“The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in
this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of
Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed.” 2 Kings 23:21-22
It was a joy to be together this past weekend during our 2023 Winter Retreat, held from January 5th to January 8th. Similar to the Israelite’s calling to celebrate the appointed festivals in the Old Testament, we celebrated all that God taught us in 2022 and looked forward to even GREATER things in 2023. The retreat theme was simply “Greater,” and every lesson called us higher in our walks with God!
We began our incredible retreat weekend on Thursday evening with the Bible Talk leaders of the church gathering a day earlier than the congregation. We were privileged enough to hear Evan Bartholomew preach a powerful sermon called “Greater Love Has No One Than This”. Evan helped us understand the call of Jesus to lay down our lives for our Bible Talks. Also, he shared a quote from one of the greatest empire builders, Napoleon Bonaparte: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for him.”
The choice that we all must face is whether or not we are willing to lay down our lives both in a physical sense and a spiritual sense. From a physical standpoint, do we want to become martyrs for the gospel? From a spiritual standpoint, are we willing to give our time, energy, resources, and hearts to live our lives full of sacrifice and love for God’s people, as Jesus did?
Next, we walked through the many highlights of 2022 of our congregation and looked into the future of 2023. We achieved increíble goals in 2022, such as growing by 27%, starting at sixty disciples and finishing the year with seventy-six. Encouragingly, we have already begun the year with two baptisms! As a church, we blew out our Special Missions Contribution, not only 100% of our goal but exceeding our goal to more than $100,000!
The next day we continued our leadership portion as we gathered after breakfast. I was privileged enough to deliver a message that morning entitled, “No Servant is Greater Than His Master”. We studied John 13, the last action Jesus wanted to leave the apostles with, and how he washed their feet. Jesus performs this humbling task at the last supper. And Luke 22 details the apostles arguing about which of them was
the greatest apostle. But Jesus washing their feet, which the house servant would have done, is a call higher.
On Friday night, the entire church arrived, and we gathered to hear Evan preach a lesson titled “He Must Become Greater; I Must Become Less”! These words came from a mighty prophet named John the Baptist, who Jesus said even the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than him! Immediately following Evan’s lesson, he walked us through the highlights of 2022 and announced our goals for 2023. Very excitingly, the Lord has laid out plans for an Ottawa International Christian Church planting, and Isiah and Liz Famurewa will lead the mission team!
The following morning we split the men and women into different sessions to hear the powerful message of “The One Who Is In You Is Greater”! The brothers had the privilege of hearing Isaiah Famurewa preach, and the sisters had the privilege of hearing Kelly Bartholomew preach! What followed was incredibly refreshing times of confession and vulnerability for the brothers and the sisters.
After an afternoon filled with basketball, food, and fellowship, we gathered on Saturday night to hear Ghislain Normand preach, “The Greatest Of These Is Love”! Ghislain masterfully helped us see the bigger picture of what God is doing through our hardships in life. He challenged us to surf the waves of difficulty no matter how high the waves get. He also vulnerably shared from his own life about how God has helped him to continue to love!
The weekend concluded with our Sunday Worship Service. My incredible wife, Margie, shared her heart for communion, Tony & Vita Ventura shared why they give contribution, and I had the privilege of delivering the sermon called: “Even Greater Things”. Going into 2023, Jesus wants us to do works that exceed even what he accomplished in his three-and-a-half-year ministry on earth. Let us all continue to grow in our appreciation of what God has done in history, creation, and hardships. Let us live by the Spirit in keeping in step with the knowledge that God is “overwatching” us, helping us with every stride we take.
What a historic weekend we enjoyed together as a spiritual family! I hope this retreat helped deepen your faith and encouraged you to become greater for His purpose. I love you all very much, and to God be all the glory!
Kirk Hamula