At least five families lost everything but their lives in the Majestic Oaks apartment fire April 7. Majestic Oaks is off SW 24th St near the I-75 overpass. Some people, including small children, had to jump from third floor balconies. You can see a video and an article about the fire online (http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120407/WIRE/120409690).

Powerhouse Family Worship Center is collecting donations for the families who lost their homes. They need everything. Please consider helping by donating items listed below or gift cards. We’re most desperately in need of diapers and beds.

Email me and I’ll help you find a convenient time to donate items. If you have a truck and are able to help move furniture, please email me.

– Bedroom furniture, especially beds and cribs
– Pillows and bedding
– Kitchen appliances, dishes and utensils
– Bathroom items, including towels, rugs, and shower curtains
– Living and dining room furniture, tables and chairs
– Toys, art supplies, and stuffed animals
– High chairs and booster seats
– Books, puzzles, games, and DVDs
– Food and household cleaning supplies
– Clothes for 7 and 8 month old infants (boy and girl)
– Clothes for girls and boys 2T to 5/6
– Clothes for teenage boys and adult men and women

I’m thrilled to announce that our search for “Nate’s replacement” is over.  Tuesday the elders approved the hiring of Drew Donovan as our new Director of Youth Ministries.  Check back here tomorrow for more information–it will be good!

“Making Sense of Moral Experience: In Search of a Best Account”
Richard Horner, Executive Director, Christian Study Center

with responses by:
Gene Witmer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, UF
Manuel Vasquez, Professor of Religion, UF
and discussion to follow

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, April 19
Christian Study Center (Pascal’s Coffee)
112 NW 16th Street

This is the fourth and final session in “Theism, Reason, and Faith: In Conversation with the ‘New Atheists'”

For information see attached flyer
visit us at http://christianstudycenter.org/forum
or call 352-379-7375

Rick reports: Jackson Richard Kingsley 8 lbs 4 oz was born 5:23. He and Christina are doing great.

Today we begin a new series of studies on God’s Attributes.  We’ll look first at the whole idea of knowing God.  At the wondrous GIFT of knowing God.  “We must never forget that our knowledge of God is a gift, not a given. What I mean by this is that we all too often presume that what we know of God is either something we gained by self-exertion, dedication, and study, or it is something we deserve, perhaps something that is our by right or entitlement.” Sam Storms

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

As we embark on this hopefully life-changing study to know the true and living God, keep in mind these words:

Our aim in studying God must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God’s attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it.