Bridge of Hope

“You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD? No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.” (Isaiah 58:5-7 NLT)

photo credit: CJ Oliver, flickr.com

We are seeking to become a “Bridge of Hope” for a local family facing homelessness. Your financial support will help this family remain in their home for the next 12-24 months.

Bridge of Hope (www.bridgeofhopeinc.org) is an organization that creates support structures for families facing homelessness. Their mission is to engage Christian faith communities in ending family homelessness through neighboring relationships that demonstrate Christ’s love.

We have a group of ten adults from our congregation who are undergoing five hours of training with Bridge of Hope to provide neighboring support to a family facing homelessness. These ten people are committing to be loving neighbors to a particular family for the next 12-24 months. A case manager associated with Bridge of Hope will meet regularly with the family and our volunteers.

At this point, we do not know with which family we will be partnering. Bridge of Hope and our local homeless shelter, Midland’s Open Door (www.midlandopendoor.org), are working to find families that are good matches for this program. Four other churches in our community have partnered with families through Bridge of Hope. We and another local congregation are going to raise that number to six!

The financial goal for our church’s involvement is to give $6,000.00 per year toward the rent payments for this family facing homelessness. This assistance is distributed by Bridge of Hope in a graduated fashion: we support most of the rent payment at first, but as the months go on, we contribute less and less of each month’s payment. This enables the family to reestablish their financial independence at a reasonable, careful pace.

Your donations will provide the funds needed to enable a long-term solution to homelessness.

We are raising these funds in collaboration with the 6th annual Faster Pastor race, which will be held on August 9, 2019 at the Tri-City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Michigan (www.tricityracetrack.com/community-outreach). Donations will help improve Pastor David’s starting position in the race, and every penny will go toward the Bridge of Hope ministry.

Click here to donate quickly, safely, and electronically via PayPal:
www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1516509

Thank you!

 

(Photo credit: CJ Oliver, flickr.com)

Holy Week is just a couple days away…make sure you make some room for Jesus this next week!

April 14: Palm Sunday Service 11 AM

April 19: Good Friday Tenebrae Community Service @ Floyd Church of God @ 12 & 7 PM

April 21: Easter 7 AM  Sunrise Service, 8 AM  Breakfast, 10 AM  Worship & Baptism Service  No Sunday School or Youth

Beautiful Plants provided by Ron Kutchey’s Greenhouse of Midland!

The prices are lower than purchasing them at Kutchey’s.

Orders are due no later than Sunday, April 22nd, 2018

NEW Flower pick up TIME & DATE:  Thursday, May 10th, 2018 @ Mt Haley Church of God between 4 PM & 6 PM.  You can also pick them up Sunday, May 13th during church hours.  

Guatemala! A mission, a week with God’s people, lives being changed, a community far away but yet very close, friends, homes, God’s love, a calling!

God’s servants are being called to Guatemala for our annual mission to worship with the people, help meet their needs with items for daily living, help in providing a home for a family, to encourage and bless them, to reach out to our community of believers and to honor God and give Him glory. Every year we spend approximately a week in Guatemala at the “Tracks” in Guatemala City. Registration for the Mt. Haley Guatemala Mission trip to Guatemala will be due by Sunday, September 27th, 2015. The registration is $100 with a $250 balance + (plane fare, passport & insurance) due by February 1, 2016. The trip is tentatively scheduled for approximately March 5-12, 2016.

The $350 for the mission covers the cost of our food, lodging, transportation, gas and other miscellaneous needs the trip may entail. Every person must have a U.S. passport (you would need to apply for it SOON); we have a small fee for insurance (unknown presently) and money to cover airfare to Guatemala & back. Airfare has been somewhere between $350 and $750 per person as we strive to obtain the best possible rates to meet our needs. (Flight, luggage, carry-ons, times, etc). A safe estimate would be to plan for a thousand dollars for the mission. People from other churches are welcomed and encouraged to participate. The group needs to raise $5000 to cover the costs of helping a family build a home at the Tracks and is helped by the churches involved with the project.

