Well this was an exciting and crazy week at Ringgold UMC. We hosted our 4th Annual River of Life (missions event for high school students). We had 5 churches participate with 63 students and adults. There were about 145 different adults and college students from our church serving in some way, and lots of folks who brought in ladders, coolers and food donations! All these people’s efforts enabled God to work on 18 different work sites (including 3 roofs this year!) for people in our area who couldn’t afford to have the work done. We put down 75 squares of roofing, 40 gallons of paint, 80 linear feet of wheel chair ramp and hauled off 8 tons of debris! All that was done in 100 degree weather, and that was just the work side of the event. We also fed and housed the participants at the church, and had AWESOME worship and small groups each night. Kids lives were changed through the experience and our community felt the love of Christ in a very tangible way. I was the Event Coordinator and Eric was the Construction Coordinator. We had LOTS of help of course, but we’re exhausted!! Thanks to all the people that made the hole thing possible.
So last night at The Water’s Edge, we had our speaker from ROL stick around to share some information for parents. His name is Andre Dantzler and besides being a great speaker and technology expert, he does a couple other cool things you might want to check out, like KingdomBook and ProjectGod. He brought with him Julie Baumgardner from First Things First and they spoke to us about to us all about the kinds of technology young people are involved in. They gave tips for understanding and better utilizing these technologies, along with things to look out for and ways to better communicate about and through them. The parents I spoke with were really glad they came. Kevin Alton (RUMC Youth Minister) will be showing a video of this presentation to other youth parents some time soon!) Many thanks to Andre and Julie for the ministry they so joyfully create and willingly share!
Here is our current prayer request list.
(Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)
:: Pray for Connie & Jerry Noland = Starting Saturday they are at the Choctaw Reservation to do some mission work there with other folks from the south.
:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!
:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is home, but not feeling good. She’s battling much more than cancer with all the effects of her treatments on her body. Pray for healing and hope.
:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – the grandmother’s hip replacement surgery went well, but the grandfather has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.
:: Pray for Christa and her sons – current issues: the living situation still precarious; her car died.
:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.
:: Toni Ruppert is looking for a new job (while working a paper route!) pray God will open up the right opportunity and that she and Zach will pull through this tough time.
:: Pray for Jen – she’s awaiting some test results
