The Fruit Grows On...
Below is a letter from Pastor Solo Reyes of Christ Almighty Baptist Church.
Isolation. This is one of the hard realities that confronted us with the COVID-19 pandemic. We realize that God did not design us to live life in isolation. When God created Adam He declared, "...it is not good for man to be alone." The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, "two are better than one ... and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." We were designed for communion with God, and community with each other. Church is God's idea.
God's people together living for Him, together loving one another, together on mission for Him. Having said that, church planting is not a fad, it's not a new model for church growth. It has always been God's way of advancing His kingdom as His people obeyed the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandments. As you read of the church being birthed in the book of Acts, you will find that as people sought to fulfill the Great Commission, the fruits of their obedience were churches planted all over the known world! As believers in Christ, you and I were the result of people obeying the Lord's mandate to make disciples, but always you will find that the connection to a church planted where we were, is made. Church planting is God's idea. In 1987, CABC (Commonwealth Avenue Baptist Church then) planted a church, Peel International Baptist Church (PIBC) in Brampton, Ontario. It was the church I would call home as a new immigrant in Canada. PIBC would be instrumental to nurture and grow many of my family and loved ones in the Lord. Brethren I used to serve with, would be instruments of the Lord to start other churches that are still going and growing today. The fruit grows on.
Pastor Solo Reyes is currently serving as the Associate Pastor of Christ Almighty Baptist Church.
We are excited as to what God will do in, through, and with Life Church. We thank the Lord for calling Pastor Lendl to our church plant in Pickering. Let us keep him, Mia, Kal, the core leaders, and the core team close to our hearts in prayer. These are challenging days for church planting. Some would say difficult days for doing so. But that's God's specialty. He is not only an expert in the difficult, He's the Best in the impossible! We are engaging in church planting, not because it's the "in thing" to do, we are doing this in obedience to God's call for us to make disciples of all nations! And Jesus promises us, "-all power is given unto Me." And we are promised His Presence, "...and lo, I am with you always." Did He not say, that He will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it? As Adoniram Judson once said, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God." Beloved, the fruit grows on.