November 6, 2022
Dear Church Family,
It’s been on our hearts for quite some time to share with you the details of the ministry of Mtn High. We’ve tried to find time for sharing in person but that right time hasn’t worked out yet. As you may know, we’ve been in ministry full time at Mtn High since September 1993, 29 years and pastoring since June of 1994, which is 28½ years. Many people have come and gone and some have been here since the beginning. We’ve learned so much, we had to “grow up”, we’ve made plenty of mistakes, been hurt, hurt others in our immaturity and ignorance. In 28 years, we have also been blessed beyond our imaginations, have ministered to thousands of people and been able to share the Good News Gospel. There’s been times of abundance financially and times of little. Through it all we’ve kept moving forward with the vision and cause God gave us. We feel we’ve been true to our call and can honestly say we love pastoring and don’t even want to do anything else or go anywhere else. We don’t even think about retiring or slowing down. We pray daily and continue to grow in His grace and knowledge. We seek His wisdom for our direction and feel we lead in all He guides us to do. We are reachable, teachable and faithful.
In the Spring of 2020, the pandemic took a toll on most ministries since that is what the enemy designed it to do. We are blessed and thankful that we can still be here as many churches have had to close down. That is so heart breaking. We took a strong stand against the enemy that wanted to destroy families, churches, the lives of Believers and America. We continue to take that stand against the wiles of the enemy but with this stand comes attacks that means we have to continue standing firm in His truth and to be unshakeable. Many from this church family did not come back after the 2020 attack. Many were older and in fear. Many supported the church financially for a few months afterwards. We miss these people and continue to pray for them but are so thankful to God that wasn’t the end. The Lord has brought new people – unshakable people, strong people and we are building a new foundation. “The earth was rocked at the sound of his voice from the mountain, but now he has promised, “Once and for all I will not only shake the systems of the world, but also the unseen powers in the heavenly realm!” Now this phrase “once and for all” clearly indicates the final removal of things that are shaking, that is, the old order, so only what is unshakable will remain. Since we are receiving our rights to an unshakable kingdom we should be extremely thankful and offer God the purest worship that delights his heart as we lay down our lives in absolute surrender, filled with awe.” Hebrews 12:26-28
We feel so blessed that God is bringing us others that want to stand with us to bring Light and Love to this extremely dark world. We are also so grateful and humbled that many have not left but have stood strong, firm and faithful with us through it all! We will continue as the Body of Christ at Mtn High to listen and “So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.” Hebrews 12:1 TPT. To run this race on the path already marked out before us with passion and determination is our vision. Pastor Ed’s vision of people lined up and down 285 that want to come and receive what God has for them is real! As we go forward on the path marked out we will focus our attention and expectation on Jesus.
As we submit, pray and surrender this ministry to Him He directs us. As we have sought Him we feel He is directing us to make some changes. The first change we would like to do is have praise and worship in the beginning of the service. We made the changes for the Live Streaming audience but most people are watching it on social media when their time allows and those watching live will be about to adjust by a few minutes. ”Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage.” Ephesians 6:12 “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”” 2 Chronicles 20:21 We will start this on Sunday, November 20.
We are having a challenge with finances. It’s always hard to talk about this since it’s an area the enemy attacks immensely. Yet, we know we must let you know what is going on. We are a small church comparatively but great in our visions, faith, hope and love for others. The smaller in numbers makes it harder to meet all the increases in utilities and insurance. We are going to take a Building Offering on the first Sunday of the month. We have done that before and a couple years ago stopped because of the circumstances. This offering will be designated to building insurance, electric bills, natural gas bill, needed repairs, new security equipment and other physical building and property needs. He always supplies and bills have never been late. He continues to supply and this special offering is His direction. Winters are more expensive and the costs have increased. Our building insurance increased $150/month as of October. Our monthly insurance bill is now almost $1200. Church insurance is extremely expensive. Our 1st payment of the year is always double so the amount due right now is $2390. Our highest bills for the Natural Gas are usually December – May and run about $900/month which is predicted to increase. The electric for both buildings is about $600/month in winter. Our phone lines and internet service are pretty reasonable, costing about $450/month. These are the main maintenance bills for the church. These DO NOT include the church house. We have been blessed with guests at the house that give us enough for the utilities. Please pray the Lord continues to send guests. At the moment there are no scheduled guests for our church house but we are calling them in weekly😊. We thank all of you for what you give! Sometimes a weekly offering is less than the monthly insurance bill so continue to pray and believe!
We continue to give to different missions and the Lord has not directed us to change any of that at this time. We were trying to do a Mission Sunday each month so you would be able to know who we are giving to and get to know them a bit. Right now, I have no one to help with the putting together of the information the missionaries send me. It takes more knowledge than I have to take what they send and make it work on our equipment so it is a good presentation. All our media staff are very busy also. The Lord will provide the right person soon.
