ANNOUNCEMENTS
Congregational Virtual Meeting | Sunday, Aug. 30, 12-12:30 p.m.
This congregational virtual meeting will be to ordain and install elders and deacons who were elected in the spring, and to approve changes in terms of call for Goodie Bell moving from a part-time 30 hours per week Associate Pastor to full time. Zoom link coming soon.
Women’s Bible Study | Fall 2020
Please join us in "Discovering Hope In The Psalms" together. Online audio teaching begins the week of Sept. 21. Schedule restrictions have prevented many of you from attending our Thursday morning studies but this semester will be flexible with audio teaching and various times for small in-person or zoom groups. Register here.
Friday Fasts | Fridays During Lunch
You are invited to continue fasting and praying on Fridays during lunch over the next few months. In this time of fasting we are continuing to ask God to reveal what he is doing in each one individually, what he is doing in the Church, in our nation, and in the world. It is a time of prayer for individual and corporate repentance, particularly around the issue of racism. 5 p.m. Zoom Debrief the last Friday of every month.
Photos of Life Together While Apart
Do you have a photo of worshiping from home, gathering over zoom, or another creative way of sharing life together while apart? If you’d like to share, please send them to Mary Grimm.
NEW Blacknall Classifieds
A forum/exchange to support one another at Blacknall with items for sale, loan, or free; housing or job postings; and community events or opportunities.
Love & Serve
Take a meal to the Brennans, as Taylor undergoes chemo for breast cancer.
PRAYER & THANKSGIVING
Pray for Blacknall missionaries Rich and Barb Leary. They are both presently in the U.S, having to deal with medical concerns: Barb diagnosed with breast cancer, necessitating a mastectomy, and Rich with “severe back pain,” soon to receive an epidural steroid injection. Rich writes.” Barb is out of the hospital and home! She's doing great. Just in a little pain and pretty tired.” Prayer requests: (1) Barb’s mastectomy and subsequent reconstruction; (2) relief from Rich’s severe back pain; (3) opportunities for fresh initiatives to emerge, as they mentor Cru’s Impact Leaders in eastern Europe via ZOOM; (4) the expansion of Cru’s ministry to all the countries of eastern Europe.
Pray for Carmen & Sean Garrigan (and Nathan and Lily) on the miscarriage of their daughter, Samantha Joy, at 15 weeks.
Pray for Melva & Randy Strait in the death of Melva’s mother, Melva Sobota, 92, on August 11.
Pray for the ministry of Pregnancy Support Services (PSS) and its Executive Director, Evan Marbury. Pray for:
Women facing an unplanned pregnancy, especially during this very difficult time.
Health and mental health in our communities as people struggle with changes, fear, and loneliness.
One-on-one Post Abortion support that the staff is offering to women.
Maurice Wilson, Community Education Coordinator, as he offers a course on healthy relationships virtually to youth groups and others.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
“We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.” (Psalm 33:20) This brief statement of hopeful longing springs from the 19 verses which precede it, and there is much good to be gleaned – the content, to be sure, but perhaps even more, the perspective. It is the prayer of a disciple; it is full of an awareness of God’s presence, protection, and provision; it is a poem from a worshiping heart. The virus is like a total eclipse, blotting out almost everything; the psalmist reminds us, even in dark days, “Sing to the Lord a new song.” If we are able, like the writer of that Psalm, to “lift our eyes unto the hills,” so to speak, we will find ourselves reminded that, indeed, He is “Our Great God.” And if our hearts can sing that He is “ours,” it is appropriate to conclude today’s worship by singing, “We are Yours, Eternal Father…” We do not wait with fingers crossed, but with hands folded in prayer, and lifted in praise; in my imagination, I can hear the sanctuary filled with your uplifted voices, “Glory be to our great God!” Deo volente, I will hear it again, soon. I have hope.
FINANCE | GIVE HERE
Our fiscal year ended on June 30. Our total offerings were around $1,690,000 (100.2% of budget), and our expenses will finish around $1,570,000 (93% of budget). The difference of around $120,000 will be transferred to the Future Vision Fund.
We are thankful to God for providing for our needs. We rejoice in the generosity of our congregation in these uncertain times. Please pray for our leadership to make wise decisions in all aspects of our church life.
There are multiple ways to give to Blacknall:
Checks mailed to the church office.
Automatic bank drafts as a part of bill pay directed to Blacknall using your local bank.
Gifts of stock. Contact Rick Every or Carol Smith.
Online giving (including ACH, debit card, and credit card donations). Members can also schedule recurring online gifts when signed on to CCB. Details here.