Happy New Year! A Final 2025 Update: Winter, New England-style

Jan 1
4 min read

Updated: Jan 2

This year was a wonderful opportunity to invest time in the new members who have either just put on Christ, or have moved into the area. David spent a lot of time this year tutoring new Christians on challenging books in the Bible and fostering an encouraging support network for our single guys. He is also in the process of handing off some of the responsibilities he's carried for the last decade to capable individuals who are stepping up to lead in some of these areas. It is great to have additional hands on deck ready to help with the work. As we enter the winter season, it becomes a time to optimize what we do, serve those in need, and think ahead on the year to come about what more we can do to meet the needs in our community.

Thank You to Our Guest Speakers!

It makes sense to start with gratitude for those who have significantly increased the impact our church family is having in our area. We had the privilege of hosting an event by Dr. Petrillo in November on How We Got the Bible.

A seminar like this is especially helpful in our region, where this is new information for many. In addition to an open Q&A session, we had fascinating sessions on the Biblical claims for inspiration, the canon of Scripture, the transmission of the Bible text, and how we got the English translations available today.

We appreciate so much the men and women who continue to share in the work here, investing their time and energy to study these topics and present them in a way that we can easily share with our friends and neighbors. For Christians who have never had the opportunity to investigate these matters in depth, a weekend of intensive teaching, fellowship, and good food is an incredible boon to their morale.

Congregations all over this region are greatly blessed by these opportunities. This event came just one month after our Annual Lectureship, so we had a couple of really wonderful opportunities to connect with brethren and fill ourselves up with God's word.

Another Very Special Visit

The kids were so excited in December to see some friends they don't see very often. This is a missionary family working in Japan. Every two or three years they come back to visit the states.

Our kids have missed them very much, and they thoroughly enjoyed the visit while it lasted. Here they had all gathered for an impromptu chance to sing praises to God together - I almost missed capturing it! What a special moment. We look forward to their next trip out to the USA, and continue to pray for their success in spreading the gospel in Japan.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/80632c_aaf0e78e5c074422bec6a7a8771edf2c/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Running Out of Room!

As we continue growing, the current facility becomes an increasingly tight fit on Sunday mornings. Pictured here is the start of a service in which some of our families were traveling - and there's not much additional space available! Our attendance is often in the 70s, but when everyone is here we are at full capacity, which doesn't leave much room for visitors walking in. During some of our services and events we made use of overflowing seating set up downstairs with a TV because we were bursting at the seams. What a great "problem" to have! So the hunt for a new facility is in full swing, and we hope to soon either have a piece of property purchased for building, or to find something feasible on the market in our area. Please pray for the success of this endeavor!

Christmas Adventures

As the holidays roll around, we are often preparing for time spent with others. This year, we stayed home, but we did have a special guest join us on Christmas Eve - Mr. Davies, a brother who lives in the nursing home near us. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Christmas Day, though, we just planned on keeping things simple and enjoying time at home together playing games and such. Thanks to Keeley's brother, Bob and Linda received what felt like an impossible puzzle and they brought it out for the family to enjoy. We managed to finish it: the map of Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings! (Super fun, but WOW that was a lot of beige...)

The lead up to the holiday included decorating TONS of cookies to share with the families in the congregation, the shut-ins in the nursing homes... and yes, we all had way too many of them ourselves. It was a fun day - the church organized a morning for all the kids in the congregation to help decorate. The kids want to know if it's really a thing to eat "too many cookies." Yes. Yes, it is.

Josh and Alana Purdy organized a trip for the kids to do some caroling at the Veteran's Home in Tilton as well. We are thankful they are taking such an active role in preparing activities for the kids in the congregation. They also organized a "Progressive Dinner," which was awesome.

The Blouins hosted appetizers, the Rollerts hosted the entree, and the Purdys arranged dessert at the building. The kids had never done something like that before, and seemed to enjoy it.

Finally, no winter in New England is complete without epic sledding, snow-tunneling, and other outdoor adventures. While we did make it over to the much larger hill in the last week of the year, Silas, I believe, still wins the award for the best short-run on a sled on the small hill next to the church building:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/80632c_82056e51ce1046d5b11066bd032dd037/720p/mp4/file.mp4

A New Year, A New Theme

The upcoming theme for 2026 is on Joyful Endurance. Check out David's series list below for a basic outline of the year and tune in on our livestream if you get the chance! If you want to go back and rewatch the sermons, you can find them on our YouTube channel and they will be posted on our sermon page each week.