Dear Church Family,
 
This past week I had the privilege of connecting with a young man who used to be part of my church family in Holyoke, CO. He shared with me some of his anxiety related to dying. I imagine that our mortality is something that most of us think of at various times. But that fear should not cripple us.
 
One of the strategies that I provided to my friend is to consider that God might be trying to get ahold of his life. My friend admitted that he has never considered how God might want to use him in a significant way to make an impact for God’s Kingdom.
 
Sometimes if we have too much time on our hands our mind begins to wander toward sin and fears that can captivate us and paralyze us. Satan can use this to make us ineffective, but Paul reminds us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
 
If we find ourselves dabbling in sin or being captivated by irrational thoughts we might just need to get busy. God created our minds so that they can only focus on one thing at a time. 
 
This week we will be going over part 1 of God’s plan to build his body. We will see that God’s responsibility is to endow the church with gifts to do its job. He gives gifts to people. He gives the gifts of people.
 
God has given us each other to work together to build his kingdom. He has equipped you with gifts to succeed in your Gospel ministry calling. Here are some resources for you to discover your divine design and gifting that will help you find out how you should be serving the body:
 
https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/women-leadership-spiritual-gifts-growth-service

https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

Please utilize the various tools available to help you to engage well with your gifts. Serving will increase your sense of belonging to our body. Using your gifts will also build your faith, benefit the body and give you greater confidence in life.
 
I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve you as one of your pastors. If you have any questions about how you can discover your gifts or better serve your body, please contact me. You can email me at jeremiah@efclascruces.org or call the church at 575-522-7029.
 
In Christ,
 
Pastor Jeremiah

As we continue to fill the calendar with groups to set up chairs during the week, we are also going to try dividing up the responsibility of tearing down the chairs on Sunday morning after the church service.  Four teams have been made of people willing to help with the tear-down.  If you are willing to add your name to a team for a once-a-month tear-down after church, please let us know!  The team for the week will be posted on the slides before and after service.  If you are out of town or in a hurry on the week that you are scheduled, the teams are big enough that your team should be able to get by without you so don't worry about occasionally missing.  Let's make a habit of waiting at least 15 minutes after the service for people to leave their chairs before we start stacking so that fellowship is not discouraged. Thank you!

Team A 
Klimas (team leader)
John Brown
Gary Sanchez
Esme Brown
Nicole Ray
Valerie Trinks
 

Team B 
Dubois (team leader)
Toorman boys
Joe & Tom Taylor
Rochelle Dozier
Ed Martinez
Mark Bless
 

Team C 
Yees (team leader)
Johnsons
Fabio Flores
Luke Oliver
Abby Chervinko
Hunters
 

Team D 
Abby Oliver (team leader)
Derrick Howard
Wongs
Peter & Abby
Lisa Brown
Alexis & Laurel Gardenhire
Powells

Do you have an announcement that you wish to share?

Our church has a policy on announcements that has been in place in order to guard and honor the time of all during the corporate worship service as well as filter content. If you have an announcement that you would like announced Sunday morning, it needs to be cleared through the main office by emailing Naomi at contact@efclascruces.org. 

If you are interested in reading the policy, you can click here. 

Announcements can be shared via Free & Clear, Emails and during the time allotted on Sunday mornings.

If your announcement seems like a "rare exception" as stated in the policy, Naomi will seek approval at the pastor/elder level.  

We are eager to serve you. Thank you in advance for for helping us to serve our body by following the announcement procedures.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I would like to give all of you a quick update on things FEFC.  As has been reported, December and January were banner months in terms of giving for the church.  December saw the largest single monthly giving in a long, long time - if not since the founding of the church and January was the largest monthly offering in roughly 5 years!  The Lord has clearly blessed us financially and our checking account is nearly up to the same levels it was a year ago.  Certainly a praiseworthy thing!  But it is not a sign to go on a massive spending spree - we still need to be good stewards of the resources God has provided - and that stewardship comes with balance. Good stewardship does not just mean not spending - it can also mean using the $$ we have to further God's work in the church. And we have identified several areas where we can use those $$ to make our facility safer, more attractive and more functional. 

Our top priority is putting up security fencing around the front of the property to discourage vagrancy and vandalism of our property - this will be moving ahead quickly (we have a company preparing a quote and plan for us and we will present it to you as soon as we get it).

Another area that could stand some TLC is the playground - what exactly we can do there is still uncertain - cleaning up the area, installing bird proofing, new equipment, ground covering...are things that are on the table.  Moving the playground to the front of the building is NOT on the table right now! The trees are probably safe as well!

A third area of work is the front of the building - it can certainly use some paint and stucco touch-up work.

A final area would be to invest in better AV equipment to enhance our on-line/streaming capability.  It is sorely needed to bring our live streaming up to a higher standard.  

We welcome your thoughts and ideas on this - please feel free to share your ideas/concerns with our staff and the elder team.

Yours in Christ,

Robert

Like the Israelites of the Exodus, in our personal ‘deserts’ we “experience intimate dependence
on God’s love and provision in faithful obedience to his every word.”
 
“With All Your Heart” by Ray Vander Laan (six sessions)
Video and Small Groups WOMEN & MEN ARE INVITED!
(view the video altogether, then split into “gender-separated” groups
 
FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS:
Meeting at FEFC—
Tuesday (March 7) Evening at 6:30pm (6:15 for fellowship),
Wednesday (March 8) Morning at 9:30am (9:15 for fellowship),
Thursday (March 9) Afternoon at 3:30pm (3:15 for fellowship)
 
FOR MEN’S GROUPS
Tuesday (March 7) Evening at 6:30pm (6:15 for fellowship)
 
Interested but not yet in a group?
See Mary Eiceman - m.eiceman@comcast.net
Or Pastor Jeremiah - jeremiah@efclascruces.org