Mission—How Important is it?

Our Mission: to glorify God by sharing the gospel and serving others.

Our mission is clear and simple, yet we can easily be distracted from it. We live in a “consumer driven culture” that corrupts us to “want, want, want,” things our way. We must hold fast to the same attitude that is in Christ to overcome the consumerism of our day so we stay on mission. Christ did not consider His will or desires to take first place, instead He considered first the will of His Father in heaven (Philippians 2:6-11). In fact the bible says “he made himself nothing,” meaning he humbled himself as if His will meant absolutely nothing compared to the will of the Father. To overcome the “selfish culture” of our day and to stay on mission for God, we must do likewise.

Question: Do we exist to preserve our present brand, structure, and systems, or do we exist to advance the gospel together in our community, regionally, and around the world?

If we drift continually into a focus on structures, budgets and competing projects, rather than keeping our focus on our mission to reach the world, we will lose our identity and our reason for existing altogether. This will lead to discouragement, fall out, and lack of fruit bearing. Thus, for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God we must not drift and we must focus on that which is imperative—gospel sharing and serving others.

Our mission is too important! Our mandate is too precious! “strive together, side by side, for the faith of the gospel…” (Phil. 1:27). Truly, nothing else matters if we don’t do this first. 

Why Trunk or Treat?

I had never heard of a church based Trunk or Treat until I became a youth pastor (a long time ago). To be honest, I wondered if the idea was blasphemous to encourage trick or treating at the church facility. I found out quickly that it was an excellent outreach event to our community and that I should probably get over my legalism and celebrate every chance to share Jesus with people.

October 31^st is not an evil day. It is the Lord’s day, just like every day is. Trunk or Treat sees our parking lot become a location for hundreds of kids and their parents to safely experience the American tradition of Halloween. If you have never been to our Trunk or Treat, here is what you can expect:

On the lot you will find cars, trucks and vans that have been transformed into candy distribution locations. Many of our vehicles have been morphed into fun booths where the kids play games to earn their “candy prizes.” Each vehicle is decorated in a fun theme which makes it tons of fun. We serve food and drinks as well and we love to get to know the families that are visiting with us. Each family registers at the entrance for a door prize and that empowers us to follow up with them and encourage them to visit Shadycrest for worship services, bible study groups, and other events.

We believe in this event because it fits directly into our “Mission.” We are called to glorify God together (side by side—Phil 1:27) through gospel sharing and serving others. Trunk or treat is a bridge ministry that helps us do just that. If you aren’t already involved, join our Trunk or Treat team today. Yes, we all can have a role at the event. Sign up today!

Compassion Experience Success

Compassion literally means “to suffer together." You are a person with compassion when you are confronted with another's suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Empathy is our ability to feel what another person is feeling, however, feeling another’s suffering and acting upon it are two different things. The person with true compassion is a person of action. The person who steps up and sacrifices to relieve the suffering of another person is truly a compassionate follower of Christ.

So, let’s celebrate the compassion of our members. I’m ecstatic at how you responded this past weekend! Yes, yes, yes! Praise the Lord and Hallelujah!

Thank you to our awesome volunteers! You are necessary and you made the experience a great one for the people who came and for the other Compassion volunteers. And through your efforts we were highly successful.

Here are the results:

·         200 kids sponsored

·         20-25 kids sponsored by Shadycrest families

·         20 kids sponsored by Lifepointe families (our co-sponsor for the event)

·         Shadycrest became more unstoppable & more necessary in the world—success!

Sponsor a Child - El Salvador

One of my goals is to add value to someone’s life every single day. I believe this was the heart of my Savior Jesus. Everyone He visited and everyone He spoke to and everyone He touched were blessed.

I work hard to accomplish this and at the end of every day I ask myself, “who’s life did you impact today for the Kingdom of God?” One thing I do know is that my family’s picture is sitting in the family room of the child I sponsor through Compassion International. I believe that not only does my sponsorship help meet his needs every day, but it adds value to his life every day too! That makes me happy, and it glorifies my Father in heaven.

Today there are many children to choose from. In our church foyer there are dozens of kids from El Salvador that need a sponsor family. Will you consider sponsoring one of them? Our goal is to see 20 children from El Salvador sponsored by Shadycrest families. Added to this we pray God will open the door for us to travel to El Salvador in the future to do mission work amongst the people we are praying for and sponsoring through Compassion.

One important thing to note about Compassion International is that you can trust them. Compassion consistently receives the highest ratings for financial accountability and integrity. Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator, has awarded Compassion its highest rating—4 stars—each of the past 14 years. This consecutive run places Compassion in the top 1% of all charities. 

This Sunday, October 18th, the El Salvador children will be in the Worship Center Foyer. If you have not gotten a chance to sponsor a child, you can do it then.

Preparing for the Compassion Experience

Poverty Facts

·         About every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria, a preventable and treatable disease.

·         An estimated 67 million primary-school-aged children worldwide do not attend school.

·         About 2.4 billion people live on less than $2 per day, making them extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, illness, food shortages or instability of any kind.

·         19,000 children die each day due to conditions of poverty.

·         1 billion children (nearly half the world’s population of kids) live in poverty. Many of them are in extreme poverty.

·         Each day, 10,000 newborns in developing countries die within a month of birth due to poor conditions.

·         640 million children live without adequate shelter.

·         There are 1.1 billion people in developing countries without access to clean and pure water.

·         For more facts on poverty you can go to: www.compassion.com/poverty/poverty-quick-facts.htm

Our chance to make a real difference in the world of poverty is here. Are you ready for the Compassion Experience?

Proverbs 28:7 – “whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eye will get many a curse.”

Matthew 19:21 – “Jesus said to him, ‘if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’”