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Sunday Night Reflections

Here again are some of my assorted thoughts at the end of another Sunday.

• I have enjoyed the series on Temptations...hope you have too!
• It was a blessing to see James and Barbara Penland in for a visit.
• I continue to hear great stories from our Home Groups, I am so grateful to the elders for blessing this effort.
• Another great family became "covenant members" today. It is incredible the way God is using Western Hills right now.
• 2 of our Home Groups have been hosting newcomer lunches. This is an incredible ministry...keep up the great work.
• Our students went to Wayman Manor to be Jesus to the kids there.

That is just some of the stuff I am grateful for...how about you?
Have a Great Week!
Scott M.

Sacred Grounds

Western Hills is a growing church! Yes, we are growing numerically, but more importantly we are growing in kingdom impact. Two current signs of this are found in our commitment to children and students. To achieve a greater impact in these 2 life stages we are redesigning some of our current building space to meet our strategic plans.

Above - is the new home for Route 56 - our new ministry focusing on students in 5th and 6th grade. This area is upstairs at the end of the hall that runs across the front of the building.

Below - is the loft over the gym. Plans are for this area to be transformed from storage into the new home for WHY (our youth ministry).

If you would like to make a financial donation to either effort see Brandon Baker or Scott Seela.

God Bless
Scott

Nick's Baptism

Congratulations to Nick on his recent baptism. You are invited to leave a comment or word of encouragement for him as he begins his new life in Christ.

Sunday Night Reflections

Sundays are always long, but incredible days. It is late on Sunday night and my mind is still going over all that happened today. Here are some of the things that I am grateful for

• The singing this morning! (thanks Todd for leading us.)
• Launching the new series on Temptation
• Kyle's words during the Lord's Supper
• Nick's Baptism
• Seeing the church surround Nick following his baptism
• Being with Godly men during the Elder's meeting
• Worshipping tonight during 1st Sunday Worship

Each week I find myself more grateful to be a part of this church.

God Bless

Scott

Zack's Baptism

We want to congratulate Zack on his decision to give his life to God. Click the comment link to leave him a word of blessing or encouragement.

I Need Your Help!

I need your help. We have been in our sermon series called "Simply Jesus". In this series we have been exploring the Gospel of Luke trying to see a clear picture of Jesus. To help with this effort we are launching the "Simply Jesus: Photo Essay Event." What I want is for you to take your camera and capture images that you believe reveal Jesus. The photograph can be of a person(s), an event, a situation, landscape, abstract, etc... Whatever you see that simply communicates something about the person of Jesus: his nature, characteristics, humanity, deity, mission or heart.

I will use the photographs in an upcoming sermon.

Here are the details....

• The images must be submitted digitally
• Files should be no larger than 2MB
• Each image should be an original photograph taken by you (no copyrighted work can be accepted)
• Photoshopping your image is great
• Each image should be titled and accompanied by a caption (50 words or less)
• Email the image to simplyjesus@westernhillsonline.org
• Attach only 1 image per email
• Submit as many times as you like
• Submission Deadline is Monday, April 14

I'm looking forward to seeing Jesus through your eyes!

God Bless,

Scott

Lifting Our Teens in Prayer

Sunday, February 24, over 200 people came forward to get a prayer wristband committing to pray for a student who would be attending the Exile 2008 retreat.

How wonderful and sacred is the collective experience lifting up a common prayer. What a blessing for our teens to know the Western Hills family jumps at the opportunity to actively support their developing faith.

Today I want to thank God who renewed many relationships during the Exile weekend. I want to thank God who spoke to our teens. I want to thank God for blessing our teens with a church family like Western Hills. I want to thank God who promises his active presence in our collective prayer.

Jesus Party @ Wayman Manor

Watch the video below to see what a great time we all had with our friends at the Wayman Manor Apartments. You'll see that Western Hills is a church that loves to move beyond the walls of the building to share the love of Jesus!



Thank you to everyone who helped make the party a great success!

