Church Family,

I wanted to give you all an update as to where we are financially, so that you can prayerfully consider any end of year generosity.  

*By way of reminder:  The goal with living generously is not to restrict all your giving to our local church. The goal of living generously is to to practice generosity as the Lord leads wherever He leads you.  Give to missionaries.  Give to local non-profits.  Give to schools.  Give to adoption agencies. Give to pregnancy crisis centers.  Give to poverty alleviation.  Give to churches.   

And so, if you want to give to our church community, here are some details that can help shape your generosity.  

1.  Our goal for the year is to fund a ministry budget of $1,344,000.  

Our giving has been incredibly strong this year. 

We have given more than $20,000 more this year than last year at this time. 

We are spending 16% below our budgeted amount. 

2. We are doing more with less across the board, including personnel. 

We have somewhere between 400-500 people who are members of our church family. 

We have 350 people on average who gather with us on Sundays. 

We have officially run out of available Sunday school space on the first floor of our building.

We have 2 full-time pastors. 

We have 2 full-time staff members.

We have several part-time staff members. 

3. Our building is drastically overdue for updated maintenance.

Our parking lot needs to be repaved.

Our roof needs to be repaired.

Our HVAC needs to be replaced.

Our plumbing needs to be relined.

The list goes on… 

So how can you direct your giving to help us begin to address these needs?

1. Give to our general fund to help us ensure we catch up and stay on pace for our giving goals this year. Despite our strong giving, we are still slightly behind our pace to meet $1.344 million.  This is normal for a church who is attempting to practice a budget for the first time in a long time. You’re doing a great job. 

2. Give with some Personnel Enhancements in mind.  Remember: We need to hire a few new key positions.  We will be bringing a Worship Pastor on in the coming year.  We will want to ensure that our current staff is cared for well. 

3. Begin praying about what God might want to do in 2026 to help our church be at its best to reach our community.  

I love y'all. 

Cheers, 

This year’s Power House Christmas Party reminded me just how far our traditions have come. Years ago, when we were prepping for our very first one, Bronwyn had seen a game where you wrap candy and little prizes in Saran Wrap to make a giant ball. Students unwrap it as fast as they can. They get to keep whatever falls out until the person next to them rolls doubles, and the ball has to move on. It’s loud, chaotic, and absolutely hilarious… and somehow, it’s become one of our most beloved traditions.

Fast-forward to this year, and we had four massive Saran Wrap balls, each one taking about 45 minutes to make. Thank goodness for interns! We paired that with our other classic game, White Elephant, where students bring the cheapest, strangest, or most random wrapped item they can find. This year one student brought a desk chair! It was literally just a desk chair, and it was wrapped so poorly that you could immediately tell what it was. 

Add in our annual Pickle Hunt, with everyone racing to find the hidden pickle ornament to earn a special prize, and it’s easy to see why the night gets so raucous. As you can tell from the photos, it was a full house and full of energy.

But in the midst of the laughter and chaos, we ended the night with something simple and weighty. I shared two short phrases from Scripture:
“And she gave birth…” (Luke 2:7)
“And they crucified Him.” (Matthew 27:35)

Just a few words, but words loaded with the entire story of God’s love. Even after all the games and noise, our students were locked in—engaged, listening, and receiving the hope we have in Jesus.

It was wild. It was joyful. And it pointed us back to Christ. It was an incredible night.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus—the greatest gift we’ve ever received—we have a special opportunity to share His love with families in our community. All month long, we’ll be collecting new, unwrapped toys for kids of all ages.

You can drop off toys in the Kids Area or at the front of the sanctuary. 

Thank you for helping us shine the love of Jesus and bring joy to children this Christmas season! 

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."                    Acts 2:42

Ready to get involved and devoted?

We would love to help you find out more about First Winter Park and get connected! 

Community Connect Group With Pastor Doug - On Sunday at 9:30 AM, Pastor Doug and his wife Natalie have have a small group in the Food Hall. It starts with fellowship at 9:15, then transitions into small group discussion at 9:30. This group welcomes adults of all ages and life stages—whether you're new to our church or haven't yet joined a small group, this is perfect for you! Childcare will be available starting at 9:15.

Wednesday Community Night Our Wednesdays are packed with opportunities to connect:

4:30 PM – Thriving Adult Choir (65+)

5:30 PM – Family Meal in the Food Hall

6:00 PM – Life Discipleship with Pastor Doug 

6:00 PM - Season 5 of "The Chosen" Viewing Group

6:00 PM – Kids Ministry and Power House 

Weekly Bible Studies

Ladies Bible Study – Tuesdays at 6:45 PM in the Choir Suite

Thriving Adult Bible Study – Thursdays at 10:30 AM in the Choir Suite

Just click the link below to get connected to a small group. Please let us know if you have any questions!  Let’s journey together!

Community Events

Save the Date for our Christmas Eve Family Service on December 24 at 5:00 PM. 

Save the date for our Christmas celebration on December 14th at 6PM. Join us for an evening of Christmas worship and songs, powerful testimonies, and community rooted in fellowship celebrating the birth of our Savior. 

This week at First Winter Park, our Thriving Adults gathered to celebrate the Christmas season together. It was a beautiful afternoon of fellowship, delicious food, and joyful singing—a perfect example of how we continue to thrive and flourish being together in the house of the Lord. (Psalm 92:13-15) 

I’m deeply grateful to our incredible volunteers who worked tirelessly to set up, serve food, and clean up afterward. A special thank you to the Thriving Adult choir, whose beautiful songs reminded us of the privilege we have to share the Good News of Jesus this Christmas and throughout the year. The lunch was a wonderful reminder of how encouraging it is simply to be together as a community.

My heartfelt appreciation goes to Flo Hurley, Janice Conley, and Jim Sloan, who went above and beyond to make this gathering both meaningful and memorable.

Member Corner

Welcome New Member Deb Rogers! 

Deb is enjoying being a member of the Ladies class and serving on the host team. 

Meet Engela Lindwall! 

Engela is a member of the Prophecy small group and loves helping serve on Wednesday nights.

Thank You Engela. 

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Silent Night

Emmanuel

Weekly budget goal:  $21,296

Church Family,

Thank you for your incredible generosity throughout this year! As we approach the close of 2025, we want to share a few meaningful ways you can make a year-end gift to support the ministry of First Winter Park:

Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD): If you have an IRA, you can make a qualified charitable distribution directly to the church. This is a wonderful way to bless the ministry while reducing the tax impact of your required minimum distribution.

Gifts of Stocks, Mutual Funds, or Bonds: We have a brokerage account set up to receive stock gifts. If you’d like to give in this way, please reach out to Gene Hammond (Budget and Finance Team) cchamm@cfl.rr.com or Lisa Bowman (Director of Accounting) lbowman@fbcwp.org.

Your faithful tithes and offerings in 2025 have made an incredible difference in the life of our church and community. We are excited to see how God will lead us together into a new year filled with hope, growth, and opportunities to serve.

Thank you for being a vital part of what God is doing at First Winter Park!