FTG Church of Christ Home Page

April, 2009

Greetings once again from the Montana mission field. I pray you have had a great beginning to this year. The work at the Rocky Mountain Church has been characterized these last several months by dreaming, planning and looking forward. Late last year the elders asked me to facilitate the process of forming a comprehensive, yet concise and compelling vision statement for the church. We have put together a small work group that has met regularly over the last several months, and I must say this process has developed into a much more demanding task than any of us originally imagined. We don’t expect to be finished with our job until well into the fall at least, but are confident that by the time we are done God will have revealed his vision for this church.

In the meantime, we have been laying plans for new ways of reaching out & blessing our community this year. I have been engaged in a weekly study of Dan Kimball’s book, “They Like Jesus But Not the Church” with a small group of people from different backgrounds (Catholic, Baptist, college students, middle-aged). Kimball’s book & videos focus on why it is that so many people in our culture like the life and ideals of Jesus (at least what they know of him) but don’t care for Christians or the Church, broadly speaking. He presents some of the most common complaints many post-moderns have against what they perceive “the Church” to be about, why they feel the way they do, and how we as followers of Jesus can interact effectively with them in the face of these criticisms. Understanding how the unchurched view Christianity can help us engage them in more effective ways by tearing down some of the barriers that exist.

We are making a concerted effort to make more of an impact on our community this year by serving people in practical ways. We are currently hosting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, with a strong enrollment from outside the church. This is a course I started at RMCC and have now led for several years, but decided it was time to bring someone else alongside and pass on this ministry to another capable individual. This coming week we will also host Town Hall for Hope, a live national broadcast in which Dave Ramsey will address the current state of affairs in our economy and how we as individuals can make the best of it by following God’s principles of money management. We expect this to be well attended by members of the church as well as friends, neighbors and coworkers.

We also have planned to serve through construction and neighborhood clean up activities. We are scheduled to work on a new house with Habitat for Humanity in June. Then in July a teen group from the Comanche Trail Church of Christ in Amarillo, TX will spend a week with us working on various projects, including painting houses for elderly or other needy individuals, cleaning city parks and working to beautify downtown areas. We love our small city and are concerned about the people who live here. We want to improve people’s lives, even if in only small ways, and perhaps they will see the love of God working through his children. After serving the Helena community in these ways, we are sending some of our own teens, together with those of the Helena Church of Christ, to Ensenada, Mexico in August to work at The City of Children, an orphanage supported by churches of Christ.

We have a number of Bible studies going on right now that are bearing fruit. I am continuing to study with two men on a regular basis to help them grow in Christ. These brothers have marriage, addiction, career and legal problems, but they are both maturing and working through their struggles. Other members of the ministry team are also involved in either discipling or evangelistic Bible studies. Just this past week 2 young ladies were baptized into Jesus after attending RMCC for several weeks and agreeing to a Bible study. We expect to see even more as we continue to share the goodness of God and help them to make the decision to commit their lives to walking with Jesus.

Please continue to pray for us in the work of God in Helena. Also pray for the recent converts and for those God is drawing into the family. We covet your prayers for success.

Your fellow servants,

Eric, Larinda, Jacob, Treasure & Ireland Creel