January 31, 2023
by Eric Stillman
One of the best Christian speakers I ever heard was a missionary named David Pierce, who travels around the world with his band, No Longer Music, bringing the message of Jesus to Satanist clubs, anarchy festivals, and anywhere you wouldn‘t normally expect to find Christians. Pierce wrote an incredibly unique book called Dancing with Skinheads and other Bible Study Topics, and one thing he wrote in there that I‘ve never forgotten is this: ‘œDo something small for God.‘ He said that so many people want to do something big for God, to do something that really changes the world. But often it‘s the small, overlooked, seemingly insignificant things that are the biggest steps of obedience to God....Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: Discipleship, Service
December 6, 2022
by Eric Stillman
In the spirit of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6, I want you to try an experiment this week: do something anonymously for another person. Give a gift, send a note, do an act of service, or find some other way of blessing another person. It could be a family member, a church member, a neighbor, or even a complete stranger. But here’s the catch: don’t tell anyone that you did it – not even your closest friend or family member....Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: Service, Giving
August 10, 2021
by Eric Stillman
On July 12th, 1992, NewLife Christian Fellowship held its first ever public worship service, at the Gallery Restaurant in Glastonbury. Since the second month of the church's existence, when they took over the responsibility from Ron and Eva Say, Jim and Dorothy Scrobko have faithfully prepared the communion elements and served the Lord and God’s people at NewLife by helping us to fulfill Jesus’ command to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). In fact, in those early days, communion was actually served from the bar at the Gallery, which, according to Dorothy, is a sign of God’s sense of humor....Keep Reading
Posted in: Church life Tags: NewLife, Service, faithfulness
April 16, 2019
by Eric Stillman
During holy week, we rightly focus on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Last Supper that he shares with His disciples, and His arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection. But in case those stories have become routine for you, take a moment and reflect upon Jesus washing His disciples’ feet in John 13. As you may know, footwashing in those days was the job of Gentile servants. It was so menial that not even a Jewish slave could be required to do it. It is this act that Jesus chooses to do in order to show His disciples what it means to love someone:...Keep Reading
Tags: Service, Footwashing
November 20, 2018
by Eric Stillman
During November and the first week of December, our church is joining with other area churches in collecting new, unwrapped toys for the Hartford City Mission Noah Christmas Store. The Noah Christmas Store is a store for parents of children in Hartford City Mission programs, where they can buy toys at a minimal “suggested donation” cost for their children for Christmas. In the Hartford City Mission flyer promoting this event to churches, they use the word “dignity” in describing what this opportunity affords low-income parents. It is worth reflecting on what that means....Keep Reading
Tags: Outreach, Service
May 15, 2018
by Eric Stillman
This past week marked the end of an era for me. For the past ten years, I have spent part of the second Wednesday of every month leading a worship service at Glastonbury Health Care Center. Due to my changing schedule, I won’t be able to continue there for the foreseeable future, and with the recent move of one of two of our church members to an assisted living facility in Glastonbury, I am looking at beginning a new ministry in that facility. As I move on from GHCC, I wanted to share a few lessons I’ve learned in my ten years there....Keep Reading
Tags: Service, lessons learned
November 21, 2017
by Eric Stillman
Over the next few weeks, our church will join with other area churches in collecting new, unwrapped toys for the Hartford City Mission Noah Christmas Store. The Noah Christmas Store is a store for parents of children in Hartford City Mission programs, where they can buy toys at a minimal “suggested donation” cost for their children for Christmas. In the Hartford City Mission flyer promoting this event to churches, they use the word “dignity” in describing what this opportunity affords low-income parents. It is worth reflecting on what that means....Keep Reading
Tags: Christmas, Service
May 9, 2017
by Eric Stillman
What were you created for? What is the work that energizes you, that gives you life, that makes you sing?
And are you doing that work?
