Sunday evening, the servant hearts of our Journey students were on display as they spent their time together picking up trash and garbage along E Avenue. They had some fun, also! Playing 4square by the light of the cars.
Our Coffee Shop is planning to reopen Oct 18, but we need more volunteers to continue for the weeks ahead. Please email Jennifer using the form below or text Jon at 319-721-2447 if you are interested in helping. New trainees will sign up to shadow other volunteers for a week for their training. We’ll teach you everything you need to know!
Dress up in your flannel, straw hats, overalls…those dressed up will be entered to win prizes! Fall themed games & activities will be planned. Mark your calendars!
A unique online event for all parents! The Parenting Pivot Challenge is a FREE virtual summit October 8-24 that will consist of daily videos posted in the Parenting Pivot Challenge Facebook group. The videos are dynamic national speakers addressing topics such as anxiety, depression, screen time, balancing work and life, sexuality, and social media. The videos will be posted for free for 24 hours, so check the schedule and see what will best bless your family.
Call for Nominations
Each year we nominate individuals of our congregation for positions of leadership. We believe that leaders are called to serve and our members are a key part of the discernment process in determining who that will be.
Please nominate any member, 21 years of age or older, whom you feel is gifted to provide leadership as an Elder or Deacon. Elders and Deacons provide for the spiritual care and oversight of the congregation and serve together with the pastors on the Consistory, the governing board of our congregation.
Please send your nominations by Sunday, October 11 using the form below:
It’s All Under ControlA new Women in the Word Bible Study, begins October 1, meeting on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays each month from 6:30-8 PM in the teal classroom (314A/B).
Embark on a 6-week journey with the theme “It’s All Under Control.” Let go of the things you can’t control, find the strength to hang on tighter to those you can, and finally learn how to tell the difference. Use scriptural truths to guide you in living a life of surrender to God.
Workbooks will be provided. Childcare is not provided for this study.
Want to register? Contact Shelbie Moen using the form below.
Tech Team Training – Oct. 1, 4-8pm. Please let us know if you are attending using the form below.
With the installation of the new sound and video system comes a bigger demand for Worship Tech Team volunteers. Do you have an ear for music? Do you like all things computer? Would you describe yourself as the family tech-guru? Do you have a heart for volunteering? Or maybe you have a background in video/lighting? Maybe you were a part of the tech crew in high school drama team?
If any of these things describe, the Worship Tech Team might be something you would enjoy.
Once the new sound system is installed, we’ll be scheduling official training sessions for all current tech team members and those who express an interest in tech team. The beautiful thing being – we’ll all be learning a new system together.
If interested or if you just want more information, contact Scott using the form below.
PRAYER MEETING TONIGHT
Join us for prayer at the church, 6:30pm. Stop in for as much or as little as you are able. We will meet in the Gathering Space.
VOLUNTEER – MATTHEW 25 WORK GROUPS
With all of the recent storm damage and urgent needs caused by it, Matthew 25 is refocusing the August 31 – September 4 Transform Week to derecho repair projects, targeting low-income homeowners with damage that won’t be covered by insurance as well as clearing of trees and removing debris from homes. PARTNER WITH MATTHEW 25 this week.
SUNDAY CLASSES RESUME SEPT. 13
Our Fall season of ministry will begin Sunday, September 13. Classes for ages 3 to adult will be open, as well as the nursery. Help us plan by registering the whole family for this new season of ministry. READ MORE
REGISTER NOW FOR CLASSES
MEDIA UPDATES
If you’ve read the prophet Jeremiah, you’ve grieved along with him in warning God’s people about the coming captivity. God warned them again and again and again. And they choose to ignore Him again… and again… again. It’s heartbreaking. As I read along, I am angered and bewildered why the people won’t listen! What else can God do to get their attention?
Nothing. There is nothing else He can do. They don’t want to listen. Their hearts are hardened. Their ears are closed. The God that has been so faithful to them as a chosen people for the last 500 years is no longer a priority. They are worshipping idols made of wood and stone (which God points out is sheer ridiculousness). They are sacrificing their children to these man-made idols (a hideous and gross practice). They are content with sin.
And then, the book of Lamentations—a short little 5-chapter book highlighting Israel’s lament after Judah is destroyed and her inhabitants are carried off to Babylon for a 70-year captivity. It is in Lamentations where they finally they cry out and begin to recognize the error of their ways. But this book isn’t so much a book of sorrow, as it is a recognizing that God’s plan for His judgement and their sorrow has been and always will be to return their hearts to Him.
In reading this, I can’t help but ask:
”God, what are you trying to teach us?”
He’s got my attention. We are feeling pain. We have seen destruction. And in a way, COVID-19 is holding us in captivity. So I keep asking God what to do. What is our response? How are we to act? What are the next steps for the church?
Is He trying to get our attention? Have our hearts hardened? Are we worshipping other gods and man-made idols? Are we content with sin?
Watch this short and well-made summary of the book of Lamentations: https://youtu.be/p8GDFPdaQZQ
Leah Carolan
Director of Worship & Media
