A small but important change sitting in front of you...

   The best research shows what every parent already knows - children move through phases every year of their young lives as they grow and change physically and emotionally, and in intelligence and personality. Whatever is happening with a child - be it good or bad - is Just a Phase!
   We are committed to being a place where children are able to thrive in every phase. With that in mind, Bonaire Church is returning to a tradition of having children in worship with us. This means that in the beginning of each Sunday service, your child will worship right alongside you! We want the younger members of our church to feel comfortable and welcome in the big worship environment as they grow up – especially for children who will be aging out of Children’s Church within the next couple of years.
   Our families with small children have already received this news in a couple of different pieces of communications over the summer, so I am writing to the rest of the church. Starting August 6th, children will attend the beginning of the service with their parents to sing, pray and participate before being dismissed to spend the remainder of the service in Children’s Church. Families have options; preschoolers thru first graders will have the option to be checked into the nursery before the service and then join the older kids halfway through the hour.

   We are sure of these things when it comes to our ministry with Families:

• No one has more potential to influence a child’s relationship with God than a parent.
• No one has more potential to influence the parent than the church.

   This change coming August 6 is another way we are continuing to live into these truths. Grace and peace, Scott

Forget the devil, God is in the details

   The popular saying is that "The devil is in the details." I imagine it was first said when someone had gone searching for an error and finally found it hidden in something small. Anyone who has every worked on a car, assembled toys late on Christmas Eve, tried to copy their grandmother's recipe, learned a musical instrument, or any number of other examples can relate.

   God is really into details.Think about it: God created DNA and fingerprints, butterflies and beautiful clouds, every grain of sand and every star in the sky. No two of any of them are the same. Luke 12:7 says, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.How did God do it? Of course, God is into details.

   Allow me to take a detour; I read this week that Georgia Tech Basketball's coach, Josh Pastner, hired a friend of a friend to come spend three days in Atlanta this month teaching his coaching staff everything you could possibly know about making a lay-up. Some folks have made fun of him, but he believes that teaching his players to make even 1 or 2 more lay-ups they could win a lot more games. But, everyone who has ever played basketball knows that the lay-up is the first thing a kid learns when they pick up a ball. So, why have to relearn it? Because, when you have to execute it surrounded by the other team every detail of how you jump, turn, focus, and even apply finger strength matters. The details matter.

   Do we bring the same attention to details about the most important stuff of our lives? We know how to use a TV remote, and log onto Facebook? What about praying daily? What about reading the Bible with our families? What about saying I'm sorry? God is into the details.

   Grace and peace, Scott

From Scripture to Song to a Spirit-led Church

   It is probably silly, I know, but one of the many cherished things that my Grandfather passed down to me is a collection of poems and clippings that he typed out from notes of his own past sermons. I look through them from time to time and this week came across one that caught my eye. Of course, it is not a poem but a beloved song. My Grandfather even wrote in the name of the composer, Peter Scholtes. This is the clipping...

   I love this. I love that he loved it. Indeed, John 13:35 said it perfectly, "This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other." I believe this is what the church is about: one in the Spirit, walking hand in hand, working with each other, with all praise to the Father. 
   I love serving a church that puts all of this on display, so regularly. This has been our history, this is certainly our present, and I am so excited about our future.
   Grace and peace, Scott