Jim Folk's Blog

Last week two in our church family, John and Josh Simons, went on a missions trip to Paraguay with E3 Partners, an organization that specializes in evangelizing and planting new churches.

You can read updates about the missions trip on John's website: www.john-simons.com.

Also, attached is the prayer calendar so you can pray for John and Josh as they are on their trip.

To God be the Glory!

In church we often talk a great deal about forgiveness and God's grace- and for good reason! The only way to know God;s complete and total forgiveness is through God's Son, Jesus Christ and his work on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.

But what's the path to receiving forgiveness? We don't often talk about the practice of confession, which is vital to how we experience God's grace. It's one thing to know the doctrines of the atonement and justification--that God has declared sinners righteous by virtue of Christ's work--but it's quite another to walk down the path of shame, guilt, and utter anguish over having offended a holy and righteous God. Only when we are brought to despair can we see the light that Christ brings.

My wife and I recently celebrated one year with our new ministry here in Ocala. We’ve had a lot of changes over the past year: new job, new home, new baby. After reflecting on the past year, here are a few reasons why I’m glad to be part of Christ Community Church:

In the 1980 movie The Blue Brothers, Jake and Elwood Blues (played by John Belushi and Dan Akroyd), are released from prison and find out that the home they were raised in (run by Catholic nuns) is destined to close in 11 days unless $5,000 is raised to keep it open. The brothers decide to reunite their old blues band and play a few gigs to try and raise the money. What’s their sales pitch to their fellow band members?

“We’re on a mission from God.”