Hello ICC Family!
Happy New Year to everyone! To welcome in 2025 we have a new church sign! It’s bright and bold and stands out a bit more than the old sign. It’s also simple. It communicates only our name. But our name actually communicates quite a lot by itself if you think about it. We are a church made up of people from all over the world and aspire to be international in all that we do. We are Christian as well, of course. We proclaim Christ and his love and salvation first and foremost. And we are a church - a group of people that have committed to each other and the Lord to be a family - a family that carries out the great commandment and great commission to the world around us.
As we move into 2025 my hope is that the sign is representative of us as the body of Christ as well. I hope that we are bright and bold, and we stand out from the people around us. Not to draw attention to ourselves, but simply because we are reflecting the joy, and the hope, and even the glory of our Savior. May each of us individually point to Christ just as this new sign identifies us as his church!
So that is one of my church goals for ICC this year - to be bold. At the risk of this letter getting a little long, I thought that it might be helpful for you to know some of my personal goals for the coming year as well. I don’t really call these New Year’s resolutions, because those are a little cliche. But it surely is helpful to spend at least a few moments thinking through how we want to take steps this year in coming closer to Christ - knowing him, abiding in him, reflecting him, and serving him. So here are 5 things that I want focus on in 2025. Perhaps they will inspire you to come up with a few of your own. Or just join me in these yourselves. Either way, please let me know if you write a list for yourself - I would love to pray for you that the Lord will help you accomplish them.
To speak one truth about God, his goodness and love, or his Word to somebody every day. Witnessing to somebody requires me starting somewhere. If I make sure to tell somebody something good about God each day, I am creating habits of faithfulness that will hopefully lead to boldness. It doesn’t matter who it is – whether that person is somebody I know or not, whether it is an unbeliever or believer - just share something! This goal has a bonus result in that it requires me to be in God’s word so that I have something on my mind to actually share!
Make it very clear to all of our neighbors that we are genuinely interested in them as people, that if they ever need anything they should not hesitate to ask, and that they are welcome at our home at any time. At the same time, I want to be pointing them to Christ by being open about who I am, what I do, and where I spend a lot of my time (church). Hopefully they will see the hope and joy and peace I get from my relationship with Christ and start wanting that for themselves too.
Demonstrate that I value God’s kingdom and his glory above all else – more than worldly success, more than job security, more than tradition, and even more than church. This desire is reflected in a prayer that I have used in my churches the past 5 or 6 years…
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven.
Amen.
- John Wesley
Get desperate about seeing God move in my life, my family, and our church. And let that desperation not cause me to fret or worry. Or even necessarily drive me to work harder or do more. Instead let it drive me to my knees to pray. Clinging to and claiming God’s promises. Maranatha! Lord, come quickly in every way! I want to become a man of prayer!
Begin to take a full day of rest at least one day a week. I have not done a great job of that. It just never feels like I have time – there is always something that needs to be done! Spending that time reading, getting out, seeing a new place in the Lowcountry, perhaps taking a nap... I don’t know what it will look like each week, because it has been a long time since I have done it, but I think it will be good for me. We’re going to talk more about this on Sunday!...
So those are my goals for the coming year. You can turn them into prayer requests for me as your pastor if you have a prayer list. I would be honored if you would pray for me. Just as I am honored to pray for each of you as well! And if you write a list for yourself, please let me know!
Blessings and Happy New Year!
Pastor Aaron
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