Or have you even figured out what that work is?...Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: Discipleship, Service
February 14, 2017
by Eric Stillman
One of the best Christian speakers I ever heard was a missionary named David Pierce, who travels around the world with his band, No Longer Music, bringing the message of Jesus to Satanist clubs, anarchy festivals, and anywhere you wouldn’t normally expect to find Christians. Pierce wrote an incredibly unique book called Dancing with Skinheads and other Bible Study Topics, and one thing he wrote in there that I’ve never forgotten is this: “Do something small for God.” He said that so many people want to do something big for God, to do something that really changes the world. But often it’s the small, overlooked, seemingly insignificant things that are the biggest steps of obedience to God....Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: Discipleship, Service
September 8, 2015
by Eric Stillman
This past weekend, our church joined with three other churches to worship and serve together. On Saturday, thanks in part to the leadership of our own Jesse Christophel and Sarah McCoy, a team from NewLife worked hard alongside individuals from other churches to clear brush and poison ivy, kill weeds, and beautify the exterior of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in the north end of Hartford. On Sunday, during our time of worship, we were able to hear from the principal of Simpson-Waverly School, the other school our churches served at, as well as the family resource coordinator from MLK, about the great difference all the painting, repairs, and landscaping had accomplished....Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: Service, Unity
November 14, 2014
by Lynne Pleau
Imagine: what if God were a diamond the size of the Earth -"internally flawless and burning with a fire infinitely brighter than the sun, rotating through space and shooting spectrums of light, through billions of facets, into every galaxy of the universe?
And what if we were the facets?
What if we were facets cut exquisitely into the surface of God‘s Being: shaped for overall symmetry, placed where we are with precision, and designed to radiate His light at a specific wavelength, in a specific direction, for a specific time?...Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: Discipleship, Service
May 27, 2014
by Eric Stillman
This past Sunday, I preached from Philippians 2 about how Paul held up not only Jesus and himself, but also Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippian church as models of humility and service. In his attempts to get the Philippian church to lay down their self-centeredness and be willing to humbly serve each other and look to the interests of the other, even at the risk of their own life, he points out these men as examples to follow.
Paul‘s focus was obviously on the church, but I found it timely that I was delivering such a sermon on Memorial Day weekend....Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: Service, Memorial Day
February 18, 2014
by Eric Stillman
There may be no more poignant reminder that Jesus was not only fully God but fully man than this passage from the last days of Jesus‘ life. Facing an impending betrayal and certain death, Jesus walks into the Garden of Gethsemane to be with his Father, and says to Peter, James, and John, ‘œstay with me.‘ In this moment of incredible agony, where he will be confronted by the temptation to give up his march to the cross, Jesus does not want to be alone, but asks his friends to remain with him....Keep Reading
Posted in: Love Tags: Service, Love
October 1, 2013
by Eric Stillman
Earlier this week, I met with the other Wethersfield pastors who had worked with me on the community worship service at Cove Park two Sundays ago. One of the questions we discussed was ‘œwhere do we go from here?‘ Certainly the opportunity to worship together as the larger body of Christ was a special, unique experience, one that many people have expressed interest in repeating next year (or even next month!). But as we talked, it became clear that if we were to repeat such a gathering of believers next year, why not put just as much effort into organizing those believers into an army of servants that could bless and serve our community in tangible ways? After all, if true revival results in the church reaching out in evangelism and social ministry, then it would be wrong to keep the focus on simply gathering together and not also on sending us out....Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: Service, Wethersfield
August 6, 2013
by Jessica Wojcik
If you would have asked me a month ago who Thomas Hooker was, I would not have been able to tell you. I grew up in Connecticut, attended public school here and spent numerous afternoons downtown in our state capital and yet the name would not have rung a bell to me. However after spending four and a half days living and serving in the City of Hartford, I can now tell you that Thomas Hooker was a reverend who had a vision for Hartford to be a ‘œCity on a Hill‘ where God would be glorified. And as a member of The Hartford Project this year, I was able to witness firsthand a portion of his vision come to pass, as God was certainly glorified in our capital city!
Imagine with me if you will 250 teenagers from all over the state and region coming together to serve and love the people of Hartford, all in the name of Jesus....Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: Service, Hartford Project
July 16, 2013
by Eric Stillman
I‘ll never forget how I went about choosing my college major. I was sitting down to take my SAT‘s in high school, and part of the introductory portion required me to fill out what areas of study I would be interested in pursuing in college. I went down the list and crossed off everything that I did not want to study, and was left with psychology. That sounded pretty interesting, so just like that, psychology became my major.
I will also never forget how I discovered what my heart really wanted to do. ...Keep Reading
Posted in: Service Tags: NewLife, Service
