Our mission offering at Conference this year will go to plant a new church in Thailand and to support the education and development of new church planters in the country of Venezuela. Both of these nations have young, emerging Methodist churches. Our efforts in Thailand are through Kentucky Conference leaders, Mike and Sherri Morrissey. The work in Venezuela is in cooperation with the United Methodist Church of Venezuela and their Bishop, Juvenal Perez. In Thailand we will be actually providing support for the development of a specific congregation, helping to fund the pastor’s salary. Please prayerfully consider supporting this gospel-spreading mission during service on Sunday. You may also get your offering to Joe Taylor or Pastor Susan.

TIME TO FUNDRAISE FOR 2011 SCHOOL YEAR

It’s time to begin fundraising for the Liberty BB program which, as always, is funded up-front for the entire school year. We know that there are people outside our congregation that want to participate with us. These include companies with matching programs, scout troops, neighbors and friends. Funding a child for a year lasts longer than flowers and makes a great gift!

With that in mind, we have drafted an example letter that you can use to make it easier for people outside our congregation to join in this wonderful ministry. The letter is on our website in a downloadable form (click here->blessings-in-a-backpack-fundraising and then click on the form icon to down load the form) and is also in the narthex. If you would like a copy emailed, just let Pastor Susan know.

On March 6 Pastor Brisenault will be joining us for Sunday School and worship.  Pastor Brisenault is EDGE’s overseer of all water projects in Haiti.  We have 28 water purification systems in Haiti with 2 additional systems being installed this month.  Lives are being changed and saved with the pure water that these systems are bringing to communities.  In addition to pastoring a church in the outskirts of Port au Prince, Pastor Brisenault and his wife Joseline run a school from their church.  Over 70 children are fed, educated and taught about the love of Jesus Christ.  Some of the members of Shiloh support a child at Pastor Brisenault’s school so we are extremely excited to have him join us and speak during our Sunday School hour.  All of our Sunday School classes will meet together in the Fellowship Hall to hear him speak.  Pastor Brisenault is truly the hands and feet of Jesus in Tabarre, Haiti!

Our Christmas tree in the sanctuary is a celebration this year of our members and their outreach this past year in our community and abroad. From water bottles to paint brushes, backpacks to shoeboxes, we celebrate what it is to live our faith at Shiloh ‘inside-out.’ We’re off to a wonderful start on funding our Blessings in a Backpack children and hope to have all the backpacks hanging on our tree by the time we gather to sing Holy Night in candlelight Christmas Eve. Join in with us!

November 14th is collection day!

Time to dig out a shoebox and go shopping!

Over 77 million children in 130 countries since 1993 have experienced the joy of receiving these simple treasures. The harsh world around them fades, their faces light up with smiles, and their hearts fill with joy. A new follow-up program, The Greatest Journey, is being launched this year in Latin America. Pray that the Lord will multiply his blessing upon this program so that many more children will commit their hearts to Jesus. month and join in this ministry.

Get your brochure and label and join this great outreach to the world’s children.

Letters have gone out to families eligible for this program and we are awaiting the count from Liberty to know how many we will be feeding beginning right after the Christmas vacation.

Watch for chances to ‘bless a backpack’ by adopting children at Liberty at our services in November.

We are in the planning stages of adopting Liberty School for the Blessings in a Backpack Program in which school children who receive free breakfasts/lunches during the school week are sent home each Friday with a backpack of non-perishable food to make sure they are kept fed and nourished over the weekend and able to return on Monday ready to learn.