You Play an Important Role

This week, Pastor Danny looks ahead to Easter at Shades, Tim Wheat tells us how we can pray for our search for the next senior pastor, and we preview the final two weeks of our sermon series, "It's All About the ONE." Take a look!

Hello Church!

It might feel like it’s a little early to bring it up, but I want to let you know that we are already planning for Easter at Shades! This year, to accommodate the large numbers we traditionally have in attendance on Easter AND to stay socially distanced, we will have three morning worship services—8:00, 9:30, and 11:00.  We won’t have Sunday School that day, but there will be worship care for preschoolers for all three services and Children’s Worship at 9:30 and 11:00. Easter is a great opportunity to invite someone to join you at church. Think about that neighbor or co-worker who could use a morning of praise and worship and encouragement and make plans now to bring them along! It’s going to be a great day of worship! We’ll be sharing more details in the next few weeks.  

The search for the next pastor is rolling along. And as I mentioned before, you have an important part in this process and that is to PRAY. Tim Wheat, our Pastor of Missional Living, has been working to develop a plan for engaging the entire Shades family in praying for the search process. So I have asked Tim to share about those exciting plans.

Jeremiah 33:3 says "Call to me and I will show you great and mighty things you do not know." As we walk through the months ahead in the search for our next pastor, we want to engage all of us in meaningful and focused times of prayer. To lead through these times, a nine-member prayer team was created and have planned several opportunities for everyone to participate in over the next several months. Here are just three of the upcoming opportunities:

• First, we’d like for everyone to set a reminder alarm on their phone or watch or clock to pray at 8:15. As Danny shared his retirement plans he announced that his last Sunday is currently set for August 15. So we want everyone to set a daily reminder to pray for our search process at 8:15. You can make it a.m. or p.m. to best fit your schedule.
• Second, we will make available a bookmark and other printed items that will serve as reminders to pray for the 4 P’s of this search: pastor(s), process, personnel, and people.
• Third, mark your calendars for March 3 at 6:30 p.m. in which we will host an online prayer gathering. Each month we will gather online and through that technology we can then be broken down into small prayer groups which will allow each person to join in and pray. More details will be shared in the coming weeks but make plans now and include the whole family.

We look forward to these and other opportunities, as we call to our Father and see the great and mighty things that He will show us on behalf of our search for the next pastor.

Thank you Tim. Hey folks, this Sunday is the fourth week of our current sermon series, "It’s All About the ONE." This Sunday is Valentine’s Day … a fitting day for the next topic: “One Union.” We will dive into Mark chapter 10 to see what Scripture tells us about the permanence of marriage. Everything we do, every choice we make, including marriage, should be All About the ONE.  

Every week I hear stories of and see firsthand how the people of this church are influencing the world around them … often going outside their comfort zone to do it. You are lights in a dark world; you are loving your neighbors with the love of the Lord; and you are leading people to Jesus. Praise the Lord! It is truly a privilege to serve as your pastor and I look forward to seeing you this Sunday—either in-person or online!