Greetings Team Wellspring!

Wow! What a weekend it was! What excitement and enthusiasm filled the house this past Saturday evening and Sunday morning! What a visual of all the different ways that so many of you are making a difference in the lives of others and in this world! What a sense of the Lord's presence in the time of worship and of his heart expressed through the various ministries on display!

You can check out an article that the New Britain Herald ran on Monday via this link:

http:www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2010/11/21/news/doc4ce9d62f409e3419764074.txt

I want to thank all of the team members who did such a great job in making this experience happen and--more importantly--for all the ministry that you are doing week in and week out. Remember, the purpose of Team Wellspring Weekend is to create on-ramps for more folks to join in the joy of serving in the Kingdom.

I also want to take this opportunity to reflect with you upon some numbers that were shared at the congregational meeting this past Sunday night. I think they are worth celebrating. Pastor Dave Luce put them together for us to review where we have been over the past few years in this journey together. Two indicators--attendance and giving--are recorded in numbers but they reflect precious people and faithful commitment.

Over the past five years our average attendance has grown from 387 in 2006 (our first full year in our new building) to 634 for the first ten months of 2010. That averages just under 13% growth each year. Team Wellspring has been growing!

Over that same time our giving has increased comparably--just about 13% each year on average. This has been true in flush economic times and even after the recent economic downturn. You have been faithful, reflecting God's faithfulness. Remember, there are no recession in heaven! And as Pastor Wes said over this past weekend--our giving honors God and goes to support the work of Kingdom ministry that was on display all over the building during our Team Wellspring celebration. Kingdom giving touches lives!

So I wanted to say thanks for the privilege of being part of such a wonderful team. And I wanted to congratulate you upon all that you are making possible by your faithfulness and glad-hearted efforts.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

A few minutes past nine on Monday morning I heard a polite knock on my door.

"Come on in."

Miss Dawn Fischer peeked in and asked if she and her young charges from the midweek Welldiggers class of pre-schoolers could come in and pray for me. Anytime Miss Dawn offers to have the children pray for me I am sitting on ready.

Those of you who don't know about Miss Dawn probably don't have young children. She has a passion for children and for the Kingdom of God. She has a unique and effective way of teaching pre-schoolers the ways of the Spirit. They learn how to worship God freely and simply, how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and how to pray in faith in Jesus' name. They also learn many other things from the Bible that will help form their spirits as followers of the Lord. We are so fortunate to have Miss Dawn as part of our fellowship! The world will be different because of her ministry to these children.

So Miss Dawn and the children drew around me. She explained that they were doing a prayer walk through the church on the way to their classroom. "How could they pray for me? What were my main duties as pastor?" I told them my main job was to study God's Word and listen to Him so that I could teach and lead the people.

Then they began to pray for me. Miss Dawn asked them to listen in their hearts to the Holy Spirit. One had a picture of a key (biblically a symbol of authority), and another had a picture of a walking stick, a big blue one (biblically the staff speaks of leadership). The children then began to pray for the Lord to release the things they had seen and for the requests I had made.

"In Jesus' name, Amen!" With that, Miss Dawn led the children out with a song. They left me with a smile in my heart; more importantly those simple prayers left their impression in heaven.

Thank you children and thank you Miss Dawn for your surprise visit!

So I have been interested in politics my entire life.

How many second graders do you know who requested and then received in the mail a signed family photo from a presidential candidate? Or middle schoolers who put up campaign bumper stickers in their rooms? Or high school juniors who campaign for a congressional candidate?

Yep--I did all those things.

I follow campaigns in states where I have never lived; know the governors of states where I hope never to live; know who are up-and-comers in both parties. I even follow politics in the United Kingdom. What else am I going to read about in the newspapers when I go to England a couple times a year . . . cricket?

But I have done one thing this campaign season I have never done before in my entire existence as a political junkie--I have put up a lawn sign in my front yard for a candidate. For the first time in my 24 years as a resident of Connecticut there is a candidate for statewide office I am excited about. The name of this candidate?

Martha Dean. She is running for Attorney General here in the land of steady habits.

I'm not going to try and convince you to vote for Ms. Dean. I'm not even going to tell you why I am so excited about her. But you can check Martha Dean's website for yourself. You can go to www.deanag2010.com Its up to you. And don't forget to vote Tuesday, November 2.

RM