These are great days at Shades! We're thick in the middle of our ONE Month emphasis, there are exciting new details of our Better Together plan coming in September, and we have a new sermon series launching this weekend. Take a look!
Hello, church family!
What an incredible time we have had with ONE Month so far! I am so proud of you and love hearing the stories of how many of you are praying and bringing Jesus into your everyday conversations. Keep it up! Don’t forget this week is the ONE school emphasis. There are a lot of challenges with school starting back for teachers, administrators, and families. We want to help you pray for the schools in our community, so don’t forget to text "one school" at 205-749-7244. As we pray for our schools, pray that the Gospel will be evident in the lives of believers and for opportunities to share Jesus with others.
We are also joining together tonight a special online prayer gathering, a virtual Night of Prayer! Tonight at 6 p.m., hundreds of us will gather online to pray for unity in our community and schools, and for a Gospel movement to happen! I, along with leaders and ministers from Shades and Greater Shiloh, will join together asking God for wisdom, favor, and guidance in the days ahead. Remember, it’s tonight at 6 p.m., just go to shades.org/one and click on the ONE Heart link. I look forward to seeing you online tonight!
Today, I’m also excited to share with you some additional details as we move forward with our Better Together plan. We’re excited to bring Sunday School for all ages back to campus on Sunday morning, September 13! On that day we will move to a new Sunday morning schedule. We will have two worship services at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., with Sunday School happening at those times. Sunday School for preschoolers, children, students, and you, their parents, will be offered at 9 a.m. followed by worship at 10:30 a.m. At this 10:30 worship hour we will be offering worship care and children’s worship by registration only. All other adults will worship at 9 a.m., with Sunday School following at 10:30 a.m. I know this is a lot, and it’s a big change for many of us ... so for a full list of details of this upcoming change and registration information for your children, please visit shades.org/together.
And registering for these children and preschool ministries, we have a deadline of Sunday, August 30. I encourage you to do this as soon as possible because it will really help us with our planning.
We are so excited to finally get back together with our Sunday school classes, but listen ... for us to take this important step, we have a major need for volunteers – specifically with our preschool ministry. If these needs go unmet, we will not be able to resume Sunday School for all ages on Sunday, September 13. You can serve once a week or even just once a month ... church family, one thing that I know for sure is that when there is a need our church family steps up to meet it! To volunteer, just go to shades.org/volunteer.
These are exciting days ahead of us, church family, and I’m so thankful to be a part of them with you. This Sunday, we will start a new three-week sermon series called “Go With Me” based on Jesus’ challenge in Luke 9:23. It’s going to be a great morning! I look forward to seeing you either in person or online!