The fall at Shades is going to look different, but we're still committed to finding creative, meaningful ways to stay together. There are some ways to get involved in ONE Month as well as some Better Together updates to be aware of. Take a look!
Hello, church family!
This week we launched ONE Month – our special evangelistic focus during the month of August, and we have loved seeing pictures and posts of you praying for your ONE street. This week we’re prayer walking our streets, and next week we will pray for the amazing schools in our community! There are many questions, concerns, and decisions regarding the return to school, so we want you …we want everyone … to pick ONE school and pray for administrators, teachers, coaches, and staff as well as the students. We want to pray that not only learning would take place in our schools but that God would be present there, drawing people into a relationship with Jesus. Wow, can you imagine what would happen in our schools, community, and church if 2000 of us would commit to faithfully pray for ONE school next week and throughout this school year?!
In addition to praying at various times for your one school next week, we will also have a special online prayer gathering, a virtual Night of Prayer! Next Wednesday, August 12 at 6 p.m., I hope hundreds of us will gather online for this time of focused, guided prayer for our schools … and for our community! I, along with leaders and ministers from Shades and Greater Shiloh, will pray together, asking God for unity, wisdom, favor and guidance for the days ahead. Sometimes prayer gatherings are the least attended gatherings, but let’s change that this next week and make it a time to get our hearts aligned with Gods heart and with one another. For more information of how you can pray for ONE school, go to shades.org/one, and follow the instructions. And, to join in the virtual night of prayer, just click on the “ONE Heart” link on the same page. Again, let’s make August all about THE ONE!
Just like our schools are ramping up for a new year, our staff team has been hard at work to get a new Sunday School year up and running! The fall calendar at Shades this year is going to look different as we continue to take responsible steps toward gathering. Unfortunately, we will not have weekly Wednesday night activities on campus this fall. We look forward to bringing preschool activities, MIT, children’s choirs, student worship, and many other things back into our regular schedule sometime next year. Our greatest priority right now is making Sunday School available for all ages, especially our children. Currently, we’re planning to offer this starting Sunday morning, September 13. I want to thank you for your feedback through our recent churchwide survey. It was really helpful in confirming our plans moving forward. With wide-ranging sensitivities and perspectives regarding the impact of COVID-19, we have many vacant volunteer opportunities, especially in our preschool ministry. We need your help to fill these positions and make September 13 a reality. To find out more about weekly and monthly serving opportunities with our preschoolers, just go to shades.org/volunteer.
I look forward to sharing more details on plans for September 13 in next week’s video. It’s going to be a great step forward in our Better Together plan.
Church family, I want you to know that you are loved and prayed for. And I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we conclude our series on the Lord’s Prayer, either in person or online!