Dear Friends,
The phone rang at midnight this past Saturday night/Sunday morning and midnight calls are usually not good and this one wasn't good. I was informed that Mike and Brenda Sass had been in a motorcycle accident and had been taken to UPMC Hamot in Erie, where Mike was in pretty good shape, but Brenda was not good at all. This is when the church family kicks into action. As I'm on my way to the hospital I make several phone calls to get people praying and when I get to the hospital send a text to Ruth Steinheiser and some others. She has the need out on email at 1am for the night owls and for others as they awoke in the morning. Heaven is being bombarded with prayer. During the worship service on Sunday we had special prayer for Mike (released by this time) and Brenda, anointing another couple who were representing them. Again, heaven was bombarded with prayer. The church family further kicks into action with visits to Mike (and Brenda when possible). On Monday I was able to be with Mike, Brenda's dad, and Brenda when the medicine that was keeping her out was gradually decreased to see if she would wake up so that they could do a neurological assessment. Eventually, she awoke enough to prove that she could move around, squeeze both hands on direction, and biggest of all, know us and be able to mouth "I love you" to her husband and "Hi" to her father and myself. We were privileged to see a miracle in progress. Mike was being contacted by many people to check on him and Brenda, so we placed a page on the church website where people could find current updates. In less than 24 hours there have been 525 hits to the site! The church family is in action and God is receiving the glory!
This is just one example of the Albion Nazarene church family in action. When you are part of a family, you don't have to go through things alone! While any human family has its limitations in how it is able to come along side of someone who is in need of help, God, through His Holy Spirit, can come along side of us in His perfect way and with His perfect timing. I am glad that I am His and that I am part of His huge family!
Part of the family,
Pastor Wayne
Also from the Pastor: There is a way that you can help to support your church that will not cost you anything except a few minutes of your time! This is available to all of you who are online and can include your friends and family members who don't even attend your church! The organization is called igive and they have given $6,256,703.91 to charitable organizations. Right now there are 8 of us from the church who have joined and we have made $56.16 for the church since we started joining in February 2012. Here's what happens. You go to the link on their site for our church and you sign up. You allow them to put an icon on your web browser toolbar. Then, when you go online to make a purchase, you will be automatically informed what percentage of your purchase will go to your church. The church will receive $5 just from you joining and then $5 more after you make your first purchase through igive. You pay the same price for your online purchase and the stores make a donation through igive to your church. Hundreds of sites will donate to our church through shopping that you may already be doing. Purchases such as clothing, travel, hotels, and books are just a few of the ones that can count toward the donation to our church. Carol and I just stayed at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, VA for 5 nights and about 3% of our expense is being given to the church!
I encourage you to sign up and get your friends and family members to do the same. People can even show up on our list of supporters as "Anonymous" if they prefer. If you have any questions or need help, please let me know.
Click on the above iGive button or you can go directly to the igive site with this web address: http://www.iGive.com/albionnazarene .
