Did I ever let people know that I do not like writing? It is true that I used to (and still do) dread the once a month pastor pen, and coming up with what I was going to write for it. BUT for over a year I have been writing weekly blogs and at one point it was 2-3 times a week!! Our God has a funny sense of humor.
When you are called by God, sometimes that means God has you do things that are outside your comfort zone. Really this whole last year has been that way for me. Learning about sound systems, and video recording, figuring out new ways to keep us connected, and all sorts of things that I would never got into unless it was needed to share God's word and keep God's family connected. We always have a choice though, I could have put my head in the sand and decided there was nothing I could do. That would have been Satan talking and luckily I didn't listen to him. We are spending the summer looking at the tools Satan uses to thwart us from following Jesus and accomplishing all God has in store for us. And this week we are looking at how Satan distorts our time of prayer to make it less effective so that we eventually give up on real powerful prayers. You may not realize that Satan has tricked into this dry state of prayer but we are going to tear down the curtain so you can add power to your prayer again.
Holly, our Director of Music Ministry, is still on vacation but we still have some great music planned. Chris Botker and Mary Springer will be leading some hymns at 8am. They sound so amazing singing "Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore" that we are going to have them sing a portion of it at 10:30am too! Chris will be leading some praise songs at 10:30am and we will have videos with Holly leading us in a couple of praise songs at 10:30am. It is going to be amazing.
Attached is the bulletin for this week. When you look at worship numbers it combines our online worship with our in sanctuary worship number for each service. We still have plenty of space in the sanctuary for people to spread out! We are no longer going to require people to sign in BUT the greeters and the bulletins will continue to be in the parlor after you pass the second doorway. We are not yet passing offering plates so the wooden boxes are available to put your offering in. Of course those at home can give online, use text to give, or mail in the offering to church. In addition, we will be collecting prayers in the prayer box on the table in the parlor. Also, if you have announcement that need to be shared please write them down and give them to me before the service. This will be an ongoing practice for prayers and announcements to help ensure that they are heard and understood by all.
If people are not able to join us in the sanctuary for worship we continue to livestream both services via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tomscreekumc) or YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6E7eCwH2ZGYspkSCF0CGw). If you join and follow our Facebook page or subscribe to our YouTube channel, they will let you know when we are live. You can always watch any videos we post later because we leave them up. Also Sunday afternoon a shortened version is available on our website and on YouTube.
So..maybe inviting people to church is out of your comfort zone. Well, God wants you to invite people to be part of God's family. Make an effort to extend the invitation to people. Don't let Satan get in your head worrying about the reaction from people when you invite them. Just invite them and if they show any interest offer to sit with them in worship. And then come ready to give praise to God!!
Blessings,
PH
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