---

As you know, we are preparing for community outreach on May 28th at 5:00 PM. This is an excellent opportunity for us to share the love of Christ with our community and invite them to join our church family.

You can help us prepare for visitation by filling out yellow prospect cards in your Sunday school classes. These cards provide information about people we can contact about our church.

Giving as of May 23, 2023

Budget for 2023 . . . . . . . .  $348,707.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . $140,824.11
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $102,758.93
Needed for weekly budget . . .  $6,705.91
Tithes Received this week . . . . $5,675.00

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

We will not have a Mid-week devotion this week. However, we always have past devotions and sermons on our website. Click the link below to view past messages.

From Our Family and Music Minister

My first youth trip as a leader was taking 18 young people to the youth evangelism conference in Macon, Ga. Just as we had done in previous years, we hit up the food court at the Macon Mall before heading back on Saturday evening. The plan was always that youth would break up into groups of 4 or 5 and check in with us periodically. Then, after a few hours, we all would load back up and head home. It had been a great trip, with no significant issues, and the conference had been incredible.

A few hours after arriving home, I received a call from an Ashburn resident who happened to be at the Macon Mall at the same time as our group and saw a few of our youth participating in a less-than-appropriate activity. As the repercussions and consequences were being handed down, the youth could not figure out how I found out. For years after, they would periodically ask me how I knew, and I would always respond, “Be careful what you do; you never know who is watching.”

Unfortunately, many things we do today do not reflect a Godly response when we see others fail or struggle. Instead, we gossip about each other, laugh or snicker when we see our fellow brothers or sisters fail, and look the other way when someone needs help. However, God has called us to love one another and demonstrate that love in how we treat and interact with others. As believers, we must live Godly lives because people are watching us. When we reflect ungodly behaviors and attitudes, not only do we hurt our witness to the world, we can put our fellow Christians in a bad light and even turn an unbeliever away from seeking a relationship with Christ.

Christians are called to be lights to the world around them. This means living in a way that reflects the love and grace of God. We should love others unconditionally, forgiving those who have wronged us, and showing kindness to everyone we meet. We are called to be merciful and compassionate by helping those in need or less fortunate than us.

When Christians live as lights in the world, we make a difference. We help to bring hope and healing to a broken world. And we point people to the one who is the ultimate source of light and life, Jesus Christ. We never know who is watching, so as a child of God, we should always let our lights shine. We never know who might be watching and how our actions could affect them.