"…to the praise of the glory of His grace…" Ephesians 1:6

SPECIAL SUMMER MINISTRY SUNDAY INFORMATION & PRAYER

Dear Springs of Grace Church Family,
Grace and peace. Tomorrow is a special Sunday in the life of our church. We will be taking our summer ministry offering that will be used to fund bringing in our interns for the Community Response Team this summer and to help with the extra efforts of love to our neighbor that we will attempt this summer. I have prayed that all of us would participate in this offering. We might not all be able or supposed to give to it, but I hope that we will all be a part of praying for God’s provision and blessing and for the ministry this summer. You will receive an email with the links to give and with a jotform you can fill out committing to pray or to pledge additional money for the summer. This is a family project – a Springs of Grace Church family project – we need to collectively to ask God how He might use us to provide this need.
This Sunday, we will be live stream only again. I am extremely excited about the truths God has taught me from this passage out of John 11 that I hope to share with you tomorrow. Please pray for this time.
A few of you may be gathering with another family to participate in the live stream service. Some of you may be participating alone or with just your immediate family. The important thing is that we will still be together in some fashion worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The service will begin at 10:45 AM. We are working on some other options for gathering together that we hope to have in place at least by June. This may include on outdoor service option. I hope to have another church zoom meeting to provide additional information and to get your input in the coming days. Be watching for that.
Please join us at 10:35 for the welcome time and we would still love for you to send in a photo if you will be joining us through any of the options tomorrow. You can upload them here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/djZxYhkzjNV8uCmQ8
Or if you are more comfortable with email (malachi.blankenship@gmail.com) or text (918.510.5567), that works too. We want to see you.
Here’s the link again for tomorrow’s YouTube live stream of our service:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtHyy6LCxow
Please be in prayer for our time together tomorrow. Pray for the offering time. If you are a parent or are hosting – you might consider making preparations for taking an offering for the summer ministry. You can give online, but you can also bring it by the church building later or mail it in, if that works better. Pray for us to not miss the main point of our worship. There will be a time when I am urging all of you that physically can to gather together for our worship. We are not at that place yet, but we will continue to long for that, even while we give thanks for the means we currently have. Don’t settle for watching – but rather participate in every way you can as if you were physically present.
You can join a prayer time before the service by contacting Brandon Ganzer or Gabe Graham or Fred Sabatini. Even though we are moving on to chapter 11, I would encourage you to continue to work on memorizing those great passage from chapter 10 if you haven’t already. John 10:10-11; John 10:14-15; John 10:17-18; John 10:27-30. Share them with others.
After the message tomorrow – consider how you might respond to what God says to you and then share that with someone. Tell them what God has done. Then think of ways that you might stir others towards love and good deeds. If you are a part of a community group – then contact someone and consider setting up a time to talk about how you might live out what God is teaching. If you aren’t a part of a community group – call someone and make the effort to walk through these days together. Be sure and share on our you tube chat afterwards.
TAKE SOME TIME TONIGHT TO PRAY!!!!
• Please pray for our summer ministry offering and the ministry of the CRT this summer
• Please pray for the Roy Howard family and his friends. Roy passed away this week from an asthma attack that was compounded by a heart attack. We will be having a memorial service for Roy soon. Be looking for details. Pray for Roy’s 7 siblings, his son, Roy Jr., and other family and friends. Roy has been a part of Springs of Grace I think for about 14 years.
• Continue to pray for our missionaries in the Philippines, Ukraine, Thailand, and the Middle East
• Please continue to pray for those impacted by the Corona Virus around the world (nearly 312,000 deaths as of this writing) and countless others impacted by serious illness and shortened life expectancy.
• Pray for those who are pregnant during these days
• Pray for other churches and their leadership.
• Pray for the spread of the virus to stop
• Pray for those who are currently sick from the virus – pray that they might not feel alone
• Pray that the “opening back up” of our community will not result in a new spike of infections and deaths
• Pray for Noemi Wells as she continues to serve in Chicago as a nurse with the outbreak of COVID-19 for another couple of weeks
• Pray for those who have lost jobs and income
• PRAY FOR OUR CHURCH LEADERSHIP AS WE MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT THE BEST WAYS TO RETURN TO WORSHIPING PHYSICALLY TOGETHER
• Pray for Christians (and particularly us at Springs of Grace) to model “do not be afraid” and “love your neighbor”
• Pray for those who have greater fears of isolation
• Pray for those experiencing a greater threat of abuse
• Pray for those who have greater risks from this virus
• Pray for one another in our church family
• Pray that the Word of God would not be snatched away from us during or after the service and pray that we would remember well the lessons God is teaching us through this pandemic
• Pray for our church staff and leaders as we try to find creative, God-honoring, and helpful ways to serve our church and neighbors
• Pray for friendships to stay strong and others to blossom and grow during this season of our church
I miss you and look forward to our time Sunday – another Lord’s Day to celebrate our risen Savior – and the present, purposeful and powerful love of Jesus.
Pastor Joe

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