Calendar
SUNDAY, JULY 11
Hymn Sing at Duke Park
Summer FUN-Day Evenings | Sundays through July 25, 5- 7 p.m. Duke Park Picnic Shelter (106 West Knox Street, Durham). Pack a picnic dinner and blanket and head to Duke Park for fellowship, fun and blessing. This Sunday, Diamond Dan and Darling Dottie will be making another appearance, come see what they’ve got up their sleeve this week! More details here.
Pray for our Missionaries | Sunday, July 11, 4 & 6:30 pm | Zoom
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 missionaries and for our mission partners this Sunday via Zoom. We will pray at 4 p.m. for our Blacknall-supported missionaries and at 6:30 p.m. to pray for our Deep Common Journey partner Congo Initiative in Beni, DRC. Come participate in what God is doing in our world.
Zoom Links: 4 pm Missionary Prayer 6:30 pm Congo Prayer
Announcements
Blacknall’s COVID Vaccination Policy
Please read this letter from the Session and pastors, and view Blacknall’s current vaccination policy.
New! The Music Corner | News and updates about musical life at Blacknall.
Check out our new Blacknall Spotify playlist!
We now have a Spotify playlist for music we’re singing on Sunday mornings at Blacknall. Check it out if you want to listen to the new songs we’re singing or learn more about that song you loved singing on Sunday!
Devotional Resource - Compline: Evening Liturgies for Anxious Souls
Last year our worship and music director Wen Reagan designed and produced an evening prayer service as a podcast for the Center for Worship and the Arts at Samford University. Designed to be listened to on headphones for ten minutes as you wind down for bed, Compline: Evening Liturgies for Anxious Souls sets the tradition of evening prayer (Compline) in a calming and contemplative soundscape. Wen produced several seasons of the podcast so that it covers the entire liturgical year. Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or the podcast website.
Download a directory
A PDF of Blacknall’s directory is now available on the CCB home page. It’s a great time to match up names and faces after being apart! Need to update your profile picture or other details? Here’s some tips.
Welcome Becky Gould!
Becky officially took on her new role as Blacknall’s Director of Congregational Care this week. You can reach Becky at bgould@blacknall.org.
Interim Pastor Search
Blacknall is actively seeking an interim pastor to work with the Session, staff, Transition Team (congregation, and other stakeholders through the transition process and to develop a mission study. View Blacknall’s MIF for more details and share the word with qualified candidates. Interested candidates should forward their PIF or resume to: interimpastorsearch@blacknall.org. Contact Stephanie Wheatley, Pastoral Transition Team chair, with questions.
Summer Nursery Volunteers | Sign up
We are inviting fully vaccinated adults and teens in our congregation to partner with the Nursery Ministry in providing childcare during our Sunday 8:30 am worship service this summer. You can find the June/July sign-up sheet above and you're welcome to sign up as a Volunteer Worker for as many spots as you'd like.
Ushers needed during both services. | Sign up to receive more details on various ways to serve during worship.
Community
Housing for New Hope (HNH) is in need of 6-8 volunteers for 4-6 hours at their Williams Square location. Reaching, bending, pulling and kneeling is involved. Please contact Lauren Holahan if interested. HNH is flexible and will schedule the time based on volunteers’ availability.
Prayer
Ministry Partners:
Campus—We pray for The Center for Christianity and Scholarship (CCS) at Duke and for its Executive Director, Edward Dixon. CCS seeks to explore intersections of Christian thought with the scholarly and academic life of the university. CCS seeks to “create and sustain a community of students and scholars interested and engaged in discovering what it means to think as Christians about the workings of the physical world, social structures, history, art, philosophy, and other fields of study.”
Please pray for:
· the CCS staff to establish healthy life practices and balance that would be sustainable.
· CCS to effectively grow students’ and faculty’s excitement for and engagement in examining the university and the world with God's perspectives.
· Needed funding for a new position of Associate Director of Academic Programming.
