Agape Church of Christ

Good evening, Agape…hope this Tuesday e-mail finds you well…

I’m not sure if this is really an expression, but when life deals you six inches of snow, make snow cones! That’s what we decided to do this past Sunday with our church “building” swallowed up by the soft, flaky, white stuff. The result was a very encourgaing time of worship and fellowship at the Barricks’ home and a very, very special thanks to Damon, Gayla & family for hosting such a large group. If you were there, you were blessed, no doubt.

The last couple of weeks, we’ve been asking you all to submit names of individuals you feel would fulfill the role of deacon within the church body. Deacons are an integral part of maintaining a healthy church as they serve the body as well as leading ministries that serve others outside of the body. We’ve had some submissions thus far, but not as many as we would like in terms of input from you all. So, feel free to send an e-mail to Rick, Bill, or myself this week if you haven’t already done so to submit names of persons you feel could glorify God in that role.

Here’s a look at some upcoming events at Agape:

Wednesday, February 3rd (TOMORROW)- Fast Food n’ Fellowship Wednesday Night at the church building. This will begin at 6:00. Bring something to eat and enjoy some time with the Agape family. At 6:45 or so, we will have a class for the kids while the adults take some time to talk about Wednesday nights and how to best fulfill God’s purpose in our lives via our mid-week assembly.

Thursday, February 4th- Food Distribution Day- Logan has already sent out a separate e-mail on this, so I won’t repeat everything. Just be aware that there are lots of opportunities to serve on Thursday with regards to getting food in the hands of those that really need it. I promise that getting involved in that will be a blessing in your life.

Sunday, February 7th- Souper Bowl Sunday!!- This is an annual Agape tradition; Bring your favorite soup and compete against others for various awards. Sheila Ford is in charge of those categories and there will also be an overall champion crowned! (So, whoever has the Traveling Thermos….errr, trophy, please make sure it comes with you on Sunday. The Soup Extravaganza will follow our AM worship hour. Please stay and be a part of everything if you can…it’s always a great deal of fun!

Several new prayer requests were submitted on Sunday night at the Barrick’s. I didn’t personally write them down, so I’m going to miss a few. Doris, you might as a follow-up to this e-mail, note the ones that I miss.

Linda asked for prayers for her sister, Pam, who is really struggling. This has been a very difficult start to the year in 2010 for Linda and her extended family with all that is going on. Please lift her and Pam and Ryan up in prayer all week. I know Linda is resilient and a wonderful example of faith to us all…but the situations in her life right now are tough and we really need to go to God with our hearts in prayer.

Jerry Jantz continues to undergo tests in Houston. I am hoping we can get an update from Jerry & Marilyn tomorrow on where things stand. We sure miss them. What a tremendous blessing they are to our church family.

Angela Shelton asked us to remember Linda Cole in prayer. Linda is a teacher at West Middle School and is dealing with cancer.

Katie Brown requested that we be prayerful about ways to serve the men and women who frequent the Mission. Remember, we have a ministry in place thats aim is to serve those who are hurting and/or struggling with various aspects of life. If you know of an individual or family that needs additional support, please contact Jim Iraggi or Katie to get the ball rolling on making that happen. The Agape family can and should extend to all corners of our community whenever possible.

I know there were a few other prayer requests, so Doris, again, please feel free to follow-up on this e-mail with those. I normally write them down, but Sunday was a little different in terms of our format and I didn’t do that. My apologies for that.

Finally, just wanted to mention that Ryan Shelton is one of three finalists for the Ponca City Teacher of the Year. What an honor! A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Andy Galindo won a city-wide contest at the YMCA for physical fitness during the months of November and December. Seems like we have some people really doing neat things in the community. Congrats to Ryan and Andy (again) for these accomplishments.

I hope everyone has a good remainder of the week as we have begun to thaw out. Remember to keep your eyes open for God’s calling this week in your life and as we talked about on Sunday, set your minds AND your hearts upon Him. Here’s that verse as we close E-News this week:

” If then you were raised together with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.”