Pray for Compassion / Missions

For the past 40 Days we have been praying for Ingathering. Today is the day. We will give well. We will give sacrificially. Then what?

Our mission is to glorify God by sharing the gospel and serving others. So, that is what we must continually refocus toward, and missional opportunities lie before us we must all get behind. Join us in praying for and serving in the success of these opportunities:

The Compassion Experience—2-weeks from now the Compassion Experience will be here for a 4-Day event. Presently we have over 1,800 registered attenders (Fri – 428, Sat – 745, Sun – 488, Mon – 152). We expect 50% of people to RSVP and 50% of people to simply walk up. Therefore, our estimate of seeing 4,000+ people on our campus for the event is certainly realistic. You can sign up today to help at our Hospitality Center or to work in the Compassion Experience on any of the days they are here, Oct 9-12. Our goal is 100 prospect families and 200+ children sponsored. My prayer is that 20 of those children are sponsored by Shadycrest families. Pray & Serve with us! 

Kids Hope Mentors—we will have 10 trained mentors this year. Pray for them and pray they are matched up with the kids God wants us to help!

Operation Christmas Child—our world missions ministry to care for needy kids at Christmas. Pray for success. Begins in October.

Angel Tree—our local missions ministry to care for needy kids at Christmas. Pray for success. Begins right before Thanksgiving (Nov.).

Building Bridges Through Love and Prayer

Building a bridge is an art. Not literal bridges that you drive over, although those are incredibly important...no, instead bridges for the gospel…bridges that help us sow the seeds of the gospel.

I love the prayer emphasis we are experiencing together right now. It is a joy to know a group of our members are praying every day and for the same things. Yes, we are agreeing and seeking the LORD in prayer, asking for his favor, for revival, and for a blessed offering this month at Ingathering.

Likewise, we should pray, as we learned last week, for God to break our hearts for lost people. And, we should pray for the wisdom and opportunity to reach them. Here are some other ideas to help us all:

1. Love people until they ask why. Then give Jesus all the credit.

2. Ask more questions than they do. Show your genuine interest in other’s lives…and this helps you to know how to pray for them.

3. Pray for them. And let them know you are doing it by continually checking on them.

4. Pray for your heart. We are by default selfish and we need to pray daily to ask the Lord to help our focus be on loving others as we love ourselves.

5. Connect them to church/gospel. Continually invite people to your church, your group, & your home.

6. Follow up. This is the step that everyone seems to forget. Never assume their silence means they are not interested. They’re busy, just like you. Keep reaching out. 

I Love My Church!

Lately I’ve been contemplating all the great things I love about Shadycrest. As I began to make a list I was overwhelmed by the number of great ministries and great people we have here who serve the LORD so well. It literally made me exclaim, “I love my church!”

I LOVE:

Watching our kitchen crew serve our members with great love.

Hearing the stories of members like Alvin Rose and Gene Weaver who visit our homebound and nursing homebound. 

Listening to the testimonies of our youth (Blaine Israel) about what God is doing in their young lives.

Hearing the giggles and watching the smiles as the children played this past week at our AWANA kickoff carnival.

 Praying with our prayer warriors during our 40 Days of Prayer.

Singing with our Celebration Choir and awesome praise band. 

There is so much to love about Shadycrest! What a great place to serve the LORD!
What do you love about Shadycrest? I’d love to hear your story. If you have a story to tell, please contact me. I’m collecting stories and I truly want to hear yours. Call or write me ASAP, and tell me why you love your church! 

Exciting Weeks Ahead…Can You See It?

Sometimes we get shortsighted. Sometimes, as the saying goes, “we can’t see the forest for the trees.” I pray you join me in “seeing” the blessing of the Lord that is here and that is coming! Exciting weeks are ahead of us…do you see?

“…a man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).

I have the honor of working with our baptism candidates and I’m presently working with 7 of them. What a joy! Celebrate each week of baptism with us! Sing praise! Clap!

Aug. 9^th – Stephen Atkinson rejoins us for a day of outstanding preaching from an Irishman who is passionate about reaching the Jews for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Aug. 16^th – Southern Gospel Day; a new favorite Sunday of ours where we celebrate our Lord through the performing of our favorite gospel tunes; our members are talented!

Aug. 19^th – 40 Days of Devotion starts. Pray for Ingathering!

Aug. 23^rd – Youth Led Revival Sunday. Our outstanding youth leaders will inspire us. Pray!

Aug. 30^th – Back to Church Sunday. I’m excited to invite people back to church. Together, and through the blessing of invitation, we will see faces we haven’t seen in a while and rejoice together as we all get back in the swing of serving the Lord together in preparation for a strong end to our 2015 year!

Youth Ministry in 2015 and Beyond

Evangelist Rick Gage said this past year in an interview, "It breaks my heart that fewer than 10 percent of American young people are involved in a Bible-believing church." He continued saying, "So many churches have lost their passion for souls. The need to reach the lost has never been greater."

I wholeheartedly agree with Rick and I will, as long as I have breath in my body, continue to proclaim the foundational importance of staying focused on missions and outreach as individuals and as a church family. We can do that by:

1. Continually reminding ourselves of our mission to “make disciples”

2. Continually refine/reform our evangelism practices/processes

3. Continually be champions for personal evangelism, outreach events, mission trips, and the starting of new churches

4. Pray for opportunities to personally witness to the lost in our community

5. Passionately celebrate each conversion and each baptism

Now, not only do we want to see as many young people saved as we can, we also want to see them discipled. God has given us, the church, a job (the Great Commission), and that job is winning people to Jesus. As many evangelists of old have fervently repeated, “God has no hands but our hands; God has no feet but our feet; God has no tongue but our tongue to share the good news.”

Youth Ministry has always been a challenge, and it will continue to be challenging. 85% of conversions to the Christian faith occur before the age of 18. Let’s reach them together! Pray for our youth! Pray for our youth leaders!