Upcoming Week of Prayer and Fasting
Every January we as a church enter into a corporate time of prayer and fasting. This year it will be from Jan. 4-9. The primary purposes of our prayer and fasting week is to devote ourselves afresh to God at the beginning of the new year, to receive his direction for our lives in the upcoming year, and cry out for his kingdom to break forth in our area like never before.
We encourage everyone to participate in whatever way they feel the Lord is leading them. Many choose to fast from food and drink only water and juice. Others depending on health restrictions may fast from meat or sweets. It can even be something as simple as fasting entertainment. However one chooses to participate, the goal is to deprive oneself for the purpose of gaining a greater hunger for God and his fullness in our lives. It is not to manipulate God or impress others, but rather to humble ourselves and seek his face (Matt 6:17-18).
We will also be hosting Spiritual Renewal Services Wednesday-Friday Jan. 7-9 at the 424 Duss Ave. Ministry Center. These services will be a time to spend in the presence of God with passionate worship, teaching, and personal ministry time. Each night will have a special emphasis:
Wednesday- “Worship & The Presence of God”
Thursday- “Healing: Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual”
Friday- “The Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Spirit Empowered Living”
I hope you can join us for one or more of these services as well as participate in our fast. There’s no better way to start off the new year!
Join us this Christmas Eve!
Join us this Wednesday at either 5:00 or 7:00pm for one of our traditional Christmas Eve services. They will be at our Ministry Center (424 Duss Ave. Ambridge).
Remember, for every 1st time guest in the month of December our church is giving $10 to Foor For The Poor and Africa Oasis Project. Feel free to bring someone with you.
Hope to see you there!
New Location This Sunday!
You will not want to miss this coming Sunday morning! It is the launch of weekly services at the new Ambridge Area High School. This is also a historic moment because Sunday is also our 10-year anniversary as a church!
Make sure you don’t go to 424 Duss Ave. this Sunday morning. We will be at 909 Duss Ave. Service starts at 10:30!
Week Of Prayer Begins
Today we begin our week of prayer in anticipation of all that God is about to do in our area. Each day we will have a special prayer meeting from 12-1pm at the church. If you can swing the free time we’d love to have you join us.
Prayer is the most important thing we can do. God has chosen prayer to be the means by which his power is released in the world. This week we will be contending in prayer for God’s glory to be manifest, souls to be saved, and lives to be transformed. Even if you can’t make the meetings, join us in spirit by taking time this week to cry out to God with us this week.
Over the next few days I’ll also do a series of blogs on prayer. Stay tuned!
Dr. Earl Creps at ACC This Sunday
This Sunday, Nov. 23 we are incredibly privileged to have Dr. Earl Creps as a guest speaker in both morning services.
Earl, the former director of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (where I’m currently working through a master’s program), is now following the call of God to plant a university church in Berkeley, CA. He is a specialist in missional Christianity, Postmodernism, Communication, and Pentecostal Leadership.
He is also the author of “Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders” and “Reverse Mentoring: How Young Leaders Can Transform The Church And Why We Should Let Them” (love that title!).
If you’re in the Pittsburgh area this weekend consider yourself invited! You won’t be disappointed.
Check out earlcreps.com
ACC Football Festival This Saturday
If your game for some sweet football action meet us at the church (424 Duss Ave. Ambridge) this Saturday, Nov. 22 at 12:30. We’ll play from 1-3.
(All credit to MJohnson Media for the video!)
Leader’s Summit
Looking forward to teaching a breakout session called “How To Study the Bible” at the APC Leader’s Summit in the morning. I’ll be sharing some basic principles to fruitful and applicable study of the Scriptures.
No other book is more worthy of our intense devotion and careful study. And no other study is more rewarding than the study of God’s Word. Indeed, it is the calling, responsibility, and privilege of every Christian leader.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” – 2 Tim. 2:15
Looking forward to the summit!
