Pastor’s Epistle October 31, 2024

“A true follower of Jesus never becomes accustomed to the sound of footsteps headed for hell.”
Sunday we will participate in the means of grace called Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. In your enthusiasm to be present for worship don’t forget that Sunday is also the day we have the time change. So Saturday night, be sure to move your clocks back and hour.
Our staff and Finance Team have been working on the 2025 budget. We have taken several steps to reduce projected expenses. The largest is the reduction of pastoral compensation by 25%. Just last week we received a quote from a new insurance administrator that appears to save about $10,000 / year on our building and liability insurance. Fortunately, energy costs look to also be down some due to less cost per unit and reduced consumption with the closing of Kidz First. These and other measures give us some hope of our expected revenue to be greater than our expenses. Praise the Lord! I hope to provide a setting where you can review the proposed budget and ask questions or make comments. Leadership is set to finalize the budget December 10.
Our Nominations Committee is meeting this afternoon. Therefore, be prayerfully prepared should they call inviting you to participate at some leadership or team level. Since the pandemic, it has been increasingly difficult to recruit leadership. We need to be a body in which every member is engaged. The leadership team
Several of us attended a meeting at Rob Montoya’s office last Thursday evening. The focus was to inform us about legislation that has passed and the need for Christians to work together to move our state toward a more biblically aligned entity. Facts shared with us were troubling. Did you know that in New Mexico there is NO point in gestation that a child cannot be legally aborted? Ironically, that’s in a state whose population is mostly Catholic! Also, children can seek out abortion and gender transitioning services without their parent or guardian’s consent. An abortion clinic has been built in Las Cruces with state funding to provide abortion services to nearby Texas residents. This was also seen as an opportunity to have a revenue center there.
Do we see it? Do we see that all this and more is a war on children? They are the target with these perverted legislative measures. Further, it has certainly been made clear that in a country whose education infrastructure has become agenda driven and abhorrent at developing our young for productive life, New Mexico has been graded last. What we’re being “unburdened” of is the ability to think critically, personal responsibility, or know and enjoy true liberty.
I will not cross the line of telling you who to vote for. But I ask you to consider these issues as you prepare to vote. Regardless, since we are called to pray for those in government, let us pray that their hearts and minds would be aligned with that of Christ’s. If they are, then the agenda will change, the outcomes will change, and our country may well move from dissolution to united community.
Jesus said, “Render to Caesar what is Caeser’s.” But our children and grandchildren are not Caesar’s! They are ours! Let’s Love,Follow, and Serve Jesus!
Pastor Brian