You've done an amazing job stay connected and invested in the mission here at Shades in this season. There are ways you can continue to join in what God is doing here. In this week's update, Chad walks us through some exciting updates we have coming!
Hello, church family!
Your church leadership continues to get creative and innovative as we navigate new ways of staying connected and pursuing our mission together. We’re working hard to create a worship experience on Sunday mornings that leads all of us – either at home or in the Worship Center – to meet with God in a meaningful way.
We continue to have strong participation in each service, and are so thankful for your commitment to worshipping together. And, our Sunday School classes are doing a great job caring for each other, pointing one another to Jesus, and welcoming new people. Our current schedule with services at 9:30am and 11am will continue this Sunday and next Sunday. Then on Sunday, September 6 – Labor Day weekend – we will only have one service at 10am, with no Sunday School, Children’s Worship, or Worship Care. We’ll meet at 10am either in person or online wherever you are over the holiday weekend.
The following weekend, September 13, we’ll begin the new Sunday morning schedule that Danny told you about last week with services and Sunday School at 9am and 10:30am. You can go to our Better Together page at shades.org/together for more details on what will be offered when. There you’ll also find out more about volunteer opportunities. Our greatest need by far is in our preschool ministry. We need dozens of folks to step up and invest in the youngest in our church family either on a weekly or monthly basis. This has to happen for us to be able to fully relaunch Sunday School on September 13. And let me just say, I know that this isn’t everyone’s ideal place to serve, but it is our greatest need and an unbelievable opportunity to impact these little ones and their families. Just go to shades.org/together for more details and to sign up to serve.
As a church family, we continue to live with purpose together through missional living efforts, and especially with the ONE Month emphasis that started at the beginning of August. This week with ONE Month, we are focusing on “One Place.” We each need to think about that place we frequent other than our offices and homes. Maybe it’s a coffee shop, gym, library, park, or a specific business. That very well could be the ONE place where God wants to use you to make an eternal difference! God is at work all around us, so as we pray for our one place, we’ll begin to see people and opportunities to engage them in gospel conversations. As you pray for your ONE place this week, again be sure to text the keywords “one place” 205-749-7244 so that we can send some prompts for next steps that you can take. For more information on this emphasis and other aspects of the “One Month”, go to shades.org/one and help us make it all about the one.
Danny is away on his week of study. This is a really important time for him and for us as a church each year. He spends time away praying, focusing, planning, and looking toward the coming year. I’d encourage you to pray for your pastor as he finishes out this week.
Danny will be back on Sunday to preach the second sermon in our new series, “Go With Me.” It’s going to be a great morning together. We’ll see you then, either in person or online!