Big Fred's Bytes - July 25th Edition
Welcome to the July 25th edition to Big Fred’s Bytes newsletter. Let me start with a reminder for anyone who has not picked up their very own copy of the photo directory yet, please email Tammy in the office quickly. We are going to have a few more printed and will be glad to reserve yours. Tammy’s email is tammyrondinelli@harvestpa.org
You may also access the “My Harvest” section from our website to obtain up-to-date contact information and photos. If you have not set up your user profile in My Harvest yet, we can help you with that too. Starting next month, we will offer short sessions to help anyone who is interested in learning to navigate the My Harvest’s options. There is a lot of usable information for you in My Harvest, and we look forward to helping you to become more comfortable using it.
Thank you for your prayers in preparation for our Elder’s Retreat and Deacon meeting that took place in early July. Pastor Mike has already shared some of the information that came out of the retreat during the last two Sunday mornings. He has a couple more segments to go. You can listen to them one at a time anytime you like by clicking on the information update picture on our home page. So far, Mike has talked about some changes being considered for the building in Kittanning and our desire to form a team to explore potential locations for our multi-site effort. You will soon hear an update on the details regarding our effort in pursuing an unreached people group (John 10:16 Team). It is a good idea if you can encourage all adults attending Harvest to watch these vision-sharing sessions. We have a lot of ministry decisions to share in the coming months and an awareness of this information will be helpful.
The Harvest Missions Team is excited about the upcoming opportunities we will have to share our lives, love, and faith with International Students coming into Pittsburgh Universities. This will begin to take shape in early August when you are asked to bring items into to the Kittanning Campus that might be used to help set up a student’s apartment. Desks, chairs, lamps, small kitchen devices, beds and the like can be used by the student to arrange their off campus home for the next year. These items are given free to the students on August 20th, so we will need all items to be at the church by Sunday, August 14th in order to arrange their transportation to Pittsburgh. If you would like to help with transportation and distribution of the items to the students, let me know via email at bigfredneal@harvestpa.org
The other important event coming up with these students will be Labor Day Hosting. We are making arrangements to bring several students to our area for a visit that weekend. You will be able to sign up to have a student or two spend the day with you and come to church the next day. We are also planning to have a couple picnics hosted by Harvest families that day that will be great group fellowship opportunities. Then on Sunday, the students will be invited to worship services with us before returning to their campus. This will be the first time most of these students will be in a Christian church, so we are really praying for the Lord to open their hearts and allow our families to share their personal love for Jesus Christ as well as the Gospel message presented by Pastor Mike. If you would like to be a host family, mark your connect card and we will be in touch.
We recently sent out giving statements for the first 6 months of 2011. If you did not receive yours or if you have any questions regarding the information in it, let me know. We will also send statements in mid-January that cover all of 2011.
We are in need of a few able bodies to help put a roof on the home of one of our members. This will take place on Friday August 5th and Saturday August 6th. If you can be involved, please email or speak with Shaun Brumbaugh sllkbrum@consolidated.net / phone 724-352-8498.
Our plans to be in Joplin this August for the rebuilding effort are developing a little slower than we expected. We are not going to travel to Joplin in the next 2 months. We are continuing to seek the right opportunity to come along side a family or a church that we can bless in Joplin. We currently have almost $5,000 set aside for the material when we go. I will keep you updated on our progress in this effort as it develops.
If you are aware of anyone needing some non-perishable goods from our food pantry, please contact Pastor Kevin. We try to respond as quickly as possible to those in need. We are also at the point that our gardens are starting to yield fruit. If you have a surplus of garden produce, you are invited to bring it to church for others that may be able to use it. If you see produce that you can use, you are also invited to take it home. Please take only what you will use so that others might have access as well.
We still have some of the “I Love JC” T Shirts that were used at VBS available for $10. You can pick one up at the Information Desk on Sundays or contact the church office. These shirts were not meant to be limited to VBS and have value in starting conversations or pointing people to Harvest. They will be a nice fit for our Sunday morning park service at the end of August.
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Lisa Minarcin on August 13th, 2011 at 6:12pm
requesting prayers for my mother (Roberta Matthews) eyesight recovery. Mom has diabetes and has suffered many medical conditions related to this horifying disease. Most recent mom suffered loss of vision in her right eye. We have always considered this eye to be her better eye due to the left eye just seeing a blurred vision. Mom has started to receive injections into her eye to stop the veins from breaking and causing the blindness. She has been depressed due to not having any improvement as of yet. She returns on Sept. 7 for the next injection. We as a family are wishing that the church would add her to your prayers. Mom and I have been absent from church a lot lately due to the heat and now her vision. Please pray for her! Thank you, Lisa