2009 in Review

Well, 2009 has come to a close and all I can say is WOW! The Lord has been so good to us and we are extremely grateful for the birth of Living Hope Church here in Marysville, Ohio.

Living Hope Church launched on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009. There were 244 people in attendance on that day…to God be the glory! Since then, our average weekly attendance has grown to over 175 on Sunday mornings with new faces every Sunday.

“Homes of Hope”, our new small group ministry, began in September and was a huge success. Overall, there were 9 small groups that met in Marysville and 3 other surrounding cities. Each “Home of Hope” has an outreach ministry project for which they are responsible. The new semester begins again in January and we are praying and anticipating God for mighty things as we strive to serve and share Christ on our street, in our city, and to the nations.

Living Hope Church just held another membership class and baptism service on December 13th. Eight more signed the covenant and joined the church, as well as six more being baptized! Thus far, we have baptized 26 individuals in 2009! Here are a few quick facts about the progress and growth…

• Average weekly attendance has doubled
• Average weekly tithes and offerings have doubled
• 104 members
• 26 baptized
• 5 new babies born with more on the way in 2010!

Your financial commitment to us is critical, as we are still 50% away from being financially self-supporting. Thank you so much for your faithful and sacrificial support, for without which much of this would not be possible.

Finally, I graduated with my Doctor of Ministry degree from The Billy Graham School of Missions & Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. The Lord is good and we are praying and asking God to keep His hand upon us in the days ahead!

Faithfully,
Dr. Jeremy Westbrook

Another Resource

Denny Burk, Dean of Boyce College in Louisville, KY has developed his own personalized plan for reading the Bible in a year. You can click here to download it...

Ready to Read the Bible in a Year?

Here is a helpful link if reading the Bible from cover-to-cover is a goal for you in 2010...just click here. It should be the goal of every believer in Christ!

Sunday and Snow

Well, the first Sunday after Christmas turned out to be an awesome time together as a church family! Two families came forward at the invitation desiring to join and ask more questions. However, there were a lot of our core church membership gone out of town traveling. As a matter of fact, there were 20 families gone...that is a lot of people! There were some visitors and I continued preaching from the book of 1 Corinthians. Today, we looked at Chapter 3 and verses 10-15. The Apostle Paul instructs and exhorts the church at Corinth to be careful how they build on the foundation, which is the Lord Jesus. Scripture teaches us that as believers', we will face a second judgment known as the "Bema" seat of Christ, where we will be rewarded for our good works. Dr. Adrian Rogers rightly said that good works are not the root of salvation, but they are the fruit of salvation. Either we are building with gold, silver, and precious stones or we are building with wood, hay, and stubble that will burn up on that day. May we live our lives from an eternal perspective and not waste it, for one day we will lay those crowns at the feet of Jesus, the only one who deserves anything!!

By the way, the snow continues to fall here in OHIO. A good reminder that our sins are now as white as snow thanks to the Lord Jesus...