Spotlight

This Is The Judgement

“19 This is the judgement: The light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19 (CSB)

Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus began with Jesus emphasizing a need for not only a flesh faithfulness (to the religious traditions) but also a spiritual rebirth through the Holy Spirit. This battle between the temporal flesh and the eternal spirit remains Jesus’ theme through this often quoted passage. When it comes to the flesh, Jesus knew he would crush paradigms. The Messiah was overblown to be a political leader for the nation of Israel; not a maverick Rabbi and son of a carpenter with little formal training as the educated Pharisees perceived. Not only that but He was surrounding himself with spiritual outcasts; those who couldn’t make the educational cut or, like Matthew/Levi the Tax Collector, were viewed as enemies of Israel for working for the oppressive Roman Empire.

Jesus came to make present His eternal spiritual reign. And the greatest enemy of that, is not some big political scheme of the enemy. The enemy is the simple and often silent attacks of the enemy. He wants us focused on the flesh. This world has the proverbial everything we want, and so we “pursue happiness” by every means often resulting in deeds that are evil. But the one led by the spirit learns to follow the spirit into the light, and more, the disciple of Jesus learns to love the light.

John wrote to the early church these words in his first epistle (letter):

“5 … God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, ‘We have fellowship with him,’ and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all Sin.” 1John 1:5b-7 (CSB)

Don’t miss it, Jesus is more than Savior. He is Lord who gives us His spirit to train us how to practice walking in the light. Salvation results in a spiritual rebirth that exposes the evil darkness and the skeletons in our closet so we can live by faith in Jesus Christ. And the extra bonus is it results in healthy fellowship with both God and with one another as John’s letter makes evident.

The Scriptures are clear; we know the judgement up front. Do we love living in the light? Or do we love the sneaky secret evil deeds of darkness? What we feed lives and what we starve dies. Feed the light and flee the darkness.

Running into the light,

Jeremiah Holcomb

Hello Maple View family!

What a month July has been. July seemed like such a long month, but so many amazing things happened. We partnered with MV Kids for a water balloon fight, we had a trip to Christ In Youth in Cleveland, TN, a trip to Cascade Falls, Pipestem Adventure Lake, and Carowinds. Most amazingly in July was the baptism of one of our students Bailey Brewster.

We are praying for more life decisions to join Jesus in baptism in the month of August, and for years to come.

There’s a lot of exciting stuff happening in August. We have a middle school VBS coming up, and the return of “Destination Unknown”.

In August we will wrap up our Sunday Night Series of “Lessons from Matthew”, while continuing our journey through the Book of Acts on Sunday mornings. August is shaping up to be just as busy if not busier than July, and we pray that it bares as much, if not MORE fruit for the Kingdom.

Thank you all for your dedication to your children and their growth in the Lord.

Sincerely,

Eric Vance

Associate Minister of Youth

July was a fun month with the Maple View kids, full of summer activities.

Tori hosted a wonderful, interactive family night on July 2nd. The family participated in games like tug of war, the three-legged race, and a God’s creation frisbee. They even got to defeat Goliath aka Eric.

On July 15th, the kids created some great summer memories at Christian Acres. They enjoyed swimming, fellowshipping, and picnicking.

The great news is that we still have plenty more summer adventures to come. The movie day is scheduled for next week. We’ve been excitedly planning for VBS August 10-14. The theme this year is True North: Trusting Jesus in a Wild World. We’ve been having a lot of fun planning and praying and decorating for the event. The church picnic is on August 17th and kids’ games and prizes are planned for after lunch. Finally, the Back to School Bash is September 7th from 6-8pm. We’ll have activities like a bounce house, games, and face painting. This will be the start to the Children’s Ministry Fall Program: Exploring the Bible in a Year. I can’t wait to dig in and spend the year with your kids exploring the bible in a clean, safe, and fun environment. I enjoyed this first month with the children, watching them learn, grow and laugh. I look forward to many more to come.

Sincerely,

Chasity Montang

Children’s Minister

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CAMP MANAGER POSITION If you are interested in applying for the position of C/A camp manager, you have until August 14th. Call us at 304-589-6296 or email us at christianacres@frontier.com to receive the application via email. The Executive Committee will recommend to the General Board who will decide who will be hired at their meeting on August 15th. This man will replace Rick, who will step down as camp manager Jan. 1, 2026. He will be moving to a part-time basis.

GOSPEL SING AND ROBERT’S APPRECIATION PARTY COMBINED ON AUGUST 24TH Things have been switched around a little this year for our C/A ANNUAL GOSPEL SING! Beginning at 4 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. we will have an “appreciation party” for Robert Harvey and family, who will be moving to a new ministry later on this year. To show our thanks for his 20 or more years of service to C/A, we are asking both our churches and individuals to express their appreciation by donating cards for our “giving tree.” We hope all will give generously! The hotdogs will be ready and served along with chips and cake to honor the occasion during these two hours. This portion of the “gospel sing” will be held at the lower pavilion, weather permitting. In the event of rain, it will be moved to the cafeteria. Please come early to express your thanks to Robert and his family. At 6:15, we will then move to the chapel where Tommy and J.T. Oaks will present their new “Flood Brothers” drama concert. These two play Shem and Japheth, Noah’s sons. They recount their adventures in the ark using the blues style music to sing the tale. A love offering will be taken to support the Oaks ministry.

GYM BUILDING ARRIVES ON CAMPUS JULY 29TH We are super excited as were the Jr. II campers and staff when they awoke Tuesday morning to see that the gym building had arrived on campus! By the end of the first day, about 2/3 of both side walls were up. the framework will be finished soon, and we then will move on to phase 4.

GREAT CAMP SEASON OVER! The 2025 camp season is now in the history books with a giant increase in attendance. We had 674 kids this year compared to 582 kids in 2024—an increase of 92 campers! Our special thanks to all the deans and their staff for a successful season!