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Here are three things for you this weekend.
1. We are prayer walking area schools this Sunday! The pastors of the community are partnering together to host prayer walks on school campuses this Sunday afternoon from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. This is a great way for us to bless our principals, teachers, and students and pray for a successful school year. As you know, CPS starts back on Monday, so the school year is already getting underway. We want to pray for God’s blessing upon the school year, for safety, and the opportunity for our students to share the gospel and love of Christ.
Here is how things will work on Sunday afternoon. There will be an area pastor posted at the entrance of each school with prayer guides starting at 4:00 p.m. You can choose to go to whichever school you would like to pray for, grab a prayer guide, and walk the hallways following the guide to pray over the school. The schools will be open for the 4 o’clock hour for you to pray. I will be posted at Eastside Elementary School handing out prayer guides, if you want to join me in praying over our partner school where we do the Kids Beach Club. There will be pastors at Clinton Christian Academy and Mt. Salus School as well.
I hope we have a great turnout to support our principals and pray for the light of Christ to be present in our city’s schools.
“Seek the welfare of the city…and pray to the Lord on its behalf” (Jeremiah 29:7).
2. The biggest Back-to-School Bash ever is coming! Our staff has planned an amazing Back-to-School Bash for Sunday, July 26th. There will be one worship service in the Family Life Building at 10:30 a.m., followed by a picnic-style celebration with a potluck and water-themed inflatables for kids of all ages. This year there will be three distinct areas for students: a preschool–kindergarten area, elementary area, and youth area. We will have a shaded, outdoor eating area under the pavilion on the playground for families. There will be plenty of food and seating inside under the AC as well.
Our worship service will kick off our fall church-wide theme of “Be a friend. Be a blessing,” where we will be challenged to live out Jesus’ command to love our neighbor. I will be talking about the ways the Bible teaches us to reach our neighbors with the love of Jesus through the practices of friendship and blessing. Sunday school classes are encouraged to meet prior to the bash at 9:00 or 9:30 a.m., if they like. I hope you are making plans to join us!
3. We will have our 3rd-grade Bible presentation this Sunday. Attention, families with 3rd graders! We will make a special presentation at the Connections Service of Bibles to these students to recognize them and bless them with a gift of God’s Word. It is always a great honor to include these students in worship who are learning to read the Bible on their own.
BTW: Our Nicaragua mission team arrived home safely this week. It appears they shared in a beautiful time of ministry and worship with our Methodist friends in Nicaragua. Thanks to everyone for supporting this team with your prayers and gifts. I cannot wait to hear more about their trip.
I hope to see you in worship this weekend!
Jimmy