Recounting God’s Blessing This Year

God inhabits the praises of His people and we want to praise Him for what He has done through His people in 2008:

• 245 people made decisions for Christ.
• 187 people have been baptized. In just the last two weeks, 20 people have been baptized.
• Our Pack-a-Sack ministry volunteers have delivered 14,530 snacks to hospital waiting rooms.
• The Giving Tree ministry provided presents for over 400 children whose parents were struggling financially this year.
• An average of 325 children, ages birth through Pre-K, are in Creation Station each weekend.
• An average of 330 children, ages Kindergarten through 5th grade, attend our Real Kids worship services each week.
• 82 children accepted Christ as their Savior during Vacation Bible School. 43 children have been baptized.
• 116 middle school students accepted Christ in 2008.
• Attendance at Big Stuf Summer Camp for high school and middle school students tripled this year.
• 256 children participated in Upward Basketball and Cheerleading. This includes 187 basketball players and 69 cheerleaders.
• 356 people called in to say that they accepted Christ because of our television ministry.
• 700 “New Life in Christ” booklets were mailed around the world because of the television ministry.
• 8,229 complimentary CD’s of Pastor’s weekly messages were mailed to deployed soldiers in the last two years.
• The Georgia Department of Labor, the Columbus Employer Committee, and Cascade Hills have joined together for “Evening with Santa,” a special event that brings Christmas to area foster children. 250 children received a gift and a meal, heard the Christmas story, played on our playground, and spent time with Santa.
• Cascade Hills Church ranked 33rd in the list of the top 100 fastest-growing churches in America by Outreach magazine.
• 300 people participated in the Twilight 5K Run for Autism and raised $5,300 for the Muscogee County Autism Support Group.

To God be the glory!

Cascade Hills Salutes the Military

This weekend (November 22 & 23) is Military Appreciation at Cascade Hills Church. Please invite anyone who is a member of the military to either Saturday’s service at 6pm or one of Sunday’s services at 9:30 or 11am. We want to honor them for their service to our community and our nation and give them a small token of our appreciation to take home with them.

Cascade Hills Honors the Medical Community

This weekend (November 15 & 16) is Health Care Appreciation at
Cascade Hills Church. Please invite every person you know in the medical field to either Saturday’s service at
6pm or one of Sunday’s services at 9:30 or 11am. We want to
honor them for their contribution to our community and give them a
small token of our appreciation to take home with them.

Help Us Thank Those Who Keep Us Safe

This weekend (November 8 & 9) is Public Service Appreciation at Cascade Hills Church and we need your help. Please invite every firefighter and police officer you know to Saturday’s service at 6pm or one of Sunday’s services at either 9:30 or 11am. We want to honor them for their contribution to our community and give them a small token of our appreciation to take home with them.

Help Us Thank Our Educators

This weekend (November 1 & 2) is Education Appreciation at Cascade Hills Church and we need your help. Please invite every educator you know to Saturday’s service at 6pm or one of Sunday’s services at either 9:30 or 11am. We want to honor teachers for their contribution to our community and give them a small token of our appreciation to take home with them.

“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.”—Anonymous

“Must See” Video

Because of the large number of “church plants” in the Columbus area, it’s important to distinguish between those with ethics and those without them. Check out this video by Ed Young, Jr on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHc5aFx64Mo.

Pastor’s Leadership Teaching at Northstar Church, Kennesaw, GA

Be sure to check out the August 6, 2008 blog at www.growthstarts.org that discusses Pastor’s recent teaching at Northstar Church in Kennesaw, Georgia. This is one of the fastest growing churches in the Southern Baptist Convention and it’s making a big impact under the leadership of Pastor Mike Lynch.

