Calendar
Sunday, Sept. 5
Cancer Support Group
10-10:45 a.m. | Zoom | More Details
Sunday, Sept. 12
11:15 a.m. service will move to 11 a.m.
With the return of the Sunday School hour between services, the 11:15 service will shift back to 11 a.m. The early service will remain at 8:30, with the livestream option.
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. Please visit the following pages for class details: Children, Youth, College-Age, Young Adults, and Adults
2nd Sunday Prayer for Mission Partners
4 p.m (Mission Partners), 6:30 p.m. (Congo) | Zoom | More Details
Announcements
Fall Small Groups
Several groups are starting up or accepting new members. Groups will meet from September through Advent. Interested? 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).
Blacknall is Hiring!
The Communications Coordinator search committee (chair, Lucy Cate) is now accepting applications. The committee’s hope is to find a person who will communicate the work of our church effectively, build relationships with members and engage with new audiences. Please view the posting for details, and share with your network!
The part-time Choir Director search is also open, and the application deadline has been extended through September 15.
Love and Serve
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 .
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
Community
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 between the middle of September and Easter! Learn more and register 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 Scott and Jenny Hawkins, working with our Deep Common Journey Partner, International Students, Inc. at Duke and throughout the Triangle. They offer thanksgiving for: 1) J & X examining God's word for themselves, while giving evidence they are each progressing in faith. 2) David initiating contact with a Fellowship in his city in China! Please pray for: 1) The LORD to guide in following-up new and returning students, especially in identifying those who are FAT - faithful, available, teachable. 2) Them to serve well in their roles as parents and grandparents - family in TX, MD, FL, Durham, and Cape Town!
International—We pray for Blacknall supported global workers Sean and Carmen Garrigan (and Nathan and Lilly) who are “reverse furloughed” to Honduras. They are located in a small city called Siguatepeque and attending the Spanish Institute of Honduras – honing up their language skills. Carmen writes, “We currently plan to be in language school through at least November. Sometime in September, the Lord willing, the current plan is for Sean to be a part of redeploying one of our Cessna 206 airplanes, from overhaul and training in the U.S., back to work in Honduras.” Prayer requests: (1) Thanksgiving that they are getting settled and for God’s grace and protection; (2) Good progress in their language study; (3) A cross cultural wedding for a colleague which Carmen will officiate (in Spanish); (4) a runway project that is possibly on the horizon: God’s guidance and provision.
Durham—We pray for the Rutba House and for their ministry of radical hospitality in the Walltown neighborhood. Pray for Jonathan and Leah Wilson-Hartgrove who head up this home where all are welcome. Pray for relationships in the neighborhood, especially during this season with COVID. Pray for the Lord to connect those who need hospitality with this source of care and connection.
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. Sue’s address is in CCB.
We pray for the family of Jack Adams who died on August 13
We pray for those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.
Joys
We give thanks for the baptism of Joy Manila on August 31 and the gathering of God’s people at St. John’s Baptist Church. We give thanks for the hospitality of our brothers and sisters at St. John’s who made this such a joyful event. We pray for Joy and her parents, Ron & Betsy, as they prepare to return to Kyrgyzstan next week.
We give thanks for Patrick Hayes coming to faith in Christ and being baptized in worship this morning.
We celebrate and give thanks for Gordie & Karen Simons who celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary this week.
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 who is having surgery this 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 children and teachers who are starting back in school and that their education would not be negatively impacted by the coronavirus.
We pray for the victims of Hurricane Ida.
We pray for the nation of Afghanistan and particularly for the most vulnerable and for Christian brothers and sisters who are there.
We continue to pray for Makail, the brother of two men whose families Blacknall helped to settle as refugees here in Durham. He returned to Afghanistan last month to help bring his wife and 6 children to Durham and was not able to get out.
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 Brad Turnage and Tanya Kronstad, as they build a team of volunteers to work with our youth this year. Pray for creativity in finding ways to deepen the sense of community with our youth.
We pray for our Divinity School Intern, Ben Davison, as he preaches this morning and as he reaches out to undergraduate students at Duke. Pray that he would be able to make good connections with students and they might feel connected to our life together at Blacknall.
We pray for people who have just started to attend Blacknall. We pray that they would be welcomed well and that they would find many opportunities to connect with others in the congregation through small groups, fellowship opportunities, and involvement in service and mission.