2005 Church Christmas Letter

The following is a copy of our 2005 Church Christmas Letter:

The Christmas season is upon us. A season in which there is much thought and concern put into the concept of gifts. Many children (and not a few adults) focus upon and delight in the anticipation of what gifts they may get during this season. Many adults run around from store to store consumed with getting the "right" gifts for all of those on their lists.

Too often in the hustle and bustle of what is going on at this season, we forget the most important gift of all - Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world that He gaveHis only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Bible relates to us the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ came to save us from our sin and that he lived a perfect, sinless life and died a cruel death on the cross of Calvary to be our Substitute and our Savior.

This is an exciting time at Messiah Baptist Fellowship. It is exciting to see new families coming out to church. It is also exciting because of the Lord's answer to prayer regarding a building. As of December 9, we have entered into an agreement to buy a new building. We are thankful to God for this answer to prayer and are looking forward to moving into the new building after the beginning of the year.

This is also a time of opportunities. It is a time for us to use the opportunities of this season to share with others the true meaning of Christmas. It is a time for us to use the opportunities of this season to gather together and worship "the new born King."

Whether you are a regular attender or whether you have not been out for awhile, we also have some specific opportunities and events at Messiah that we would like to encourage you to attend during this season.

Christmas Caroling and Fellowship. We will be going Christmas Caroling starting at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17. We will meet at the club house of the Greens at Schumaker Pond - just off Beaglin Park Drive on College Lane. If you can't make the caroling, but would like to still come to the Fellowship, you can meet at the clubhouse at around 5:30 p.m. Call if you need directions.

Special Christmas Morning Service. We will be having our Christmas morning service at 10:45 a.m. and are looking forward to a blessed time as we enjoy a children's program and celebrate with a special Christmas Candlelight Communion as part of our service.

Special Building Fund Offering. On January 8, we will be having a special offering to help pay for the new building. Please prayerfully consider what you could give on that date. Also, if you would like to give toward the building before the end of the year (for tax purposes, etc.), you can mark it "Building Fund" and we will count it as part of the Special Offering.

May God give you a Blessed Christmas in which the Gift of Christ remains foremost in your mind.


In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone



(This is also being cross-posted at Pastor's personal blog - A Thinking Man's Thoughts)

Praise the Lord!!

Praise the Lord!

Since The Pastor's Pen is my Pastoral blog designed mostly with our church people and friends in mind, most of you reading this are probably already aware of the fact that we have been praying about a specific building situation for our church, as I mentioned in a previous post.

For those unfamiliar with our situation, I will provide just a brief summary here:

The church celebrated its seventh anniversary in October. For the majority of those seven years, the church has been meeting next to the Red Door Sub Shop in the South Salisbury Plaza in Salisbury and we have been praying for God to provide us with a building or some property that we could use for His glory.

For the last few months we have been praying for a specific church building here in Salisbury that was/is occupied by a church that is moving to a different location. This building has a good location that is easily accessible and not too far from our current location. The building itself is in pretty good shape and has room for us to grow as well as rooms for us to have Sunday School, fellowships, children's ministries, and offices. It even has a kitchen and our own bathrooms (that will make more sense to our own people than to most others who may read this).

Anyway, during the last month or so, we have been in negotiations for and praying for this specific building. We have been praying that God's will would be done and that God would provide us this building if it was His will.

Well, the Pastor of the selling church has called said that they had decided to sign our contract!! Praise the Lord!!! I am excited. I am sure if you are part of this church you are excited. I am also sure that those of you who have been praying with us are excited for us, as well.

We still have the normal aspects to deal with regarding the buying of the property (e.g. the seller has a contingency regarding the building they are buying, financing needs to be finalized, etc.), but at this point it is a go and I praise the Lord for His working in this situation.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying with us for this building.

In Christ,

Pastor Frank Sansone