Announcements
Angel Tree for St. John's & Family Moving Forward | Sign up
Every year the people of Blacknall have graciously chosen to participate in our Angel Tree gift-giving. This year will be a bit different, but the spirit of helping will be the same! We have names of children and parents living in shelter at Families Moving Forward and we have the need from St. John's for gift cards to buy gifts for children living in Walltown. Our hope is to provide for every angel found on this virtual tree. Thank you for your generous spirit as we work together to make these dreams happen!
Advent Devotional
Jesus is coming – so let’s sing! This year, our daily Advent devotionals will be centered around carols. Each day will include a reflection by Dave Stuntz and a carol recorded by fellow Blacknallites. Sign up here.
Advent Wreath Kits
Today! - Drive by pick up Sunday, Nov. 22, 12-2 p.m. Blacknall is providing Advent wreath kits this year as our gift to the congregation so we can walk through the season of Advent together, even while we're apart. Kits include 4 candles, a floral foam wreath ring, and instructions. Photo above of the kits being prepared for you! Sign up here, or contact Beth Solie.
Prayer & Thanksgiving
Ministry Partners:
Durham—We pray for Walltown Neighborhood Ministries (WNM) and Sylvia Belcher who leads this organization. Pray for the 150+ families who are served by the WNM food bank. Pray that they would hear and respond to an invitation to be a part of a community of faith, if they are not already a part of one. Pray for families with members with the coronavirus. Pray for adequate volunteers to help out with the Food Bank. Pray for individuals and families who are facing emergency needs of unpaid rent or utility bills. We give thanks for the opportunity to work together with brothers and sisters from St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church and other churches in our neighborhood in this mission. Pray for the pastors of the churches in Walltown. Pray for WNM to find a volunteer willing to serve as bookkeeper/treasurer for the organization. Pray for physical strength for Sylvia and for adequate help and support for her in this work.
International—Please pray for Blacknall missionaries Jonathan and Rocio Mikes. Now in transition, they write, “We served on the ground in Mexico for 12 years, helping launch two ministries in the Coyoacan area of southern Mexico City: La Fuente Church and BridgeWay North American School. We are now in the process of transitioning to Charlotte, NC where Jonathan is serving as Director of Global Ministry for United World Mission. We have two children, Sara & Daniel, who have grown up in Mexico City but consider Iowa a second home.” Prayer Requests: (1) thanksgiving that the recent global leadership meetings were helpful in forming connections in his new position; (2) that a virtual conference in Central America and a virtual retreat for regional leaders this month will be refreshing and inspiring times for overseas workers. (3) healing for Rocio in her struggle with arthritis and blurry vision; (4) guidance and resilience, as they settle into new rhythms.
Campus—We pray for Dean Storelli and his work with Navigators in the Durham area and nationwide. Dean shares:
On the praise side, the combination of pandemic/election/academic stress has opened the door for some very good conversations (and in a few cases, prayer!) with students and colleagues. What an honor to walk with folks who have not self-identified as followers of Christ but who nonetheless have opened the doors of their lives! In another praise, a younger staff I have been in communication with and have visited (and have been quietly campaigning for) has been given a great opportunity: over the next two years, he will be hosting and training a team of interns who will be working alongside him in the campus ministry (at the University of Hawaii).
For challenges, the end of this semester and the beginning of the next look like they will greatly stress my dual role [as a teacher of ESL at Duke and Navigator staff]! There will be a flood of papers and new students (on the Duke side) and there are multiple projects (mostly writing and strategic planning) I am involved with on the Navigator side. Please pray for wise use of my time, strength and faith as well as inspiration for the content in the writing projects and strategic planning. One of the projects, a Bible study on Shalom, is likely to see a broad audience, especially internationally.
Grief
Pray for those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.
Continue to pray for family and friends of Joanne Hodgson.
Joys
We thank God for Abby Demarest’s engagement to be married to Toby Finizo.
We thank God for 19 new members who are joining Blacknall this Fall.
Concerns
We pray for Gordie Simons recovering from surgery last week.
