Hello! My name is Brad Hoffman and I am the Pastor of Elk Community Church. I would like to take the opportunity this Christmas season presents to share a little bit about myself and the church in Elk as a way for you to get to know us better and to see what we're about.
My wife, Amber, and I were raised in the Elk community and have many family members in the area. We graduated from Riverside and lived in Elk for the first seven years of our marriage. After a brief (but not brief enough!) stint of living in Spokane, we moved back out to Elk in 2015 with our six kids leading the way. We were all too eager to get back out to the space and peace of the country. I ended up helping out at Elk Community Church a couple times before coming on full-time almost two years ago now.
Elk Community Church has been around for over one hundred years. In rural communities like ours, many of these historic churches have closed their doors for good. Some of these old buildings have even been converted to town halls or family dwellings or been demolished to make room for newer developments. The church in Elk, known endearingly as 'the little white church,' has survived these changes. Even though it has been through its own ups and downs, the building still hosts several gatherings every week.
But that's beside the point. We know that the church is not the building, but the people God has called together to worship him. The building is just the place where we meet on any given Sunday or throughout the week. Many things remained unchanged about the building itself. In fact, much of the building looks the same as it did 30-40 years ago! There have been some updates here and there, but much remains the same. The church that meets in the building though has changed. God has brought not just my wife and I to this place, but many others as well, both from within the community of Elk and without. This is what excites us. God is still at work in places that are easily overlooked.
So, what can you expect to experience with us in our gatherings? First of all, we are passionately devoted to the word of God. This informs all that we do and are seeking to do in Elk. We read the Bible, sing the Bible, pray the Bible, teach the Bible, and share the Bible. This fall we even started a Bible reading challenge that keeps us reading through the Bible together in about nine months! This is one of our core commitments. The Bible is God's own self-revelation to us and the primary way he works in this fallen world. God's word is the seed that is spread, that takes root, that grows into a mature plant, and brings forth a bountiful harvest. Without the Bible, we really don't have anything to offer.
Second, we are committed to celebrating the grace of God. The Bible is clear that each person stands guilty before God. From the sins we've committed to the guilt we've inherited from our first father Adam, there is nothing we can do to erase our wrongs or make up for the evil we have done. The great hymn, Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, says it best: "Not the labors of my hands, can fulfill thy law's demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone." God alone saves sinners as a gift of his grace. Grace is not just a gift that is undeserved, but a gift that is given to the ill-deserving, those who are deserving of God's just judgment.
This gift is given freely in Jesus Christ. And this is our third distinctive that you can expect to see in all that we do. Jesus is who it's all about. The Bible culminates in God's self-revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, the Bible is all about him. He is the one to whom all the Old Testament shadows point. He is the one who fulfills all the promises of God. He is the one in whom we receive all the blessings of God. In fact, when we repent and trust him, the Bible says that we are now "in Christ." We have been joined together with him in his death, resurrection, and ascension. His story becomes our story. No longer are we characterized by the dominion of sin and death. We have truly been liberated from the bondage of corruption from sin, death, and guilt into the glorious freedom of God's only Son! Jesus questioned whether his disciples would leave him after many followers left him because of his teaching. Peter summed up his response by saying, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). We feel very much the same. Where else would we go? Who else speaks the words that "are spirit and life" (John 6:63)?
If any of this is appealing to you or if you are interested in learning more, then I would like to extend an invitation for you to join us. Our Sunday gatherings begin at 10:00 and last for about an hour and fifteen minutes. We usually hang out and visit for some time afterwards. Additionally, we host men's and women's Bible studies at the church on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. The women meet at 10:00 AM and the men meet at 6:00 PM. Finally, there are more resources on our website for you to peruse at your leisure. We have started posting our sermons and many of our articles are there to read as well. If you can't make it on Sunday mornings yet then feel free to look around the site.
We are praying for you regularly. We know that this is an extremely divisive time in our nation and that much of what we have experienced this year has been what the experts have described as 'unprecedented.' None of this has taken God by surprise though and we know that he has been at work to increase our joy in him and to ensure that our trust is in him alone, not in modern-day "chariots and horses" (Psalms 20:7). May you find that he is working this out in you as well.
In Christ,
Brad Hoffman
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