Earl Creps at ACC Nov. 23
On Sunday, November 23 we are privileged to have Dr. Earl Creps with us as a guest speaker. Earl, a native of Pittsburgh, is a specialist on missional Christianity, postmodernism, communication, and leadership. Most recently he served as the director of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary where I have had him as a professor.
Earl is also the author of Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders and Reverse Mentoring: How Young Leaders Can Transform the Church and Why We Should Let Them (love that title!), both published by Leadership Network.
Earl and his wife Janet are now following the call of God to plant a church in Berkeley, CA. Earl is an amazing communicator with a passion for God. We are really blessed to have him speak to our community. You won’t want to miss the services on Nov. 23!
Check out earlcreps.com
Fall Back Sunday
This weekend is Fall Back weekend. Daylight Savings Time ends for us on Nov. 2.
Remember to set your clocks back 1 hour and enjoy the extra sleep!
Leader’s Summit
I’ve been invited to teach a breakout session at this years Leader’s Summit hosted by Allison Park Church. It will be held on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 8:00am-12:30pm. My session is called “How To Lead Others To Study The Bible For All It’s Worth.” I’m humbled by the opportunity and really excited to teach on this subject which I am so passionate about.
The Leader’s Summit is open to anyone currently volunteering in a local church or just desiring to increase effectiveness in ministry. Keynote speakers include Jeff Leake, Johannes Amritzer, and Marie Cartledge. You can register for the summit by clicking here.
Catalyst Conference
Yesterday was the first day of the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. There has been so much amazing information that it is difficult to absorb it all at once. Each speaker has been amazing.
It has been amazing to worship with about 12,000 Christian leaders from all over the country and to hear from some incredible speakers. Highlights for me have been:
Andy Stanley, Jim Collins, Steven Furtick, Seth Godin, and Craig Groeschel
Words really can’t express at this point how much I’ve been impacted by the sessions. Each one has been so different yet so insightful and applicable. I’ve reverted to handwriting my notes (for a change) but if you want a glimpse of some of the topics from the sessions, you can find them here on Jeff’s blog.
Minister’s Enrichment
Just arrived in Carlisle, PA where Jessica and I will be attending the annual Minister’s Enrichment conference for our district. The subject this year is Spiritual Gifts taught by Dr. David Lim, pastor of Grace Assembly in Singapore. I’m also getting class credit toward my master’s program for the conference!
Fall Membership/Baptism Weekend
Membership at ACC isn’t about joining a religious club or institution. Its about reaching your full potential in Christ by becoming a connected, committed, contributing part of his family.
If you’re interested in becoming a member, you are welcome to join us this Saturday 9.20 from 10am-1pm. You will have the chance to hear about who we are, what we believe, and where we’re headed. A free lunch will be provided. Please email us here for more info.
Also, this Sunday 9.21 we will be having water baptisms in both morning services. If you would like to be baptized or want more info about baptism simply email us here.
Youth Group Kick-Off
Tonight marks the official kick-off of Transit Student Ministries. After taking a break for the summer, the youth group is ready to start meeting weekly on Wednesday nights at 7pm. I’m so proud of Jess for all she puts into the youth ministry! This pic is from the Transit Picnic last Saturday.
New Series: Better Together
Modern research tells us that Americans are more socially disconnected now than ever before. Isolation and loneliness are a major problem eating away at our society.
Join us over the next few weeks as we dive into God’s word and learn how to overcome these tendencies through deepening our community with one another.
Block Party Pics
Had an amazing time at the block party last night! We had over 450 people in attendance and gave away about 300 backpacks filled with school supplies. Praise God!
Who’s Speaking At City Reach This Year?
Glad you asked! Our guest speaker on Tuesday, Aug. 12 will be former Harlem Globetrotter Seth Franco. Check out his website here. Seth Franco has played for The Court Jesters, The Harlem Wizards, and in 2003 became the first Caucasian Harlem Globetrotter since 1942! Seth has an amazing testimony of God’s power in his life. He will be sharing his story with us as well as some sweet basketball tricks.
