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Vol. 79 Issue 31 | Week of August 2-8, 2021

Worship on Sunday, August 8: Derek Henson as Proclaimer

We will worship this Sunday, August 8th, at 10:30am in the Sanctuary. Derek Henson will offer the message from the St. John's pulpit this Sunday!

Derek has been serving on our administrative staff since the beginning of 2020. He is a 2018 graduate of Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, an ecumenical seminary rooted in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) tradition. Along with his seminary education, he has been inspired in his preaching by men and women of various faith traditions and was privileged to have his earliest preaching taught to him by a woman.

The worship theme is "The God Who Never Leaves Us Alone" and the scripture passage is Matthew 26:36-46. We hope you will join us in person or online, as we continue to live-stream the service starting at 10:30am on Facebook and YouTube. The live-stream and worship guide links will be sent out via email on Sunday morning for those of you joining us online.

Here is the link to last week's worship service!

Ministering in a Pandemic World: Part 2

by the Staff of St. John’s

Thank you for wanting to know what is going on in your church. As your church staff, we are offering a series of articles to report how St. John’s has continued to work during the pandemic and what is happening in the life and ministries of St. John’s as we transition through the summer and increase our level of activities post-Labor Day. Although we are NOT-YET in a post-pandemic world, we are continuing to look forward to the new church year.

Because the Delta variant is causing the Center for Disease Control and other groups to encourage all persons to wear face coverings indoors, we will gather the COVID-19 Task Force again before the end of August to project our protocols for this autumn. Meanwhile, we are using this summer to begin regathering and planning our future. This week, we offer reports on our church council and deacons.

CHURCH COUNCIL:

Our Church Council has met each month throughout the pandemic. This group consists of all deacon officers and is chaired by our deacon chair. We have three deacon panels: administrative, ministries and pastoral. The officers of these groups discuss many aspects of church life and bring reports from almost every resource team, task force and ministry area. This Church Council both receives reports and considers initiatives which are often assigned to a deacon panel or a resource team or task force. When this pandemic began, Jason Benton was our chair of deacons and offered valuable leadership as we maneuvered the early months of this mysterious and strange journey. Last September, Sally Young, began serving as our chair of deacons and has continued to provide stellar leadership that we expect from the person in this significant role of servant leadership. Sally has been reelected to lead us for another year. You may know that Sally is a descendant of charter members. Therefore, it is notable that she is deacon chair during our centennial year. We will ordain new deacons on Sunday, September 12th, as part of our worship.

DEACONS:

Our deacons have been very active throughout the pandemic. Their commitment and steadfast faithfulness have assured their health and vitality of congregational decision-making and coordination. As mentioned above, our diaconate consists of three panels consisting of a total of 48 deacons. Each year, we elect 16 deacons to serve 3-year rotations. This gives us 12 administrative panel deacons, 12 ministries panel deacons, and 24 pastoral panel deacons. The administrative panel deacons serve on various administrative resource teams and bring reports to the panel which are then brought to the full diaconate as needed. Dennis Foust and Jacquelyn McAbee are the primary staff members working closely with the administrative panel. The ministries panel deacons serve on various ministries resource teams and follow the same protocols of reporting to the panel as needed. Each ministry staff person serves alongside various ministries of the church and communicate with this panel. The pastoral panel deacons serve the congregation by coordination our care for members. Each pastoral deacon cares for a ‘flock’ of households. Lee Gray and Dennis Foust work closely with the pastoral deacons. In addition to these 48 active deacons, we are also blessed to have several Life Deacons and Deacons Emeritus who have served at least 16 years as deacons. These persons offer wisdom to our decisions as they invest their trustworthy experience in congregational leadership. In meetings of our full diaconate, we discuss numerous matters that strengthen the missional witness of St. John’s.

Next week, we will offer some information about communications and other aspects of church life.

St. John’s Makes Global Impact through Our Partnership with Baptist World Alliance

Your financial gifts to the St. John’s Annual Ministry Budget impact 126 nations and territories. We are a Global Impact Church through our partnership with Baptist World Alliance (BWA). For the past 115 years, BWA has brought together Baptists around the globe. Through BWA, we are partnering with 241 unions, alliances, conventions, and fellowships consisting of more than 170,000 churches and more than 49 million individual Baptists. Together, we are supporting work such as leadership training, advocating for religious freedom, mobilizing aid during disasters, and training college and seminary students. Currently, Rev. Allison Benfield serves on the Commission on Baptist Worship and Spirituality and Dr. Dennis Foust serves on the Commission on Interfaith Relations.

