stevemarkle.com

LCC did a great job in response to the LCAC Food Drive. Thanks to all who gave!

Below is the email I received today:

Dear Pastor Steve:

We weighed in all of LifeCC’s donation and the grand total is: 603 LBS!!! That gives LCAC an additional $603 from our donor who will match every pound donated by one dollar.

Please pass on my deepest appreciation and may God bless your congregation!! Those who share their bounty will receive grace tenfold! And a special thank you to Rod for filling up our van with gas!!!

Karlene Webster

LCAC Nutrition Program Coordinator

9518 Richmond Hwy (behind Lorton Library)

Lorton, VA 22079

703-339-5161 x15

Today was a great day at LCC.  Funny how a day turns out.  Lots of twists and turns during the pre-game :-)  Light issues, sound issue, video issues…but in the end it was all good!

What truly made it a great day were the 2 baptisms at the end of the service…

Andrew - a 7 year old boy who gave his heart to Christ last week on Easter Sunday was baptized this morning.

Mike - a young single adult committed his life to Christ at the beginning of ‘08 after his dad had spent years praying for him to do so.

It was great to see Mike & Andrew commit their lives to Christ and make it public today…God is good!

We all have relationships struggles. When we are struggling with our spouse, kids, and co-workers, it brings a great deal of stress into our lives.

David who was one of the most well-known characters in the Bible had his share of relationships documented for us. Some of these relationships were healthy and some not so much. He was known as a man who had a passion for God…but as we look at David’s human relationships, we’ll find a man who struggled immensely.

Baptizing new believers  has to rank in my top 5 favorite pastoral duties.  I just love to see individuals boldly proclaiming that they believe in Jesus and are not ashamed to make it public.  This Sunday after the service is one of our scheduled baptisms.  If you have not yet registered and would like to be OR you want more information about what it means, click below.

An incredible day in the life of LCC! God was so good.

We had a record breaking attendance of 225+. Several people accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. The music was amazing. The celebration of the resurrection is truly the best day of the year for believers in Jesus.

The best moment for me was in the foyer after the service. A 7-year old boy was waiting with his mom to talk with me. He told me that he prayed to receive Jesus as his Saviour in the service. He had been thinking about making this commitment for awhile, but today he was ready. He then told me he wanted to get baptized next Sunday. We talked about what baptism means and I believe he’s ready for next Sunday.

Enjoy just a few pics below…

Well…we just got home from Sherri’s ultrasound.  She will be 21 weeks along tomorrow.  The baby is very healthy.  It was amazing to see all the parts of the heart, the spine, the brain…and to hear the sonographer say it all looks fantastic.  What a great blessing and relief.  The baby gave us a little hand wave…got a nice picture of its bulging bicep.  Everything measured out great…within normal limits in every category…so we have much to be thankful for.Oh yea…what sex is the baby?  I haven’t been to shy about saying my preference.  In fact the entire family has been praying hard for a boy…but ready to accept whatever God has for us.  Well…drumroll please…  IT’S A BOY!  (no doubt about it :-)) So we are all pretty pumped about this news!  God is good! 

Taking a break from my final touches on my message…it’s mid afternoon and my mind is thinking chocolate right now. So I ask…what’s your favorite Easter candy? I enjoy the good jelly beans - such as the Starburst jelly beans. You gotta love the Marshmellow Peeps. I’m not crazy about the Cadbury Creme Eggs. But my favorite Easter candy is my mom’s homemade chocolate peanut butter eggs. She’s bringing them down Sunday. Last year I had to settle for the Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs…not bad, but not like the home made.

Ok…back to work.

Truly…the most exciting week of the year for us preachers. Why? Kind of obvious, but

• it’s the celebration of the most important truth of our faith - the our SAVIOR LIVES!
• church attendance basically doubles - who doesn’t love that?
• lots of new guests at church - love to meet people looking for a church
• the music is always great - so many incredible songs about the resurrection
• we just get fired up when we preach on Easter Sunday - how can you not?
• the preparation is also fun…making sure you teams are on task…do we have enough ushers, greeters, donuts, bulletins, etc? not knowing what to expect is part of excitement.

It’s quick and easy…just click here and follow the simple instructions to invite your friends, family and co-workers to our Easter service this Sunday morning.

It was a great weekend…

• We had a great life group/Bible study at our home on Saturday night.
• Great service yesterday with Communion and lighter acoustic worship set.  A good reflective type of service.
• Our people are excited about Easter.  God has given us the space…now we are ready to fill it.  We’re praying for a big day with tons of guests.  We’re praying it will launch us toward breaking the 200 barrier on a regular basis.
• Met a great new family yesterday who just moved from Georgia and found us on the web.
• Josh has a great set of music lined up for Easter with the full band and some special music as well.  It’s going to be a great service all around.
• Sherri, Zac and I started LOST season 1 last night.  We’re missing 24 so we decided to give LOST a try over Spring Break.  This is cheap form of entertainment…a lot cheaper than driving just about anywhere!
• We’ve printed off our brackets for March Madness…looking forward to that!  It’s probably the best sporting event of the year…next to the SuperBowl.  We have a family competition each year.  We’re adding a little twist to the scoring this year…
• I joined Facebook last Friday…I’ve got 60 friends so far.  Very cool…I’ve been able to reconnect with kids I formerly had in my youth ministries…most of them are married with kids…making me feel really old.
• It’s great to have my wife home this week because of Spring Break.  She’s catching up on some house projects…but I’m making sure she’s not overdoing it.  She’s now 20 weeks along and Friday is the BIG ULTRASOUND.  It’s gotta be a BOY!