World Missions Day is near!

Special Offering—Dec. 6^th

A special thank you for giving in Sept/Oct to the Ingathering Offering. We received almost $50,000 in gifts to Ingathering Offering, all of which helps us toward the goal of paying off our building mortgage.

One member recently told me, “my favorite offering of the year is the World Missions Offering (aka Lottie Moon Offering). I have always loved giving to missions.” I agree. Though the majority of ministry needs are met through the faithful monthly contributions of tithes, our Special Offering Sundays are also very important, and especially the WMO Sunday. Every penny given to the WMO offering goes directly to the mission field and helps our missionaries around the world to share the gospel. Churches that give well to the WMO are unselfish and Kingdom focused, so I challenge you to prepare to give well on Dec. 6^th for missions.

Today I also wish to focus on saying thank you for giving well. Keep it up! Yes, it is so important, and it pleases the Lord when we give generously from a heart of thanks and praise!

“Be generous,” the wise author of Ecclesiastes declares (Ecc. 11:1-2).  “God loves it when the giver delights in the giving. God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done” (2 Cor. 9:7-8, The Message). 

Celebrating the McKinney Family

Tyler McKinney was officially voted in last Sunday night as our Interim Youth Pastor. We are thrilled to have Tyler on the team and ask you to pray for him, his wife Lindsey and son Cooper. Also, pray for little baby McKinney #2 who is “on the way” right now.

Let us also celebrate the great team of volunteers who have supported our youth over the past year and helped keep our Youth Ministry (YM) going well. Alongside Tyler, Danny Himmel, Galen Beck and Bre’anne Northcutt have made major contributions. Also, our summer intern Patrick McGowan and present intern Kaitlyn Baker have been wonderful for our YM.

Youth Ministry is hard work and time consuming work, and extremely valuable to our church’s mission. 85% of people who choose to follow Christ do so on or before the age of 18. This makes YM critical for the church and makes outreach to children and youth in our community an absolute necessity.

Tyler has a great vision for leading our YM toward accomplishing the mission of sharing the gospel and serving the youth of our city. He has a great team of volunteers who are also big believers in this mission. Therefore, the future is bright for our YM. So, as Tyler transitions from volunteer to the important role of leading our YM, I urge you all to support him, pray for him, and help him wherever and whenever you are able. Keep in mind that Tyler has accepted this role because He has a call on His life that is from the LORD. He recognizes this and recognizes that God’s calling on His life is for this time and this place, at Shadycrest Baptist Church. We glorify God by recognizing this and agreeing with the LORD. May the LORD continue to bless the work of our YM.

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!

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.’”

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.).