SunHills September Update

  • Dan Haakenson
  • Sep 8, 2010
OHANA

This is going to be a great day! Sunday, September 19, from 2-6 pm, plan to come to Bertelsen Park in EDH for food, games, and fun with the SunHills family. This is an all-church event and all are welcome! We’ll enjoy a BBQ dinner and time to fellowship with one another. Tickets are $2/person and are on sale on Sundays or by contacting Heather in the church office, .

BAPTISM

Baptism is an important step of obedience and identification for us as followers of Christ. It is an outward symbol and expression of the transformation that has already taken place inside of us when we receive His grace. If you are a follower of Jesus but have not been baptized, we invite you to take this step at the SunHills Baptism on Sunday, October 17. There will also be a baptism class on Sunday, October 10. If you are interested in participating, please contact Heather in the church office, .

YOUTH MINISTRY

I’ll run through some thoughts in bullet-points for this area:

  • First, I want to give an affirmation that this area – and these students! – is so important to me and the other leaders here. We are grateful for the ways God has been working among our students and we do not just want to maintain, but to thrive in ministry for, and to, and with students. We have a great group of students and we are prayerful and excited about what is ahead.
  • Next, I want to give a ‘shout out’ to the leaders who have been serving here – THANK YOU to Mat Craig, Jessy Gilger, Mitch Kellogg, Bree Lyle, Megan Kraft, Cameron Demetre, Chris Canady, Megan Horrell, Rachel Groves, Jo Sullivan, Sharon Von Bokern, Ali Hartigan, and Sherry Graf for supporting and encouraging our students!
  • My plan in moving forward is to hire two part-time directors with limited-term commitments – one for middle school and one for high school. This will allow us to have some strong and focused point leadership that is also individually-tailored to each of the groups/students. We are still looking at a few possibilities for the middle school leader. I am thrilled to mention that we have hired a part-time Director of High School Ministry for the 2010-11 school year – Jacob Locke. He is a recent graduate of William Jessup University, has worked in youth ministry for the past four years, and is excited to begin working with the students at SunHills.
  • Many of our student leaders have plans to attend college or serve in missions this fall. Is student ministry an area in which you’d like to serve? If you have a heart for students and would like to know more about being involved in this ministry, please contact us. Please also pray for our student leaders and the ministry as we move forward. These are great groups of students and we look forward to the exciting ways God will continue to work in and through them.
WORSHIP

Braden is continuing as our Interim Worship Coordinator – thank you Braden! With Braden’s leadership and the on-going service of so many in the worship ministries (thank you, you are amazing!), we have been holding strong in this arena. This has been very helpful as some pressing demands with youth ministry have been more urgent. We are continuing to think and pray about the leadership and staffing and volunteers needed for this ministry. Speaking of that – are you interested in serving in this area? Maybe you play drums or love running sound/lighting/tech? Or would you be willing to be an usher to help in our Sunday services? Let us know!

What are WE here for?

The book of Acts describes the beginning of the church and, like the birth of something new, it is exciting. We’ve been looking at how this book shapes and directs us as a community of Christ’s followers today. The first few messages in this series are foundational – our purpose, our power (the Holy Spirit), and our central focus. If you missed them, these messages are available by clicking on the "Recent Messages" links to the right.

We’ve got some great things coming up in this series through September: we’ll take a look at the ‘community bound together’ on the 12th and 19th; then we’ll be looking at the ‘cooperation’ needed in that community on the 26th.

BUDGET

We see patterns of giving to and through the church already developing in the book of Acts; thank you for the ways that many of you carry on this practice of faithful generosity to enable ministry! Also, thank you for the continued generosity to the Hosamane Project. Giving for this project has consistently exceeded our monthly commitment. They are encouraged by our giving and we have been blessed by our partnership with this church across the world.

BE THE CHURCH

Our BTC Sunday in August was an amazing day of service and celebration. One way that we can continue ‘being the church’ is to help with the Twin Lakes canned food drive. Over 2,200 people were fed last month by the food bank and over 40% were children. Twin Lakes is very low on canned soup, so we are accepting donations for them in the church lobby. The most urgent need is for ‘kid-friendly’ varieties such as chicken noodle, vegetable beef, etc.

Grace - dan