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Hello friends! Trusting your week has begun with a joyful start! I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things after a really wonderful few days away. My sister and I had a great time in Florida. God really blessed us with beautiful weather, we were a little leary as it was pouring and stormy when we got off the plane! Some sunshine and clear water does a body good! 

Now we are home and it’s time for the fair! I was enjoying looking back at some pictures from last year. We’ll do the same as in years past, as you see our church family in action next week, take pictures and send them my way! We’ll put together a slideshow of memories to share the Sunday after the fair. 

We need lots of hands in the milkshake stand, as always. This is a fun, and very beneficial fundraiser for our Youth Roots. Though I know we all have lots of various responsibilities on Wednesday of the fair, would you consider coming to help us for a few hours? We are in desperate need in the 1:30-4pm and the 3:30-6pm shifts! You can sign-up on the sheets in the Gathering Area. 

Thanks to all who participated in and helped plan the Next Man Up event this weekend! It was exciting to support this event's lead team. They carried the energy from the Bible Belles event and the vision for growth in men’s ministry from D6 and worked hard to bring this event to life. I’m continuing to pray for the spiritual growth and leadership of the men in our church family. I believe Next Man Up is just the beginning for our guys!

We are slowly getting all groups back to a normal Sunday School schedule around here. Yesterday the Lil’ and Youth Roots reconvened their regular programs. They are studying our Root Truths for the next three months. I am really excited about this curriculum unit, though it means those groups are taking a break from the D6 curriculum for a few months, I am confident that this will be a meaningful time of learning. Thanks to Kerri Kreider and Laurie O’Donnell for helping write the curriculum for these units! I’ll be sharing more about the Root Truths to all of you in the coming weeks!

Yesterday we had a really special worship service. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share with Pastor Kevin about our Family Ministry priority. I hope you liked our “team-teaching,” too! I introduced the Pray for Me Campaign yesterday. We are looking to match each Roots Kid (ages 0 to 12th grade) up with three prayer champions, one from each generation group - 20-30’s, 40-50’s, 60+. Will you prayerfully consider a Roots Kid, just one, that you can be a prayer champion for? On the posters in the Gathering Area you’ll see some other names on the posters beside each Roots Kid. Those are Roots Volunteers who have committed to pray for and show up in tangible ways for those Roots Kids; in ways outside of their normal volunteer roles. We still want each Roots Kid to have three circle stickers (a prayer champion from each generation), plus the Roots Volunteers that signed up to care for them! You can learn more about the generational impact of the Pray For Me campaign here.

Looking forward to spending time with you all next week!

 

What WE’RE Learning This Week: A nugget of what our Lil’, Youth and Adults Roots heard this week

Our Family Theme: What does it mean to glorify God?

Our Root Text: 1 Corinthians 10:31

How Every Generation Lives This Out: Our Roots goal is to glorify God! Talk as a family about how you can glorify God in your actions and your words this week!

**Stay tuned! A really fun family take-home resource is coming soon from my office!**

 

What I’M Learning This Week: Sharing what I’m reading and listening to lately

I was encouraged by this podcast recently (you can watch it here, too). The interview was talking about preparing for the transition from the metaphorical summers of our lives to fall. I was drawn to the episode as I’ve been feel a little sad about summer ending. I’m sad to see the sun and warmth go away, I’m sad to see the days get shorter, the garden is starting to die off. I don’t want the dormancy of winter just yet and this episode seemed like it would help me remember the beautiful of the fall harvest. 

The interviewer and interviewee were talking about the fruit that our lives produce in spring and summer seasons. I just absolutely loved what author Ann Voskamp, the interviewee, had to say about fruit and the sacrifice of producing. 

“Honestly, the fruit is the feast of communion with Him. The fruit isn't just to

produce something out there in the world. The fruit is an invitation. He is the

sweetness. He is the feast. Everything is about coming and enjoying the intimacy

and the feast and the communion with Him. We see it all the way through the Old

Testament. Every time the sacrifice is the giving up of this food. What for? That we

would come and feast with Him.

All the sacrifices are about communion. Look at the Old Testament. All the

sacrifices are... it's really ultimate. We see sacrifice as loss. No. In the Old

Testament, the sacrifice is for you to come closer and commune with God. We look

in the Old Testament, that word 'korban' in the Hebrew, that word sacrifice means

actually to get to come nearer.

We see, oh, no, no, sacrifice means you're taking something away from me, Lord.

Like, I'm going to lose here. God's way, God's economy, God's way of

understanding sacrifices. No, no, give up the something that's in the way so that

you can come closer to Me and have communion with Me.

So He doesn't want the seasons that are so... they feel like droughts, they feel so

painful. It looks like everything is dying. And I just, okay, can I just be done? And I want to get to, like, the white snow of Christmas, please. No, no, go ahead and keep

watering the thing that looks dead. So that there are roots there that will produce

fruit, not just for the kingdom of God, which it does, but fruit such that you will

feast on communion with me, that I, God's presence, will be sweet to me.”

I have some things in my life getting in the way of the sweet, fruit-producing communion 

with the Lord. I have some end-of-summer pruning to do. Don’t we all? I have some dead-looking roots that need watered, too. But I’m trusting in the harvest and the God who ordains it as plentiful.

 

Make Every Week Count: Parenting, Grandparenting & Spiritual Mentoring Resources

Something to Read: The Embracing Neighbors Sunday School class is studying this book, What Do I Say When…? A Parent’s Guide to Navigating Cultural Chaos for Children and Teens. It doesn’t matter who lives in your house, this book is a must-have tool! 

Something to Listen to: I’m really loving this song right now… Spirit Goes by Tenth Avenue North

Something to Follow: Don’t sleep on the RightNow Media kids content! Click on the “kids” at the top of the page or the smiling triangle icon to access tons of great, faith-based shows and Bible-study content for ages 1-12!

 

How Can You Pray? Prayer Requests and Praises from Roots Ministries

PRAY for how God will drive forward the priority of Family Ministry at Mechanic Grove.

PRAISE for a strong school-year start for all of our COM ministries!