Christ Fellowship of Wise County

As I sit here on this quiet day after Christmas, I hope you’re all enjoying a cozy, relaxing day when you don’t have to work or do anything you don’t want to —maybe with some leftovers and family time! I just wanted to take a moment to tell you how much I love you all. Seriously, you mean the world to me. Your faith, your kindness, the way you show up for each other and for Jesus—it blesses me every single day. Thank you for being such an awesome church family. I’m already excited about 2026 and what God has planned for us. More worship, more growth, more fun, more reaching out together—I can’t wait to do it all with you!

I hope you join us this Sunday when we will turn our focus away from 2025 – in fact, we will try to forget most of it all together. Because as God said in Isaiah 43, “Forget the former things. Don’t dwell on the past.” I love you all, Christ Fellowship! — Todd

I hear ya. Christmas time. Shopping. Spending. Gifts. Trees. Lights. Bad memories. Stress. Santa. Commercialized. Ugh. It can be too much. Of course it’s too much. It’s a man-made holiday and humans always get it wrong. Jesus wasn’t even born on December 25^th!

But this Christmas season, let me challenge you to truly celebrate Christ. Let’s celebrate this season because we know and have a relationship with the One who was born (some time), lived a perfect life, was killed (according to God’s plan) and came back to life three days later and lives today sitting at the right hand of the Father.

We celebrate this season because this Jesus loves you, intercedes for you, is aware and is concerned about you. Can you believe that? Jesus died for you and rose again just so you could have a way to be with Him forever in heaven. The Creator of the universe knows you and loves you. Call it Christmas. Call it whatever. This year let’s celebrate Jesus!

I love you, Christ Fellowship! And Merry Christmas! — Todd

This coming Sunday is our annual Christmas / Thanksgiving / Anniversary party at Christ Fellowship and I can’t wait! If you want to bring something you can, but you don’t have to. There is always plenty. Last I heard nobody had signed up to bring tea or ice but everything else is pretty much covered. Even if you don’t bring anything, nobody will know or care. 🙂 Just come on. No evening service this Sunday night.

And we are continuing our look at the Christmas gifts that God gives to us. You ought to read through Luke chapter 2 and see where God gives hope to prepare for this Sunday. 

I love you all! — Todd

I know you’re busy. Places to go. Presents to buy. Money to spend. Stuff to do. Food to cook. Food to bring to me. I get it. It’s a busy time of year. And that busyness can suck all the fun out of the holidays if you aren’t careful. Sometimes you need to just sit back and think about what you have and what you are thankful for. And sometimes it helps to think about what you are looking forward to. I’ll tell you what. I would love to hear both from you. Please let me know what you are thankful for and what you are looking forward to. 

For me, I’m thankful our church has a place to meet. Yes, I am still praying fervently for our own place and there seems to be a little light shining in that direction but for now I’m glad we have the building we have. It’s important that we meet together and I’m glad for it! And, honestly, the thing right now I look forward to the most is warmer weather! 🙂

I’m also looking forward to this Sunday. We are starting a new Christmas sermon series. This week we will look at the gift of faith that God gave Mary in Luke chapter 1. I can’t wait to see you! I love you all! — Todd

Thirteen years ago today, Christ Fellowship had our first service as a new church. If memory serves, there were about nine of us that left Runaway Bay as the First Baptist Church and went to Lake Bridgeport. I think there are about six or seven of us left out of that original group. And we had no idea what God was going to do in and with our church but we knew what kind of church God wanted us to be. We knew He wanted us to minister to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated and so that’s what we have done all these years. We had no idea the stories we would be able to tell thirteen years later. We had no idea the people that would come into and go out of our church and how God would use us to minister to them so they could go minister to others.

Yes, we have a lot of funny stories and a lot of God stories and some sad stories as well. But I’m looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in the future with Christ Fellowship! I’m looking forward to seeing how He uses us and where He uses us and to the stories we will tell in years to come. I love telling those old stories but I think about Isaiah 43 where God says, “Forget the former things. See, I’m doing a new thing!” Yes! I want that new thing! I want what God has for us. I want the place and I want the people and I want His blessings and I want it when He wants us to have it, in His perfect timing. I love the church that we are now but we have a long way to go. I learn something new all the time. And God continues to work in His church. He said in Matthew 16 that He would build His church and so we just want to be “buildable.”

I love you, Christ Fellowship. I do. Thank you for loving me and supporting me in all the ways you do and have for so many years. These next few years are going to be fun! I hope you are ready. See ya Sunday. — Todd

Ah, Black Friday! The day after we tell each other how thankful we are for what we have, we decide we need more. I heard camouflage pants were on sale for Black Friday but I’m not seeing any. Get it? Huh? Bada bing! Ok, never mind. If today is Black Friday, what is tomorrow? Let’s call it Lavender Saturday. Then comes Off-White Sunday maybe? And who decides who gets to name these days? I have a lot of questions.

