Greetings Dear Terrace Shores Family,

Summer is nearly 2/3 of the way done (Functional Summer that is, from May – August)! How quickly time passes. Over these summer months, we have followed a Sunday morning worship schedule of having an 8 am indoor worship service (With a 50 person limit in the sanctuary, and overflow in back or watching livestream in the church basement). This early service is also livestreamed on our Facebook page, and then available recorded shortly after that.
Then at 10 am, we have enjoyed an outdoor worship service where there is plenty of room for everyone to spread out. That outdoor service is also transmitted on 91.3 FM, for radios within a short distance of the church. Both indoor and outdoor services have been well attended. This past Sunday, after our outdoor worship service, five people were baptized, we had a light picnic lunch, followed by an outdoor congregational meeting. Today, we are in the middle of our pared down Vacation Bible School week, but thankful to see 40+ kids learning God’s Word, and having fun doing that. We plan to continue the outdoor services as long as weather and COVID conditions allow, which brings me to a couple of items I need to mention.
Up to this point, we have been blessed with good weather on Sunday mornings, allowing us to have that outdoor service. IF we would have bad weather causing us to cancel the outdoor service, we would hold the 10 am service inside, with the same 50 person limit in the sanctuary and overflow else where. If that occurs, we will post that change on our facebook page and website by 9 am. Please check before coming to the outdoor service, if the weather seems questionable.

Also, if you have prayer requests or know of a special need, please feel free to contact the church office.  Thank you so much for your help with this, and for your support of this Terrace Shores Ministry.
We are living through a tumultuous year with one issue after another hitting our society, causing division and strife. Recently I was reading a passage describing the days of Asa, King of Judah, about 900 B.C.  Azariah the prophet, gave this description to Asa, of the situation in Palestine about 2900 years ago:

“Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. 4 But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5 In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. 6 One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” (II Chronicles 15:2-7)
These words encouraged Asa, because in the midst of difficult times, he now had direction from the Lord. Beginning with King Asa himself, on down, the nation turned back to God. In fact, II Chronicles 15:15 describes what happened, “They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.”  -Humbly seeking God is always a good choice. We can’t choose for others, but we can choose what we will do. We can each choose daily to seek the Lord and draw close to Him. We can each choose to grow in understanding and applying the truth of His Word. We can each choose to love God and love people. May God help us do that always, beginning now in these days of turmoil and uncertainty. For He is still the One that is really King.

Thanks so much for reading. Blessings on you as we enter August 2020.

Grace and Peace,
Gary

Notes from the office:
The Sunday bulletins are know located on our website. All over the site you’ll see the new design for Sermons, and the little download folder icon will now allow you to download each bulletin for every sermon as posted.

Our missionaries send us newsletters and updates. If you would like to receive those emails, please let the church office know. We’ll add you to the email list.

Thank you!