Spring is still a week away, but I'm already starting to get busy with church activities. A few weeks ago, my home congregation announced a challenge for everybody to speak to two people this year about the gospel. I know many people struggle with such an assignment, so I presented a witnessing opportunity to help.
In May, if I have caregivers, I'm scheduled to help train and lead evangelists at our local tulip festival. I did the same last year, and it is a great opportunity to learn about sharing the gospel. I let everyone know about the outreach group and how to volunteer. Since I was already scheduled to speak, I also read the day's Scripture for the sermon.
Next week, I am scheduled to give my first sermon of the year. A congregation I have not visited before asked if I was available and I agreed to help. When I spoke with the church elder on March 1, I thought the 20th seemed like a long time ahead. However, I normally take a month or more to prepare a message and realized I needed to have everything planned by tomorrow at the latest.
Therefore, I will be using a sermon I give to a few congregations in 2018. The nice part about going to different groups is being able to recycle messages. Getting familiar with how a particular church functions takes time to learn and it is somewhat relaxing to not have to also start with an unfamiliar sermon.
Just one day after getting scheduled for next week's service, I was asked by another church to preach in May. Therefore, I'm already planning to help two congregations this year and I'm technically not even done with my winter hibernation. I don't know if I'll beat my record of 11 sermons preached in 2021, but it's a good start. Whatever God has planned for me, I look forward to serving as He allows.
It has been an eventful winter break in the quad life with caregiver shortages, but I pray that will now pass as the busy season begins again.
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