Unidentified Authors

I cannot keep silent about the wonders of God. While I was doing laundry before going to church, my leg broke, and the pain kept me from getting up. The paramedics placed me in the ambulance, where I cried out to Jesus; then my leg made a noise, went back down, the pain disappeared, and I was healed. When we arrived, I explained to the doctor that Jesus had already healed me, and I wanted to go to church. We also experienced God's answer when my daughter was traveling from New Jersey for urgent gallbladder surgery: the church cried out for her through the prayer chain, and by the time she arrived, she was already healed. For these miracles, we give glory to Jesus.

We give glory to God for specific healings received amid illness, troubling diagnoses, prolonged pain, and physical limitations. Various testimonies recount improvements in thyroid conditions, cysts, hepatitis, arthritis, back and spinal disc problems, diagnosed cancer, vision loss, and muscle pain. In several cases, congregational prayer accompanied medical examinations, surgeries, treatments, and therapies. Faith does not require disregarding medical advice, but rather presenting every decision to the Lord and depending on his care. Some celebrate a complete recovery, while others continue to face pain and ask for total healing, receiving strength to fulfill their responsibilities. Therefore, we must declare the Word and the victory without denying that trials still exist, persevere in prayer, and guard our words and attitudes amid suffering. Hearing specific experiences strengthens our faith and moves us to acknowledge publicly that glory and honor belong to the Lord. Grateful for doctors and scientific advances, we look forward to even greater works of God’s healing power.

The new sanctuary’s design expresses the relationship between the earthly, the Christian life, and the heavenly. Its brick base represents the natural world, its reflective metal top the spiritual realm, and its middle section our life between them. Across the façade, a descending line symbolizes Christ’s incarnation; the panels suggest the changing clarity and dynamism of spiritual life, while the cross leads toward reconciliation with the Father. We must pass through Jesus to enter and worship God. The building will provide parking, a main sanctuary, balcony, classrooms, offices, meeting space, and an acoustically designed ceiling.

This project is not building for its own sake. The congregation needs room to grow through evangelism, foster revival in New England, and offer a refuge where more lives can be transformed. Because attendance pressures, permits, and financial conditions make timely construction important, everyone is urged to give something—generously, courageously, and even beyond comfort. Present pledges also demonstrate congregational commitment to potential lenders. As with the widow of Zarephath, Haggai’s call to build God’s house, and Jehoshaphat’s exhortation to believe, we are invited to respond with faith, generosity, and joy.

The new sanctuary is conceived as a visible expression of the life of Jesus and of our relationship with God. Its brick base represents natural, earthly life; the upper, reflective metal section represents the heavenly realm; and the middle section represents the Christian experience between these two realities. A descending line symbolizes the incarnation, the façade traces Christ’s ministry to the cross, and the glass expresses reconciliation, light, and transparency. Thus, entering the sanctuary represents coming through Jesus to worship the Father. The panels and their changing light reflect a dynamic spiritual journey that becomes clearer as we align ourselves with God.

The building will include parking, a main sanctuary, a balcony, connections to the existing building, classrooms, offices, and an acoustic ceiling for worship. This project seeks to glorify God, enable growth, prepare a place for revival, and serve as a refuge for transformed lives. Because of legal obligations and favorable construction conditions, everyone is urged to participate now with a generous faith pledge, sustained over three years, even if it means stepping beyond one’s comfort zone.

A kingdom mentality puts duty, discipline, and God’s purposes ahead of applause, comfort, self-fulfillment, and personal plans. Like soldiers, we yield some freedoms to our calling; like athletes, we train, obey the rules, and refuse shortcuts; like farmers, we work faithfully. Jesus is the supreme example, submitting to the Father even when the path led to the cross.

We also live with a sense of destiny: though small in the universe, we are known by God and called into his kingdom purposes. Abraham obeyed without knowing his destination because he trusted the One who promised. He surrendered country, family, familiarity, and security, believing God would provide a better inheritance, a new family, and divine protection. Faith therefore means moving when God calls, even before the whole path is visible, while remembering that our lasting citizenship is in God’s kingdom.

God calls us to heal and bring order to our homes through genuine obedience to his Word, not through outward religiosity. A husband must love as Christ loved the church: serving, protecting, providing, remaining faithful, treating his family with tenderness, educating his children, and exercising spiritual leadership without controlling, manipulating, or abusing. Authority is strengthened through humility, responsibility, and service, not through coercion. A wife is called to support, respect, and pray for a husband who loves and serves, while together they raise their children with healthy role models.

Restoration begins when we stop blaming others, acknowledge our sin, and seek help to overcome wounds, resentment, pornography, addictions, and destructive behaviors. Men need a healed masculinity that is strong and tender like that of Jesus; wounded women can surrender their pain to Christ, forgive, and relinquish the identity of victims. As a church, we must commit ourselves to establishing marriages and families founded on the Word, teaching young people by example, and receiving correction as an opportunity to repent, grow, and begin a new season of holiness and healing.

Freedom has both public and spiritual dimensions, but they are not identical. A nation can protect our opportunity to pursue liberty, happiness, and a meaningful life, yet no government, law, party, or program can guarantee that we will truly be free. God placed the longing for freedom within us so that we would seek him and find our rest and purpose in him.

Jesus sets us free by enabling us to become the people God created us to be. This freedom requires more than professing belief or observing religious rules; it comes through becoming his disciples, holding to his teaching, and following him. Sin enslaves us through destructive patterns of thought and behavior that separate us from our Creator and diminish our God-given potential. Through Jesus, those chains can be broken and lives genuinely transformed. Therefore, we should not define ourselves primarily by political camps, but stand with the Lord even when that disappoints others. We are invited to follow Jesus, receive the freedom only he can give, and become free through and through.

Drawing from the Greek woman who sought Jesus for her daughter in Mark 7, we learn that God wants to form in us an enduring conqueror’s attitude, not merely resolve an immediate crisis. God works through processes: great purposes are reached through small steps, so we must not lose sight of the larger direction. As overcomers, we refuse to become comfortable with or neutralized by a problem; instead, difficulty provokes us to act. We seek Jesus, surround ourselves with people who understand the challenge and believe victory is possible, and carefully examine the true nature of the crisis. The woman faced barriers of nationality, Jewish law, and Jesus’ initial response, yet she persisted. Her faithful “but” expressed the language of success: it acknowledged the obstacle without accepting impossibility. This attitude does not deny suffering or challenges; it declares that our God is greater than them. We are therefore called to reject defeat, fear, anxiety, and passive conformity, depend upon the Holy Spirit’s power, and work with Jesus until we become people capable of confronting crises, overcoming them, and helping bring victory to our families, church, and community.

Through the Greek and Phoenician woman in Mark 7, we understand that God does not want merely to resolve an isolated crisis, but to form in us a victorious attitude. This attitude begins with faith and recognizes that problems are part of a process through which God leads us toward a greater purpose. Those who have a victorious attitude neither settle for less nor allow difficulties to paralyze them; they seek Jesus, persist until they find him, understand the barriers they face, and seek the right help. Like that mother, we keep pressing on even when everything seems to deny us a way out, and we adopt the language of faith: there is always a possibility because our God is greater than our problem. This mindset does not mean an absence of suffering, but the ability to challenge it by trusting in Christ. The Lord desires to transform us, not merely into people who receive a solution, but into people capable of facing new crises, passing through them, and overcoming them. Therefore, we must cast off fear, negativity, and complacency, and clothe ourselves with hope, joy, and praise, trusting in the strengthening work of the Holy Spirit.