A Challenge to Change

This past weekend, June 21 & 22, 2008, Pastor Bill Purvis gave another great message! This one was titled “The Grace to Change.” In this message, he reminded us that God wants to give us the Grace to Change but the willingness to do so has to come from us. In order to GROW we have to be willing to CHANGE and in order to change we have to be willing to LEARN. I was also reviewing one of Pastor Bill’s Leadership Lessons that I have on CD. Again, Pastor Bill expresses the need for us to learn, change & grow in order to make progress in life.

Do you want your family life to improve, have a closer relationship with your spouse, have a better career, be a stronger leader, and be a greater influence? Then you are the one who has to change. Nothing in your life will change or improve until you are willing to do so. Like Pastor Bill says, just start with small steps. Get a book and read a paragraph a day. Buy a CD and listen to it while you are in your car. Do this on any subject area where you want to make changes. Soon you will find that you want to learn more and grow more each day.

We should never stop learning, changing and growing. In order to be a better wife, mother, leader and friend, I am making it my goal to learn something new everyday. How about you? What are you willing to do to make the changes in your life? God wants to give you the Grace to make the Change, but we have to be the ones who want it & go after it!

Becky McChesney, Preschool Director

Word of Thanks for the Pack-A-Sack Ministry

The Pack-A-Sack ministry is made up of Cascade Hills volunteers who daily take snacks to the waiting rooms of hospitals around our community. The Real Care staff oversees this ministry. They recently received the following letter:

To Patty, Les, and all the teams at Cascade Hills who minister to the John B. Amos Cancer Center patients,

God bless you and many thanks for serving us weekly with crackers, juice, and a treat. Your ministry is a wonderful blessing to us and to our caregivers, and is very much appreciated.

Love in Jesus,

Mary Ellen Canada (chemo patient)

Sharing Your Faith is “The Way of the Master”

I just wanted to give a special thanks to Chris Vest and Doug Coppick who teach “The Way of the Master” class at Cascade Hills Church. This class has encouraged and given me the tools to be effective in sharing my faith. In the past 7 days, I have used the witnessing techniques taught in their class to share my faith with exactly 7 people. I wasn’t sure if any of them actually accepted the Lord as their personal Savior, until I received a phone call this morning.

This past Saturday, Chris Vest and I decided to visit downtown Columbus to try out some of our witnessing skills with some of the people outside the clubs. As we were walking along, I heard a guy yelling and saw that he was looking right at me. I just ignored him thinking he was some drunken guy who thought he knew me, until I took a few more steps and realized that I knew him. I didn’t recognize him because it had been about 8 years since the last time I had seen him, and his appearance had changed a bit. Chris and I walked over to him, greeted him and his buddy, and I noticed he was now in a wheelchair. Now, I know maybe you are not supposed to ask, but I can’t help it. I just had to know what happened to this guy. He then explained that he had been shot in the back during a robbery. This story seemed all too familiar, since I had just witnessed to a guy named Jonathan Sparks at the hospital with a very similar story. Anyway, as we were catching up talking about old times, I shared with him the greatest story of my life, which is when I dedicated my life to Christ. At this point, he looked as if he didn’t recognize me. You know it is funny how bringing up the name of our Lord Jesus Christ can really turn the conversation around.

Well, after he paid for his drinks, I began to use the tools I learned in the class to try and plant some seeds. He seemed very responsive and I could see the Spirit doing a work in him. After some deep conversation, I did ask him if he wanted to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He declined, but said he would give it some thought and thanked me for talking with him about the Lord. Upon leaving I had asked to pray with him right there on the side walk. He said, “Ok” and I prayed that his heart would be open to receiving our Lord and that God would do a mighty work in him. We left, and I thanked God for allowing Chris and I to be a part of His great work.

On June 2, 2008, I received a phone call from this gentleman thanking me again for our conversation and he shared that he had a one-on-one conversation with the Lord. He also told me he received Jesus as His Lord and Savior. This is just a small example of how God works and when we’re obedient what He can do.

Thank you again Chris and Doug for equipping me to live out my calling.

Jason Spaeder