Hello Church!
We have just found out that there has been some major complications with the Daraja Children’s Choir getting through immigration. Due to these complications, they will not be here on Sunday to perform at Emmaus. We are asking the church to please be praying for the children and the choir leaders as they are trying to get some final paperwork together in the next few days. We are asking the Lord gets everything together and they get through immigration and here in the US with no further issues. Please join us in lifting Daraja up in prayer! You can find more information about this and stay connected with Daraja by viewing their blog.
I am still excited for Sunday and hope you are too! Mother’s Day gives us an opportunity to honor all of the mothers in our church, and I hope you join us on Sunday to celebrate all the moms out there. We will have a special sermon devoted to mothers, and we will be honoring all of them in a very special way. Make sure you don’t miss this weekend!
Thank you so much for praying with us, and I look forward to worshipping with you all on Sunday!
Hello Emmaus!
I hope you had an amazing weekend despite the rain! I wanted to send out a quick reminder about how incredible this upcoming Sunday is going to be. Not only is it Mother’s Day, which is a wonderful time in and of itself to honor how awesome our Mom’s are, but the Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa is also going to be here! You do not want to miss this Sunday! Invite your family, friends, and neighbors to join you at Emmaus this Sunday.
The choir will start their program at 9:30am, and trust me you will not want to miss a minute of their performance. Now, I know that the walk from the parking lot, through the food court, up the escalators, and into the theater is roughly a mile and half. And I know you probably want to stop and look at all the upcoming movie posters in the Regal lobby as you walk in. Then you have to get your coffee, and it takes a few minutes to recreate your favorite Starbucks drink at our coffee bar. So with all of that, it might be a good idea to get here a little early this Sunday so you can make sure you’re in the theater right at 9:30 to see all of Daraja’s performance. I’m mostly kidding, but I really don’t want you to miss seeing any part of the choir’s program.
We will have our normal Kids Ministry that morning for those of you with kids. However, we will do something a little different with any child in Kindergarden-5th grade. You are welcome to bring them into service with you so they can see the Daraja choir, or we will have one theater available for all K-5th graders.
I hope you have a great rest of the week, and I hope to see you all this Sunday!!
In Christ,
Pastor Travis
Greetings Emmaus Church!
As most of you know by now, this Sunday we will be ending our 5 month journey through the powerful New Testament book of 1st Timothy. Throughout this series the Lord has been molding and transforming us into the church He wants us to be for the long haul. While I am somewhat saddened that our journey through this incredible book of the Bible is coming to an end this Sunday, I am also extremely excited about where Jesus is leading us next. Honestly I can’t wait!!
Please be sure to be in attendance at Emmaus this Sunday morning as we announce to you what our summer series will be. I am thrilled about where the Lord is leading us! Here’s a hint…. think “Blessed are those who….”
In addition to all of this remember that our Emmaus Community Night is this Sunday evening from 5:00-8:00 at Suwanee Town Center. Join the entire church body as we gather for an afternoon of hanging out, fellowship, competing in ultimate frisbee, playing in the fountains, and eating FREE Rita’s Italian Ice. This is an awesome time for us to celebrate the beginning of the summer season and I hope you’ll make it a priority to be there and to bring someone with you.
Additionally as we have been announcing the past two weeks, the incredible Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa will be joining us on Mother’s Day, May 12th. We will be so blessed that morning as these incredible children from Africa lead us in worshiping Jesus! (For a brief glimpse of the Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa please see this video). They will be followed by a special gospel-centered sermon which will honor all the moms in the house. Be sure to bring your family with you on Mother’s Day, Emmaus. Jesus has some awesome things planned!
In closing, please be praying consistently for the leadership of Emmaus as we plan to update you very soon regarding our search for a permanent facility. This is an exciting season for us as a church as we anticipate God providing us a permanent home where we can both gather for Sunday worship and also intentionally train up disciples and missionaries for Jesus throughout the week. See you this Sunday!
All to Jesus!
Pastor Anson
Our next Emmaus Community Night is Sunday May 5th, from 5-8pm at Suwanee Town Center Park. You can find out more information about Suwanee Town Center Park here. Emmaus will be providing everyone with Rita’s Italian Ice! We are asking people to bring a picnic dinner (or order something from one of the restaurants), blanket, chairs, tent, towel, swimsuit, games, and balls. This will be an amazing time to hang out with and get to know people at Emmaus. If you are new to Emmaus this is a perfect time to meet people and get to know them. Clear your calendars, you don’t want to miss this event!!
