Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
(Ps. 24:7-10)
With much thanksgiving, I greet each of you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. My head is uplifted because God has lifted me! I have a testimony that I will share for eternity regarding God’s love, goodness, grace, mercy and healing power; hence, I just cannot praise God enough for saving and sustaining me.
In addition, I thank God for you because you sincerely talked to God in my behalf, and He heard your prayers. I am also very thankful for your kind expressions via cards, letters and emails. Moreover, I am very thankful for your love offerings. (In the past five months that we have been physically apart, I have received love offerings from many weekly, from many on my birthday, from many on Father’s Day, from many on Pastor’s Appreciation Day and now from many during my illness.) Furthermore, I am very thankful for your support in the Grocery Giveaway Ministry. Although I am currently not able to be present on Tuesday afternoons, the volunteers are doing an excellent job, and I need everyone to know how appreciative I am for their devoted service. I am expressing my gratitude not to make anyone feel bad or guilty; instead, I am expressing my gratitude because I need everyone to know how thankful I am despite all that I have been through.
As your pastor, I still solicit your prayers as God works through me to navigate our church through these unprecedented times notwithstanding my health challenges. I encourage everyone to participate in our Online Ministries (sjmbc.org) and to continue to support St. John financially with your Tithes and Offerings. You can mail or drop off your Tithes and Offerings to our St. John South Campus (662 South 52nd Street—Richmond, CA 94804), or you can give online through our website (sjmbc.org). To those of us who have supported St. John financially, may God bless us abundantly, and please know how appreciative we are. Because of people like you, St. John is still thriving in spite of this pandemic.
In conclusion, my divine message to each of us is as follows: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15.58).
Your Servant In Christ,
Pastor Kevin B. Hall