Happy Friday New Life, 

What a week this has been! I sure want to thank everyone for your prayers as they were instrumental in getting me through surgery and recovery There are some very important actions that need to take place beginning tomorrow, 10am Saturday, May 20 to let our community know we will be visiting and feeding them an early lunch on Sunday. Brent Scales and Elias Brailas will meet at the church to hand out flyers throughout Harstdel inviting our neighbors to the park for this outreach. The more people that show up quicker it will go. Brent and Elias will provide all information. 

That leads to one of our important Sundays of the year, Church in Service. As noted before, we will be going to Sequoyah Park, 3901 Leonhardt Drive. Lunch will start at 11am. However, please meet at the church around 10:15 -10:30 in order to load supplies. There will already be a team over at the park grilling dogs in order to be ready at 11 am.  

Below are the other upcoming events:

  • VBS – PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE MOVING VBS TO JULY DUE TO PASTOR’S SURGERY
  • Friday, June 2nd, 9pm – Movies on the Lawn. We start our Summer Friday night movie nights outside of the church, weather permitting
  • June 21st - Special Missionary Service with Missionary Anny Crocker of Guatemala Mid-High Camp, June 18-21
  • Sr High Camp, June 22-25
  • Primary Camp, Completed Grades 1-3, July 14-17
  • Junior Camp, Completed Grades 4-6, July 18-22

Let me remind you of a couple of other ministry opportunities coming up soon. We will be partnering with the new pre-Head Start program that is starting down the road from us at the Vo-tech. They have an open house at the end May that we will be attending. More details will be coming in how we can minister to these families. Also, this fall we will be starting an after-school Bible Club at the one our local elementaries. The location is still to be determined. This will be one day a week and will last for about 2 hours. If you are interested in participating in this ministry please inform Pastor Andy. 

Let me close by sharing James 1:19-27 with the Message version:  Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.  Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.  

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Blessings, Pastor Andy