Missions KY2009 Presentation

Thanks for your support of our mission's trip to The Happy Church in Jackson, KY this summer. Please continue to pray for this ministry and those involved. Thanks Jeff, for overseeing this trip and for creating this presentation.

Missions KY2009 Video Clip

Thanks to all who went, prayed, and supported this event!

Update on Mexico Missions from Bess & Brenda

We had the privilege of having Bess & Brenda (and Denver Murray who accompanied them) give an update on the mission's work in Mexico City on Wednesday evening August 12. Bess & Brenda have been there for twenty years, and Valley Grace has partnered with them for that time. They explained their strategy to reach people for Christ, a strategy which really works anywhere. Here is what they have done.

1. Begin with contact discovery. This is the simple, yet difficult task of finding people who are open or seeking about Christ. One effective means was the giving away of the Jesus video.
2. Process evangelism. This means taking time to present the person of Jesus before the plan of salvation. Evangelism is not a "one-time" shot with a prayer to accept Christ at the end of the presentation. It takes time.
3. Discipleship. Beginning to help those who have trusted Christ to grow.
4. Formation of Spiritual Community. Encouraging new believers to get involved in family groups for care and accountability. These groups also do some outreach events for friends and family.
5. Leadership Development. As the church continues to grow, there is a need for Mexican leaders to be developed. This development is done through retreats, conferences, meetings, Bible Institute, and ministry experiences.
6. Corporate Worship. The coming together to praise and worship the Lord. They refer to the Sunday services as a Celebration since they are celebrating what Christ has done by providing salvation. Their service normally lasts for two hours. Maybe we should try that! (Someone of you may think we do that already).
7. Organize for Ministry. They have started with people and not a building. Some people have thought that if you build the building they will come. But that does not really seem to work. They start with reaching people and have recently been able to acquire a building for use which took major renovation. Originally they had money to purchase about 100 chairs, so about twenty people would need to stand for the service. They recently were able to purchase an additional thirty chairs so everyone has a seat.

Bess, Brenda, and Denver are all greatly encouraged at what God is doing in Mexico City as they are turning over the leadership of the Cocrimex (the Mexico City church) to national leadership. The harvest truly is ready, but the laborers are few (Matt 9:37). Thank you for your financial investment in this work and please continue to pray for God's blessing.

Ministry Opportunity - Convoy of Hope in Hagerstown

We have the opportunity to be involved in a local missions opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ with people in our own community. The main event is Saturday, September 29 26 at the Hagerstown Fairgrounds. There are some "pre-events" which are necessary to get the word out and will be taking place over the next 6 weeks. Here is the information:

Meet at LifeHouse Bethel at 8:45 AM for instructions, to be put into groups, and given an area to cover. We will depart Bethel at 9 AM and go to it. If you are able to help any of these Saturday mornings please meet at Lifehouse Bethel (formerly known as Bethel Assembly of God on Wilson Blvd next to Minnichs).

Here is the breakdown for the weeks:

August 15th - Downtown
August 22nd - South End
August 29th - West End
September 5th - Noland Village & Oak Ridge Apartments
September 12th - Downtown
September 19th - Housing Authority Units & missed areas

Please be in prayer for this event and the opportunity to share Christ by meeting tangible needs. You will also want to consider how God might want to use you and your family.

For more information, you can contact Jess Semler (our contact person) via email at: semler.jessica [at] gmail[dot]com.

The Truth Project

For the Fall Semester of our Grace Bible Institute, we are going to be using the material from The Truth Project. The purpose of this study is to help followers of Christ see the world from a Biblical perspective. It is designed to help Believers develop a Christian worldview. This study will also be helpful to parents who need to be able to respond to the secular material that your children are being taught in school about truth, science, sociology, philosophy, ethics, etc.

This is a DVD curriculum, but the goal is to make it interactive so that there is time for discussion during the teaching time as well as afterwards. We will be starting Wednesday evening, September 9 and the class will run from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm. This is in conjunction with our regular Family Night ministries (AWANA, Girls of Grace, JV & Varsity Boys) so that children will also be learning.

Please sign up on the bulletin board and provide your name, the number attending and your email address (you can also email this information to Pam at the church office). There is a web site link that will be emailed to you where you can download notes which you can print out and bring to class. We would appreciate having this information as soon as possible since we are preparing room assignments for Family Night.

Here is a link for more info on The Truth Project (here). For the Spring semester, we will be returning to our regular study.