After registration, each participant is asked to attend and participate in four monthly meetings prior to the trip to help the group grow in unity, purpose, spiritually and be prepared for their experience. Attendance is expected.

Guatemala is an incredible life-changing experience, blessing David Beam, the community and friends we work and visit, the family we help with having a house, plus blessings we receive, that probably outweigh the blessings we hope to give. It’s a chance to live out our Christian walk and strengthen our walk with Christ as we serve in our own community and church. Guatemala – a calling in life to serve Christ and others!

Feel free to contact Pastor Jerry Graham with any questions, concerns or thoughts as we begin to plan for this year’s mission.

On Monday, April 14, at 7:00pm, we will host a “Model Seder” meal presented by a representative from Jews for Jesus.  This event is free of charge and is open to any who wish to come.

The “seder” is the organized meal which Jews have practiced every year for millennia.  This meal commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt during the time of Moses.  It was this Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples just before he was arrested and crucified.

The “Model Seder” meal, presented by Jews for Jesus, is designed to reveal the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the sharing of the Passover seder.  We will share in elements from the traditional Passover meal (note: not a full dinner) and see how the story of the Exodus is fulfilled in the story of Jesus.  We will also celebrate the Lord’s Supper as part of this experience, which promises to be a moving, enlightening, and transformative moment in your spiritual walk!

Please come – and bring a friend!

Special note: We will give a love offering to Jews for Jesus at this event to help sponsor our presenter and the mission of this organization.

Sign up by completing this simple online form.  Or you may sign up by calling LeAnn at 989-496-9148.

More information about Jews for Jesus:

Jews for Jesus is an agency that proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world. The late Moishe Rosen, a Jew who has believed in Jesus for over 35 years, founded the organization. However, Dr. Rosen was quick to point out that he did not “start” Jews for Jesus. “Jews for Jesus began about 2,000 years ago, around 32 C.E., give or take a year. Jesus’ first disciples were Jewish, and there have been some Jewish people who have believed in him ever since.”

The organization has permanent branches in eight North American cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Washington D.C. and Fort Lauderdale) as well as over 127 volunteer chapters spanning some 41 states and five countries. The group’s international branches are headquartered in Johannesburg, London, Paris, Odessa, Moscow, Essen, Rio de Janeiro, Kharkov, Dnepopretrovsk, and Tel Aviv.

To the Jews for Jesus, believing in Jesus makes sense in light of the Jewish Bible and in light of their experiences as “believers.” For those who argue that Christianity contradicts the meaning of Judaism, the Jews for Jesus say there are answers, which their representative will be happy to discuss after the presentation. Call (989) 832-3570 or visit http://www.mthaley.org for more information. There will be no admission charge.

How to be a Levite: Reading Scripture

This past Sunday, a group of us worked together on the practice of reading scripture in worship.  Reading scripture is something that should be taken seriously and done well, because the Bible is the primary way that God speaks directly to us!pros

By popular demand, the notes from this workshop are available here in PDF format.  These ideas may be helpful to you in your own devotional reading of the Bible, even if you are not a regular scripture reader in church.

For more information and for a terrific resource on the public reading of scripture, please check out Clayton J. Schmit’s book Public Reading of Scripture. Buy a copy yourself, or see me and I’ll be glad to lend you mine!

–Pastor David

Focus 40: Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting

Join us – and over 500 other Church of God congregations – as we participate in forty days of prayer and fasting in the season leading up to Easter Sunday.

Focus 40 begins on Wednesday, March 16 and continues through Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011.

Resources:

Funeral for Rev. Sam Dunbar

Rev. Sam Dunbar, pastor of St. Louis Church of God and North Bradley Church of God, passed away after a long illness on Thursday, September 23.  Here are the details for the visitation and funeral:

Visitation is at Smith Funeral Home in St. Louis, Michigan on Saturday from 6-8 p.m. and Sunday from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. The funeral will be held on Monday at 1 p.m. at the Church of God Campground in St. Louis.

We will collect a love offering for the Dunbars during our worship service this Sunday morning.  Please continue praying for the Dunbar family and our two sister churches during this difficult time of mourning.

–Pastor David