Pastor Letter: November 30, 2017

Dear Buck Run Family:

Few things, perhaps nothing, that we do is as important as our participation in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Every year at Christmas time we commemorate the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus by giving a substantial missions offering that goes completely to the work of the International Mission Board and our 4000 missionaries who are taking the gospel to people who have not heard the good news of Jesus Christ.

Searches are always costly. There’s no such thing as an acceptable loss. Love pays whatever the search costs. We’ve been learning these principles on Sunday mornings. Now we have the opportunity to put that into practice. You can give anytime, of course, but on Sunday, December 17, we are going to have our annual Walk to the Manger and ask EVERYONE in our congregation to give something toward the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

We are blessed at Buck Run to have people from all over the economic spectrum. We have single-parent families that are struggling to make ends meet, and we have families who have been able to accrue a level of independence and comfort. I would not expect everyone to be able to give a certain amount, but that is why I ask you to give to Jesus a little more than you spend on Christmas gifts for anyone else. After all, our celebration is about Jesus, not about ourselves. So if you would spend $200 on your spouse or on your children, give to the Lottie Moon offering a little more than that. Make sure that you make it about HIM and not about  US. If we all use this standard as a minimum, we can all do our part.

And if you are able to give even more, give more. Our past offerings have been as high as $80,000, and the Lord has certainly not slowed down His blessings on us. Let’s spend less on each other and give more to make the name of Jesus known to the nations. Jesus deserves the praises of people from all over the world. Let’s do all we can to make sure that His lost sheep are found!

Finally, this Sunday will be the last in the Lostology series, but I pray that the passion and priorities we have learned and what God is stirring in our hearts will continue. We have had a great increase in the number of baptisms this year, but every year I pray for sixty baptisms. Buck Run has never had sixty baptisms in one year. Do you believe God wants us to have that many? Do you believe God is willing to save that many? Do you believe God deserves that many people to become His followers? Of course the answer is yes! So what is limiting us? Could it be our own sinfulness? Might our own reluctance to share the gospel be the problem? Let’s pray for God to use us to send the light of Christ to the nations AND to central Kentucky!

This Sunday marks my fourteenth anniversary as pastor of Buck Run. I thank God every day for the high privilege of serving you and this wonderful church. Thank you for loving me in spite of my many faults. You make ministry a joy and not a burden, and I am grateful. I love you.

In Christ Jesus,

Bro. Hershael