Gra c e Me m o ri a l Ba p t i s t Ch u rc h SPIRIT OF G R AC E JULY 2014 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Stewardship Report 2 Pastor’s Notes 2 Sunday School – 9:00am Nursery Schedule 2 Blended Worship – 10:15am Senior Adults News 2 Youth Ministries 3 Church Family News 3 GMBC Theme for 2014 Various Evening Worship Opportunities JULY 13, 5:00pm til John Slidell Park Back Pavilion Family Games, Fellowship, Food, Music, Worship Events & Menus on the JULY CALENDAR Hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the fixings, plates, napkins, utensils, etc., provided. Bring lawn chairs, 2-liter drink, dessert. DEACONS OF THE WEEK June 29-July 5 ANDREW PITMAN HAL JENKINS PAUL PARKER Ju1y 6-12 FRED BURTON DAVID PILCHER ERNIE ANDERSON July 13-19 DAVID KESSLER ED DEMEYERE SCOTT PURVIS July 20-26 RAY WILLIS RICHARD THOMPSON BRIAN COGGIN July 27-August 2 CHAD PALAO JOHN O’NEIL WES RAWLS WORSHIP IN THE PARK GA Mission Project Last year in St. Tammany Parish there were 321 children in the foster care system! More than half of those children were in our end of the parish (east end) and most of them under five years old. If you have a passion for helping children in need, please join our Girl’s In Action in giving to the CASA, a nonprofit dedicated to helping these children of our community transition into the foster care program. We will be collecting items for the 72 Hour Bags that will be given to these abused/neglected children when they are first removed from their homes and put into foster care. Items needed: brush & comb, underwear, socks, pj’s, soap, baby wipes, and diapers. Also, if you want to give a comfort item like a soft blanket or stuffed animal, please keep it small. We will be collecting for about a month, so look for posters and drop boxes throughout the church. This week will be your last chance to purchase one (or more) of the bracelets which the GA’s have assembled to benefit Mercy House, a safe haven for girls in Kenya (Africa). Support this project by purchasing a bracelet for $10. Applications are being accepted for the RICKY STRINGER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP. Church members who are pursuing a degree in Christian ministry are eligible to apply. Application forms available in the Welcome Center and Church Office. Deadline to apply: Monday, June 30. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL (June 16-20, 2014) Enrollment: 182 Children Average attendance: 219 (154 Kids; 65 Workers) Confirmed Decisions for Christ: 14 Missions offering: $1546.11 (Designated for Smiths, missionaries in SE Asia) Page 2 Stewardship—June AVERAGE WEEKLY Sunday School Morning Worship Service Worship in the Park (06/08) Van Ministry G.R.O.W. Outreach (06/22) Wednesday Family Night 279 345 130 22 14 114 Budget Needed Per Week $ 17,308.00 Average Weekly Receipts (Budget) 14,199.87 Average Weekly Receipts (Budget & Designated) 16,627.45 YEAR-TO-DATE Budget Needs Budget Receipts Budget Expenditures World Missions GVOM Balance $ 432,700.00 404,673.54 384,305.75 9,177.54 618,814.00 New Church Members (Sept. 2013-Aug. 2014) By Baptism (Sept. 2013-Aug. 2014) 46 24 Decisions for Christ ST. ROMAIN, Alexis (baptized 6/8), 313 N. Kings Ct. 70458, 985-774-3186 BABERS, Alexis (baptized 6/22), 66052 Pinewood Dr. P.R. 70452, 985-863-7590 LANGSTON, Alysen (for baptism) 4234 Poplar Dr. 70461, 9850710-4330 NEWCOMB, Ophelia and Penelope (for baptism), 1915 Wyndemere Dr. 70461, 603-969-7637 WORSHIP SERVICE CHILDCARE SCHEDULE Childcare provided during the morning Worship Service in To God be the glory for the great Vacation Bible School last week. God blessed with a super bunch of kids, wonderful workers and a good number of professions of faith in Jesus Christ. We’re especially grateful for Mitch Peltonen and Kim Grubbs in planning and leading the VBS along with a multitude of willing workers! Now let’s be faithful in following up on ministry to a lot of guest families and growing these young believers. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!” As we celebrate the 238th birthday of our nation we need to remember the words of the Declaration of Independence: ”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” There is clear and irrefutable evidence that the vast majority of our founding fathers had a strong belief in Almighty God and His Son, Jesus Christ. John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and second president of the U.S. declared, “The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.” John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the U.S. declared, “My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Congress, in 1854 declared, “The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” It is obvious that our nation was established on a strong Biblical foundation, with the vast majority of our enacted laws based upon Biblical truths and values. As long as the citizens of America maintain strong faith in Jehovah God and His Son, Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Bible, America will be a strong and invincible nation. When we turn our faces away from Him, we will face extinction. Let’s pray for a God-empowered spiritual awakening in America. Let’s live out loud the truths of God’s Word in the power of His Spirit! See you Sunday. Children’s