The Weekly Epistle 10/5/22

Hi Church,
A farmer who raised chickens lost most of his chickens to the spring rains which flooded his land.  Every year the floods got worse and worse until eventually the desperate farmer went to the pastor for some advice.  “What am I to do?  I can’t keep raising chickens and losing them each spring.  My land is flooded from the rains.”
 
The pastor replied calmly, “raise ducks.”
 
Most of us don’t like change.  Yet the sooner we can embrace it the better we will be for it.  You see, change is inevitable; growth is optional.  
 
By now, you should be aware that we have changed our name to “Living Hope Lakeport.”  By an overwhelming majority, the church membership voted to accept the recommendation from the elders to join the Evangelical Free Church of America, adopt the revised Constitution and By-laws that reflect that affiliation, and approve the change to our church name.  On October 29 at the New England District conference, we will be officially welcomed into the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA).  
 
Questions have already been raised about some of the practical aspects to our name change.
    “Should I now write my checks payable to “Living Hope Lakeport”?  
    The answer is, “NO!”  You should continue to write checks out to EBC.  
 
    “How can I find our church’s website and livestream on YouTube?”
    You should continue to type in the same address as you have always done.
 
    “Is the church’s email address and staff’s email address still the same?”
    Yes, at this time, all the addresses remain to be @ebclaconia.com
 
There are several details to be worked out in the process of changing our name.  We hope by the first week in November, we can have official documents finalized and make all the necessary changes to begin the branding of our new name.  Please be patient as we change our signage, our logo, our webpage, and other matters related to our becoming “Living Hope Lakeport.”
 
I shared at our special business meeting from Isaiah 43:18-19.  God says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”  In other words, “Don’t let the memory of our past in any way hinder us to where God is now taking us.  God then says, “See, I am doing a new thing!’  
 
Our mission has not changed.  Our values have not changed.  Our commitments have not changed!  Yet this can be a new beginning; a new work, a fresh work, that God wants to do in us and through us as a church.  
 
Will you embrace this change?  Change is inevitable; growth is optional.  May the things to come, grow us and change us, to best reflect to the world around us. Our Living Hope!