This Sunday will be the unofficial ending of our 40 Days of Prayer Campaign. Why unofficial? Like the old theologian Yoggi Berra used to say “It ain’t over til it’s over!” We have a few more things to celebrate.
First, this Sunday, May 19 will be Celebration Sunday #1. We will have a closing video, observe the Lord’s Supper, and recognize and say thanks to all of our 40 DOP hosts. Each host will receive a special gift from Pastor Kyle. We are working on a way to give everyone an opportunity to give thanks and glory to the Lord for the blessings of the 40 DOP.
The second celebration happens on Sunday, May 26. Kyle will be giving a praise and thanksgiving report during the 9:00 and at 11:00 Worship Services. In between, we will have a church wide adult fellowship at 10:00 in the Fellowship Hall. All adult Connection Groups are invited. It does not matter if you meet on Sundays or during the week. Come on by get something to drink, see some new faces and prepare to celebrate!
Here is the third reason the 40 DOP is not quite over. Pastor Kyle gave out 15 more books this past Sunday. Hopefully, that means we will have 15 more JIBC family and friends going through the Prayer Journal for the next 40 Days! It ain’t over until it is over.
I have so enjoyed our church family and friends going through this church wide study on the Power of God and the Power of Prayer. It has, indeed, drawn us closer to God individually and closer to our Connection Groups and friends. We have given out 400 Prayer journals and some of them are still being used! Amen and amen!
See you this Sunday for Celebration #1. Be thinking about how God has blessed you or how this 40 DOP has blessed you. Let’s give Him some glory.
Pastor Tom
Most of the time, we really want things to work. We want our car to start every time we get in it. We want our air conditioners to work when it gets hot! Whenever I have to get on the floor or the ground, I really want my knees to work. LOL So when do you want something not to work? Pastor David and David Jr. have been tracing my microphone’s issue for quite a while. They would have the problem defeated and handled until next time. I really thought it was something in my body chemistry that was affecting the microphone. David and David were working every week. Then their creativity won the day. Let’s take Pastor Tom’s “mic-pack”, the brand new, top of the line, just about as good as they come mic-pack and isolate it. BOOM…you just heard a mic drop! Success has arrived and we are betting the farm, so to speak, that the very complicated mic issue is resolved. Thank you David and David Jr and all your team. You are the best. Thank you all for staying with it so diligently.
TWO MORE WEEKS OF 40 DAYS OF PRAYER
This has been so good for our church family and friends. Our prayer is that we will all grow closer to God individually and grow deeper in our connection with our church family and wider in our outreach to family and friends. The testimonies have been inspiring; the daily devotionals have been day after day of some of the best verses in the Bible; Rick Warren’s video Bible Studies have been spot on. How have you been doing on the Bible Verse Memorization? These 6 verses are great ones to hide in your heart.
This week the message will be “What do you do when God says ‘No’? This coming Sunday is also Mother’s Day. Kat Cumberledge, our Children’s Ministry Leader has worked with Pastor David to produce a great kids video for Mom’s. We will show it at both services. All moms attending will receive a carnation this Sunday. Kat also has a special gift for moms that will be joining or interested in joining the Sunday Morning Mom’s Bible Study. If you are interested in this group please see Ashley Judy or Kat Cumberledge.
This coming Sunday I will be teaching on “What to do when God says ‘No”. On Sunday, May 19, we will have our 40 Days of Prayer Celebration Sunday. We will celebrate Lord’s Supper at both services, 9 and 11. I should be a great week. Hope to see you there.
Pastor Tom
We have three more weeks to go. We started four weeks ago on a church-wide study on the Power of God and the Power of Prayer. 40 Days of Prayer is designed to draw us closer to God individually, deeper in our connections with other believers and wider in our outreach to family, friends and community. What a God honoring, Christ exalting, Spirit led campaign. I cannot see a downside to leading the church to pray! The worship services are inspiring; the video lessons from Rick Warren are spot on to many of our experiences; and the daily devotionals are leading us to experience many of our favorite Bible verses.
Here are some of the comments that have come in so far: I never thought of God as my Father before this; We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in our conversations; We are having great discussions!; We have no more seating in our home!; We ran out of books and had to get more. You can tell people are enjoying this 40 Days of Prayer campaign.
Here are some interesting numbers for you. We have 1 new ministry partner named Still Worthy, a recovery community on Johns Island. They have 30 who will be going through the 40 DOP; 10 books given out to HOMEBOUND individuals; We have 23 groups in total including the 12 we had before we started. That means we have started 11 new groups; averaging 12.7 people in each group; we have 301 people associated with a 40 DOP group; we have given out 380 Daily Devotional Books. That includes the 285 we have distributed through our groups and 95 that have gone to people outside our groups. Add that all up and it equals a great big HALLELUJAH!
We have one more objective we would like to accomplish. If you are not in a 40DOP group and have not already received a Daily Devotions Book/Guide, we would love for you to have one…or as many as you need. We only ask that you give us 5 to 10 minutes to walk you through the book so you know how to get the most out of it. That simple! And we really would love to take a moment to meet with you. Let us help you on your spiritual journey.
See you this Sunday, good Lord willing!
Pastor Tom
