Dan Cooper's Blog

It is good to discover when you’ve made a mistake, so you can take corrective action.  In my column last week I listed the ten baptisms we’ve had this year at the Pitman Church of Christ.  But I missed one.  Troy Brier came to me on Sunday morning with his daughter, Brittany, and said, “What about her?”  I responded, “Come with me.”  We went back to my office and examined my book of baptismal certificates, and we discovered that she had never been issued a baptismal certificate.  Brittany was immersed into Christ on May 3rd.  Praise God.  Sorry about the oversight, Brittany.

Add $6,000 More…or Make That $12,000 More!
This past Sunday we completed the $1 for $1 matching gift offer for $20,000.  Perfect timing!  Thanks to all for your on-going support of our Reaching Out in Faith stewardship campaign.  And it gets even better!  On Sunday, another new family stepped up with yet another matching gift offer.  During the month of September this new family unit will match all of the “new money” donations to the expansion effort, dollar for dollar, up to $6,000. Every $1 you give, up to $6000, turns into $2 for now. 

I am praising God for generous Christians,
Dan

I have never been a big basketball fan.  I was just plain to short, and too slow; so I never excelled in basketball.  But I love watching the fast-paced action, especially a full-court press.  Nothing is more exciting than a well designed full-court press.

Right now our church is pressing on!  Last fall we did “pause” in our Expansion effort.  We did not stop, we just paused.  Since our pause, both interest rates and building costs have dropped significantly.  We also reduced the total square footage of our new building to 28,000 feet. All of that happened as the financial support for our new building continued to come in on a steady basis. There were two $1 for $1 matching gift offers, both of which are being fully taken advantage of.  We are pressing on! We are, as the Hebrew writer urged, “running with endurance the race that is set before us” (12:1).

The next step is our ground-breaking ceremony on Sunday, August 30th at 2:00 PM, immediately after our picnic in the park.  Meet at 500 Pitman Road for the celebration.  We are pressing on.

Exciting days,
Dan

At the Pitman church, on the Sunday morning of Aaron and Tim’s week of camp I mentioned that we now had some idea of how Pharaoh felt when Israel exited Egypt.  It felt pretty empty, didn’t it?  So how many of us were gone?  Sherri Herndon says, “By my count we had 44 Staff and Junior Staff at Jr. High 1 week and 11 campers.” We gave a lot.

But it was worth it—16 baptisms!  There were 13 baptisms during the camp week.  Since then, we know of an additional 3 baptisms.  Three of those baptisms are our own kids, Jenna DeStefano was baptized on Thursday night of camp, Alissa Tiszkus was baptized on Sunday morning here, and Brandon Holmes was baptized on Wednesday night here.  I am rejoicing with these “born again” teens, their parents, and the angels in heaven.

And we’re still not done for the summer! Starting next week, Manny Vander Vennen is directing Elementary 1.  Again, a crew of our servant-hearted members will be there making a difference.  Our Sunday attendance will drop a bit, but we are making a huge difference in kid’s lives at Camp!  It’s worth the sacrifice.

-Dan

That has been the prayer request on the bottom of page two inside our bulletin for many months.  But look inside on page two of this bulletin.  It now reads…
“Pray for our utility hook ups. Ask God to direct the sale of our building.”

We’re making progress.  Our Reaching out in Faith journey has been covered by prayer since DAY 1!  The progress continues and the prayers continue.  It has been amazing to witness what God is doing, in His time and not in our time!  Yes, as predicted, there have been bumps, detours and surprises; but God continues to direct us.  And we’re trusting His timing, even when we don’t fully understand it.

Our most recent milestone is that we have a date for our Ground-Breaking Ceremony!  We will gather together at our new property on Sunday, August 30th after our fifth Sunday picnic at Alcyon Park.  After the picnic, we will drive to the new property and celebrate. God is faithful.  Keep on praying and He’ll keep on answering.  – Dan