We are really excited to be entering into our busy summer season in youth ministry. God has been working in the lives of our students, bringing new students into our ministry, and drawing our current students into deeper faith through Bible study and community. Our youth room has undergone a remodel with new paint, pictures, decorations, a surround sound system, a video game room, and we are still adding a few more updates that will enhance our ability to use videos and slideshows for Bible study and events.
Our most recent event was Secret Church- a 4 hour video study of the entire Old Testament. We had 17 students and most of them stayed awake through the whole study! Praise God for his faithfulness and for the 17 students who attended Secret Church and were blessed by the study. In June we will have our annual All-Nighter! Last year we had a record breaking number of students attend our all-nighter and we are in need of drivers who can help drive our students from Shoreline to different venues and back to Shoreline around 2 a.m. If you are available to help with this event, please contact Brad at bschultz@shorelinebaptist.org. Summer camp is only 3 months away! It is one of the most spiritually impactful events in the lives of our students that we do all year long. We have 4 spots still available for students who have completed grades 6-12. You can get more information and register online. Feel free to contact Brad if you have any questions or concerns.
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As scripture tells us, many times God moves in unique and unexpected ways. After participating in and assisting in leading Shoreline Sports for virtually her entire life, Breanna Herd and her husband Steven will be moving to Iowa in July. She is taking on a full-time position as a counselor at a high school there. We are confident that Breanna and Steven have been following God’s will in this and we have been praying for God’s plan in the sports ministry as we try to replace Breanna. Well, God has moved in a way for this summer that I did not expect. More than 50 young people have applied to work this summer in our summer sports programs. What a blessing! We look forward to a very full summer of discipling the workers and evangelizing the more than 500 children who will participate. During our just-completed Early Winter basketball season, we re-instituted our end-of-season celebration. This sports outreach connected with the almost 600 players and their parents as Tanya used her basketball skills to share the gospel. We were blessed to see dozens of church members contribute to this event. We will wrap up the Late Winter season on April 20 with a pancake breakfast and series of egg hunts. Last year, this event brought in more than 500 people. We shared with them what God is doing here at Shoreline. This event is coordinated by the children’s ministry and John Mercer, our Sports Outreach director. John has done a great job in his first year in this role. He has energetically reached out to the sports families and shared the love of Christ. We want to send a special thank you to Breanna and Steven for their many years of service in the sports ministry and here at the church. We are excited to see how God works in their future. Sincerely, Dan Willard Associate Pastor of Life Groups & Recreation One of the most important aspects to church ministry is communication. It is hard to be involved in what you don't know about. We want to make sure everyone knows about all the various ministries of our church so people can be as involved as they want to be. We have multiple avenues for communication: our bulletin, our website (including church calendar), announcements, church newsletters, ministry specific newsletters, and Facebook. Now we have one more exciting way for you to know what is going on at Shoreline: a new church app for your mobile phone. Our new app is called "Church Center." Here is a list of how it will help us communicate all is going on to you and to each other.
Don't have church center? You can access the "app" on your browser here. Or download the app on your smart phone (Apple App Store or Google Play Store) Events There is an "Events" tab on the app that allows you to see all the church events scheduled for the next three to six months. If you want to just look at all the events for a specific ministry, you can search by category (all categories, Agebusters, Children, General, Men, Women, Young Adults, Youth). Each event has a description of the event, day, time, cost if any, and allows you to register for the event if registration is required. This will allow everyone to know what is going in our church. Groups There is a "Groups" tab on the app that allows you to see all the ministry groups you are a part of. Each group contains a list of all the people who are a part of the ministry group with their email and phone numbers. The groups section also includes our Church Directory (if you have signed up to be in it) with everyone's name, picture (if taken), email, and phone number. The groups section also allows you to request to join new ministry groups. For instance, you could sign up to join a new Life Group. Giving There is a "Give" tab on the app that allows you to use your phone to give online. Sermons To access the sermons simply log in to Church Center (our church app) and click "Sermons". Depending on your phone (or browser) the link will be on the top/bottom tab of your screen. Sermons are available for August forward. We are in progress of adding all the sermons from when we started to stream so stay tuned for those! Check-Ins There is a "Give" tab on the app that allows you to use your phone to give online. Directory To access the directory simply log in to Church Center (our church app) and click "Directory". Depending on your phone (or browser) the link will be on the top/bottom tab of your screen. Click here for details on how to access/add yourself to the directory if you do not see everything you need. Profile There is a Profile icon that allows you to edit your personal information (address, phone number, etc.), check your giving, and view all of your event registrations (past and present). Need steps to help you get setup?
