Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School is something we look forward to every year.  It is one of the very best weeks of the year in our ministry because we get to minister to so many children and families.  This year VBS is going to be a little different.  First, the date.  Due to the construction going on at the church and some other scheduling priorities, we have decided to do it much later in the summer.  Our dates this year will be Monday, August 1 through Friday, August 5.  Not only does this avoid some facility and scheduling conflicts, but we believe the timing will give us a great push into the next school year.

Another change is our mission/outreach emphasis this year.  A few weeks ago in a meeting with pastor Wally and Christine, we made some block party arrangements for a couple of places in Heath where there are a ton of children and young families we would love to reach.  Those events will happen the week prior to VBS.  (The dates are still pending because we have to get approval from the city.)  These will be great times for us to draw some young families out to large outdoor parties and get their kids registered for VBS.

Our prayer is that through these two events and our annual VBS bus route that we will be able to utilize both busses to accommodate all the kids.  Wouldn’t that be a great first!

We have decided to do VBS this year in the evening.  That is a difficult decision.  Originally, when we set up the block parties, we were planning to do a noon to three schedule.  There are pro’s and con’s with each of the possible time slots.  It’s not an obvious decision.  The biggest problem with the evening is workers.  Last year in the morning we had about 65 workers, the most we’ve ever had.  (Several people even took a week’s vacation to work last year.)  To do an evening VBS with our block party focus, it is going to require at least 110 workers.  In order to make sure we can handle things safely, we will be asking workers to make commitments in the next couple of months, and we will have to limit the number of kids we can register based on the number of workers we have.  So it so important that everyone gets on board quickly.  We will need many people to serve this year who haven’t traditionally been VBS workers.  This is going to need to be a whole church effort.

I am excited.  I believe these block parties are going to help us reach many kids who have never been a part of our VBS or any of our other ministries before.  I believe this is going to be a great step into our fall ministries.  I believe we will see lives changed and changed for eternity.  What a great way to break in our new children’s ministry facility!

The first organizational meeting is this Sunday (4.3) at 4:30 in Harmon Hall.  Join the team now, it will be the best thing you do this summer!

Pastor Noel

Graduation and Recitals

This has been a busy week, not a good week to have a cold. Today there is a homeschool recital and then a graduation service to follow. Tonight is dance recital number two. Wednesday's recital lasted until nearly 11:00 p.m.! But the nine minutes my girls were dancing were really exciting. During the other three hours and twenty one minutes I read the new Craig Groeschel book, The Christian Atheist. Pretty good book.

Two big events coming up at the church...

Youth leave for youth camp this Sunday!

VBS begins the following week (6/26)!

Be in prayer for these events.

By the way, a lady in our church, Tonya Carlisle, is expecting to give birth to her baby today. She is only at 34 weeks, so we are all in prayer for mom and baby.

Pastor Noel

Ready for Sunday!

I'm sitting at an airport in birmingham AL this morning waiting to catch a flight home. I flew down yesterday to spend some time with my mom who is undergoing treatment for cancer. We had a good day yesterday... My sister and her boys from Atlanta were in too so it was good to spend time with them.

It has been a very busy week. Due to the holiday on Monday everything has been compressed, but tomorrow is the beginning of a new week.

I am really looking forward to worship tomorrow. I will be preaching the last message in our series on Joseph in Genesis. We will be focused on the one thing you see throughout Joseph's life that allowed him to handle everything that came his way.

..............

Sometimes people ask me what I am especially praying for right now. Well, let me share...

... Of course I am praying much for my mother as she goes throughout her treatments.

... I am praying for Edward Rafferty who lost his mother this week.

... I am praying for a very serious community issue that impacts a number of people in our church and also impacts the whole faith family in our area. Just pray that the Lord's will be done.

... I am praying for our missions work in Kenya. I had a good meeting with the Kenya team this week. I am enthused for this ministry right now.

... I am praying for youth camp and vacation Bible school, both of which are just around the corner.

Well, it's time to line up to get on the plane...

Pastor Noel

Prayer Requests...

Last week was a challenging week. It wasn't a bad week, just a challenging one. I had two very long days that I don't think I really ever recovered from, several counseling appointments a few of which were heart rending, one day trip to St. Louis, and a few distractions. Sunday was a good day. We had a good service in the morning; the deacons and I did our last day of one-at-a-time Lord's Suppers; and we had two good services in the evening.

I am looking forward to this week. It is starting off well. I got some very good news this morning that I believe is the Lord saying that this is going to be a good week of ministry, full steam ahead...

Here are some things to keep in your prayers...

• I have prospect visits lined up for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Pray for these families.
  
• Donna and the girls and I are praying about doing our first big family mission trip this Summer. We are going to try to make a decision in the next couple of weeks. Donna is working on passports right now, just in case.
• So far this morning, we've had seven people sign up for our April 1 New Member's class! Pray that we will be able to make connections with all of those God is sending our way.
• We have a leadership meeting (council) this Wednesday where we will be considering some upgrades to our youth ministry.
• VBS meetings this week...
• We are making the last preparations for publicizing our Easter services this year. We have a very special presentation the Friday before Easter, and then we will offer our Easter worship service three times on Sunday.

Thanks for the Prayers!
Pastor Noel