Building for birth thru age 3. Children age 4 thru 3rd grade are dismissed to Children’s Church. Code 100 on the Worship Center monitor indicates more workers are needed in the Nursery July 6 Molly Graham and Judy Jenkins Kay DeLuca and Melisa Thompson July 13 Jan Laletin, Royce Ballance, Darla Mansfield, Brenda Hedrick July 20 Mary Jane Smith, Kristina Romero Daphne Stewart, Christy DaSilva July 27 Esther Warnick, Jessi Pitman, Beth Rawls, Inga Pichon VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!! Contact Elaine Strahan, 290-9619, if you can help. Everyone age 55 and older invited to... B.A.S.I.C. Dinner Meeting Tuesday, July 15th, 6:30pm Menu: Hamburgers & Hot Dogs with all the fixings! Sign up on the Sunday bulletin tear-off or call the church office by noon on Monday, July 14, to make reservations. MARK YOUR CALENDARS— (Rescheduled from last month) BASIC Shopping Trip to Gulfport! Friday, July 11, leave Slidell @ 9:00am Let us know if you want to ride church van. Page 3 SURVIVING MIDDLE SCHOOL RETREAT first of August for all new 7th and 8th graders. Watch for upcoming flyer. CHURCH STAFF HIGH SCHOOL BACK-TO-SCHOOL OVERNIGHT CANOE TRIP. Watch for details on this retreat. BOB HEUSTESS Senior Pastor bob@discovergrace.us MISSIONFUGE was a wonderful experience for our youth as they ministered to children, adults, senior adults, people with special needs, HIV homeless teens, and physical labor at churches and people’s homes. Thank you to Diane Lane, Ed DeMeyere, Kim Grubbs, Tonya and Mike Mohler for chaperoning the trip. And a special thanks to you our church family as you prayed for us and supported us financially. It will be exciting to see how the Holy Spirit grows us through these experiences. YOUTH HUDDLE meets Wednesday at 6:30 in the youth room. Summer is full of surprises— July 9th, Weird Game Wednesday; July 16th, 10 ft. Banana Split Night; July 23rd, Nacho Mama’s Night; July 30th, Fright Night. Sunday, July 13th - WORSHIP IN THE PARK, 5:00pm, John Slidell Park back pavilion. Sunday, July 20th - ROCK CLIMBING AND PIZZA. Congratulations to Christina Kennedy on her marriage to Wayne Brandt on May 31. FINANCIAL PEACE UNIVERSITY will be offered on Wednesday evenings beginning the first week of September at 6:00pm. Childcare provided. Date for preview class will be announced later. Sign up on the bulletin tear-off if interested. If you have purchased a kit previously, there is no charge to attend. Contact Lee Nugent, (985) 807-3286, or Bill Coggin, (985) 290-0221, for more information. Hello Church Family!! VBS was awesome! God, as always, was doing His thing. I am so thankful to be a part of that outreach/ministry. I hope all of you who were involved feel/felt blessed. Thank you to those who took on new and different jobs this year. It was a blessing. We had 14 professions of faith, many kids who are asking questions and growing closer to the Lord, and some who just had a blast worshipping and learning about their awesome God. We will be having a series of meetings with the children’s departments’ different ministries. I will iron out the dates and get information on dates and times in parents and workers hands soon. I am hoping to have a meeting during the summer for the following groups: Children’s Church, Sunday School, Wednesday night activities, and the Children’s Leadership Team. I want to have these meetings this summer while we are having only one service; it makes it much easier to schedule since we will all be getting out of church at the same time. I know with vacations and such this summer you might not be able to attend, but I hope it works out. If not, we will be sure to get you the information gathered from the meetings. If you have a conflict with the future meeting dates and want to express something, please get with me so I can bring it up. We have some openings coming up in Children’s Sunday School. We need lead teachers in 2nd grade, 1st grade and a co-teacher in 4th grade. Each one of those classes has one adult in it already so it should be a smooth transition. Please be in prayer! If you are interested please contact me, Jerry, or Mrs. Joan Marsh so we can discuss it with you. Have a great summer! Mitch MICHAEL MOHLER Associate Pastor Music/Adult Education mike@discovergrace.us MITCH PELTONEN Children’s Ministry Assistant mitch@discovergrace.us RICK JOHNSON Facilities Manager rixstix@bellsouth.net Love Ya! Bro. Jerry YOUTH PARENTS: We need your email address so we can keep you up to date and a part of our online Parent Ministry. We would like to have your cell information also so we can text you with reminders and updates. Please send that info to me at jerry@discovergrace.us or to Kim Grubbs at kim@discovergrace.us . JERRY SMITH Associate Pastor Students/Facilities jerry@discovergrace.us RHENA COGGIN Office Manager rhena@discovergrace.us DEBBIE THOMAS Secretary/Receptionist debbie@discovergrace.us KIM GRUBBS Student Secretary kim@discovergrace.us CHRISTINE HOLTON Music Secretary christine@discovergrace.us AMY LUTMAN Financial Secretary & Outreach Secretary amy@discovergrace.us DIANE LANE Treasurer diane@discovergrace.us ELAINE STRAHAN Nursery Coordinator & Church Hostess elainestrahan64@gmail.com Early Learning Center VENITA RICHARDS Director venita@discovergrace.us Ministers EVERY CHURCH MEMBER MEMBER