Community Nights are great opportunities to spend time with people that go to Emmaus, but that is not the only reason why we have these events. One of the biggest benefits to an event like this is providing an environment that is very welcoming to those that don’t know Jesus. We understand not everyone is open to coming to church or a Missional Community Group with you, but usually people are open to going to a park to hang out, play some games, and eat some free Italian ice. Spending time and interacting with people in a setting like this can lead to more Gospel-centered conversations and them possibly agreeing to come to church with you. If you have family members, friends, co-workers, or neighbors that don’t have a relationship with Jesus and aren’t willing to come to church, invite them to Community Night!
Whether you have been to Emmaus for a long time, just a few months, or visited only once or twice Emmaus Community Night is an event you do not want to miss! So bring your family and friends and join us at Suwanee Town Center Park May 5th for our Summer Emmaus Community Night!
Hello Emmaus!
I hope you are having a wonderful start to your week! I wanted to take a moment and share some thoughts with you about prayer.
Prayer is the tool God has given us to communicate with Him. It is simply a way to converse with our great God, and we are encouraged throughout scripture to pray regularly. One of the more popular passages on prayer is Philippians 4:6-7: “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
You may have heard this passage several times, but I want to point out two important things that highlight the incredible truth this passage teaches us about prayer. The first is the background of this passage. Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul while he was in prison for preaching the gospel. So Paul is in prison for doing exactly what God wanted him to do, and he is able to start this passage off by saying “do not be anxious about anything“! Paul was impacted so deeply by prayer that he could say during the most difficult times he was not anxious, but was actually experiencing peace! And he knows this only comes from God through prayer.
God does not want us to be anxious, He wants us to be peaceful. He wants us to bring all of our issues, struggles, doubts, problems, and requests to Him. This leads us to the second point – God wants us to pray! This passage gives us insight into the character of God. Just think about it for a minute. The God of this universe, the God that creates you, me, and everything in this world wants us to pray. The all-powerful, all-knowing God wants us to come to Him in prayer. He desires communication with His people, and we should desire communication with Him. Prayer is an extremely important part of our relationship with God. This passage shows us that when we do bring our requests to Him, He will give us peace. We receive peace because by bringing everything to God we are admitting we need Him and cannot rely on ourselves for anything! John Piper says this about prayer, “Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that He will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy, and exalts God as wealthy.”
Just like we need to breathe in order to stay alive, we need to pray in order to stay spiritually alive and healthy. This is true in our personal lives as well as for our church. Emmaus Church is a spiritually healthy and growing church only if the leaders and members are praying constantly. On April 22nd from 6-8pm, we have an opportunity to come together as a church and pray with and for each other. We are asking everyone to join us that night to lift up our requests to God. The prayer night will be held at the Edgewater neighborhood clubhouse. Edgewater is located off Collins Hill Road in Lawrenceville, and the clubhouse is off Ashbourne Drive NE. Childcare will be provided.
We are a needy church, and desperately need God to guide us, provide for us, and protect us as we go out to advance His name in our community. Please join us Monday April 22nd to let our requests be made known to God.
Last thing…we only have three more weeks in 1 Timothy and then we will start something completely new! Anson will be announcing where we will be going next in the coming weeks, so don’t miss a Sunday!
It is an honor to serve and partner with you in the work of the gospel!
In Christ,
Pastor Travis
For the past few hours I have been reflecting on a passage of scripture that lies tucked away near the end of the New Testament book of Hebrews. It’s a simple verse which gives us a very simple command while reminding us all of a very simple promise. Perhaps you’re familiar with Hebrews 10:23 yourself.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
The idea here is both simple and complex; Our God can always be trusted.
If you are a worshiper of Jesus then odds are you can probably think back on numerous ways that the Lord has proven His never-failing faithfulness to you in the past.
Maybe He saved a family member you thought would never willingly bow their knee to Jesus.
Perhaps He provided for you financially in a miraculous way when you were certain there was no way out of the hole you were in.
And there was the time that the doctor gave you the news you so didn’t want to hear. Then the Great Physician healed you.
