Dear PCF family,
I hope you all know this, but I want to express it anyway. I feel so blessed to be part of the Praise Community Fellowship congregation. God is growing us into a wonderful, fruitful family that loves Jesus and one another!
Jesus told His disciples in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”Jesus said these words immediately after giving them a new commandment: “Love one another just as I have loved you.”Now that is a loaded statement! We will cover more of this on Sunday.
Godly love includes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
When we started Praise Community Fellowship 14 years ago, none of us really knew what we were doing, except that we wanted to gather together in the name of Jesus and learn more about Him and His Word. From the very beginning, our services were blessed with wonderful music.
For those of you who may not know, Praise Community Fellowship had its beginnings with the Raise the Praise Choir, which presented annual benefit concerts to raise money for Beverly Farm. For 15 years, we assembled a large choir and band that began at Eden Church. As we continued to grow with more singers and musicians, we moved the annual concerts to the Wildey Theatre and later to a couple of other large local churches.
Most of our concerts were held on the weekend before Thanksgiving. They became a tradition that many people looked forward to as the kickoff to the holiday season. Every concert was completely sold out, even though we never charged for tickets. We simply gave them away.
That same philosophy continues today at Praise Community Fellowship. We trust God to provide what we need to carry on His work through willing volunteers. Over those 15 years, God enabled us to raise more than $1 million, all through volunteers and the generosity of those who attended. Every dollar went to benefit Beverly Farm, and during the last couple of years we also helped support African Vision of Hope.
The choir eventually grew to nearly 70 singers and 12 musicians. These amazing people volunteered through many long rehearsals over a three-month period as we prepared for the annual concerts. Some of the songs you hear on Sundays are songs that were first introduced during those concerts.
This truly is an amazing story, and every one of you is now part of it. Together we are helping make God’s church a place of love, where people can learn about Jesus, experience deeply worshipful music, and share their gifts and talents with one another to bless whoever God places in our path.
I want to thank all of you who have been on this amazing journey since the very beginning. I also want to thank those of you who have joined us more recently. You are now participating in this amazing “God experiment” that we call Praise Community Fellowship. You matter to God, and you matter to His work.
This coming Sunday, July 12, I will once again preach what I believe is the most important sermon I have ever given. That’s why we sing:
“Bring your doubts, bring your fears, bring your hurts and bring your tears. There’ll be no condemnation here. You are holy, righteous, and redeemed. “Greater” by Mercy Me”
Looking forward to Sunday and being with all of you. Love, Pastor Kent