We also no longer have anyone contracted for snowplowing. Our wonderful snowplow man is no longer in the business. He did our church yard and parking lots as a gift. He’s a great young man and we were blessed with him for many years. We now need a new contractor so pray about that. Most of us do not have the equipment or time to do it each snow.
Now I want to thank everyone who help with so many things around here. I don’t have room for names today but thank you to those who keep this place spotless week after week. That is so important. Thank you for keeping our property looking so nicely groomed all summer. You did an amazing job. Thank you to all that helped us get Handicap accessible this year from bathroom adjustments, elevator, signage and asphalt ramp. Thank you Praise team for always leading us into amazing praise and worship. Thank you sound and media team for all you do! You have a challenging job. Thank you to our security team who always have their eyes and ears open and keeping us safe. Thank you to all who take time to teach classes, men’s group, ladies’ group. Thank you, prayer warriors! Our prayer team is absolutely so powerful. Thank you to those that help me with detail stuff, putting together constant contact, calling out people, loving Mom and helping me remember what is next. Our greeters and ushers are fantastic! Thank you all for being a part of the pantry ministry, helping on work days, serving at special events, and for making every time we come together special. Also, a huge thank you to all who ministered to the youth, young people and help with children’s ministry. This our America’s next leaders! I also want to thank our Elder team, Art and Chris, Joe and Robin, Josh and Aimee. These wonderful leaders have been with us from the beginning and stood through lots of trials, attacks and shaking. They are a gift to this ministry.
There are still lots of ministries that still need more attention and inch by inch we are getting things done. There is so much more we can do. The Children’s Ministry needs another teacher and a nursery worker when there are little ones. Our mission’s communication is not up to date. We want to have a weekend marriage conference, marriage and relationship classes, Leadership classes, and a Foundation class will be vitally important as new people come in. We are planning to start doing mission trips again in 2023 and Kenya is on the list for next fall. Our men’s conference is always a blessing and we need to have a Ladies Conference next spring. Next week we start our evangelism outreach and believe we will reach many people who are looking for a home church and those who are hurting and need a loving church family to encourage and pray for them. The vision is beyond what we can think or imagine. It’s all possible with Him. If you have thoughts or questions, be sure and talk to us. Let me close with this prayer from Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God who brought us peace by raising from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ so that he would be the Great Shepherd of his flock; and by the power of the blood of the eternal covenant may he work perfection into every part of you giving you all that you need to fulfill your destiny. And may he express through you all that is excellent and pleasing to him through your life-union with Jesus the Anointed One who is to receive all glory forever! Amen!”
Dear Church Family,
It’s been on our hearts for quite some time to share with you the details of the ministry of Mtn High. We’ve tried to find time for sharing in person but that right time hasn’t worked out yet. As you may know, we’ve been in ministry full time at Mtn High since September 1993, 29 years and pastoring since June of 1994, which is 28½ years. Many people have come and gone and some have been here since the beginning. We’ve learned so much, we had to “grow up”, we’ve made plenty of mistakes, been hurt, hurt others in our immaturity and ignorance. In 28 years, we have also been blessed beyond our imaginations, have ministered to thousands of people and been able to share the Good News Gospel. There’s been times of abundance financially and times of little. Through it all we’ve kept moving forward with the vision and cause God gave us. We feel we’ve been true to our call and can honestly say we love pastoring and don’t even want to do anything else or go anywhere else. We don’t even think about retiring or slowing down. We pray daily and continue to grow in His grace and knowledge. We seek His wisdom for our direction and feel we lead in all He guides us to do. We are reachable, teachable and faithful.
In the Spring of 2020, the pandemic took a toll on most ministries since that is what the enemy designed it to do. We are blessed and thankful that we can still be here as many churches have had to close down. That is so heart breaking. We took a strong stand against the enemy that wanted to destroy families, churches, the lives of Believers and America. We continue to take that stand against the wiles of the enemy but with this stand comes attacks that means we have to continue standing firm in His truth and to be unshakeable. Many from this church family did not come back after the 2020 attack. Many were older and in fear. Many supported the church financially for a few months afterwards. We miss these people and continue to pray for them but are so thankful to God that wasn’t the end. The Lord has brought new people – unshakable people, strong people and we are building a new foundation. “The earth was rocked at the sound of his voice from the mountain, but now he has promised, “Once and for all I will not only shake the systems of the world, but also the unseen powers in the heavenly realm!” Now this phrase “once and for all” clearly indicates the final removal of things that are shaking, that is, the old order, so only what is unshakable will remain. Since we are receiving our rights to an unshakable kingdom we should be extremely thankful and offer God the purest worship that delights his heart as we lay down our lives in absolute surrender, filled with awe.” Hebrews 12:26-28
We feel so blessed that God is bringing us others that want to stand with us to bring Light and Love to this extremely dark world. We are also so grateful and humbled that many have not left but have stood strong, firm and faithful with us through it all! We will continue as the Body of Christ at Mtn High to listen and “So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.” Hebrews 12:1 TPT. To run this race on the path already marked out before us with passion and determination is our vision. Pastor Ed’s vision of people lined up and down 285 that want to come and receive what God has for them is real! As we go forward on the path marked out we will focus our attention and expectation on Jesus.
