Join us on Sunday, February 12 for our annual Winter Picnic!  Immediately following our regular worship service at 10:30, the festivities begin!

The picnic includes a potluck lunch (indoors), and will feature the following:

- the “award winning soup” contest.  Did your great grandmother leave you the secret family recipe for an ‘out-of-this-world-awesome’ soup?  Then bring it in a slow cooker and enter it into our contest!

- Winter sweater contest.  Our contest from last year returns and has expanded to include the best of the best (or worst!) sweater you have in your closet!

- Marshmallow Sculpture Contest – Tables and families compete against each other to build the best sculptures!

Following our potluck lunch, there will be many activities available including.

- Sledding (assuming we have snow!)

- Basketball & Road Hockey

- “Ping Pong Obstacle Course”

- Board games (bring your favorite!)

- Ice Skating.  (Off site open skate at the Albany County Hockey Facility, 830 Albany Shaker Road.  Cost is $4, seniors $3, kids under 5 $2, and skate rentals are $3.  Transportation to and from the ACHF is not provided.  Meet in the church lobby following lunch for any additional information.)

*  All free time activities are subject to change.

We are creating a new pictorial family album, and you’re part of the family!  Our album wouldn’t be complete without you.

We will be offering free appointments along with a complimentary 8×10, but you need to book an appointment!  Click here to schedule your own appointment, call the church office (518-456-6777), or call Lifetouch directly at (888-313-1746).

Thanks!

I wanted to catch up with you and let you know of a couple of things that are happening around Pineview:

• New Year’s Sunday, you received a Setting Goals with 20 20 Foresight handout to help you make plans in light of God’s plan.  (To listen to the message, click here.)  I would love to hear how you are setting goals based on our values!  Drop me a note on paper, email, Twitter or Facebook.
• Last night, our Elders for 2012 met for the first time.  We had an excellent meeting, discussing the direction we are headed as we look to hire additional pastoral staff.  We’re still evaluating our needs, so I appreciate your prayers!
• The lobby renovation team has met and will be putting out a request for quotes soon.  We unfortunately won’t be able to make the District Executive Committee’s deadline for agenda submission, so it may take a little time before we can show off some plans.  However, it’s better to do it right than fast!  Hopefully we’ll have some final layouts approved by the Elders soon!
• We’ll soon be doing regular email updates to keep in touch more often.  It’ll include events, good reading and updates from me that I trust you will find helpful.  We’ll be adding everyone’s email to a list and sending it out, so if you’d rather not be on that list, make sure you let me know.

Watch for our new family photo album and the Winter Picnic; both coming soon!

The message surrounding the New Year is always one of hope.  Hope of a better future and hope of a better tomorrow.  Goals are set, resolutions are written, plans are made.  No one can make anything of their life without setting goals.  They are necessary if we desire to grow as people.

But there is one foundational truth that Jesus wants us to know about goals:  God has goals.  And as the ultimate authority, His goals will eventually trump our goals.

Jesus says if your goals will amount to something, you must consider God’s goals.  You must make plans in light of God’s Plan.

Click to download a copy of our weekly announcement sheet.

I also have a second prayer for you.  It is this:  that you would have boldness and favor when inviting your unchurched friends and family.  My prayer is that you would not come alone, but that you would take the opportunity to share the hope that Jesus brings to others by inviting them to our Christmas Eve Service.

Our service is at 6:00 pm, will run just slightly over one hour, and will include great singing of familiar carols along with a message from Shawn Wallace, Pastor of Carman Road Alliance Church.

See you on Christmas Eve!

What makes Christmas so special? For many people, is the presence of family and friends. For others, it is the presents, either giving or receiving. For many, it is a season of hope.

But for many, Christmas is not a time of hope. It is about shattered hope, pain and loss. For many, Christmas isn’t about “God with us” but is summed up in the question “God. where are you?”

In one man’s experience of the first Christmas, you discover why Christmas can be the thrill of Hope. Christmas clearly proves that our lives are not circumstantial but providential.

This Sunday, we were challenged to do more than give gifts this Christmas.  We were challenged to “Be the gift that someone needs”.  (If you missed the message, you can catch it here!)   Jesus surrendered his rights so we could have life, and we can do the same for others this Christmas.

Have you been a gift to someone?  I would love if it you would be willing to share the story!  You can post the story here in the comments below, on our Facebook page, tweet it, or blog about it and link it!  If you feel kind of weird to share how you helped someone, just email it by using the form below.

Be the gift that someone needs!

Christmas is a great time to invite a friend to church to hear about the baby that didn’t just change one family, but the entire world.

But have you ever tried to convince someone they have needed to change?

Christians believe they have the greatest message of life change that the world has ever known, but find it hard to convince people to believe it.

Thankfully, when Jesus came, He came with a new way to convince people of the truth of His gospel.