Personally, I can remember when my wife and I were told that we would never be able to have a second child due to fertility issues. I am reminded of that conversation every time I look at my second born daughter Madeline. My God is so faithful!
Over the past two-and-a-half years at Emmaus Church I have witnessed the faithfulness of God in ways I had never been exposed to before this great adventure of church planting.
From seeing atheists bow to King Jesus and confess Him as Lord to watching fathers baptize their own children and stepping-up to be the Pastor Dad that God has called them to be.
From seeing Jesus heal those stricken with cancer to watching Jesus restore marriages that seemed beyond repair.
Emmaus, our God is so faithful!
As your pastor, I am humbled to be able to announce to you that we have witnessed the astounding faithfulness of King Jesus once again!
Twenty-two weeks ago we began a series through the book of 1st Timothy at Emmaus. Throughout this series, God has been revealing to us what the church is called to look like in the community in which it is placed. A couple weeks ago the Lord had us in 1st Timothy 5:1-16 where we see a tremendous example of our God’s compassion for widows, orphans, and those who are unable to help themselves.
On that Sunday we were reminded of a simple yet very convicting truth; if we are going to be a church that loves the Gospel we must be a church that lives out the Gospel here in our community. Feeling the conviction from this simple truth I announced to you that on Sunday, March 24th we would receive a special offering that would specifically go to the SaltLight Center here in Gwinnett County.
The SaltLight Center is an emergency shelter for single women with children who have been left homeless due to circumstances beyond their control. It is the only center of it’s kind and it is completely dependent on volunteers and donations in order to operate. This is an organization that seeks to show love and hospitality to the widows and orphans of our day. This is an organization that we should be helping.
Over the past two years I have been both amazed and humbled to be able to pastor such a generous church that gives faithfully and consistently every single week because they understand that the Gospel is a message about a God who gave everything (namely His one and only Son) so that we could be free from sin and rescued from hell.
In just a little over 2 years Emmaus Church has been privileged to be able to give a total of $33,340 towards outside church planting and compassion efforts both locally and globally. These funds have gone towards everything from assisting single moms who cannot afford groceries to helping to train church planters around North America to assisting with gospel-centered compassion efforts in Japan after the tsunami. Your gospel-generosity has literally been felt around the world, Emmaus!
And now I get to tell you how God has proven His great faithfulness once again!
It is my great joy to be able to update you now that our special offering for the SaltLight center has been received. Emmaus, this past Sunday morning you generously gave $10,100, which will go directly towards ministering to the widows and orphans here in our community!!!
I sincerely hope that you will take a few moments today to thank God for allowing you to help minister to some of the most vulnerable people in our community. This is what the church should be doing, Emmaus! Loving the Gospel of Jesus Christ by living out the Gospel of Jesus. Incarnational ministry at it’s best!
So come to the Easter Service this Sunday morning ready to celebrate, Church Family! Our God is a God who continually proves Himself to be faithful. So please invite someone you know who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus to come with you to the Easter Service this Sunday morning at 9:00 or 10:30. Who knows…..perhaps King Jesus will prove Himself to be faithful yet again.
All to Jesus,
Pastor Anson
Greetings Emmaus!
I truly hope that your week has been a blessed week thus far. Each and every day is full of promise and opportunity for those of us who are worshipers of King Jesus. As the scripture says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
As most of you are aware by now, this Sunday at Emmaus Church we have an opportunity to participate in something absolutely incredible for Jesus here in our own community. As I talked about this past Sunday during our sermon out of 1 Timothy 5:1-16 on ministering to widows, this Sunday morning at Emmaus Church every single dollar that is received during the offering will immediately go to a local ministry organization called the SaltLight Center. The SaltLight Center is an emergency shelter in Lawrenceville which provides shelter for single women with children who are homeless. It is the only shelter of its kind in Gwinnett County. This is a wonderful organization that seeks to show tangible love and hospitality to struggling women and their children in a way that brings much glory to Jesus Christ.
Church family, I pray that this Sunday not only will you make it a priority to be in attendance at your church, but I also pray that you will come ready to give generously above your regular tithe toward the incredible work that the SaltLight Center is doing here in our own community. As I communicated this past Sunday, we cannot claim to be a church that loves the gospel unless we are also a church that seeks to live out the gospel in visible ways. This is a powerful opportunity for us to do just that as a church!
