Letter From the Pastor

It’s December already…..CRAZY!!!

Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Christmas is right around the corner!
When Thanksgiving and Christmas come around, I tend to feel more thankful. Thankful for my
family, friends, job, home, all the things that God has provided for my family and me. We have
family functions that give us the opportunities to talk and see family we haven’t seen in a while.

Some of these family members and friends know Jesus and some don’t.
Every year I struggle with "Do I just enjoy the company since I haven’t seen them for so
long? Or do I take the opportunity to talk to them about Jesus and the importance of knowing him?"

I think it’s appropriate to do both! As we talk and catch up with these individuals, we can talk
about what God has done in our lives throughout the day, weeks, months, and year. This gives us
the chance to give thanks, share the blessings; we can share how we see the greatness of our Lord
and Savior through the trials in our lives, and we can share the outcome of those.
We have nothing to give of value, but He asks for us to tell others about Him.
"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble."
Psalm 107:2 ESV

God has done so much for us, and we have so much to thank him for. He wants us to tell
everyone all that he has done. This section of scripture isn’t really a mandate to witness but more
of a statement that when we live in the presence of God, we will not be able to keep these things
to ourselves. What has God done for you? Is there someone you can tell?

In other news…FourTwelve is going great! We have a few new students coming who
were invited by current students. There is a hand full of students who have really accepted the
challenge of putting their walks with Christ before extracurriculars. Some of them have
basketball every day. They get done with basketball, go home shower, grab their dinner, and
come to FourTwelve. I’m so proud of these students and the growth I’m seeing. There are others
who are very passionate about getting their outside friend groups to come. We have been having
conversations on ways to approach that.

FourTwelve is becoming very close to one another and it’s a blessing to see it and be a
part of it. I was telling a parent the other day that it feels like each one of those students is my
own, I love them and am so thankful for each of them!

As far as my personal life, the Hart household is doing great!! Carly and I have a little
time off in December and we are looking forward to having some time together with the boys.
We are also looking forward to getting some rest!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!