Calendar
Sunday, Sept. 12
Fall Kickoff/Sunday School Begins
Sunday school classes begin in person at Blacknall, 10-10:45 a.m. Middle and High School Youth Groups and Dance Worship resume at 5 p.m. View adult Sunday School class listings here. If you have children and are not receiving emails from our children’s ministry (Leslie Petree and Beth Solie) or youth ministry directors (Brad Turnage and Tanya Kronstad), please fill out this form.
2nd Sunday Prayer for Mission Partners
4 p.m (Mission Partners), 6:30 p.m. (Congo) | Zoom link on CCB
From Cape Town to Amsterdam. From Tonga to Kyrgyzstan. From Blacknall to Beni and lots of places in between! We are invited to gather to pray for our Blacknall-supported missionaries. Come participate in what God is doing in our world!
Saturday, Sept. 18
Stretch and Pray
9-10 a.m. | Iredell St. lot (714-716 Iredell), weather permitting. (Contact Anne Harbour-Tonn for Zoom link if it’s raining or to join her email list.)
In these one-hour sessions, Anne uses movement and Scripture to lead us in prayer with our bodies and souls.
Thursday, Sept. 23
Women’s Bible Study Begins
Thursdays, Sept. 23- Dec. 9, 9:30- 11:15 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, with off-site and Zoom options at other times.
Please register and let us know if you plan to attend on Thursday mornings or are interested in one of the other options.
The large group session at Blacknall includes fellowship, worship, and teaching with small group time to follow. We will be studying Romans 8 with the study guide If God Is For Us: The Everlasting Truth of Our Great Salvation. There is no fee aside from the cost of the book; please purchase a copy online or at your favorite book store.
Coming Up:
Sunday Evening Outdoor Worship
Sundays, 6-6:45 p.m. Oct 3, 10, 24, 31, and Nov. 7 . Please join us on Sunday evenings for an outdoor worship service in our Iredell St. lot (714 Iredell St.)
Fall Festival
Sunday, Oct. 17, 4-7 p.m. at Camp Chestnut Ridge in Efland. Please save the date for our annual fall festival, a time of sweet fellowship and enjoyment of the beauty autumn brings.
Announcements
Registration reminder
Please register for worship in advance, and register children for Sunday school each week. Links can be found on our Registration page- go ahead and bookmark it!
Prayer for Afghanistan
Please consider joining John Nicholson and Paula Rinehart for prayer (and fasting, if you can) for Afghanistan as we pray for the church under duress there, for allies who need safe passage out, for the mercy of God in a crisis situation, for Christ to reveal Himself to this stricken people. We’ll pray together on Zoom on Thursdays, Sept. 16, 23, 30, and Oct. 7, 12-12:30 p.m. Zoom link on CCB. Contact: Paula Rinehart.
Fall Small Groups
Small groups are a great way to share life, hear the word, and grow in love for Christ and one another. Several co-ed groups are starting this month and meeting through early December. Learn more.
Men's Ministry Leadership Team
Do you want to help men get connected to one another and grow deeper in their faith? We are seeking to form a men's ministry leadership team to think creatively together about various ways to strengthen and expand our men's ministry as an important part of life at Blacknall. If you are interested in participating in this effort, please contact Cullen Rodgers-Gates (919.641.8198).
Love and Serve
Take a meal to Josh and Lori Riggs and pray for Lori as she’s experiencing health issues.
Volunteer at the Iglesia Emanuel Food Pantry. Not comfortable gathering? Sign up to bag rice and beans from home.
Volunteer at the Walltown Neighborhood Ministries Food Bank
Nursery Volunteers Needed — We are inviting fully vaccinated adults and teens in our congregation to partner with the Nursery Ministry in providing childcare during our 8:30 a.m. worship service and Sunday school hour. Sign up .
Community
Congo Initiative is Hiring!
Our Deep Common Journey Congo Initiative (CI) is hiring a part-time Administrative Coordinator. For more details, visit the job posting.