Happy New Year from the Anchored Youth leadership team. In 2018 we saw students commit their lives to Christ, get baptized, and grow deeper in their faith. We started a student leadership program and are thrilled to see students leading and serving in our church. Our youth have studied several books of the Bible, World Religions, and have discussed difficult Biblical questions on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings throughout this last year. Our hope and prayer is that 2019 will bring even more spiritual growth, new believers, and significant change in the lives of our students.
If you haven’t checked out our website recently, it has been greatly improved and is very informative and easy to navigate. All event registrations will now be online. No cash will be accepted for events that require pre-registration- all payments can be made online. It is an honor and a privilege to serve and lead your kids closer to the Lord on a weekly basis. We want you to know that we are praying for you. Teenage years can be very difficult to navigate as parents, especially in today’s culture. One helpful resource to encourage you as parents is called Parent Cue. They have an app that gives great ideas about how to connect with your teen, and they post encouragement and great ideas on Instagram and Facebook as well. Please let us know how we can pray for you and/or support you specifically by emailing Brad at bschultz@shorelinebaptist.org. Sincerely, Pastor Brad We are very excited in the sports ministry to be gearing up for a return visit from one of the most entertaining, inspiring sports presenters we have ever seen. On February 7 and 8, Tanya Crevier returns to perform her basketball magic and share her testimony. We are blessed to have her return after many years.
For these two “Nights of Inspiration”, we have invited the 600 players, their parents and relatives from our nearly-concluded Early Winter basketball season. All season, the coaches have been sharing the gospel weekly with the players, but this is our big chance to share also with the parents and relatives. Each of the nights will be preceded by an open playground with bounce houses, a full snack bar and lots of fellowship. We would love to have church members help in any area from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on the playground or snack bar, or 6:30 to 8:30 with the presentation or child care. We are blessed that God has allowed us to develop a very large sports ministry, and we are excited to see how God works in our sports and church community on these very special nights. We are following all this up with a Connection Lunch following church on February 10. We are praying that lots of sports families join us for church and lunch. Please pray for loads of energy and touched hearts. If you want to help, please reach out to John Mercer, our Sports Outreach Director, or Kandyce Register, our Children’s Ministry Director. As we approach the end of another year and we begin to reflect on what has happened over the year, I wanted to provide a brief update on what has changed on our church campus. The Building a Legacy campaign is going strong and Pastor Matt will be sharing an update on that very soon, but that is not the only beautification happening. Within our regular budget we have been able to paint all of the classrooms in the education building upstairs and all of the preschool classrooms currently in use, thanks to our church family volunteering, led by Kato Mearig and Young Park. Pastor Dan’s office has had a complete makeover, with new flooring, lighting, and paint. There are new curtains in all of the preschool rooms that match our color scheme. We have also begun the task of improving the exterior lighting on the campus. During this next year we are going to continue to improve the lighting, continue with the interior painting, and reseal and stripe the parking lot. We are so blessed to have this campus to use for tle Lord in reaching out to minister, and I am thankful for the heart of our congregation in wanting to make it as beautiful and useful as possible. Thank you!
Ken Fox We have had several recent changes in our church leadership team. Recently Heidi Schultz stepped down from leading our Preschool Ministry in order to focus on her new job as a Christian School teacher and to help Brad in our youth ministry. We are thankful for all of Heidi’s hard work in leading our Preschool Ministry, and are praying for her in the new ministry assignments the Lord has given her. As you know, Kandyce Register has been leading our Children’s Ministry and has been doing a great job. Now she will be leading both our Preschool and Children’s Ministries. Our Sunday Preschool and Children’s Ministry has grown by over 50% in the last year. God is bringing new little ones to our church and we have the privilege of sharing with them the love of Christ. Pray for Kandyce as she leads these two very important ministries and if you sense God wanting you to get involved in these exciting ministries let her know.