On Wednesday, Aug 13 our guest speaker will be Daniel Elvelyk. Daniel and his wife serve as the national coordinators for Mission SOS- Sweden. As a gifted communicator, Daniel has a passion for sharing the gospel with unreached people groups all over the world.
Our final guest speaker will be yours truly. I’m looking forward to sharing from God’s heart on Thursday night!
City Reach Prayer & Training Night
If you have signed up in recent weeks to volunteer at City Reach this year make sure to show up at the church this Wednesday at 7pm for an evening of prayer and training (we have over 65 people signed up to help this year- Praise God!).
We will take some time to join our hearts together in prayer and huddle for a little vision casting and practical training.
If you’re new and are not sure what City Reach is all about you can read a good explanation of it here on Jeff Leake’s Blog. If you would still like to get involved, just send us a quick email here.
NT Class Wrap Up Tonight
Tonight at 7pm we wrap up our summer New Testament Survey course. This course has been a great study for many people who have been able to make it to a few classes.
This evening I will be teaching on the book of Revelation. This book is a mystery for a lot of people causing many to either disregard or misinterpret its contents. The aim tonight is to clarify its meaning while investigating its major themes in relation to God’s redemptive mission in Scripture.
God Of This City Series
I’m pumped about a new series that we will be starting this Sunday called God of This City. The theme for this series comes from the song by the same title which you can listen to here. During this series we will be learning this song and declaring it over the greater Ambridge region.
This is a series in preparation for City Reach this year. During the next few weeks we will be looking into how God uses his people to bring transformation to the cities where he has called them.
As a part of the MCM-Pittsburgh network of churches we will also be showing video clips of the various churches in our network as well as testimonies of people whose lives were changed by City Reach in the past. We got to hear what God is doing at Ridgewood Church last week and this week ACC will be the featured church!
This Week: James River Band & Student Choir Live
This week we are pumped about hosting the band and student choir from James River Assembly in Ozark, MO in both 9:15 & 11:00 services. JRA is the largest church in Missouri with about 8,000 people attending weekly. They are bringing their entire 43 voice student choir!
This is especially exciting for Jessica and I because we both attended James River while we lived in Missouri for college. What makes it even cooler for us is that we served as leaders in their youth ministry which most of these students are still a part of.
This Sunday is going to be an awesome time in God’s presence that you won’t want to miss!
Weekend Reflections
Saturday we had our Summer Membership Class and welcomed 16 new members to ACC! I continue to be amazed at what God is doing.
Enjoyed continuing our Parables series with a message from Matt. 15:1-13 on living with readiness and anticipation for the Second Coming of Christ.
Looking forward to our All-Church Picnic this afternoon at Economy Park at 4:00. Everybody’s welcome and there will be tons of food and family games. It’s going to be pretty sweet. Click here for directions.
Kid’s Blast at the Gazebo
This week ACC is hosting a kid’s ministry missions team from King’s River Worship Center in West Virginia. As a part of their week of ministry with us they will be hosting a children’s outreach event Tuesday-Thursday from 11:00am-12:30pm at the Ambridge Gazebo at the corner of 11th and Merchant St.
It will be a great time to connect with some of the children in our community and communicate the love of Christ. If you have kids and live nearby, this will be a great event to bring them out to.
New Testament Class
This Wednesday we will begin our Summer New Testament Survey Course. If any book in history is worthy of study it is God’s eternal life-changing Word! Here’s the rundown:
o June 4, Introduction and Synoptic Gospels
o June 11, John – Gospel and Epistles
o June 18, Acts
o June 25, Romans/Galatians
o July 2, Corinthians/Thessalonians
o July 9, Prison Epistles
o July 16, Pastoral Epistles
o July 23, Hebrews/James/Peter
o July 30, Jude/Revelation
Teachers include: Pastor Mike, Mark Santistevan, Jessica Santistevan, David Prepelka, Hank Niewola, and Pastor Nick Poole.
