September 15, 2023

In This Week's Update

• Sunday's Sermon and Song List
• New Sunday Workshop
• Small Group Opportunities
• New Church App
• Hy-Vee Gift Cards
• Living Free Jail Ministry
• Proposal to join the North American Baptists
• New Women's Bible Study
• Wednesday Night Kick Off
• Praise Prayer and Update Potluck with Special Guest

This Sunday's Sermon and Song List

Join us this week as we start a new sermon series in the book of Philippians! If you're interested in reading a little of the amazing background behind the beginning of the church at Philippi then you can read Acts 16 - it's an incredible story! The letter of Paul to the Philippians is a letter of encouragement! It famously calls us to "rejoice" and "again, I say, rejoice!" Paul writes this encouragement from a Roman prison. How was he able to encourage others from prison? How was he able to rejoice in prison? This is a uniquely Christian blessing and I hope you'll join us in the coming weeks to hear more about it!

To get yourself ready to sing on Sunday you can start listening to the songs we'll be singing together:

• Hosanna (Praise is Rising)
• You Never Let Go
• Battle Belongs
• Ancient Words
• Your Grace Is Enough



We created a playlist on Youtube in case you want to start listening today. You can find that by clicking HERE.

New Sunday Workshop!

Sunday our adult Sunday school hour will be half instruction and half round table discussion on topics recommended by YOU.

You are encouraged to attend our Sunday workshop this Sunday morning at 9. We will be talking about how to relate and minister to family members that are not believers. The reason I want to especially encourage you to attend is that I know many of YOU have wisdom in this area and can be an encouragement to those of us who regularly attend Sunday school. 

This may not be an easy topic and I understand that - but if you feel like the Lord might have a nugget of wisdom that you could share with the class on this topic then I'd highly encourage you to join us. If you can't make it, say a prayer for a really fruitful and encouraging time in the word together. Thanks!

Here are all the study/fellowship opportunities currently available through our church:



• Monday Evening Men's Group - 7:00PM at Discovery
• Wednesday Night Discovery Zone and Small Groups 5:45PM
• Women's Friday Afternoon Study at 1:00PM - Psalms 119
• Saturday Morning Men's Group- 7:30AM in the Fellowship Hall

Questions? Contact the church office at (605) 689-2211.

Get Connected With Our New App

The new and free Church Center App allows our members and attenders to access a few handy features that will keep us all "in the loop".

Downloading the app on your smartphone allows you to access the church calendar of events and our directory. You can sign up for events or groups through the app as well.

While we encourage folks to save their giving for the worship service, as an act of worship, the app also has an electronic giving option in the event that you can't be in worship.

Church Center is provided by a service that is officially replacing Church Community Builder (CCB) so, it's important that you check your e-mail for an invitation to join Church Center so that you can view the directory and other features in the app. Your invitations were sent out in July. Be sure to check you spam or junk folder as the email came from Planning Center not the office. As always, reach out to the office if you have any questions. Thank you!

Did You Know You Can Give To The Church By Purchasing Hy-vee Gift Cards?

Discovery Church receives 5% back on all gift cards purchased from the church. You can purchase your $50 or $100 gift cards on Sundays from Jeff and Dawn Herron (Fellowship Hall) or weekdays from the office. There is no limit on how many you can purchase. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the church office. 

Get a Church Calendar At the Welcome Desk!

At our new welcome desk there are print-outs of our current church calendar of events. On this handout you'll find all the major events going on this summer in the life of our church. Take one home, put it on the fridge, enter significant dates onto your own calendar and make a point to seize lots of opportunities for fellowship this summer. My prayer for this summer is that it will be a summer of connecting - a summer where bonds of love are formed and grow between us as a Christian family. 

Living Free Jail Ministry

Every Thursday 2 volunteers from Discovery lead a group of incarcerated women through Stepping Into Freedom.

Each attendee receives a work book and a Bible.

Please be in prayer for our volunteers and the women they meet each week. May their hearts be open to receive the gospel.

If you would like to donate towards the cost of the workbooks or Bibles, you may put donations in with the offering, but please mark it as jail ministry. There are envelopes in the brown offering box located on the east wall by the sound booth if you are giving cash.

If you have any questions please contact Peg, Brenda, or the office.

Proposal for Discovery to Join the

North American Baptists

At our meeting on Sunday we announced that the elder/pastor team has long been praying and thinking about aligning our church with the North American Baptist Conference of Churches. The NAB is a small conference/network of Baptist churches very much like Discovery in doctrine and practice. In fact, we already support NAB missionaries Bud and Lois Fuchs and the Timothy Pastoral Apprenticeship (TPA) which was birthed out of NAB Churches in this region.

We believe that formal alignment with a network of like-minded churches would be a good thing because:

• It demonstrates to the world that we believe in cooperative ministry with other Christians
• It helps communicates to the world some of our doctrinal distinctives
• It creates opportunities to benefit from the ministry of other like minded churches AND be a benefit to the ministries of other like-minded churches
• It gives our leaders formal access to a host of resources and personnel that exist to support and train ministry leaders 

These are just a few of the reasons. 

We are asking the congregation to spend June through October of this year praying about this possibility. Click Here to view a document that details more of the reasons behind our desire as elders to take this step. We hope that five to six months is ample time for us to pray about and discuss this decision and we trust that you will raise any questions that you might have in that time. 

Please read the full document HERE or pick one up at the Welcome Desk this Sunday. We will keep this item on the agenda for the next Prayer, Praise and Update meeting in July and also the one in September. In between those meetings feel free to reach out any time with questions.  

Women's Friday Afternoon Bible Study



The Thursday morning Bible study has moved to Friday afternoon. They have begun a new study, Psalm 119 by Matt Chandler. They meet in the annex every Friday at 1:00PM.

Discovery Zone

Our Wednesday night activities have begun. This week will be here at the church for Discovery Zone. Next week will be small groups. If you are interested in joining a small group please contact the office to get connected with one. The meal this week is burgers and hotdogs. It will be served promptly at 5:45. The sign up sheet to provide a meal is located at the welcome desk. 

Praise Prayer and Update Potluck

On September 17th we will host a congregational meeting after church to answer any and all final questions about aligning with the North American Baptist Churches of our region. Brad Seifert from the NAB will be here to answer any questions that you might have about the NAB. We are committed to a 45-minute meeting while we eat so that we can respect everyone's time. There will be childcare downstairs as well. PLEASE bring a dish to share. Thank you!  

Elder Meeting Minutes

To read the minutes from our most recent elder meeting, please click HERE.