New Bible Study Year, and Spiritual Gifts

Welcome to the first Sunday of a new Bible Study year. If it is like most then your morning was crazy and hectic. You met new children and their parents and you are learning a new schedule and how to do things in preschool. We have many returning teachers that will be glad to share any of their “veteran” experience with you and we have around 60 new teachers, coordinators and greeters joining us for this year. Thank you for your commitment to our preschool ministry and families. I can’t tell you how much it means to your Preschool Associates and me to start off a new year with so many permanent teachers for our children. They need the consistency of the same familiar faces each week and to know that there is someone who loves them and cares enough about them to be here every week for them. Currently we have 152 leaders in preschool. If all of our current leaders were permanent weekly leaders we would only need 7 additional teachers to be fully staffed. So if you are a part-time teacher, please pray and consider becoming a permanent fulltime teacher for our children. I assure you the blessings you will receive will be abundant. If you know of anyone to ask please do so and let them know we need 5 teachers at 9:15 and 23 at 10:45.Thank you so much for investing your time and your life into the lives of these children. What a huge difference it will make to them as you teach them about Jesus and His love for them. Thank you for your gift of service.

My daily devotionals last week were about spiritual gifts. This is what it had to say about stewardship.

Paul says,"All things are yours…and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God" (I Corinthians 3:22-23). We have all things because we are united to Christ, and Christ is united with God the Father. But we are not owners; we are stewards, or managers, of what God has given us. We belong to Him. We are stewards of the mysteries of God, that is, the truths that have been revealed in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (4:2). Our lives and all that we posses have been entrusted to us, and someday we will have to give an account of how well we have managed them. There is no time that is ours, no talent that is ours, no portion of money that is ours; it all belongs to him. He made it all and simply entrusted it to us for His service. It doesn’t matter what others think of our stewardship. It doesn’t even matter what we think of ourselves. We can have a clear conscience, but that doesn’t make us innocent. It is the Lord who judges us.

“You may say to yourself,” ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” (Deut. 8:17-18).

We are called to be not only the stewards of the results of our labor, but also stewards of the labor itself. Kingdom stewardship is like the Stradivari society, which entrusts superb violins into the hands of artists who make great music. God has given us time, talents and treasures. They remain His property, but they are to be used by us to bring him glory.

Thank you for choosing to use your time and talents to teach the treasures that Christ has entrusted us with this year. You are being used for His glory. You are making a huge investment in the lives of children and helping lay a spiritual foundation for each of them. Thank you for your gift of service.

Connection Training Camp

What a great turnout we had for our Connection Training Camp. If you were unable to be here please get with your Preschool Associate and find out what you missed. Greg Love and Kim Norris did an outstanding job and we all know we need to have them back for others in our church to hear. Cathy Walkinshaw challenged us to reach our preschoolers and their families this year. We can start by being here Tuesday evening for all church outreach. We will have everything ready for you to go out and visit with the children in your class. Let’s have a huge turnout from our preschool area.

We will be hearing about Miracle Moments all year. Let me tell you about one I had this past week. Ann, Kerri, and Terrell Ann and I went to eat on Monday at Chipotle. Two young girls with their babies sat beside us and I went over and told them about our Teen Mops Ministry and that a lot of our young Moms are in their early twenties, which was what I kind of suspected their ages were. I invited them to join us. One of the girls actually was a member here and we were able to visit with them both for a few minutes. So see, it’s that easy. We can do it and once we get started it will be just as natural as walking to invite someone to church or to share Jesus Christ with them.

Next week is promotion and our pre-kindergarten and kindergarten will be moving back to their area. The painting is being completed and our new chairs and tables should be here this week. Unfortunately our other equipment and all of the finishing touches won’t be completed until mid to late October. But we will be able to get back into our original space. It will all be finished before long and we will be reaping the blessings of a gracious donor.

We are starting our year out better than we have in a long time. We need a total of 159 people to have a successful Sunday morning. At this writing we have 152 leaders signed up, but before you get too excited what that means is 152 people have signed up to be either permanent full time or part time. In order to be completely staffed we need 32 more people. I misquoted last week at our connection training. Some of the people we had are not full time teachers. Please pray that they will commit to being full time. Just think if everyone we had signed up were committed to being here every week we would only need 7 people to completely staff our preschool Ministry. Wouldn’t that be incredible? I’d stand on top of the church and sing the Hallelujah Chorus? But still needing 8 at 9:15 and 24 at 10:45 is a far cry from where we have been. So please be praying for more people to become involved and to join our team. If you have an opening in your class, please pray for a teacher to join you and then ask someone, a parent or someone else you know. Tell them you are alone and need a teacher and the children in your class need them. Also don’t forget to line up your permanent substitute now. Ask your parents and tell them you will be calling on them from time to time when you have to be out.
It’s starting out to be a great year and I believe God is going to be bringing lots of kids and families our way. So let’s be ready by being on time, having smiles on our faces, and cheerful greetings and kind words in our hearts, ready to share the love of Jesus Christ.

Have a great day in the Lord.

Abortion Clinic closes

I wanted to be sure that all of you saw this article. Praise the Lord that yet another abortion clinic has closed! Keep up the great work!

Texas Pro-Life Groups Celebrate Closing of Dallas Late-Term Abortion Business
by Steven Ertelt, Editor of LifeNews.com
June 24, 2008

Dallas, TX (LifeNews.com)
The rash of abortion centers closing down continues and pro-life advocates in Dallas, Texas are excited to learn that they're next on the list. Aaron Women’s Health Center, a late-term abortion facility, will be closing its doors, and that's good news for the people who have prayed for this day to come.

The closing follows on the heels of recent closures of abortion centers in other states, including Kentucky and New York.

Aaron Women’s Health Center was one of three abortion businesses in Texas authorized to do late-term abortions when it upgraded its facility in early 2005 to comply with a new state law regulating abortion centers as "ambulatory surgical centers."

When it complied with the new law, it qualified to do abortions on unborn babies older than 16 weeks’ gestation.

Members of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, the Respect Life Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, maintained a constant presence of peaceful prayer and sidewalk counseling in front of Aaron’s for over a decade.

They were the second group in the nation to undertake the 40 Days for Life campaign in 2004 that saw nearly 1,000 people from dozens of different churches participate.

“We are overjoyed to hear that this notorious place of death is finally closing,” Karen Garnett, executive director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, told LifeNews.com.

“Not only is this a victory for the pro-life movement, for mothers and for babies, but it is a victory for Dallas as well, as the horrific practice of the killing of unborn children will take place at one less location in our city," she added.

Garnett said Saturday is the last day for abortions at Aaron Women’s Health Center.
Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas chimed in as well, saying "This is the best news I’ve heard all week."

He expressed his personal gratitude to everyone who has offered prayers and sacrifices for an end to the killing.

Although abortion advocates say women will be left without pregnancy help and resources if abortion ever becomes illegal, Garnett said her group and others are prepared to meet women's needs.

Her organization is also prepared to help the women who had abortions at Aaron's or other abortion centers who might be experiencing medical, mental health or spiritual problems following the abortion.

"We stand ready to offer help and healing to those who have made the abortion decision at Aaron’s or any other abortion facilities," she told LifeNews.com.

In the 1980s, there were 13 abortion centers in Dallas and seven have closed since then. After Aaron’s closes, only five abortion centers will remain in the area.