Dear Brother or Sister in Christ, August 24, 2023
Fall is now just around the corner, so even as we celebrate a great summer of spiritual growth, we
also look forward to our fall kickoff and all that God has in store for us in the coming season! Let’s
continue to pray fervently for His will to be done and His Kingdom to be advanced in and through our
church, as we sit on the brink of our 100-year anniversary in 2024.
There is much for which we can praise God in prayer! Our combined summer worship service has
brought many blessings including increased unity and connection among our church family, stretching
us to learn some new songs and worship together with one another’s music, laying aside our
preferences in love (Philippians 2:3-5), a full sanctuary with about 15% higher attendance compared
to last summer, seeing different combinations of our musicians working together, and giving some of
our volunteers a much-needed break over the summer months. Our summer congregational meeting,
communion, cookout, and cornhole tourney was an absolute blast as we worshipped together,
conducted church business together, had fun together, and got to know one another better! We can
also praise God for a wonderful VBS ministry with almost 50 volunteers serving and an average of
over 70 children learning about Jesus each night! Our college students have returned from their
summer break and are once again worshipping along with us from “their spot” in section #3. Our
Senior Connection lunches have been a wonderful time of fellowship and spiritual growth this summer
with 30-40 people in attendance each time! Our church is regaining ministry momentum and
rebuilding after a tough journey through covid. Please join me in praising God for pouring out these
blessings on E-Free Bemidji this summer!
There is much for us to lift up in prayer as we head into September. Please pray through any current
requests on the Prayer Chain. Also, let’s keep our many global partners in prayer. Pray for effective
ministry in their various contexts. Pray for the upcoming release of our new Global Partners Prayer
Flipbook. Pray for the startup of various schools. Pray for students, teachers, and the administration.
May each student be safe and receive a quality education. May the many Christ-followers in our
schools stand strong for the Lord and be salt and light in their various places of learning.
Pray for a smooth transition back to two Sunday services on Sunday, September 10 th . Pray for our
musicians as they return to leading in their particular services. May they lead us in glorifying God no
matter the time of the service or the style of the music. May it all be honoring to the Lord. Pray for our
handbells, choir, youth praise team, and any other musicians who are starting back up again for the
fall. Together, may we all “Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty
heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with
the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding
cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD” (Psalm 150).
Please pray for all of our Kickoff Sunday plans for Sunday, September 10 th . May our ministry fair be
helpful in displaying the many opportunities for spiritual growth and service this fall. May we be a
church body that is eager to serve and use the gifts with which the Lord has blessed us. May we
“grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him
the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in
love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:15-16). Pray that we will be this kind of a mature body
and that we will each do our part of the work for God’s purposes in this world and for His glory. As
always, please continue to pray fervently, that our church will become more and more the church that
God would have us be. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, thank you for praying!
Together for Christ, Pastor Jerry