Easter Is The Beginning

Hello Emmanuel,

Yes, I know, I’m a day late.  No need to email me or call me or text me or tweet me.  I have no good excuse.  My bad excuse is that Easter wore the heck out of me.  Unfortunately, I don’t have time to be tired and neither does Emmanuel.  Easter isn’t the end.  Easter is the beginning.  So now we look forward to lots of God work.  The traveling food pantry (Friday, 9-1) and the Blessing of the Bikes (Sunday, 10:30) is in the immediate future.

Since we have turned the page on the season, I want to highlight other matters that upcoming:

Collecting Bare Necessities April 27^th and May 4^th:  Emmanuel is collecting toiletries and other basic necessities for Saul’s homeless shelter and the YWCA.  You can bring them to church and set them up by the altar.

GriefShare Tuesdays at 7:00:  Are you grieving?  This 10 week class wants you to know that you are not alone.  Come join us.  It is a time of support and caring.

Renewing Your Kroger Plus Card Giving:  Kroger gives away money to charities, including churches.  A year ago several families at Emmanuel signed up to allow Kroger to give free money to Emmanuel every time they shop at Kroger.  The year is up and Kroger requires that everyone re-sign up in April.  So if you are part of this program—or if you want to start—you can go to the Kroger website and continue to help out Emmanuel. 

Blessing of the Hands for Health Care Workers:  Sunday, May 18^th.  Nurses, Therapists, Counselors, Doctors, Social Workers, etc;  Emmanuel wants to bless all of you.  Come to either service and bring your work peers. 

Childhood Lost: May 18^th.  The Youth are participating in a mission project to raise awareness of child trafficking.  They will be helping to lead worship that moring.

Online Giving:  The Finance Team wants to know if you would be interested in an Online giving option (specifically, having automatic withdrawl set up with your bank account… this would NOT include the use of credit cards, only bank debit cards).  This is a growing trend in churches and we want to know if it would be feasible at Emmanuel.  During the month of May, we will be exploring this option and will be seeking your feedback via an insert in the bulletin.

Flower Sale/Grill Out May 10^th:  The UMW will be having their first Grill Out and will be selling flowers as they continue to work hard to support Missions ministries.  The flowers aren’t free, but the food is.  Woohoo!

Mother’s Day May 11^th.  Emmanuel is working to have a special gift offered to all the ladies of the church, especially the moms.  Stay tuned.

See?  I told you Easter is the beginning.  It is when we are revived by Good News and go and run with it.  I hope you join us on Sundays to hear more specifically how we can be a positive force in the world.  God encourages us and God commands us and God will run with us. 

God is Good,

Pastor Joe