Dear Santa,
Hey big guy!
I know this is an incredibly busy time of year for you. You probably need to get the sleigh serviced and ready for the trip. And you probably have shifts of elves going 24-7 to get everything loaded up by Tuesday. With all that you must do to make those billions of deliveries, I hate to add any more to your workload during the Christmas crunch. (Though I hear Amazon is pitching in these days?) But I thought I’d share a little list—not for myself, but for our church family at Northside.
So, if you’re willing to lend an ear, here’s what we’re hoping for in 2025…
- Building Stronger Marriages: We know lots of marriages are struggling. And our Shepherds want us to be a church that is pro-active rather than reactive. Along those lines, we have a world-class Marriage Workshop coming up soon, and we want to bless as many marriages as possible. Please get as many married couples as you can fit in your sleigh and bring them our way! You can join us also…bring Mrs. Clause if you like! Northside is on a mission to help build up, encourage, and strengthen as many marriages and families as we can.
- Reaching More People Online: Know Your Bible enters its 39th year this year. And as good as a work as it is, we realize that what worked to reach people in 1986 does not reach people as well in 2025. So, while we have the same mission, we need some different methods. Perhaps you could send us some help. We believe that there is a massive field ready to harvest online. But, frankly, we’re new to this, so we could use any expert Elves who are viral on social media to help us do that in the best way possible. And as our leaders lead us into new fields, we’ll also need lots of harvesters to help us! We’ll need prayers, givers, graders, and folks passionate about reaching the lost!
- Doing All for God’s Glory: Our focus as a church this year is “To the Glory of God.” We want to be the best we can be at every level. Our theme verse from 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We know that because God has blessed us in many ways, that God also requires excellent stewardship of those blessings. So, if you could fine a way to help us make sure that in all we do, we are glorifying God and pursuing excellence.
Those are the big three on our list for 2025. And while those are big requests, I’m confident in your ability to make it all happen. I realize it may not all get in the sleigh this Wednesday. But, thanks for getting your team of elves on it. Thanks for all your work, and please tell Rudolph we said hello!
-Toby