We also have added a new position to our church team. Breanna Herd is our new Social Media Coordinator. We are using social media to communicate with our community and our church all that we are doing as a church. So many people use social media as the primary way they connect and communicate and we want to utilize it for the sake of the gospel. If you are not sure about an event, now you can go not only to our church calendar for information, but if the event is soon you can find it on our facebook page. In addition to our church facebook page, we also have pages for our children’s ministry and our weekday Preschool. We invite you to “like” and follow them. Ken Fox has served as our part-time church administrator for over three years now and has done a great job. He is now coming on full time as our Church administrator and Facilities Manager (beginning in November). This move will allow our church to be more effective and efficient in our ministries and also to present a clean and neat campus for the purpose of seeing people come to Christ and live for Him. The Lord deserves the best we can give Him and I am happy to see Ken lead us in giving the Lord our best both in our organization and in our facilities. Sincerely, Pastor Matt Dear Shoreline Family,
Over the last few months, there have been a lot of difficulties people in our church are facing: cancer, sickness, injuries, the loss of family and loved ones, and many more. Every week my prayer list has grown longer and longer. In each case, you could have allowed these difficulties to push you away from God, but instead you allowed God to use them to draw you closer to Him. I have never seen so many difficulties in such a short period of time, but I also have never seen more growth in faith and love. The ministry needs have been greater than I could meet, but together you have ministered to one another in the name of Christ. You are a constant encouragement to me. Remember Jesus said in as much as you have done it to My brethren, you have done it to Me. Let’s continue to faithfully pray for and minister to the hurting in our congregation. God has really been working in people’s lives. I encourage you to come to church each week in faith and with anticipation that God is going to speak to us through His Word, and that God is going to work in our life and in the lives of others. God is bringing new people to our church every week- let’s make sure to show them our love for them, pray for them, and minister to them. We have a lot of new believers and new members in our church, let’s welcome every new member of our faith family with open arms and not cease to pray for them. We all know people who need to come to know the love of Christ. I especially want to ask you to pray that God will give us a burden of compassion for the lost. I am thankful for the fifteen people who went through our evangelism training class, their passion was exciting and I look forward to the fruit God will bring from it. But let’s ask the Lord to give all of us boldness to share Jesus with our family, friends, and those He brings into our life. The Lord has blessed us with a great church family, and I am so very thankful to the Lord for you. Sincerely, Pastor Matt Every year for the past 20 plus years, the months of October and part of November have been consumed with planning for our upcoming Early Winter basketball season at Shoreline. We are blessed to continue to pull in more than 500 players each year.
As I write this, we have almost 400 players, and I begin to create teams tomorrow (October 22). That process takes about 60 hours as it involves more than 600 requests from parents. It is truly a blessing to plan this coming season as I am reasonably certain that at least 200 of the incoming players are new to the program and at least half of the players do not know Christ as their personal savior. This is an amazing outreach challenge for the sports ministry. More than 60 teams will stop once every week from November 26th through February 9 to learn about Christ. I am honored to prepare the devotions for these teams, and I am excited to report that the players love to learn about Jesus and many of them turn their lives over to Him each season. As a part of this outreach, we will repeat our Division Parent program from last year. We are very grateful to the more than 50 church members who got involved last year, and I encourage you to come out December 1 on Opening Day to welcome parents and players to Shoreline. We call you “Sports Connection Parents!” Below is an explanation of how you can help. Please let me know if you have questions. What is the Division Parent’s Program?: During our Early Winter basketball season, Division Parents from the church have volunteered to connect with the teams and coaches in their divisions. The sports connection parents show up on some game days to help the Division Parents by waving at halftime and talking to teams and parents after the game. Why: The program is designed to better connect parents who bring their children into our sports program with our church and its members. Who: A sports connection parent does not need any expertise (or interest) in sports; they need to have a desire to build relationships with parents who need Christ. We have been getting ready and are so excited to kick off the 2018-19 AWANA year with your family! The AWANA program is designed to give families a tool to disciple their kids for Christ and we have so many excited and committed leaders ready to help you and your kids this year. We have a few new things this year, so here are the details you need to know:
Please feel free to e-mail, call, or text with any questions or additional information. We are so excited to help your families disciple your kids for Christ and to help them understand what a great and mighty God we serve! |