But whatever it’s called, I’m so looking forward to Sunday at Christ Fellowship! First, I just enjoy seeing my church family. But also, I just need to spend some special set-aside time to worship; to just go into the throne room of the Creator of the universe and just be with Him and offer a sacrifice of praise and worship. He commands it. He is worthy. And I need it. I hope you will join me in doing that.

To continue the thanksgiving theme another Sunday, we will look at the story of the 10 lepers whom Jesus healed in Luke 17. It’s a powerful passage and deeper than you might think. I can’t wait to see you! I love you all! — Todd

Have you ever wanted to be the best at something? I see coffee mugs and t-shirts and bumper stickers saying that the person with this product is the best father, friend, cook, etc. and I wonder what the odds are of the actual best whatever it is winding up with that. Probably pretty low. But you can be the best at something. We all can. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 how to love in the best way. I was going to entitle my message Sunday, “How To Be the Best Lover” but I knew you hoodlums would take it wrong so instead it’s just called, “The Most Excellent Way”. And it tells us how to use our God-given gifts in the best way. It is the best way to live and the best way to die and the best way to be known as individuals and as a church. I hope you’ll join us at Christ Fellowship this Sunday at 10 to learn more.

Afterwards, I think some of us are going to go to Perry’s Diner for lunch and then Sunday night we will not have evening service at our church but go to Morris Memorial Methodist Church for the annual Chico area Ministerial Alliance and worship with several other churches there. There will be a light meal served after the service and they have asked us just to bring a finger-food sandwich tray and a fruit tray. If you can help with that, please let me know ASAP. The service starts at 6 and the address is 304 S. Weatherford St. just off the square and across from Lowes Grocery.

So many of you have asked. I talked to Cody Roberts today and he saw his doctor and things are looking good after his major back surgery. He is still in considerable pain and the doc says he will be for a while but all is going according to plan. Thank you for praying for him and Teresa.

I can’t wait to see you Sunday! I love you all! — Todd

Well, this Sunday is the big day! This is the Christ Fellowship I-don’t-know-how-many-annual Chili cookoff! And I can’t wait! As usual, the prizes will go to the cook with the Best-Tasting, the Spiciest and the Most Exotic. The ever-coveted prizes will be the Bent Spoon Awards. These almost world-famous awards are being custom made as we speak by some of the finest craftsmen in Murano, Italy. They are using the finest materials including hand picked African Mahogany, inlays of brass and bronze, with solid 24k gold spoons and Corinthian marble for the labeling. I hope to get them back before church time Sunday or I may have to resort to twisting some bailing wire around some Walmart spoons on pine out of my shed and spray painting it all gold. But we’ll see.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to that and also to hearing Morris Hoover bring the message! It’s going to be a good day in the Lord’s House! I love you all! — Todd

Coming up this weekend at Christ Fellowship, this is the weekend for our Operation Christmas Child packing party! Yay! Sunday night at 6 we will pool all the stuff we have collected and pack some boxes to ship to kids all over the world. According to the OCC website, the things NOT TO PACK are SOAP; candy; toothpaste; gum; used or damaged items; scary or war-related items such as toy guns, knives, or military figures; chocolate or food; seeds; fruit rolls or other fruit snacks; drink mixes (powdered or liquid); liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; aerosol cans. The things you should pack include a “wow” item like a soccer ball with pump or a doll or stuffed animal. Also, personal care items and school supplies are important. But y’all know the drill. Also, don’t forget we may need some munchies of some sort to help us pack all this stuff so don’t forget that.

Also, we are thrilled to have the Gideons come speak to us this Sunday morning. It’s going to be a great day in the Lord’s house this Sunday and I can’t wait to see y’all! I love you all! — Todd

We know things start to get busier around the holidays and at Christ Fellowship, we never want to have “just one more thing.” But we have a few important events to mention. This Sunday, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and will study in detail about how we came to celebrate it and why we don’t celebrate the Passover. Here’s a hint: Jesus changed it! You can be prepared by reading Matthew 26 and Exodus 12. It’s a passage I’ve never preached on before and it’s been fascinating to me to study it.

Don’t forget we have our Operation Christmas Child packing party on November 9. That is coming RIGHT up. So, try to make sure you have enough materials to pack at least 2 boxes. That’s the goal.

The next week (the 16th) will be our almost world-famous chili cookoff with the same great prizes as before. The cherished golden Bent Spoon Awards will be handed out to the Best Tasting, the Spiciest and the Most Exotic. That’s always a great time.

Then December 14th is our Christ Fellowship Holiday Potluck meal. I can’t wait for that!

Please remember Cody Roberts in your prayers. His back surgery went well but the pain of it is pretty intense. 

I love you all and can’t wait to see you this Sunday! — Todd