New Year Blessings and Reminders

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year. One in which we are able to see the Lord grow in each of our lives as well as in the mission of our Covenant Family. We have had another great year here at Covenant and know the Lord will continue to Bless us.

Men
Normally we meet on the first Thursday of each month, but since tomorrow we still have Holiday mentality and Byron and I will be running the roads trying to catch up, we will not have Bull Session until February 7th. The Fiscall cliff has been avoided until then anyway, so we would have no problems to solve.

Sunday
I will begin a month long Sermon series on World Religions. Come with a willingness to learn and how we might be better able to share Jesus with our world. Also, while we will not have holy communion since we did last week, you could still bring your ICAN food offering for the UCO Food Pantry.

New Year - A New You
Here at Covenant we want to help you get
Physically Fit - Zumba on Monday evenings 5:30pm.
Spiritually Fit - Sunday School and Worship weekly plus, starting a new Wednesday Night Study on GRACE.

All the best to you and your family,

The New Year

Christmas Season is a time when many gifts given in great sincerity will be exchanged, returned, or forgotten. I’m always amazed how many items get to Goodwill with the tags still on. Nothing sadder to know the gift you gave was not utilized. Now I’m all in favor of allowing the recipient the opportunity to exchange for right style, color or size - my gift giving improved hundred fold when gift cards were developed. Yet I’ve heard there are billions of dollars of unused cards lost or set on a shelf.

When God saw the need in humanity, God picked out the best gift; by giving Himself and His Love and Mercy and Forgiveness all wrapped up as a person. A God person, but a one in human form no less. By Jesus’ birth and resurrection, we are all offered gift of Kingdom Living Today and Forever. How sad God must be to know that not all have received His gift.

When God saw the need for His continued presence and encouragement and direction and power to have our lives transformed into what God needs us be, He gifted Himself one more time in the person of the Holy Spirit. How sad God must be to know not all have received His gift. And then we are left to wonder why our lives seem so forlorn, lost, and we are less than we had hoped and for sure less than what God would desire.

This Christmas look around - have you asked for and received all the gifts the Lord has for you? We can find so many of God’s gifts within our church family. We have such a giving and talented group of people here at Covenant. You are such a gift to me and to each other and to this community. May this year be filled with such amazing experiences, once we allow God’s gifts of His Son, His Spirit and His Family to change us all for this lifetime and beyond.

Hope to see you each and every week in worship.

Youth Report

Hello from the Youth Group! We hope that the Church Newsletter finds you well and that your holidays were filled with love and cheer!

The Youth of our great church have been busy bees lately. In December we’ve done quite a few things that need mention. To begin with, on December 2, we all gathered at Build-A-Bear in the Mall of Acadiana to continue our tradition of making bears for the Lafayette Police Department. The police department take these bears and use them for when they go to homes that have called in domestic abuse with children involved. The kids were able to make 12 bears to give them. They made them with love and tinder care and at the very end, they held their bears close and said a prayer for the child that might receive their bear. They also were able to donate seven bears to Toys For Tots. On the way out of the mall they handed them to the marines standing guard over the toys. After that great adventure we went to Target and purchased gifts for Angel Tree and came back to the church and wrapped them. All this in one day!

The next thing we had in December for the youth was a joint Christmas party with Faith Community of Broussard. We got to fellowship with kids from a different church who might have been different from them at first but after playing fun-filled Christmas games we found out that they weren’t different at all.

Just a few days later on a Wednesday night after supper, the youth put on a Christmas play we have been planning and working on since August. Saying that it was a great hit and glad to say that they all did an excellent job—that was quite evident!

After Christmas we came back together and had youth as planned, but the Monday after that which so happened to be the 31st of December, we had a lock in. From 8pm to 8am, 12 straight hours of fun-filled activities that were Monsters Inc. themed. There were movies, games, and candy-shaped sushi. The kids had a blast bonding and playing games by a bonfire.

And that was just December! . In January we are taking it easy and will be learning about God in our studies. We hope that you all have a great first month of the year!

