July 20, 2017
Dear Eastridge Church Family,
Devotion: God of the little things.
At times, we can allow our attention and focus to be on the
big events of life. These events include things such as: Birth, holidays,
marriage, graduation, moving to a new city, getting a new job, and even death.
The interesting thing about this is that “big events” usually only last about a
day. So what about the other 364 days of the year?
It is necessary for us to learn to value and love the everyday
ordinary parts in life. The people who accomplish this usually end up living a
much more happy and fulfilling life.
Do we ever bring this “big event” mentality into the life of
the church? I would say we do.
Too many Churches, pastors, leaders, and laity have diverted
their attention to seeing God move in the flashing lights, loud worship music,
and expressive preaching. I am not saying that these things are necessarily
bad, many times they are what the church needs. What I am saying is that by
making these “high-impact” aspects of the church our source for spirituality we
limit God’s sovereignty over all things and parts of the church life and
spirituality.
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is met by a strong wind, a rumbling
earthquake, and a raging fire but God was not in any of these things. Suddenly
the narrative says that Elijah hears a soft whisper drawing him out onto the
mountain.
Did you know that at times, God will use what we call
“ordinary” to reveal himself to our lives?
Pastor Kobe
District
Assembly Update:
This week Pastor Andy, Pastor Eva, Pastor Kobe, Sarah Marmol,
and Emily Cruz jumped into a van and headed to Garden City for the 108th Kansas
District Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene (the Hunter family were also
present as delegates but thought they’d drive separately because they did not
want to be squished in the van :). God spoke to everyone and the district was
challenged by it’s leaders to invest in the next generation. There is also a strong emphasis on Church
planting across the district (who’s ready to church plant? Ben?).
Youth Ministry:
-This Friday, youth from our congregation will come together
from all parts of Wichita with one goal in mind: to lift up the name of Jesus.
What an incredible thing! Pastor Kobe will preach over the life of the Spirit
living in us. Powerful!
-Pastor Kobe continues strategic work with a student
leadership team that he has been working with all summer. God is raising
leaders!
-Edwin and Kobe continue to try to make plans to eventually
finish painting the shed behind the church office, if you’d like to help let us
know!
-July 31st-Aug 3rd: we will have 3 middle schoolers make a
trip to Augusta and attend the district’s middle school camp!
-It’s not too late to sign up for a t-shirt to support the
youth ministry! Talk to our NYI president, Sarah Marmol, this Sunday to get
your order in!
-Youth are planning a youth sunday takeover in the next few
weeks, we will keep you updated on which sunday that will be!
MNU
Offering
Each year Eastridge Church has received a special offering for
all of our MNU (MidAmerica Nazarene University) students. This offering was used as a church matching
scholarship from the University. MNU
will match up to $500 for each student.
MNU was founded like the other Nazarene regional colleges and
universities to be a place where students could go for training as pastors and
missionaries. The schools also provide
education for other professions like teaching and nursing. I want to encourage you to begin preparing
how you can help our students financially and more importantly to pray for the
students.
Hispanic
Women’s Retreat
The retreat this year will be held on August 11-12th
and the deadline to register is July 31st. Please see Pastor Eva for more information.
