Belonging to Jesus, being His disciple, has many benefits. One of the best lessons I have learned as I walk this journey with Jesus is this: You don’t have to save the world, but you can be a light for someone. The story of the little boy and his grandpa walking on the beach illustrates this beautifully.
A little boy was walking with his grandfather along the beach and the little boy kept finding starfish washed up in the sand and he would bend over and throw the starfish back into the ocean. The little boy’s grandfather observed this and finally with a chuckle said, “Son, there are thousands of these starfish washed up on the beach and only one of you. What difference can you possibly make?” The boy picked up another starfish, and gently put it back into the ocean and turned to his grandpa and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
People need to know Jesus. It is the path back to Peace and Joy and as we learned last week, everyone needs more peace and joy in their life. People only get to know Jesus through us, the church. You can help someone see the light every day. You can make a difference! Be the love of Jesus to someone today!
Exciting News: Mark your calendars. September 13th we are launching the Raise The Praise Fellowship Choir! This choir will be made up of “anyone” wanting to be part of a spiritual gospel choir. This group will meet on Thursday evenings at Immanel Methodist Church located at 800 North Main Street Edwardsville. The purpose of this group is worshipping God with music and prayer. This night of prayer and worship will happen Thursdays at 7:00 til 8:30pm. It will be open to everyone both singers and those who just want to come and listen and be part of a very uplifting group of people. You can find out more about this group and the dates by following us on facebook at Raise The Praise Fellowship Choir
This Sunday pastor Jackie and the IUMC will be leading worship. This will be BACKPACK BLESSING/BIBLE SUNDAY Whether they are carrying their first box of crayons to preschool or lugging a locker-full of textbooks from class to class, a backpack is the symbol of the student’s call to grow in wisdom. We’re sending our students (preschool through college) and school staff back to school with our prayers and blessings. All students (public, private or home schooled) and school staff are joyfully invited to bring their backpacks or book bags to worship this Sunday, August 19, at 8:45 am or 10:45 am. All bags will be blessed and will receive a special tag. As we celebrate God’s gift of learning, we will pray for God’s blessing on students and schools in the coming year. This Sunday is also Bible Sunday! On Bible Sunday we gift students who are entering the 3rd grade with engraved Bibles. We pray God will guide these students as they learn its stories and study its words. Receiving Bibles this Sunday will be Kendall Kane and Destiny Schoettle.
Praise Community Fellowship News: The church board will be looking for volunteers to serve on a future planning committee for our church. We will be asking for names of those who may be interested on being part of this very important and exciting plan for the future of our church. We will choose 6 people from the list. There will be a sign up sheet at the services. This group will be lead by our president Gary Watson.
Prayers Please:
Linda Klingle . Linda and Steve moved to South America a little over a year ago but they are coming back home to Edwardsville because Linda has developed a rare autoimmune disease which is affecting her organs. We pray for God’s healing and Peace for Linda and Steve as we also welcome them back to Edwardsville.
Pete Fornof Please pray for God’s healing touch and for strength as he continues his treatments.
Mike Portell continued prayers for Mike’s healing and recovery from surgery.
Linda Cassens Linda will need more tests regarding her bladder cancer. We pray for God’s healing touch for her.
Pastor Jackie healing prayers as she continues her treatments for skin cancer and recovers from the surgeries.
Prayers for PCF and IUMC as we both seeks God’s mission and plan for our future.
Exciting times! See you soon. Love, pastor kent