Our active deacon body met this past Sunday afternoon to pray and plan for the ongoing ministry of our church. A report was received by Rose Joseph concerning her ministry to Haiti. It was no surprise to learn that her trip had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. All of the ministry boxes filled by donations from our church family have been shipped and are currently meeting the needs of people there. Rose is not sure when it will be safe to plan another visit to her home country, but she will inform our church when plans to return are underway. The deacons received her report with thanksgiving for her missionary heart and prayed for her and her ministry as future plans develop.
Our deacons gave individual reports in reference to their contacts with church families. The Deacon Family Ministry is averaging over 100 contacts per week either by phone conversations, emails or personal encounters. We praise God during these days of sheltering at home, social distancing, face-coverings and interruptions in our convenience and routines that our deacon body continues to reach out keeping our fellowship together. THANK YOU, DEACONS!
It was reported that our on-campus police officer each week is now taking initiative to contact the church to let us know who will be on site each week. Instead of us calling the officer, the officer responsible for our church now fills the schedule and lets us know who will be serving. The process is moving forward in a stable and normal fashion. We are grateful for the service these uniformed officers provide securing our facilities and managing the traffic flow each Sunday.
The deacons discussed methods whereby our church may begin to introduce the collection of offerings each week back into the flow of our worship service. It was agreed that having the offering plates in the atrium where folks can drop their tithes and offerings each week leaves something missing from our worship service. The deacons agreed to work with ushers to bring the offering plates back into the worship center after the Praise Team completes its singing and before Pastor Mike preaches. The plates will be placed on the communion table with a prayer of thanksgiving offered for the faithfulness of our people and the blessings God has provided.
God is truly blessing our church financially through the faithful giving of our people. As of last Sunday, our 2020 Church Budget needs was $99,877.20. To date, tithes and offerings received amounted to $100,202.63. We are now ahead of our budget needs by $325.43. PRAISE GOD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS!
Deacon Body Actions Approved:
1. Research and Plan to Administer Individual Lord’s Supper Packets on August 30th.
2. Approved items for inclusion in the 50 new Promise Outreach Packs up to $2,000.
3. Begin planning for potential Grace 70th Anniversary Celebration on October 25th, 2020.
4. Approved Children’s Ministry Restart Schedule
a)Pastor’s Children’s Sermon – August 16th,
b)Resume Children’s Church – October 4th
c)Family Spook Night for Children – October 30th
5. These plans are tentative based on conditions related to the coronavirus.
We are thankful that God continues His blessings upon the ministry of our church. We praise Him for every leader and faithful member who through patience and faithful commitment keeps our church moving forward. Imagine the disciples who were in the boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee when the storm was raging and threatening to take them all down. The Bible says that Jesus was in the stern of the boat when He spoke to the wind, “Hush, be still. And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm” (Mark 4:39). It is easy to see that Jesus is with us saying, “Hush!” to the winds of this pandemic. With Him close by, we will make it through this present storm.
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