NEWS
Stay completely up-to-date by regularly visiting The Orchard's Calendar of Events at: www.theorchardfranklin.com
Congratulations to Brady Carter, Stephen Carter, Gracie VanLiere and Kate VanLiere in their efforts to memorize Psalm 23 throughout the summer. They will be treated to a special night out with Pastor Anita for their hard work. Also, they will be reciting the Scripture in worship on Sunday morning. Please encourage their hard work and pray for them as they share on Sunday.
The monthly Women's Fellowship will be held at Dianne Jordan's home at 6:30 p.m. on August 17 and we will be having
"Dinner from the Garden." All ladies are asked to bring a vegetable dish to share. Please RSVP to Pastor Anita with what you would like to bring so that we don't have all one vegetable. Also, we need 2 people to bring a dessert. Come, enjoy the fellowship and the good food.
Attention Youth Parents - You're Invited. Please join Jason Glasgow for a time of prayer, fellowship and discussion about your youth on Wednesday, August 19 from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Orchard Ministry Center. Your youth will be meeting at the same time separately.
Our next scheduled fellowship activity will be held on August 29 when we have Dinner and a Movie complete with a sub sandwich and ice cream bar and an entertaining movie for the whole family. More details will follow but go ahead and mark your calendars for a great night of fellowship and fun.
Shoes for Orphan Souls: It's hard for most of us to imagine how a new pair of shoes can make such and impact. But for children living in desperate circumstances, this simple act of kindness is life changing. When caring strangers visit an orphanage to deliver new shoes and sock, it can brighten the darkest day. For the first time, children aren't just hearing about God's love - they're seeing it in action. And thay can change souls for eternity.
For several years we have helped to support Shoes for Orphan Souls in conjunction with Dave and Marilyn Knight's car wash drive and we want to do that again. You are asked to bring new children's shoes and/or socks to church on August 30 to help make a difference in children's soles and souls.
Attention Children: On Sunday August 30 we will be opening the Ticket Store. Don't forget to bring your tickets to "buy" all kinds of fun things.
Ladies, please don't forget that we are in need of volunteers in preparation for the Women's Conference in October. If you would be willing to serve in the set-up/clean-up of refreshment and breakfast, telemarketing, poster and flyer distribution, welcome/greeting or post conference clean-up, please email Pastor Anita to volunteer.
We have been blessed with more visitors and hope that will increase even more as we move into fall. Would you please leave the front parking spaces for our guests, those with small children and those who might need assistance. Parking is available in the back lot, the Post Office and the Oil Stop.
Make plans to attend Acts 2:42 as we continue the study entitled "God Will Make a Way".
The Ladies Prayer Group meets Wednesday at 9:15 a.m and the Men's Prayer Group meets Thursday at 6:30 a.m. at The Orchard Ministry Center.
Mark your calendars for the following events:
Aug 17 - Women's Fellowhip
Aug 19- Women's Prayer Time
Aug 19 - Parents of Youth Meeting
Aug 20 - Men's Prayer Time
Aug 29 - Dinner & a Movie
Aug 30 - Shoes for Orphan Souls
Aug 30 - Children's Ticket Store
Oct 2-3 - Women's Conference
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August 15-21, 2009
BACK TO SCHOOL FAITH
“For God did not give us a spirit of fear,
but a spirit of power, of love,
and of a sound mind”
~
2 Timothy 1:7 ~
From the age of three, our Brady began to confront life’s challenges with an attitude our family fondly calls “double thumbs up.” He would squeeze his long eye lashes together in a controlled squint and smile at the same time while holding both his thumbs in front of his chin as if to say, “It is all going to be okay.” I have no idea how Brady learned this, but the practice of it has been helpful family wide!
Before the nurses wheel Brady back to surgery every six months we exchange this sign of peace and trust in God. It seems to lift the eyes of our hearts from the problem to the possibility and from fear to faith. I will never forget how “Double thumbs up” came in handy on Brady’s first day of first grade. He reluctantly climbed out of the back seat to make his journey into school. His shoulders slumped and he shuffled his feet like a trodden down old man towards the entry way. I called to him saying, “Brady, look.” Sticking both thumbs cheerfully in the air, I said, “Double thumbs up!”
Although I knew Brady would have welcomed nothing more than for me to say, “Come on back home with me,” I also knew a visual reminder might call forth overcoming power and courage. John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” My heart began to swell with praise as Brady kept moving forward. To keep walking forward when everything in us screams to go back evokes praise in the heavenlies. I believe all of heaven shouts when we choose faith over fear in our daily decisions and lives.
The temptation to retreat during times of challenge is natural, but the call to advance is supernatural. Learning is hard, life is hard, but nothing is impossible when we face it with God. Whether young or old or somewhere in between, we all have our fears, but we also all have the capacity for faith. Live faith!
Double Thumbs Up,
Weekly Financial Report
Weekly Need $4,829
Last Week's Giving $6,662 (Tithe $5,262/Faith Prom. $1,400)
Over/Under $1,833
YTD Actual Weekly Giving Average $5,778
YTD Weekly Average Over/Under $949
YTD Total Over/Under $30,376
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