Children’s Ministry has a new name

Oct. 24, 2019 –  Our Children’s Ministry has a new name – “Footsteps.”

On 21 occasions in the Gospels, Jesus used the term, “Follow me.” MC3 Church wants to teach children to follow in Jesus’s footsteps, so we’ve claimed Mark 1:17 to share the life-changing message of Christ with our little ones, said Children’s Minister Rae Tyler Caggiula.

“Follow me” will serve as the basic building block for Children’s Ministry’s goals, and the Footsteps logo will be used for various themes and projects.

Caggiula emphasized that elements of Mark 17 can be learned by children of all ages. For example:

• A 2- or 3-year old can memorize “Follow me.”
• A 4- or 5-year-old can learn “Come, follow me.”
• Younger elementary age children can learn “Come, follow me,” Jesus said.”
• Older elementary age children can learn the entire verse: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

“Please join and support our magnificent children in helping them learn and live these life-changing scriptures,” Caggiula said.

Oct. 18, 2019 – Regrettably, we are postponing tomorrow’s FallFest event. The weather forecast calls for a 100 percent chance of rain and high wind Saturday during the hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., potentially creating hazardous conditions for the event.

The good news is that we have rescheduled FallFest for next Saturday (Oct. 26) – same time and place. So please add the new date to your calendars and let’s plan on putting our best foot forward for the Lord.

In the meantime, we are excited about seeing you at the Forward Sunday worship service this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Parkview High School.

Remember, it’s Double Sunday for our children and students—dress alike with a friend and win a prize—and Double-Double Sunday for our weekly offering as we try to lower the gap between our offerings and expenses this year.

Oct. 14, 2019 – MC3's second annual Forward Sunday—our chance to reflect on the Lord's blessings over the past year and look Forward to the year to come—will take place Sunday, Oct. 20.

This year's Forward Sunday will include a catered meal in the cafeteria at Parkview High School immediately following our worship service. In addition, we're looking for some doubles and a double-double when it comes to our offering.

Both the Children and Student ministries will use Forward Sunday for a Double Day—when their members are asked to bring a guest and dress like each other.

Meanwhile, we are asking for a Double-Double when it comes to the offering, which is our way of basically seeking an offering at least four times the usual total. As you know, we have experienced lower-than-expected giving this year, and are hoping to use the Double-Double offering on Forward Sunday to help close the gap between income and expenses for the church. Please be praying about your tithes and offerings on Oct. 20.

Rajan Ipe, president of Kerala Christian Mission, will be our guest speaker for Forward Sunday. Our church launched Rajan's mission work in India in the 1970s and we have been faithful supporters of his ministry—which now includes more than 50 churches—ever since.

Oct. 3, 2019 – MC3 Church's FallFest will take place Saturday, Oct. 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at J.B. Williams Park on Five Forks Trickum Road. We need your help to make this a special event for our community and church family.

Here’s a quick overview of the servants needed to staff the event:

• At least 25 volunteers to host trunk-or-treat (decorate vehicles, pass out candy and hopefully offer a game for the kids). See a list of potential themes for your vehicle.
• At least 35 individuals to help with other activities. Specifically, we need people to watch over inflatables, serve food, staff sno-cone and popcorn machines, and oversee our cupcake walk, face painting and photo booth, as well as assist with set-up and tear-down.

Sign up to host Trunk-Or-Treat

Sign up to Serve in Another Capacity

You can help the church staff immensely by signing up now (use the links above), so we have a good sense of the available resources to stage the event. If you have questions, please contact Jim Barber by email or at 404-268-6981.

Sept. 15, 2019 –  Exciting things continue to happen in the life of MC3 Church, and we want to give you an update on recent developments.

First, as you probably know, we have a new children’s minister, Rae Tyler Caggiula. We are excited to have Rae’s experience and passion to guide our efforts in this vital area. It’s never too early to start leading children to a relationship with Christ, and Rae will make that a priority as she works with our many servants in the children’s area. If you are interested in helping with our children, please touch base with Rae.

Second, this week we honored the Lord with a $275,000 contribution to the missions supported by MC3 . This donation is above and beyond the 10 percent of our weekly offerings that we allocate to missions. When we announced plans to create MC3 Church and sell our Old Stone Mountain Road property, one of our goals was to honor the Lord with the fruits of the sale, and this $275,000 donation is one way we can do that. Our contribution was allocated to each mission according to the formula designed by our Missions Committee, with a few minor adjustments. For example, we made contributions to some missions that are no longer regularly supported by the church. Please be in prayer that the Lord will use these funds to build His Kingdom in ways we cannot imagine.

Finally, we want to give you a brief update on our efforts to find a new permanent location. As you know, we want to stay in the Parkview school district, and facilities and space in this area are tight to say the least. We have looked at numerous properties, and none have fit the criteria we need for a facility. We also have ruled out the possibility of acquiring land and building a new facility. It’s simply too expensive and the elders believe building from the ground up would be poor use of the Lord’s resources. In addition, we were approached earlier this year by a congregation about the possibility of a merger or some kind of consolidation. However, the proximity of our two congregations made the idea impractical.