In addition to all of this, I hope you are praying about who you will invite to our Emmaus Church Easter Service on Sunday, March 31st. Sadly, many Christians put far more thought into what their Easter outfit will be than they think about who they should invite to hear the good news about Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Let’s not allow this to be the case at Emmaus! Once again this Sunday morning we will have Easter invitations in all of the bulletins as a way to equip you to invite your neighbors, your co-workers, and your family members to Emmaus on Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday will be a unique day for us as a church since we will have TWO WORSHIP SERVICES on that morning! Our service times for Easter are 9:00 and 10:30. I’ll be honest with you…..there is absolutely no way we can pull off these two services on Easter without an army of folks who love Jesus who are willing to volunteer that morning! We need committed people who are willing to serve in one of our two services in the following three areas:
-Kid’s Ministry
-Set-up & Tear-down
-Greeters
If you are willing to step in and serve during one of these two services as a way to serve Jesus and live as a missionary, please email me at anson@emmausbible.org or email Pastor Travis at travis@emmausbible.org and let us know which service time you want to serve during and which team you are interested in. We will then follow-up with you and get you all the details you need!
I can’t wait to see you all at Emmaus this Sunday morning at 9:30, church family!!!! It’s going to be a great day of generosity!!!
All to Jesus,
Pastor Anson
This post is part of a series where we profile our Missional Community groups here on the blog. We are doing this to give people who aren’t already in a group a better idea of what Missional Communities are like and which one might be a good fit for them. It also provides everyone with a better idea of what’s happening outside of our Sunday service. Next is the Abernathy’s group.
Who’s the leader of your group?
Brian and Starla Abernathy
When and where does your group meet?
Our house in downtown Buford at 6pm on Sunday nights.
How does a usual meeting go?
We typically start at 6 and socialize for about 15 minutes, then we go through the prepared questions regarding the week’s sermon, then we take prayer requests and pray together (we occasionally split up guys and girls for prayer time). On a normal night we finish by 8ish, but have been known to go until nearly 9.
What kind of things go on outside of the weekly meeting?
The guys in our group occasionally meet for all-you-can-eat wings at Buffalo’s. We have had “family dinners” for holidays, and done goofy gift swaps at Christmas.
What’s your group’s story?
We are probably the only group that had a 45 minute discussion and couldn’t remember how it related to the question, had an encounter with the police, and gotten a car stuck in the mud in the front yard. Let’s face it, our group is pretty exciting.
Who’s part of this group?
Usually 12-15 people, 2 married couples, 1 engaged couple, and lots of single folks.
This post was written by Emmaus Church member Maggie Terry.
College; away from parents, authority, and sometimes God…or at least that is what you think.
I think I was just oblivious to consequence. I was stupid, clueless, and sinful. I made a big mistake and instead of facing it and dealing with it, I went numb and walked right into an even bigger mistake; a horrible choice.
I aborted my baby.
Those words are still hard to write, speak or acknowledge. But God leads me to do just that because I am FORGIVEN and REDEEMED, because of the powerful, life saving blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I tucked the secret away and did not tell anyone until I met the man I would marry; a good man. A believer who strived to live a honorable life. But how could I marry him without confessing the secret? He grew up in the church. His father a pastor, he taught me what it was like to have a relationship with Christ. I had never really been taught that even though I grew up “going to church”. I accepted the concept, and believed.
So I told him. He didn’t take it well, but still married me… reminding me on a regular basis, how disappointed he was. “HOW COULD I DO THAT?!”
Unfortunately that opened the door for me to listen to the enemy tell me, “You are dirt, trash, horrible, worthless”. These seeds grew and became a part of the everyday mantra that went through my head. “This is who I am”, I believed.
Eventually my husband left me and our two young children, creating pain and sorrow for all of us. For years and years I feared that my precious children would find out my SECRET. I was afraid that they too would reject me and find me “worthless, trash and dirt”. Anytime the word “abortion” was mentioned I cringed and felt great anxiety and depression. I was terrified of being “found out”.
The thing I did not know was that even though I believed Jesus died for my sins…I WAS NOT EMBRACING HIS FORGIVENESS and finding the FREEDOM He offers.
WHY?