As we submit, pray and surrender this ministry to Him He directs us. As we have sought Him we feel He is directing us to make some changes. The first change we would like to do is have praise and worship in the beginning of the service. We made the changes for the Live Streaming audience but most people are watching it on social media when their time allows and those watching live will be about to adjust by a few minutes. ”Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage.” Ephesians 6:12 “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”” 2 Chronicles 20:21 We will start this on Sunday, November 20.
We are having a challenge with finances. It’s always hard to talk about this since it’s an area the enemy attacks immensely. Yet, we know we must let you know what is going on. We are a small church comparatively but great in our visions, faith, hope and love for others. The smaller in numbers makes it harder to meet all the increases in utilities and insurance. We are going to take a Building Offering on the first Sunday of the month. We have done that before and a couple years ago stopped because of the circumstances. This offering will be designated to building insurance, electric bills, natural gas bill, needed repairs, new security equipment and other physical building and property needs. He always supplies and bills have never been late. He continues to supply and this special offering is His direction. Winters are more expensive and the costs have increased. Our building insurance increased $150/month as of October. Our monthly insurance bill is now almost $1200. Church insurance is extremely expensive. Our 1st payment of the year is always double so the amount due right now is $2390. Our highest bills for the Natural Gas are usually December – May and run about $900/month which is predicted to increase. The electric for both buildings is about $600/month in winter. Our phone lines and internet service are pretty reasonable, costing about $450/month. These are the main maintenance bills for the church. These DO NOT include the church house. We have been blessed with guests at the house that give us enough for the utilities. Please pray the Lord continues to send guests. At the moment there are no scheduled guests for our church house but we are calling them in weekly😊. We thank all of you for what you give! Sometimes a weekly offering is less than the monthly insurance bill so continue to pray and believe!
We continue to give to different missions and the Lord has not directed us to change any of that at this time. We were trying to do a Mission Sunday each month so you would be able to know who we are giving to and get to know them a bit. Right now, I have no one to help with the putting together of the information the missionaries send me. It takes more knowledge than I have to take what they send and make it work on our equipment so it is a good presentation. All our media staff are very busy also. The Lord will provide the right person soon.
We also no longer have anyone contracted for snowplowing. Our wonderful snowplow man is no longer in the business. He did our church yard and parking lots as a gift. He’s a great young man and we were blessed with him for many years. We now need a new contractor so pray about that. Most of us do not have the equipment or time to do it each snow.
Now I want to thank everyone who help with so many things around here. I don’t have room for names today but thank you to those who keep this place spotless week after week. That is so important. Thank you for keeping our property looking so nicely groomed all summer. You did an amazing job. Thank you to all that helped us get Handicap accessible this year from bathroom adjustments, elevator, signage and asphalt ramp. Thank you Praise team for always leading us into amazing praise and worship. Thank you sound and media team for all you do! You have a challenging job. Thank you to our security team who always have their eyes and ears open and keeping us safe. Thank you to all who take time to teach classes, men’s group, ladies’ group. Thank you, prayer warriors! Our prayer team is absolutely so powerful. Thank you to those that help me with detail stuff, putting together constant contact, calling out people, loving Mom and helping me remember what is next. Our greeters and ushers are fantastic! Thank you all for being a part of the pantry ministry, helping on work days, serving at special events, and for making every time we come together special. Also, a huge thank you to all who ministered to the youth, young people and help with children’s ministry. This our America’s next leaders! I also want to thank our Elder team, Art and Chris, Joe and Robin, Josh and Aimee. These wonderful leaders have been with us from the beginning and stood through lots of trials, attacks and shaking. They are a gift to this ministry.
There are still lots of ministries that still need more attention and inch by inch we are getting things done. There is so much more we can do. The Children’s Ministry needs another teacher and a nursery worker when there are little ones. Our mission’s communication is not up to date. We want to have a weekend marriage conference, marriage and relationship classes, Leadership classes, and a Foundation class will be vitally important as new people come in. We are planning to start doing mission trips again in 2023 and Kenya is on the list for next fall. Our men’s conference is always a blessing and we need to have a Ladies Conference next spring. Next week we start our evangelism outreach and believe we will reach many people who are looking for a home church and those who are hurting and need a loving church family to encourage and pray for them. The vision is beyond what we can think or imagine. It’s all possible with Him. If you have thoughts or questions, be sure and talk to us. Let me close with this prayer from Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God who brought us peace by raising from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ so that he would be the Great Shepherd of his flock; and by the power of the blood of the eternal covenant may he work perfection into every part of you giving you all that you need to fulfill your destiny. And may he express through you all that is excellent and pleasing to him through your life-union with Jesus the Anointed One who is to receive all glory forever! Amen!”