All that said, opportunities continue to arise, and we are looking at each of them with a careful eye and, most importantly, with prayerful consideration. We see reason for optimism, but we will not get ahead of the Lord’s leading. We want a home for our church, but, first and foremost, we want God’s blessing. We must trust Him to show us where we belong in His time.

Of course, we recognize the uncertainty and discomfort caused by our “wandering in the desert.” We hope the Lord will lead us to our new home soon, and we ask for your continued prayers, patience and support, especially in the setup and teardown for our Sunday services.

In the meantime, we encourage you to remember that churches are much more than buildings. Our congregation is a member of the family of God, and we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Please engage with your family regularly, not just on Sunday mornings. Join a C-Group for weekly fellowship and Bible study. Organize a Fellowship Freestyle event to spend time with your church family and engage your neighbors. Reach for the ONE who needs Christ in our community and world.

God has blessed us immeasurably and let’s be thankful for all that we have.

Yours in Christ,

Art and the MC3 Church Elders (Thom Arrendale, Jim Barber, Jerry Dover, Terence Johnson, Jay Wright)

Sept. 8, 2019 –  Please join us in welcoming Rae Tyler Caggiula as MC3 Church's new children's minister.

Rae has a long history of ministry service, including many years at Mount Carmel as the Children's Minister, and we feel blessed to have her step into this new role. In addition to her many years of experience as a children's minister, Rae has a servant's heart and a love for children that is vital for a successful ministry.

Among her previous roles, Rae served as the Children’s Minister at First Christian Church of Cumming, McDonough Christian Church, Snellville Christian Church and Crosspoint Christian Church. She also helped Dan Garrett with the formation of Christian Church of Buckhead.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Rae became a sister for the first time at age 15 and says that’s when she first fell in love with children.

Rae was married for many years to the late Glendon Tyler and they had two sons, David and Michael, who have given her four grandsons and one granddaughter. On June 22 this year, she married Chip Caggiula and instantly became the stepmother of six children and seven more grandchildren.

We are delighted to have Rae and Chip join our MC3 Church family.

Aug. 26, 2019 – We are pleased to introduce the new MC3 Church app that puts the most important information on our website right at your fingertips through your mobile devices.

The app basically offers one-button quick access to see all items that update regularly, including the most recent news, weekly newsletter and calendar of events. You can easily watch the service live from the app, or see services and sermons after the fact.

The expanded menu—located in the top left corner—accesses more key sites and provides a link to the full website.

Take a moment now and download the app for your mobile device:

Apple store for iPhones and iPads

Google Play for androids

The app also gives us a way to communicate critical information—updates on church events or weather advisories to name a few—in a moment. Simpy enable the notifications feature to ensure you are alerted to any important updates.

We welcome your feedback and encourage you to share it via email.

Aug. 7, 2019 – It was the best of intentions, it was the worst of intentions. Turns out, Friday night laser shows at Stone Mountain Park ended this past week, so we won't be gathering there this Friday for a night of fellowship and fun after all. And while we commend Art's offer to use a laser pointer to make sure the show goes on, we're foregoing that as well. So enjoy your Friday night, and we'll plan another outing in the near future.

July 30, 2019 – Senior Minister Art Stansberry issued a call on Sunday for 70 strong prayer warriors, and we're off to a great start. But more are needed!

Art based his call on Numbers 11:16-17 when God told Moses to find 70 strong people who could share the burden of leading the Israelites to the Promised Land.

MC3 maintains an active prayer list, and we have people praying for various needs and situations on a daily basis. On top of that, we're continue to search for a new property to serve as our church home and want to ensure we're living up to our vision to reach the ONE who needs Christ in our community and world.

Read Numbers 11 in its entirety

July 9, 2019 – We are pleased to announce that the Carmel Mar Thoma Center has made the final payment to complete the sale of the Old Stone Road church property.

The Diocese of North America and Europe of the Mar Thoma Church made the final payment in late June, and MC3 Church Senior Minister Art Stansberry and others joined them for a small ceremony last week to acknowledge completion of the sale.

“As I look back, like you, I see the Lord’s hand all over the place,” MC3 Senior Minister Art Stansberry said during the closing ceremony. “I look at the folks in this room and how is it that the Lord is able to draw all of us who are individuals draw us together for His goal, His purpose, His Service, and yet He did. It’s an amazing, amazing thing.

“We see His victory,” Art continued. “I’m glad for it, excited for it, and I’m excited for the future of Mar Thoma and the future of Mc3. We can’t wait to see what God does next.”

Mar Thoma purchased MC3’s Old Stone Mountain property for $5.9 million on Sept. 24, 2018. Under terms of the agreement, Mar Thoma paid MC3 $3 million at closing, with the remaining $2.9 million financed by MC3 for up to 18-months.

Mar Thoma made an additional payment of $1.5 million in March before concluding the payment process in June.

“We pray for the Lord's blessing on Mar Thoma's new opportunity in Stone Mountain,” MC3 Senior Minister Art Stansberry said. “Meanwhile, we also continue to pray and seek the Lord's guidance on a new home for MC3."