May 10, 2013 | Prayer, Teaching
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and while we want to celebrate and honor motherhood, for many it’s a painful day. At Everyday Church we will be discussing some aspects of mothering. While we remember the happy parts of Mother’s Day, we should not forget the painful parts either. God certainly doesn’t. He knows many are struggling with miscarriages, failed adoptions, loss of a child, infertility… questions without answers. He knows the pain of those struggling with distant relationships with their mothers or their child. He grieves with those who have lost their mothers. If Mother’s Day is a painful day for you or someone you know, we hope you’ll come find comfort with God.
Let’s pray people would feel God’s comfort and love. Pray that our words and actions make their struggles easier not harder.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” Romans 12:15
May 7, 2013 | Prayer
The God Who Renews
The Everyday Church Rest Retreat has passed. The word on the street is that it was fantastic! As I listened to stories, viewed pictures, and read online accounts of the weekend, an odd section of the bible came to mind.
Isaiah 61 is a descriptive piece of poetry. It does was poetry is meant to do: paint a picture in your mind with simple words. Good news to the poor…bind up the brokenhearted… freedom… comfort… beauty for ashes… joy instead of mourning… praise instead of despair… rebuild… restore… renew.
I wondered for a moment why that bit of Scripture came to mind. The answer came quickly. God is in the business of restoring and renewing. This world takes away, it robs, it does great harm. Satan is out to destroy you and me, our children, our friends, our neighbors. This retreat was a way for us to step away and remember what God so desperately desires for us. To experience refreshing and renewal.
Here are some ideas for prayer:
– pray through Isaiah 61 and ask God to speak to you through it
– pray for those around you who haven’t experienced the renewal God offers
– pray Everyday Church is visibly different in this city, that we’re a community of people who rest well and delight in the life God has given us
– pray that each of us will be a living example to our neighborhood that God truly does what Isaiah described in Isaiah 61
May 2, 2013 | Community Impact, Everyday Groups, Global Impact, Prayer
God is doing something remarkable with Everyday Church, and it’s an answer to prayer. Our young faith-family is unusually diverse. We have people coming from all over the spiritual map– seekers, skeptics, young believers, mature believers.
We’re ethnically diverse. Some of us speak English as a first language, others Spanish. We have singles, newly-weds, and couples who’ve been married for decades. Some have earned advanced degrees; others are street smart. We come in all colors that humans come in. We are babies, toddlers, kids, teens, twenty-somethings, people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s… all in a church of now, perhaps 100 people!
“In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” Colossians 3:11 (NLT)
Christ is all that matters!
Please pray:
* That this diversity is just the beginning for ECC.
* For our Spanish translators: Mi and Iris.
* For English speakers who are trying to learn Spanish (like me!)
* That God would teach us how to truly love one another in Christ.
* That God would use this diversity to convince our neighbors He is among us.
We can’t do this without you. Please pray,
Chris
Apr 21, 2013 | Prayer
Everyday Church, please continue to pray for our teachers and students this week. Many of them are doing annual standardized tests. This can be stressful and difficult. Take a moment to pray for any teachers you know by name, and maybe send them an encouraging text or Bible verse. Pray for any students you know.
Please also pray for our
Rest Retreat this May 3-5. Pray people are able to come and fully engage (or rather disengage!). Pray that we would truly be able to rest and be restored. Pray that the Lord would reveal himself more to us.
Lastly, please be praying for the staff this week. We’ll be at a church-planting conference in Orlando, FL, for both a time of refreshing as well as growth. Pray that God would restore and speak to us, and that we would have ears to hear what He says. Thanks for
praying!
Apr 15, 2013 | Everyday Youth, Post Topics, Prayer
The Everyday Youth Group is digging deep into the word of God and the life of Jesus as we figure out what it means to live a life that honors him. Our core group of kids and adults are set firmly in place and are committed to seeing his work done in this community in the lives of teenagers. This has been a prayer of mine for a long time and it is such a blessing to see this prayer answered. Praise God for what he has done in raising up both adult and student leaders that are focused on reaching other teenagers with the good news of Christ Jesus.
Please pray that:
* upon this foundation God has laid, many teenagers would be reached with the message of Christ.
* our leaders (adults and students) would have wisdom and discernment as we figure out how to reach out and what it looks like for our group.
* we would continue to dive deeper into our relationship with him as we figure out what it means to follow Christ with our entire lives.
Apr 9, 2013 | Community Impact, Everyday Kidz, Prayer
The feedback from our
Math Tutoring program has been very positive. Parents, students, teachers and school administration have all let us know they found our program to be very helpful. That is a huge win! We want to praise God for opening up this opportunity to work together with neighborhood schools. Our relationship with the school is a beautiful thing.
I am so thankful to the volunteers who gave up their Saturdays to make a difference in these student’s lives. Let’s pray they do well on the exams and sense the support of their families and community. Please pray that God continues to create opportunities like this to love our neighbors well.
Thanks for praying with me,
Wendy
