

We pray God will use this change to create new opportunities for connection and growth. Let's embrace it with open hearts, ready to see the new things He has in store for us as a church family. And if you need help figuring it out and want to explore the features beyond the 1-minute button, please let me know, and someone will sit down with you to review all the features.