Angelica DeForest

The Land of Opportunity - 2012

January 2012 is unseen territory and provides opportunities; or at least that is the way I am approaching our future. Instead of anticipating more of the same, and while I struggle with being a realistic pessimist: I am choosing a new attitude for 2012. It is and shall be a blank slate on which the Lord and we can do great things.

We have finally gotten the plans completed and are now securing bids for the phase one of our capital improvements; the construction of our multi-purpose building and office complex. By mid January, we should know what it will cost and then we will vote on the construction and financing. During December and January, we will have the opportunities to hear about our capital campaign, as we seek second-mile giving and pledges toward the expansion. We will also be developing plans for the renovation of our current Sanctuary soon after the construction of a new building. We will also have the opportunity to establish an endowment program for the future maintenance and preservation of our facilities. Look forward to learning how we will grow and expand our facilities with your help during 2012.

In January, we will be birthing additional opportunities for study. During Wednesday night, Ardie Sudduth and I will team-teach a section on Death, Dying, and Issues with Aging. Then in February, I will teach several weeks on “Faith Sharing”, helping us all learn how we can share our Christian beliefs as Jesus asked us to. On Sunday mornings, Les Stratton will begin another Adult Class, and we are hoping some of our younger married couples will gather for study and fellowship. If you are not attending any of our small groups to grow in the knowledge of God's Word, commit to doing so in 2012.

There will be opportunities as we find new and exciting ministries to our community. We have several ways to GET FIT, and will be looking for other opportunities to not only learn about taking care of our Bodies and Souls, but other ways to exercise and take better care of these bodies as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We have partnered with Lourdes Community Health Foundation to provide material, seminars, and health screening during 2012.

Staffing for the continued ministries in youth and children will provide us other opportunities. With the sudden death of Gretchen Cheshire, we have asked Sherry Hester and Becca Wharton to assume that leadership with our youth, and they are doing great job. We also have experienced the resignation of Kim Goodman from our Children's Ministries, so we will soon be examining our needs and making plans for our future growth. There are opportunities for many more to be involved in these ministries during 2012.

New for 2012, I am being lead to spend a little time in evaluating our church ministry, and will be issuing my own “State of the Union of Covenant Church” letter by the end of January. I believe that as the senior pastor, I need to catch a new vision for where the Lord may be leading this wonderful congregation in 2012 and beyond, and then I can identify how best as your pastor to help. My prayer is that it will be the start of new conversations and new dreams. So here we are, looking towards the new year, and I just can't wait to see what the Lord will do in us, with us, and through us. Pray that we be in tune with Jesus.   

See You at your place of worship,

New Year Events

"O God, Our help in ages past, our hope for years to come." I can't say it any better than Isaac Watts, but here we stand ready to jump into a Brand New Year with Brand New Opportunities, knowing that the Lord has seen us through, and will walk with us through the future.

Get Fit for 2012
While this week between Christmas and New Years is kind of slow, still be thinking ahead.

This Thursday Evening our Zumba class will be meeting and once again on Monday January 2. What a way to end the year and start a new one, but being committed to getting active.

Weight Wise and Pilates will resume next week as well.

Start 2012 with the Lord in His Worship
This Coming Sunday,  January 1, 2012, we are back on our regular schedule with the First Worship Services of the year. We will participate in a time of Renewing Our Covenant with the LORD and with His Church. In my message we will look back at the history of Covenant, as we prepare to look forward to our building program. There is so much good news to report over the next few weeks.

Start 2012 with Study
Wednesday January 4th, our Wednesday Night Dinners will resume along with our Academy.
Class #1 - Financial Peace University, a 13 week class helping set priorities in your stewardship of God's resources, if you have not yet registered online, call the church office and Rev. Byron to get the information needed.
Class #2 - Dr. Ardith Sudduth and I will teach during January sessions on death, dying, aging issues, etc. Each week stands alone, but come hear about our spiritual understanding of the circle of life.

Starting 2012 by Serving  
Finally, but certainly not least, beginning in the New Year, Melissa Bowen will be helping me with our Children's Ministry. The Lord has convicted her of our need for serving as the Director of Children's Ministries for our church. She brings to this position, a love of the Lord, a love of the church, and her many gifts for planning, organizing, and serving. She has agreed to do this for a while, giving us the opportunity to take our time in seeking someone else.

