Dear Friends, Many of our young people woke up this morning earlier than they have been and went to school for their first day back. Others already started or start tomorrow. May God be close to our students, teachers, and school administrators as they begin a new school year. This is an opportunity for taking Jesus into the public arena from the kindergartner through the high school senior and for the employees. Our church mission is “To be and develop disciples of Christ” and you all have an opportunity to do just that in the public school! Go be disciples! Beginning on September 9th we welcome Rev. Connie and Dana Young back to our church, as she is done with her interim ministry at the Meadville Nazarene church. The church board stepped out in faith at our last meeting and unanimously decided to hire Connie as a part-time Associate Minister of Discipleship to help us to fulfil our mission (see above). This is a part-time position with a minimum of 20 hours per week and the cost to the congregation is just under $600 per month. That is a bare-bones remuneration amount, but allows Connie to devote her time to ministry as opposed to having to get a secular job. We are excited about the spiritual growth that this will bring to our church and to area Nazarene churches as Connie offers to include leaders from their church in our groups so that they can go back to their local church and lead a discipleship group. Spiritual growth in our local body will result in us reaching out even more to love people into the kingdom of God. Please pray for Pastor Connie as she begins this ministry as an ordained elder rather than as a ministry intern. Pray that our finances will go up to more than cover this added expense. The Board believes that God will provide for us to do what He wants us to do! Who are you inviting to come to church with you on “Back to Church Sunday—You Belong Here”? It will be on Sunday morning, September 16th. We will have Sunday School at 9:45, fellowship time with pastries and beverages from 10:30 to 11AM when the worship service will start. We will be inviting people at the Albion Area Fair as they come to the Snack Shack (our food trailer in front of the Stone House). T-shirts that we ordered will be in by the 9th of September, so we can wear them at the Fair and on that Sunday morning. Toward the end of September/beginning of October we will be saying farewell to our retired ministry couple, Rev. Phil and Deb Gilmore, as they move to the Lancaster, PA area to be near to children and grandchildren. On Sunday, September 23rd we will be recognizing them (I guess it’s not a surprise now) and thanking them for their years of service to the kingdom of God through our church. We will be taking up a love offering (just put it in a thank you card to them) and having a pot-luck dinner following the service. Let’s gather together to celebrate Phil and Deb and send them on their way with lots of Albion Nazarene love! Pray for Associate Ministry Intern Rob Swedenhjelm and Steve Crowl as they have begun as director and assistant, respectively, at the Northwestern Youth Center. How exciting to have two of our young men serving God through this local outreach program for the youth of our community! GOD IS AT WORK AND GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING AT ALBION NAZARENE! In Christ’s Love, Pastor Wayne
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