Church Family,
As I’m writing this article, I am still trying to catch up on sleep after our mission trip to the Dominican Republic. It was a blessing to serve there, and it was incredible to see one person accept Christ during one of our prayer walks through neighborhoods close to our church! It makes all the time, energy, and effort that goes into a mission trip worth it when we see the eternal ramifications!
One of our team members, Jonathan McPhillips, compared our traveling to the DR and meeting with this lady, Eva, to the parable of the lost sheep. Just like the shepherd leaves the 99 to find the one, so we left our homes to go to another country and got to see God miraculously save a lost soul! That’s why we do missions!
Speaking of missions, you will get the opportunity to hear about this trip and others in greater detail at our Missions Celebration Night on Sunday, August 7. Come at 6:00 p.m. to hear reports from our different missions teams and members who spent time serving the Lord nationally and internationally this summer.
In addition to hearing reports of mission work that has already been done that evening, we have the opportunity as a church to do some incredible local mission work the day before. On Saturday, August 6, we have our annual Free Market for our community. This Free Market is kind of like a community flea market. However, there is one major difference: everything is free! I want to encourage you to sign up to man a table and give away things to our community.
In addition to giving away things that you might put in a garage sale, we also pass out new backpacks to kids in our community who are getting ready to head back to school. Would you prayerfully consider stuffing a new backpack with brand new school supplies so we can give it away to kids in our neighborhood? We talk all the time about pursuing the good of our community. The Free Market is a great way to do just that!
One final way that we are pursuing the good of our community that weekend is that we are hosting a free Family Swim Night at the Bridgeton Recreation Center’s outdoor pool on Friday, August 5. We want our community to know that we care and a simple way that we can do this is to invite them to join us in a great time of fellowship that Friday night. Pray about inviting neighbors and friends to this outreach event.
This has been a busy summer, but I have been so thankful for the many ways that I have seen God’s hand at work. Please be in prayer for the weekend of August 5-7. From our Family Swim Night to our Free Market to our Missions Celebration, it is a great weekend for our church! Let’s pray for God to continue to move in our church and community!
In Him,
Pastor Zach Crook