Therefore, during August and through Labor Day, as we conclude our summer of regathering focused on ALL TOGETHER THROUGH PRAYER, we will pray for Baptists around the world. Each day, you will find a nation including the number of Baptist churches and individuals who are part of the Baptist ministries in that country. Click below to access a PDF of this day-by-day prayer guide.

August Prayer Guide

School Supplies for ourBridge for Kids

In the month of August, St. John’s will be collecting school supplies for children being served by ourBridge for Kids, a new mission partner with St. John’s.

ourBridge provides summer enrichment programs and, throughout the school year, offers daily after-school services for children, grades K-7, from immigrant and refugee families now living in Charlotte. The services include help with homework, tutoring, English literacy, and cultural orientation, while at the same time fostering an appreciation of the 40 different cultures represented by the families being served.

As you shop for your own kids’ supplies, or if you want to help a child be ready for school, pick up any of the following school supplies and leave them in the receptacle at the Main Entrance any time through August 22nd.

Backpacks
Pencils
Crayons
Paper
Folders
Pencil Pouches
Markers
Scissors
Erasers
Notebooks
Glue Sticks

Uniforms for Highland Renaissance Academy

We will also be collecting uniforms for students at Highland Renaissance Academy in Charlotte as we have in the past. We are in need of boys' and girls' clothing sizes 5-14.

White or Navy Collared Shirts
Navy or Khaki Shorts, Pants, Skirts, & Jumpers
Socks & Underwear

Donations may be dropped off at the Main Entrance no later than August 29th on Sundays or weekdays during church office hours.

You're invited!

All are invited to Tyler Benton's Eagle Scout Ceremony in the Sanctuary at St. John's on Sunday, August 8 at 2pm. There will be a reception to follow in Lasater Hall.

Anyone is welcome to come and help celebrate this amazing accomplishment with Tyler and his family!

As we continue our summer of regathering and look toward more programming in the fall, we are in need of new volunteers to serve in areas of Welcome and Hospitality. Ushers and Greeters at St. John’s are often the first people that members and guests have an opportunity to engage with when they arrive for worship, fellowship, and study. We will be expanding each of these volunteer roles to assist with our continued check-in process and help guests to navigate our expansive campus. Beginning in September we will need approximate 6 Greeters each weekend for the Sunday School hour (9AM) and 6 Ushers for worship (10AM). Ideally we will build these teams so that you may serve as frequently or infrequently as you are able or desire. If you can give just one hour per quarter to this important ministry area, we would be happy to have you serve. Familiarity or use of Realm or our check-in process is not required to serve in this ministry area. A warm smile and welcoming spirit is all you need!

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity and willing to join a rotation of your preference, please click the link below to complete a short form for the church staff to help connect you. More details will be sent in the coming weeks to those who will be new or already serving in these roles on scheduling and responsibilities. If you have any questions please contact Derek in the church office.

Usher & Greeter Interest Form

Starting on Monday, September 13 at 11:30am, the Faith Journey Book Study begins their study and discussion of Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by the late Rachel Held Evans. Anyone is welcome to join! The group will meet in Room 114 at St. John’s each Monday at 11:30 throughout the fall.

Summary of Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again -

“New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans invites readers on a journey of rediscovery as she explores the magic of the Bible, engaging the old, familiar stories in new ways that honor the past and enlighten the present.

Drawing upon recent scholarship and literary analysis, Evans creatively retells our favorite Bible stories, explaining their contexts and possible interpretations, and then connects these ancient stories to our present-day ones. Using her well-honed literary instincts and experience in both evangelical and mainline Protestant traditions, Evans discovers a way of understanding that avoids noncommittal liberalism on one hand and strident literalism on the other.

Readers are invited to fall in love with Scripture all over again without checking their intellect--or their imaginations--at the door.”

If you are interested in joining and know you would like a book, please contact Loretta Brown today at lorettaybrown@gmail.com!

Click here for the 2021-22 Faith Journey Book Study Schedule

Prayer Concerns, Celebrations, Thanks & Sympathy

Polly Hull, Gene & Carol Poole, Elma Thomas,

Carol Hager (sister of Betty Harkey),

Tish Philemon, Andrew Adair, Carol Drye

Congratulations to Jordan Wade and Julia Barnard on the birth of their son this week!

Janet and Landis Wade are the proud grandparents!

Please email info@sjcharlotte.org to share a prayer request, thank you, or celebration.

Financial Ministry Plan Report

Week of July 26-August 1: $15,943

Income through August 1: $642,473

Annual 2021 Ministry Plan Budget Goal: $1,175,000

Global Missions: $1,970

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