I have a dream! In about a month we will be moving into our new church building – our new training and equipping center. What are your hopes and dreams for this new place we will soon call home? What are God’s hopes and dreams for what we might call “the house of God”? I’d like to share with you this month some of the hopes and dreams that I have for 2400 Bloomington Rd.

I hope and pray that people will come to know Jesus in our new church. Jesus loves every single person, He died for every single person, and He desires a personal relationship with every person. People can look in all sorts of places for answers, but they will only find ultimate answers to the deepest questions of life in the One who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus said that as He was lifted up He would draw men, women and children to Himself. May we lift up Jesus so that others will be drawn to Him.

At our new church, I hope and pray that people will grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As people study God’s Word, as they hear His Word preached, as they are convicted of sin by the preaching of the law and comforted by grace through the preaching of the Gospel, and as they receive God’s gifts to them in the sacraments, I pray that people grow in God’s grace. “Speak the truth in love” the Bible says. “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free,” Jesus says. May God’s truth transform our lives, that by the power of the Holy Spirit at work within, we would be more and more like Christ.

Wounded healers. One author described God’s people as “wounded healers.” Although we have issues, as God continues to be at work in us may we care for one another with the love of Christ. The Lutheran Confessions say that one of the ways that God comes to us is through the “mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren.” That’s an eloquent way of saying that one of the ways we experience God’s love is through the care we receive from our church family. I pray that we will have opportunity to both give and receive the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.

Serving a world in need. There are ample opportunities for us to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. My hope is that we will participate and support mission efforts around the world. I pray that we will find ways to serve others within our community and within our region. Please pray that God will help us to recognize the doors of service He is opening for us and pray that we will have the zeal and the will to walk through them and be Christ to our neighbor.

Ascension family, the move to our new site is so very near. With it will bring new opportunities and new responsibilities. May we be faithful stewards with all that God has entrusted to us. May we be a church that worships God, cares for one another, and serves a world in need. May we hear those beautiful words when we reach heaven’s gate, “Well done good and faithful servants.”

Press on in the Lord!

Pastor Twito