Fall At The Table!

Dec 1

Burrrr

Said Carson as we stepped out of the kitchen into the garage one morning, “Dad, I need my jacket and my gloves!” He said.

Arizona kids, you can’t take them anywhere! It’s finally begun to cool off in the desert and my kids make me very aware of the change in season as we go from shorts and shirts, to pants and jackets each morning. I am so thankful for the cooler weather and change of pace, or as I call it “cold water from the pipes season.” Over the past two months we have worked hard and kept so busy. I am thankful for the leadership of our church and the flexibility of our members as we tackled many events and moments spent in community together.

October

seemed to fly by, we were extremely busy with multiple different community events! First off, Pastor Christy and her team put together an extremely successful event for the New Scent Center in Kenya. After the countless hours of work put in before the event the day finally came. Of course there were some bumps in the path, but that didn’t stop the success from coming for the benefit of those wonderful girls in Africa. In the end, we raised just over $3,500 in donations that helped push the grand total of $170,000 donated to The New Scent Center on behalf of the Arizona Nazarene District.

We weren’t able to stop and breath yet, for in just two short weeks we then gathered together in a multi-church Trunk or Treat event. The Mesa Christian Academy, Fireside Church Mesa, and The Table Naz all joined on the Sunday before Halloween to host our third annual Trunk or Treat. Through a generous donation of 500 hotdogs and buns the community was fed, given candy, bibles, water, and joy! I was so wonderful to see everyone's faces and costumes as we worked together as one. The highlight of my night was watching this old loud truck pull into the parking lot. We told the guest that the parking was off to the side for the event. They responded that they weren’t there to receive, but to be a part of the trunks. They pulled into a spot, got the trunk all dressed up and joined our churches in passing out candy, it was such a cool way to see the community participate in the event.

With those two events in the month of October, why not throw in one more right? Earlier this summer as I was preaching through The Gospels, I was inspired to lead our church and district into unity by prayer and fasting. I worked hard with the help of our leadership to build what we called “OctoberFast” 31 days of intentional daily fasting and hourly prayer. We connected with churches from all over Arizona to come together and unite as one body of Christ, praying for unity within our hearts, churches, nation, and world. Over 45 people signed up and more participated from 10 churches across Arizona. It was a very humbling experience to focus our minds and hearts on Christ as we move into what 2025 will bring us, and new leadership in the Arizona District with Brad Estep becoming our new District Superintendent.

We continued

the fall with our guest speakers by having Lynnette Buck join us in October and Amy Palumbo in November. It has continued to feed my soul to share our platform and have the Word spoken to me. It is a great reminder that we all need to humble ourselves before Christ and let him use the gifts of all within the church! I am very thankful for every guest speaker we had these past six months. I am reminded of my own journey in ministry and how the success that I see now has come through the willingness of other leaders to give me the opportunity to lead and preach.

As we wrap up this fall, we step into Advent and the winter season longing and expecting the return of Jesus Christ. This will also bring an end to our year long sermon series “One Story, One year” as we have read through scripture from Genesis to Revelation. I am anticipating some great discussion this month as we open an incredibly interesting book full of mystery and excitement. I am truly thankful for Pastor Ryan, Pastor Christy, and each of our guest speakers who have led us through this journey of The Bible. I also am anticipating the coming of the new year as we step into some fantastic sermon series that will continue to challenge our hearts and minds to become apprentices of Christ.

Thank you

for your love and support this year, I look forward to the many years of continued success as we follow the will of God here at The Table. If you want to support our mission and vision, we humbly ask that you consider making a one time or recurring donation online this coming year so that we can continue to positively impact the community of East Mesa.

https://thetablenaz.church/give

Miss any of our sermons this month? You can check them out on our podcast!

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-table-naz