We pray for Phyllis Immanuel recovering from surgery last week.
We pray for Taylor Brennan and Scott Crane as they continue cancer treatment.
We pray for medical and frontline workers who are caring for those with the virus.
World
We pray for deliverance from the virus as it surges in our nation and around the world.
We thank God for the development of vaccines that promise to help fight this virus. We pray for a speedy and just distribution of these vaccines around the world.
We pray for Christian brothers and sisters around the world who are facing persecution because of their faith in Christ. We pray for perseverance and hope and relief for them.
Life Together
We pray for this Thanksgiving holiday and for those who are unable to gather with family or friends.
We pray for the search committee for the Director of Congregational Care (chair, Melissa Hartemink).
We pray for Durham Public Schools and for the Learning Center that we are hosting at Blacknall. We pray for the staff from the YMCA who are with the children and that our building will be a place of safety and learning.
We pray for Dave Stuntz, Scott Laird, Jamie Turnage, Dana McCarty, Leslie Eibest, and others as they provide music and audio expertise each week to help us to worship God remotely.
We pray for the Nominating Committee as they begin their work of nominating people to serve as elders and deacons.
Finance Update
Blacknall remains financially strong in these uncertain times. Our budget for this fiscal year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021) expands our ongoing support for local, campus, and international ministries. As Allan noted in his recent letter, our session recently approved additional gifts to specific local ministries whose needs have increased during the pandemic. We are always grateful for the generosity of our congregation.
Our offerings have fallen behind our expenses, and we would like to bring these back into balance by the end of the calendar year. We have received $367,000 in offerings from July 1 through October 31 (four months), and are projecting expenses of at least $730,000 through December 31 (six months). We will need to receive $363,000 or more in November and December to end the calendar year in balance. We believe that this is feasible since December has traditionally been a strong month for us. Please contact Rich Frothingham with any questions.
There are multiple ways to give to Blacknall:
Cash or check brought to the church office.
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. For more information about how to transfer stock, contact Rick Every (919-489-9733) or Carol Smith (919-286-5586).
Online giving is available from our website (including ACH, debit card, and credit card donations). Members can also schedule recurring online gifts when signed on to CCB.
Details on all giving options are available at www.blacknall.org/give.
About the Music
Since this coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, it’s appropriate to ask: In what ways do you typically express thanks? In a bygone era, pen was applied to paper for something called a “letter” (Paul didn’t tweet the Ephesians!) – today, text that says “thx” is often the norm (and often the extent). How should we communicate thanks to the Lord? Given the nature of this year, maybe more foundational: for what are you thankful? Listen to the language of the songs for today – all call us to express ourselves verbally and by actions. One way that we verbally express our thankfulness is by sharing with one another about His goodness on our behalf. “Now Thank We All Our God” allows us to look back, to recognize God’s presence, provision, and power, and to find our Thanksgiving in Him. “Forever” is then a “looking ahead” perspective: If we have seen Him acting in faithful ways in the past, then we can look forward with genuine joy, because “He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.” I encourage you to seek to have a conversation with someone today on the subject of God’s goodness, in the past, now, and because of that, to give thanks for His goodness in the future. It’s promised, not just for a week or a year – but oh-so-much-more: Forever God is faithful, forever God is with us. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks, and the life is lived. May our hearts be filled with thankfulness and hope.
Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done, in whom His world rejoices;
Who, from our mother’s arms hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
*****
Forever God is faithful, forever God is strong;
Forever God is with us, forever.
Community Events
Why We Believe There is Hope for Africa | NOV. 28, 9-10 A.M.
Is there hope for Africa? Based on a career of academic and theological training, and years of leadership experience crisscrossing Africa, come and hear why Dr. David Kasali believes that the answer is Yes! Please join us for a DRC Discussion Group. We will reflect together on the basis for our hope and implications for finding hope in our own contexts. Details here.
No-Cost COVID-19 Testing at Walgreens
Walgreens is offering no-cost, contactless COVID-19 testing at select locations in partnership with the PWNHealth provider network. Details here.