I was trapped in bondage. The enemy held me fast and did not want me to receive Jesus’ grace and mercy.
WHY?
These are some of the results of abortion; long lasting emotional pain, guilt, sorrow, depression and much, much more. It is called Post Abortion Stress. Millions of women all over the world suffer from this and do not know what is causing their pain and suffering. It can take forms of physical ailments, emotional devastation, spiritual drought and a multitude of others.
One day during a sermon on the Full Armor of God, the pastor was talking about the “Belt of Truth” in Ephesians chapter 6. Suddenly, in a very powerful way, God told me, “You must tell the secret”. I looked at my precious loving daughter sitting next to me and knew it was time, yet I was TERRIFIED! I love God and must be obedient because I believe He knows what is best. She could see something was wrong and asked if I needed to talk. Shocked, still I agreed to.
We went outside and I told her. I braced for the same condemnation I had received from her father, yet as I looked at her, the most loving and sweet eyes looked back and she embraced me and said “Mommy, I am so sorry you went through that.”
See, she knew what I could not seem to accept. The truth that I love Jesus Christ therefore I am forgiven and washed clean by His amazing love and sacrifice.
I was so amazed and felt truly loved by her and by God, yet I still needed healing and the ability to understand. Through a local pregnancy center, I found out about a Post Abortion Recovery program. It is a 12-week Bible study called Forgiven and Set Free and that is exactly what it taught me. This study led me through a biblical understanding of what I was dealing with and what God wanted for my life and how to find healing through the Gospel and truly be set FREE! It has changed my life and the day I understood that I needed to truly embrace and accept forgiveness, the words in my head left and have never returned. I have received real freedom.
Chances are someone reading this story has either experienced similar things, or knows someone who has. Maybe they do not even realize the source of their current problems. I did not know, but as I went through the study, my eyes were opened. I am sad for those still suffering and want so much to help them. I am currently leading this same Bible study (Forgiven and Set Free) at a pregnancy center in Johns Creek, called A Beacon of Hope (Or Pregnancy Center of Johns Creek).
We are currently preparing to begin a new class on April 9th, 2013 and we have openings. It is completely CONFIDENTIAL. There is no need for anyone other than the participant to know about it. There will be another class starting in the summer when this one ends. The women I have met with and led in the Bible study seem to suffer universally as I did with feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and shame. God does not want us to live this way, and the Gospel is the key to understanding this and finding healing.
If you or someone you know is in need of healing from a past abortion(s) please pass this on and find out more information by emailing me (Maggie Terry) at Mnmterry@gmail.com. There is a way to find healing in the Gospel and those of us here at A Beacon of Hope would love to help!
This post is part of a series where we profile our Missional Community groups here on the blog. We are doing this to give people who aren’t already in a group a better idea of what Missional Communities are like and which one might be a good fit for them. It also provides everyone with a better idea of what’s happening outside of our Sunday service. Next is the Mikulecky’s group.
Who’s the leader of your group?
Josh & Heidi Mikulecky
When and where does your group meet?
We meet every other Wednesday from 7:00-8:30 at Josh & Heidi Mikulecky’s home in Lawrenceville/Grayson. On our “off” weeks, we occasionally get together separately as “guys” and “girls” or for together for service projects.
How does a usual meeting go?
Typically as people arrive, we have snacks and spend time catching up. Then we sit down to hear someone share their testimony. Next, we discuss questions that are related to the previous Sunday’s message. We end by praying for each other.
What kind of things go on outside of the weekly meeting?
We meet every other week, and on the “off” weeks, we occasionally still get together. The guys may get together for wings; the girls usually go to Panera Bread for dessert and fellowship. We also like to plan missional opportunities to serve the community. In December, we collected coats for the homeless of Atlanta. Our group then traveled together to Atlanta to distribute the coats and spend time talking with the homeless.
What’s your group’s story?
Josh & Heidi began opening their home in March 2012 to host their first Emmaus missional community group. Even though they were previously part of a really great missional community group, they wanted to host a group that would accommodate Emmaus members in the Grayson area of Gwinnett. We enjoy spending time together and investing in each other’s lives. We also encourage each other to pursue a missional lifestyle in our homes, workplaces and community.
Who’s part of this group?
We have married couples of all ages, both with and without kids. We’re excited for new people to join us!