The Children's Ministry is looking for a few good men, and women!  If you feel a calling to work with the future of Church of the Covenant, please contact Melissa Bowen to discover the ways you can make a Christian difference.  Melis811@aol.com or 254.1505.  Thank you!

Sincerely,

---

"O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
be thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home."  
O Lord, we know this has been a year that challenged many of us in many ways, with pain, doubt, anguish, and loss, but we have held on just because at times, that is the only thing we could do. So Lord, we pray for new life, new beginnings, healing for our pains, strength to go forward, as we pray in this new year, we may move from fear into hope as we eagerly await to discover the many blessings, both great and small that lie ahead of us. Amen!

Cabbage, Black Eyes, and I CAN

Another New Year is given to us by our Lord. We celebrated with my son's family and since they have young children and old parents our new years celebration was over by 8:30, so I could watch a little football before falling asleep, knowing that each day with the Lord is special, so all we have to do now is to learn to write 2011. I look forward to all the Lord is going to do with us and through us in this coming year. Maybe, just maybe we can see a new building going up!

Know you are knee deep in preparation of cabbage and black eye peas, and consuming lots of football as well. One is for health, one is for wealth, and one is for America's greatest past-time. Only another month or so, until we hopefully are settled in watching the Saints play for the National Championship again.

But tomorrow, Sunday, January 2, 2011 will be our first worship service in the new year. We will hear the story of the Magi, hear about The Road Less Traveled, and don't forget as we gather for Holy Communion, we will gather our offering for the UCO food pantry with our I CAN FOOD OFFERING.

Happy New Year from you Pastor.

Sincerely,
Chris Blanchard

From the Pastor - December 23, 2010

A New Year

It is the week of Christmas. That also means planning two Christmas Eve services, two worship services on the day after Christmas, making certain our pre-school rooms get painted, floored, and stocked for our two new classes to begin on January 3rd, as well as think about my shopping for Susie on Christmas Eve (you do know I procrastinate). To make matters worse, I had to go to my doctor this morning for routine checkup, in the midst of too much Christmas Party food and a slowing down of my walking routine. Sssshhhhhhooooo! This is a sigh, if you can’t recognize it, but while there may a few down days for us all, just after Christmas, it won’t last long, because a New Year comes just around the corner.

With the New Year, we will see our mother’s day out and preschool program grown by two new classes, and maybe more to come. My thanks to Kim Havard for helping this much needed growth to happen, as we are committed to helping more families provide the best basic pre-school program possible. With this change, our administrative offices have been relocated to a wonderful temporary trailer. Come by and see just how nice it is.

With the New Year, we will see our Building Committee begin to work double and triple time, as we take the next step towards our future. The Charge Conference gave us unanimous approval to get detailed plans and bids for our consideration. I hope you all take a look at our preliminary plans, offer us any advice for our consideration as we work toward final plans. The Conference also approved working toward having a Capital Fund Campaign. We are so blessed to have considerable funds toward this project, but will need much more. You will hear from us as we strive to raise as much money possible to avoid much long term debt. If you are interested in talking with me or Mike DeHart about your helping by giving a gift, we will be more then eager to accommodate that conversation.

With the New Year, we look forward to an ever growing congregation and worship services. Our goal was to reach an average of 350 attendances each week. It appears as if our average will be around 335, but next year, why not 375 average? This is more then reachable when we commit our own attendance as often as possible, but also to call and invite family and friends that you know could benefit from a church family like Covenant. It’s a New Year.

With the New Year, our new leadership team will help us make certain we are actively living out our mission for Jesus Christ. Jesus great commission was: to go and make disciples for Jesus Christ. We will always provide a place for people to MEET JESUS, to hear the MESSAGE OF JESUS, and be encouraged to provide the MISSION OF JESUS. 2010 has been a super year in the life of Covenant, but I can’t wait to see all the Lord will do in us and through us in 2011. Fasten your seat belts and hang on! HAVE A BLESSED NEW YEAR IN 2011!

See you each and every week in worship.
Rev. Chris Blanchard