Announcements
SANCTUARY WORSHIP
Sundays, 8:30 am & 11:15 am. The 8:30 am service will be livestreamed weekly and available here. An abbreviated worship from home liturgy will also be provided. Read more here: Sanctuary FAQ, Sanctuary Plan.
CELEBRATION OF BAPTISM
Sunday, April 25, 4 pm at West Point on the Eno. Join us for a brief service as several families present their children for Christian baptism (see map). All are welcome. Baptisms: Maria & Zach Bradshaw (Joanna); Chad & Hannah Crafford (Grayson); Hanke & Wilco DeVries (Rivka); Deb & Aaron Ebert (Carys); Lou & Josh Gaghan (Violet); Emily & Jonathan Kinsey (Caroline & Olivia); Mary Lynn & Jimmy Myers (Kitty); Casey & Wen Reagan (Lovewell); Danielle & Stu Stulac (Susannah).
Communion in the Rose Garden
Sundays, 9:30-9:45 am & 12:30-12:45 pm
For those who worship with us virtually and who would like to receive communion, a pastor will be present in the rose garden following each service.
SANCTUARY WORSHIP SERVICE TEAMS
There are various ways to serve during our sanctuary worship services. Even if you've served on one of these teams in the past, please fill out this form to indicate you'd like to serve again. Join a team here.
Celebrate Allan & Betsy
Saturday, June 5, 10-11:30 pm & 1:30-3 pm | In-person gatherings at Camp Chestnut Ridge. We will have two gatherings to celebrate and honor Allan and Betsy in light of Allan’s retirement at the end of May. We will monitor state and local guidelines as to how many people we can safely have at each gathering. Please stay connected and we'll post a registration once we know those numbers. Registration opens May 10.
Sunday, June 6, 2-3 pm | Drive-by Celebration at Blacknall
Looking Ahead
As we plan for summer, we’re excited to begin offering more programming in the building as capacity requirements allow. Read below for details on upcoming events and look for more details coming soon.
Children’s Worship & Nursery on Sunday mornings in limited capacity beginning in June
A possible multi-day summer offering for youth and children
Sunday School Kick Off for adults & children on Sunday, Sept 12
Prayer
Ministry Partners:
Campus—We pray for Hank Tarlton working with Graduate and Faculty Ministries at UNC Chapel Hill with InterVarsity. Hank is based at the UNC Study Center with Madison Perry. Hank is thankful for the host families who have hosted the fellowship at their homes in outdoor spaces so that they have been able to meet in person throughout the year. Hank is also thankful for the new InterVarsity staff person working with him, Jacob Thielman. Pray for Jacob and his wife, Erin, as they settle into community here in the Triangle as they moved here last summer in the midst of the pandemic. Pray for good ways for faculty to connect with one another and with other faculty in this area. Pray for wisdom in planning events that will engage both Christian and non-Christian faculty. Pray for the renovations to the UNC Study Center’s Battle House to be done in a timely manner.
International—We pray for Blacknall supported missionaries Mary & Woody McLendon who are with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Waxhaw, NC. Woody is President of JAARS (an organization that provides technical and logistic support to Bible translation around the world). Mary is working with a Congolese man, Dr. Kikama, on the translation of the Bible into his mother tongue, Iyansi. Due to Covid, “JAARS and SIL [the international arm of Wycliffe] partnered together to host the 49th annual IAMA Conference via a Zoom webinar. Although people couldn’t chat during breaks, the conference turned out to be a big success. Instead of 70–90 people showing up at the conference, over 220 people logged in from eight different countries!” Prayer requests: (1) this month’s meeting of the Leadership Team with the Board to discuss God’s leading for JAARS in the coming decade; (2) Woody’s preparations for this meeting; (3) tentative plans for them to travel with Dr. Kikama to the Congo in July to meet with local partners and to check on the Iyansi Bible translation project; (4) health and spiritual growth for their 3 children and their families.
Durham—We pray for the ministry of Habitat for Humanity in Durham. Please pray for Habitat’s partner families (like the one at the right in the home Blacknall helped to build for our 100th anniversary celebration in 2016), their hard working construction staff, and their volunteers and advocates. Pray for health, safety, and the comfort of home. Pray for partner families as nearly a third of their homeowners lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Pray for the Critical and Urgent Repairs Team as they help our elderly, disable, and veteran homeowners remain in the homes they own. Pray for low-income homeowners as a recent City of Durham survey showed that 74% of them report having at least one significant housing problem. Habitat currently has 150 families on their waiting list for repair projects.
Grief:
We pray for those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.
We pray for the other losses we grieve in this season of not seeing one another, of not being able to see family and friends, of transitions, of a sense of community and connectedness, and, for many, a sense of purpose.
Joys
We celebrate the birth of Lily Turner to Alex and Graham Turner on March 29.
We celebrate with Ann Talton-Lee the 102nd birthday of her mom, Rudein, last week. We celebrate and give thanks for all those who helped her to receive 102 birthday cards!
Concerns
We pray for Karen Allen who is having knee replacement surgery this Wednesday.
We pray for Oscar Shoenfelt, John Shoenfelt’s brother, who is in Duke hospital waiting for a heart for heart transplant surgery.
World
We pray for wisdom and a just resolution to the ongoing crisis over policing.
We pray for those parts of our nation and the world where the coronavirus is spiking. We pray for the nation of India with over 300,000 new cases every day. Our mission partner in India asks for prayer for several of their discipleship leaders who have come down with the virus.
We pray for our schools as students are back in class. We pray for teachers and pray that the bonds between teachers and students would quickly be deepened and students might recover academically.
Life Together
We pray for volunteers who love youth and love Jesus who would be willing to volunteer in our Middle School and High School ministry with Tanya Kronstad and Brad Turnage.
We pray for volunteers who are willing to help care for our infants and children so that we can offer childcare for worship as we gather together.
We pray for volunteers to step up to help us return to worship in the sanctuary. In this season we have lost many of our normal volunteers. Particularly we need:
Ushers to help welcome people and direct people into and out of the sanctuary
People to join the Video team to help with live streaming the service
People to help with the BAT (audio) team.