· A restful summer for staff in preparation for the coming academic year.
International—We pray for Blacknall missionaries 'Ale and Lynn VanderWoude 'Aho, with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in the South Pacific nation of Tonga. Lynn is a physician assistant, committed to holistic ministry to build physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy individuals, families and communities. 'Ale is a member of Team Xtreme (featuring amazing feats of strength), challenging youth to commit their lives to Christ. In the last week, Lynn queried “Wondering why you haven’t seen much of us here on Facebook? We’ve been ‘up in the roof’ renovating the YWAM-Tonga base kitchen. Such a great time these past 6 weeks doing the Basic Construction Technology Seminar together as YWAM-Tonga!” See the picture of their 14-year-old son Fulani at work “in the rafters.” Prayer requests: (1) thanksgiving for evidence of stronger bonds among YWAM-Tongan staff; (2) an empowerment to minister to one another and God-given opportunities to proclaim the gospel in word and deed; (3) thanksgiving for Fulani; (4) confidence for him to affirm who he is and skill in navigating through his adolescent years; (5) Lynn’s work of educating the population to be ready for Tonga opening its borders to Covid next spring; (6) Tongan missionaries, Suli and Fane and their 7 children, courageously working in Uganda in village evangelism.
Durham—We pray for Ken Woods-Henderson and the ministry of Kairos Prison Ministry. Ken is a retired PCUSA pastor who attends Blacknall with his wife Christine who is also an ordained pastor in the PCUSA.
Ken and Kairos are involved in prison ministry at the Central Prison in Raleigh. With COVID, they have not been allowed back in the prison. They are hoping to begin with small group activity and then move to larger monthly gatherings. Frequently Ken has invited Blacknall to pray for their full 4-day experiences. They are hoping that they may be able to provide one by the end of 2021.
Please pray for the Kairos graduates who, in spite of COVID, have continued “to encourage one another and to carry the grace-message of Jesus to potential candidates. Let us not lose hope.”
Grief:
We pray for Karen Allen and Cheryl Koenig in the death of their mother, Arlys Allen, on July 9.
We pray for Betsy and Allan Poole (and Ellie, Sam & Caitlin, Sarah) on the death of Betsy’s Mom, Jean Smith, on July 3. The funeral will be on July 17 in Roanoke, VA.
We pray for Matt and Sabrina Clawson (and Riley and Gunner) on the death of Matt’s grandmother, Irene Nugara, on July 6.
We pray for those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.
Joys
We celebrate with Michelle Haller & James Johnson on their engagement to be married.
We celebrate with Joanne & Bill Beckman on Joanne’s good pathology report following her recent cancer surgery.
We welcome back to Blacknall David & Allison Eagle (Joshua, Anastasia, and Isaiah) after their year-long sojourn back home in Canada.
Concerns
We pray for Susan Condon recovering from toe surgery on Friday.
We pray for Jack Adams, former member at Blacknall, as he is in hospice care now, and for his wife, Nancy, as she grieves his impending death. She has cared for him throughout his slide into dementia.
We pray for April Perry and Shiela Rittger as they host the wife, Fregga, and children, Gaelle (8) and Hadassa (3), of their partner in mission in Haiti, Romel.For security reasons they have come to stay with April and Shiela.
World
We pray for the nation of Haiti after the assassination of their president this past week. We pray against the chaos and for the protection of those who are most vulnerable. We pray for Dr. Romel’s safety as he continues to care for people there.
Life Together
We pray for our elders as they meet this week and make decisions about protocols for how we meet together in worship.
We pray for Becky Gould, our new Director of Congregational Care. We thank God for Becky and pray that she would quickly discern how best to use her gifts in helping us to care for one another.
We pray for our Transition Team as they begin to look at candidates for the Interim Pastor position.
We pray for our search for a new Communications Director.
We pray for a deepening heart for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbors. We pray for creativity, imagination, and love for our neighbors as we seek to make Jesus known.