One of the things our church does exceptionally well is provide food for buffets! Our thanks to all who provided so generously for the refreshments afterwards.
Thanks to Ruth for making flower arrangements for the community hall:
Thanks to all who helped on car park duty, as greeters, as tea and coffee makers and as stalwart washer-uppers! Your willingness to help with all the practical details was much appreciated. Thanks to Mark, Debbie, Lorraine, Karen, Jade, Alan, Janet and Gillian in particular for their unstinting help.
Thanks to Mark Wapples for standing in as bassist again (Stephen is highly frustrated that he can’t play bass and piano at the same time, so thanks, Mark, for helping out!)
Thanks to Stephen for all his help with the music for the evening, and most especially for standing in for me, but even more for his encouragement and support over many, many months last year during the waiting and the difficult times. I am privileged to have you as a son and cannot thank God enough for you.
Thanks to the rest of the music team at Goldthorpe, who make worshipping God so much easier not only because of their skill but because of their servant hearts and love for God. Thanks also to Gemma who sang at the end of the service when I virtually had no voice left to sing!
Thanks to Dave for his unstinting attention to detail and his willingness to go the extra mile in making this service so special. Many people at the service found it strange to think that two former pastors (in Dave and Mark) are still on the leadership team at church and that there is no sense of awkwardness in working alongside each other. We can only say that God has blessed us enormously in this respect in giving us good relationships, much accumulated wisdom and deep friendships. We believe this comes from God’s grace and people’s humility. Dave and Joan have been a great support and blessing to Garry and myself over the years and we are grateful for their support in ways that make the words ‘thank you’ seem utterly inadequate!
Thanks to Stephen for his willingness to ‘do the boring bits’, as he put it in introducing the meeting and for Karen for making presentations:
Thanks to Stacey for her stalwart work as photographer and videographer. She would like to be a wedding photographer one day, and I have to say, last night felt rather like the photography sessions at a wedding as one by one, people were lined up against ‘the white wall’ (for a good background) and photographed! Since she has to contend with one who apparently blinks or talks every time a photo is taken, her patience and skill are to be commended! At one point during the week we had no tripods for the recording and ended up with four, so thanks also to all who generously loaned theirs for our use!
Thanks to Mark and Diane for their support, encouragement, commitment and faithfulness to God. It’s difficult to find the words to express just how much they contribute to the life of the church, but I’m sure we are all committed to continuing to pray for them to know God’s leading and anointing in everything they do.
Thanks also to everyone at Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church who make it possible to ‘enjoy the call of God’, as Dave put it, through their faith, love, encouragement and support. I have never known a group of people so committed to God and to each other and count it a privilege to serve alongside you. Thanks to all who took time out of their busy schedules to support the church last night, especially those from the Salvation Army in Goldthorpe, Wombwell Pentecostal Church, Grimethorpe Pentecostal Church and Hope House Church, Barnsley. We are part not only of a local church but a global church and we are grateful that God gives us each a part to play in His wonderful salvation story.
The biggest thanks have to be saved for our amazing God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.