At our Easter service, we were encouraged and challenged by the words of Rev. Vernon Anderson from a letter of congratulations to our church upon the consecration of our former building on April 26, 1961, "You have done well in building a church of brick, now your even greater task remains, to build and foster a church of concerned hearts, so that you may reach out effectively in the spirit and mind of Christ to reclaim lives for Him."  That two-fold task continues to be our calling; first, to build and foster concerned hearts, and second, through the spirit and mind of Christ to reclaim lives for Him.

This summer, our sermon series is responding to that task by asking the question, "What's Good About the Gospel?"  In modern churches all too often the term “Gospel” has been used only to describe a plan of personal salvation. While individual salvation is certainly part of “The Gospel” there is much more to what Jesus and the Apostles had in mind when they proclaimed “The Gospel.” The word “Gospel” is derived in English from the words “god” meaning good, and “spel” meaning news. “Gospel” became the English translation for the Greek word “euangelion.” In the Greco-Roman world, euangelion was the formal announcement of good news. Often the birth of a son to the Emperor, or news of a Roman military victory was considered euangelion.