Center for Christianity and Scholarship Reading group — Dante's Divine Comedy
Are you curious about Dante’s famous Inferno, or his epic journey from the depths of Hell into the starry Heavens? Want to read or reread a classic of Christian and Western literature, while being guided through each canto of the poem by an experienced Dante teacher? Join CCS for a bi-weekly reading group on Dante's Divine Comedy, led by Blacknall’s own Brad Boswell. The group plans to start this month and meet 15 times by Easter Sunday. (Schedule to be built around those who register.) Learn more on CCS’s web site.
Crop Walk update
Durham’s Crop Walk in April raised over $150,000, which again makes it one of the largest Walks in the country, and brings nearly $40,000 directly to Durham ministries in need. From Doug Koenig: “Blacknall blew the doors of prior years with total gifts this year of $12,380, much of it in response to Deanna’s memorial page. She would be so proud of you, friends! I can easily imagine her dancing around heaven pointing that out to everyone! She loved you all and she loved the CROP Walk, and I cannot thank you enough for your love for her and this charity.”
Responding to the Afghanistan Crisis
Our hearts are heavy as we continue to hear the news coming from Afghanistan. Let us continue to pray for this nation and the people there. If you are looking for ways to respond and to support the people there, here are several options:
Give financially to Concilium, recommended to us by global workers working in Afghanistan. This helps expat Gospel workers and local Afghan Christians get to safety.
Give to Team Expansion, working to provide for the essential needs of displaced Afghans.
Contact Blacknall’s Andrea Tshihamba, our liaison with World Relief Durham if you’re interested in being a part of a Blacknall team that helps welcome Afghan refugees.
Please contact David Dunderdale if you have questions or thoughts on how we might respond.
Deep Common Journeys
What’s a Deep Common Journey? One of Blacknall’s commitments in mission is that we would intentionally enter into “Partnership with an organization in mission toward learning to be disciples of Jesus Christ.” We call these partnership relationships “Deep Common Journeys.” While Blacknall supports approximately 60 different international, Durham, and campus mission partners, we have focused on four Deep Common Journey partners—Reality Ministries (Durham), Families Moving Forward (Durham), International Students, Inc. (Campus), and Congo Initiative (International).
How can I enter our Deep Common Journey? There are many ways to get involved:
Reality Ministries Volunteer Gathering— Tuesday, August 31, 7 p.m. at the Reality Center, 916 Lamond Ave. Reality has a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, including gardening, beekeeping, karaoke dance, art, music, cooking, Bible study and much more. Contact Reality’s Volunteer Coordinator Tammy Rodman or simply show up on August 31. Reality will follow CDC guidelines for in-person meetings, virtual option also available (email Tammy for link.)
Families Moving Forward— FMF is looking for volunteers to step up and help restart their in-person programming. Visit FMF’s volunteer page or contact Volunteer Coordinator Associate Imani Vincent for more information.
International Students Inc.— We hope you heard today’s Focus on Missions! There are many ways to participate: 1) Be a Supper Club host for the Fall 2021 semester, 2) Join the IstudentsDuke prayer ministry, 3) Engage in regular conversation with an international student (in person or virtual). To learn more, fill out the volunteer interest form, visit ISI’s Volunteers page, or contact Dan Kronstad (630.903.1300).
Congo Initative— Visit CI’s News and Updates page, and contact Kim Dunderdale to be part of the Congo Leadership Team.
Prayer
Ministry Partners
Campus & National— —We pray for Jennifer Hagin, working with InterVarsity as the Area Director for 30 campuses in the Virginia Highlands. Jennifer is in the last month of her 6-month sabbatical. Please pray for: 1) Her wrist—she needs wrist surgery. Pray that they would be able to schedule needed surgery quickly. Pray that she would handle the recovery and permanent mobility limitations with grace and increased openness to God. 2) Her re-entry after her sabbatical. Pray for wisdom in ramping back up—"taking advantage of the reset in what I pick back up, what needs to be permanently delegated, and what may need to lay fallow in this season.” 3) Staffing for her region. Her region is significantly understaffed, but they hired their largest class of interns. Pray that many would accept placements in her area for next year.
