Pastor's Weekly Email

Dear Friends,

This is what I wrote on September 26th in my weekly email..."As Hurricane Ian approaches Florida let's all be safe, be in prayer for whoever it will affect and be willing to help if needed!" Wow, have things changed! Our hearts are so heavy for our neighbors across the alley in Fort Myers and that whole area! Thanks to Vicky Johnson, who is a newer member to our church and moved from Cape Coral, she gave me the name of a previous church she attended called Anthem Church in Fort Myers. I reached out to Pastor Steve and put Marie in contact with him. On Saturday, my wife, Marie, my kids, Kim Falcone, Mark and Sherrie Kukulski and their two kids, along with Pastor Marcos from Florida Faith Church made their way over to Anthem Church. I read this from Marie in worship yesterday..."Late this afternoon, we were so well received by Pastor Steve and his wife Regina with Anthem church. With a couple delays in route, we arrived with an hour window to set up and serve an impromptu dinner for the surrounding neighborhood. As soon as we arrived, the pastor set out to extend an invitation to the neighbors. Promptly at starting time, a steady flow of exhausted, hot, and hungry grateful faces continued to flow in for the next two and a half hours. Amazing how something as simple as tacos brought strangers and friends together as they took a respite from an extremely long couple of days. We served about 75 meals and are looking forward to worshipping all together tomorrow before serving another two meals where we expect at least 200 to join us. Among the crowd tonight were many that have lost everything. We were humbled and honored to sit and hear some of their stories of strength and survival with a shared sentiment of gratitude for their safety despite such great material loss. All share their thanks to CBTS for going the distance and being present in this time of such great need."

The group extended their stay until after breakfasting this morning, so when they get back, I look forward to sharing with you all in greater detail how we can help them. Obviously, this will be a long road and Church By The Sea will be with our brothers and sisters over there for the long haul. Let's keep praying and thank you all so much for being willing to be His hands and feet in our church, community, over on the West Coast, and around the world!

I hope you have a safe week. I look forward to seeing you all this Sunday in worship, or on our YouTube Channel (The Church By The Sea).

In His Grip,
Chris