-Scott Seela

Easy, Not So Easy

Recently our Kindergartners and First Graders learned what it meant to "Love Your Enemies." The video was a result of what they learned it means when Jesus asks us to do the thing that is not easy.

Emily's Baptism Video

Click the link below to be taken to the WHY Blog to view Emily's baptism video.

Be sure to leave her a blessing using the comment option.

Emily's Baptism Video

Blessings.

-Scott

Leanne's Baptism

Watch Leanne's baptism and then be sure to leave her a word of encouragement or blessing in the comment section.

God Bless

Scott

2 minute replay

Did you miss the Sunday morning message? Be sure to catch this 2 minute replay. This is part of our series "Comfy No More," where we discuss taking down the obstacles that keep people from church.

Scott

Baptism of Chris

This past Sunday we were witnesses to an amazing event, the baptism of Chris Antonelli into Jesus Christ. This is a critical moment in the life of a believer and follower of Jesus. If you would like to celebrate this with Chris simply click on the comment link. Here you can leave Chris a special prayer or blessing that will encourage him as he begins his new walk with Jesus.

God Bless,

Scott

WATS Sunday

This past Sunday was our We Are The Sermon Sunday. This is the Sunday where we worshipped, took the Lord's Supper together and then, instead of listening to me preach we all went out and preached a message through our actions. We put the love of Christ into action! As best as I can tell we had about 70% participation from the Western Hills members. That is incredible. Since Sunday night I have heard one great story after another. I am so proud to be a part of this church.

In case you missed it the Temple Daily Telegram did a front page story on us today. (Just follow the link.) Thank-you to all who preached a powerful message through your quiet service.

God Bless

Scott

Grateful for Western Hills

It is 11:30 as I write this, but I have been thinking today of the many things at Western Hills that I am grateful for. This list is definitely incomplete, but among the things God has blessed us with are...

• A prayerful and forward looking eldership
• The creativity and passion of the staff that I am blessed to work with
• The numerous volunteers who work to make every Sunday a meaningful experience
• The prayer warriors who are petitioning God to work in powerful ways
• A church that is desperate to get outside of its own walls
• So many who are inviting those they know and love to come and meet Jesus
• The graciousness of all of you who are patient with me as I learn this task called "preaching"
• The generosity of so many that made our beautiful worship center possible
• The numerous new people who are walking into our building each Sunday

These are just a few of the things on my list. What is on your list? What are you grateful for right now?

God Bless,

Scott

Farewell...Again

It has been so great to be back with the family here at Western Hills, but it is time for me to once again head off to college. I have been blessed this summer to see how this church has grown and the vision that it is taking on. As I go back to school I look forward to hearing how Western Hills is impacting the community around it.

Love you all,
Cole

Greetings from Brandon Baker

A video greeting from Brandon Baker, our new youth minister.

New Addition to Western Hills

The Garmons have added a little girl named Katy Elizabeth to their family. She was born on Tuesday, July 17th. She weighed in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce and is 20 inches long. And as you can see from the picture above, she is beautiful!

The word is that big sisters Kendra & Camryn are excited and believe she is a "keeper."

Shelby & Emily are now blessed to be parents of 3 wonderful girls!

We thank God with the Garmons for the blessing of Katy.

If you would like to leave a blessing/note for the Garmons, click the COMENTS link below.


-Scott Seela

Search and Rescue

For the last two weeks our students have been preparing to become a search and rescue team. They are not out saving people drowning in floods (though we did see quite a lot of rain), but they have been preparing to save people who have been drowning in the sin of this world.

Camp Koinonia's theme this summer was Search and Rescue. We began the week by examining our own need to be rescued from the sin that we have been caught up in. Next, we saw that Jesus is the only source of rescue, and all of our attempts to rescue ourselves will always fall short. But the true impact of the week came when we realized that as Jesus saves us, he also calls us to go out and be a rescuer to others. The students looked at and hopefully began to tear down some of the roadblocks that we all have to spreading the incredible gospel story.

My words or pictures will never be good enough to really show what happened at camp, but if you want to experience it, just ask our students. It is from them that you can hear life changing stories and experiences.