International—We pray for Blacknall supported global workers Jim and Julianna (Hawkins) Gieser who serve with The Antioch Partners in Cape Town, South Africa. They are on staff with the Student Y Christian Study Centre, which is a place of faith-life integration at the heart of the University of Cape Town, and prepares students to serve God and the common good with their whole lives. Their children are: Timo - 8, Mattias - 6, Hawkins - nearly 4, and Ruth - 1 1/2. There was a severe campus fire at the University of Cape Town this spring. About this, Julianna writes, “Jim’s office is still standing, as is the other small house where three students have been living, and the larger “fellowship hall”, which they rearranged last week after the fire to make into a lounge and (physically distanced) study space. So that’s wonderful. Who knows, perhaps this will be a time to bring about new growth and new life at the Y! We hope the Y can be a place of welcome and respite for students. The family is well. Busy and active as always. I think the fire was good for our boys to experience and learn about, and hopefully learn how to serve others in need in response. The Y is having a garden clean up next weekend, for example, after several areas of trees and brush had caught alight in the fire. “ Prayer points: (1) praise God for their move into a new rental house well suited for their family and across the street from a park; (2) renewed energy and encouragement for Jim’s student ministry and Julianna’s responsibilities in the home; (3) attentiveness to God’s presence and growth in their dependence on him; (4) guidance and courage for Jim and good connections with the right people, as he leads the Y’s capital fund campaign.
Durham—We pray for the Mt. Level Missionary Baptist Church and for their pastor, Rev. Dr. William Turner. We give thanks for our partnership with Mt. Level for 30 years. We pray for: 1) The Mt. Level Community Partnership for Racial Justice and the book study on the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson that began last week. Pray that the participants will listen well to one another with an attitude of humility. 2) Good health for Rev. Turner and his wife, Joyce, that they may continue to serve the Lord and His Church with energy, enthusiasm, and love. 3) The Vanhook family whose grandson was killed recently. Rev. Vanhook asks for prayer for “enduring strength for the journey, and Grace for peace and healing. Prayers for the man who committed the act against God’s created being and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to change his life that others may know our Savior’s saving grace for eternal life.” 4) Pray for new members to Mt. Level and for the church community in this season of COVID. Pray that the Lord would strengthen the ties that bind the Body together. 5) Pray for the congregation as they make decisions about how to adapt their facilities and ministries to a changing community.
Griefs
We pray for Peter Feaver and his family on the death of his mom on August 28.
We pray for Sue Duncan and her family on the death of Greg Duncan on August 22
We pray for the family and friends of Jack Adams who died on August 13
We pray for those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.
Joys
We rejoice with Liza Moore and Justin Rasmussen who were engaged to be married last week!
We give thanks for Joy Manila and Patrick Hayes who have both been baptized by Affirmation of Faith in the last couple of weeks.
Concerns
We pray for Paul Immanuel who has had a bad reaction to treatment for migraines and is in serious pain.
We pray for Scott Laird, Caroline Raby and Anne Paulson who are recovering from surgery this past week.
We pray for April Perry and Shelia Rittgers as they care for their friends from Haiti, Romel and Fregga’s, daughters, Gaelle (7) and Hadassa (3) for the next several months.
World
We pray for the nation of Afghanistan and particularly for the most vulnerable and for Christian brothers and sisters who are there.
We pray against the spread of COVID and we pray for people to be diligent in taking precautions to prevent its spread. We pray for the health workers who are caring those infected with this virus.
Life Together
We pray for the search committee for a new Communications Coordinator (Lucy Cate, Chair).
We pray for the search committee for our Interim Pastor (Stephanie Wheatley, Chair).
We pray for Goodie Bell and David Dunderdale as they lead us in this time of transition. Pray for wisdom, strength, imagination, and ears to hear the Spirit’s leading.
We pray for small groups, both existing and new ones being started up this Fall. Pray that our small groups would be agents of discipleship and fellowship. Pray especially for new groups forming that the members would quickly connect with one another and become places of trust.