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April 2016 Women On Mission

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering offers our church a chance to support the work of our 5,600 missionaries as they plant churches in the U.S.A., Canada and their territories.  If you have not made your gift, please prayerfully consider what God would have you give. 

Here is and excerpt from an article by Bill Tinsley—

Worldwide, we are witnessing the largest growth in the number of Jesus followers in history.  In China, some estimate that more than 30,000 new believers are baptized every day.  The number of believers in Africa grew from 9 million to 360 million in the last century.  More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in the last two decades than at any other time in history.  Churches, what they look like and how they function, are changing while the number of Jesus followers is growing. 

Women on Mission will meet Monday, April 11 at 6:00 p.m. at the home of Kathleen Qualkenbush.  All our ladies are invited to join us for study, prayer and fellowship.

We are still collecting stocking caps for the International Seafarer’s Center on Lake Michigan.  Some stores have these on clearance.  If you can find caps that are heavy, we would be glad to receive them, but I emphasize that they need to be thick and warm in order to be of use.  They may be left in the Grace classroom or see Martha Russell.

April 2016 Student Ministry

ONE RETREAT

Earlier this month we took a large group of our junior high and high school students up to Highland Lakes Retreat Center for a weekend retreat called ONE. Due to the generous gifts that we received for scholarships, we were able to take more students on this retreat than we have taken on any other retreat so far. We had a caravan of 8 vehicles just to transport everyone. Thank you so much for all your generous gifts and support. 

It was an incredible weekend from start to finish. We had a great crew of volunteers that helped everything run smoothly. Our students heard some incredible teaching that helped many of them ground their faith better. Thank you to Nick Scott, Benson Avis, and Paul Hollis who all did an outstanding job sharing with the students about each of the topics we were covering. Many students shared about how their faith grew stronger through this weekend as they heard that their faith is not blind and were encouraged to experience Jesus through Bible.

We could not pull off an event like this without a tremendous team of volunteers. I am constantly astonished at how much our volunteers pour into these students, how much they love them, and how much they serve them. Thank you so much to Benson Avis, Matt Virgin, Blake Palmer, Kristin Anderson, Kelsie Pavlichek, Tori Densley, Morgan Scott, Melissa Scott, and Nick Scott for all your incredible help all weekend.

JH and HS De.Fib Midweek

For the past few months we have been in a series of talks about relationships. This is one of those staple topics that we try to hit each year as it is so crucial that our students learn to function in right relationship with others.

The focus has been on developing godly relationships with others, so we have talked a lot about how students need to focus on a growing a relationship with Christ, wisdom versus foolishness, serving, and how to bring life to the various places that they find themselves.

One of the key elements of this series is that we challenge the students to start to walk in manhood versus boyhood and womanhood versus girlhood. We challenge them to bring life instead of death with their words and actions, to work hard at whatever they do, and to walk in integrity. It is always a blessing to hear how students are applying these lessons to their lives and walking more with Christ.

Thank you so much for allowing your students to be a part of this ministry. They are a tremendous blessing to me and to my volunteers.

Much Love,

Mark