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“He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 WEB

March Newsletter - 2016

Hello there,

Thank you for reading our devotional and being a part of Refreshing Hope Ministries. This is our monthly update on what has been happening here during the last month and I thank you for taking time to read it.

What exactly does the Lord require of us? We often turn this into 10,000 things but it boils down to “Love God, Love others.” When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, that was His response (Luke 10:27).

Jesus said “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). With the childhood that I had, I often struggle showing love, but I do try because that is one of the non-negotiable duties of a Christian. Love one another. Love your neighbor and let God correct them, not you.

February was a busy month of work here and there are many exciting things being developed, a few are just short of completion. Here is the latest news:

The Love Dare Relationship Challenge: is almost completed. This is day 39, but you can go back through the entire 40 day course at anytime by visiting Sylvia’s blog here: http://www.refreshinghope.org/blogs/5/

The Love Dare is an intense 40-day marriage course and was featured in the movie “Fireproof”. We are hearing positive feedback from those participating and we do it ourselves. Even the best marriages can slip if you do not intentionally maintain it. If you are single, it will make you a better person and prepare you for that day so it is still worth participating.

March Fitness Challenge: is a new exercise challenge to build sustainable fitness habits during the month of March and log what you did on the website. It is fun and healthy for all of us, and we learn healthful ideas from each other. Also we can encourage each other to stay the course. You can join it here (You do need a website account at refreshinghope.org): http://www.refreshinghope.org/groups/topic/view/group_id/21/topic_id/147

Online Church News: www.refreshinghope.org We have grown to 3,136 members and 12,539 friendships. We have had 184 prayer requests and sent 756 replies to them. A big thanks to our prayer team.

Guideposts has a new booklet order form in their section of the website now. You can fill out an order form and get a paperback copy of any of the Guideposts books mailed to you for free. If you want multiple booklets, put it in the notes. (Please allow up to 4 weeks for delivery.)

New things coming in March:

Bible Quizzes and Trivia: We have almost completed this and it is now in the testing phase. Soon you will be able to read / listen to a Bible study and then take a timed quiz on what you learned. You will accrue points for accurate answers and this will display on your profile as a ranking. Your results, your knowledge of the Bible, and the quiz can be shared on the site and onto Facebook. We love the Word of God, so let’s have some fun and sharpen our knowledge in the process. We hope to add new quizzes each week and the weekly Bible study will resume when we complete this upgrade.

Questions and Answers: This is now ready but we have to do some maintenance before we install it. Have a question about the Bible or how something works on the website? Soon you will be able ask a question and others can reply to it in an organized, searchable way. This will also become the place for our FAQ and allow all of our members to participate in asking, and in answering questions.

Phone Conferencing for FAAD Chat: We are going to be trying out a new system for our online meetings and exploring phone conferencing. Everyone can call into a toll free number and we can have a hands free, over the phone meeting in a virtual conference room. This is a work in progress but may become something great and allow us more flexibility as we explore online meetings.

If you are in need of prayer, be sure to send in your needs to our prayer network. We and our prayer team will be honored to lift you up!

Thank you so much for sticking with us, and for all who have supported us throughout the month with prayer, encouragement and financial resources. Thank you also for all of the wonderful cards, emails, and notes that that we received! It was so encouraging to hear from you and we were blessed by every one of them. You are a true blessing to us and we appreciate you.

I pray that the Lord richly blesses you this month. May He guide your every step and fan the flames within us both. May the Lord lead us all into everything that He has for us as we follow Him one step at a time, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

Pastor Dion