As we begin to close out this challenging year, Pastor Danny guides us through what's happening here at Shades. Take a look!
Hello Church!
I hope you were able to watch Hope is Alive this past Sunday evening—what an outstanding event! Thank you to our worship arts and creative and production teams for this special program that coupled great music and insightful storytelling for a solid presentation of the gospel. The message is clear—we are a world of people who need hope, and our only true hope is found is Jesus. If you missed it on Sunday, don’t worry; there are other ways to see the show: Lifeway will make the program available through their free Digital Pass on demand from December 15th through the 26th; it will also be available on the Shades YouTube channel with scheduled showings the 11th through the 13th and after that time on demand at any time. I know this is a lot of info but you can find all the details and the links to these platforms at hopeisaliveshow.com. Make note … hopeisaliveshow.com.
A few weeks ago our Orphan Care Ministry shared with you a request to help provide gift cards for 175 children in the Jefferson County Foster Care system. The response was amazing with enough contributions to provide for not just 175 children but 258 children!! As usual, our church family has stepped up in a big way to meet a big need. Your generosity will help make lots of children feel cared for this Christmas and I thank you very much!
Christmas Eve at Shades is always a favorite for not only the Shades family, but for their families and for the surrounding community. We have been monitoring the data and circumstances with COVID, working to make the wisest decisions we can regarding gathering that day. In light of current information, we are making a change to our original plan. Rather than three services, we will have services at 3:00 and 5:00, in person in the Worship Center and online. Each service will have a limited capacity and will require reservations. So that we can know how many will be at each service, we’re asking folks to go to shades.org/christmas to sign up. All you have to do is enter your name, email, and the number of people coming with you. It’s really easy and will help us plan for seating and for cleaning between services. Everything else will be “as usual” with special music, worship with family and friends, a brief message from and there will be candle lights. Again, go to shades.org/christmas to choose a service time.
As with anything that we have planned during this pandemic, we will continue to monitor the constantly changing COVID landscape and if we need to adjust our Christmas Eve plans, we will let you know.
Listen friends, as we walk through this advent season, this time of anticipating the birth of the savior, let’s remember that we get to rejoice in the truth that He’s already come! The messiah has come; Emmanuel, God is with us; hope is alive! As always, I look forward to celebrating the Christmas season with you and hope to see you this Sunday—either in person or online!