On August 10th and 11th, we’ll be serving around 100 Itasca Community College (ICC) student athletes during our Bridging the GAP event, sponsored by Women’s Ministry. We’ve been blown away by the outpouring of support we’ve received already!
One couple has agreed to donate five smoked pork shoulders to be used for pulled pork sandwiches for one of the meals, we’ve already received twenty $5 gift cards to Subway, someone donated $200 to help with food, we have stacks of Ramen Noodles behind the Welcome Center, and we’ve had a huge outpouring of people wanting to help on the nights that we’re serving meals.
Three other churches have stepped forward to help during the following week. And I hear that some members of the Grand Rapids Police Department will be showing up on one of those days to get to know the students and build relationship bridges with them. We’re well on our way, and we’re so excited by this amazing opportunity to show God’s love to these athletes.
On August 16th and 23rd, Pastor Ken will be offering the Discover-Connect-Serve Membership Information Class (see more about that in the event listing). We’ve had so many new people attending this past year and want to help them know more about us.
Pre-Season In Full Swing
Our pre-season starts with a breakout sermon series called “The Game Plan: Making Disciples”. We’ll spend five weeks talking about our discipleship path of Belonging, Believing, Becoming, and Bringing.
After the second service on August 28th, we’ll have our Pre-Season Kickoff Sunday event. This will be a time to peruse all the offerings for children, students and adults coming this fall. It is also an opportunity for you to find a way to serve in a ministry or join a community group. See the event listing below for more information.
You can’t have an effective season without some training. If you’ve volunteered to teach or lead in Children’s or Student Ministries, if you’re a Greeter or an Usher, if you are a leader in any capacity, you’ll want to come and hear from the coach on how to be more effective in your role. And to remind you why we’re doing all of this in the first place.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on. If you have kids, be sure to check out the next section about changes happening to Children’s and Student ministries. And if you think about it, please pray for all our leaders and staff. This is good but hard work and they could use your help and support.
In His Name,
Michelle Schwake, Communications Assistant
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