Church on the Rock Calendar

Making "the God Difference"                                                                                         8/16/14 CHURCH PICNIC TODAY Mark Your Calendars... Sunday, August 17, 2014   Brief Conference Prep Meeting after church today.  In preparation for the October Reconciliation Ministries national meeting to be held at Church on the Rock, New Haven, we will be holding a brief meeting for potential volunteers right after church. Please help us to make this an excellent event by planning to help out!.  We won't keep you long! Thanks, and God bless you! Friday, August 22 1-4 PM Volunteers needed for Lincoln Bassett Back 2 School Event The Adopt-a-School program will be helping out at the Lincoln-Bassett "Party with a Purpose" Back to School event.  If you can help out, please let us know by emailing back2school@rocknewhaven.org. Volunteers are need to help manage the people flow  among the various activities. There is also a need for those of you who can do face-painting! Also, if you are interested in being a volunteer during the school year, please let us know! It's going to be a positively exciting year at the school. Saturday, August 23,2014 Church clean-up day!  All hands on deck! Many hands make light work!  We'll be gathering at the church at 9am.  Monday, August 25, 2014  Gang of Dads Interest Meeting. Potential mentors and moms of boys 8-18 in need of mentors are invited to this meeting where the vision of Gang of Dads will be shared. Men, we need you! Friday, August 29, 2014  7pm  Men's Fellowship featuring Pastor Todd Redden from Syracuse, NY.  If you have been around our ministry long enough, you already know what a great time we are in for! We'll be meeting at the church at 7pm. Wednesday, September 24 and October 1, 2014 "Leadership" Meetings with Pastor Chandler and China Cleveland The whole church is invited for these special 2 part mid-week training events with the dynamic and anointed Cleveland's! Be sure to invite friends and family. Friday and Saturday 9/26,27  Marriage Conference The Clevelands will conduct this year's Marriage Conference, "Are We There Yet?". Be sure to sign up!  And probably the most important event on the calendar....... 10 days of Prayer September 25 through October 4, 2014 Join us for a special state-wide time of fasting, prayer, and consecration. This 10 day event is being coordinated statewide, with prayer meetings being hosted at different churches each night. Church on the Rock will host the event on Monday, September 29, 2014. We hope to have several churches represented that night.  Summer is over and it's a great time to press in to God as we, practically speaking, embrace a new year! Read more about it Here. Refinished and Renewed  I recently had an opportunity to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies! For some my hobby may seem a little like work, but for me it is relaxing yet exhilarating! I got to refinish and repurpose a baby's changing chest for our newest granddaughter! There is something in me that enjoys the sanding, rubbing, painting and re-doing! It excites me that something that was going to be discarded can now find a new purpose, a new function and perhaps even look better than before!  As I prepared to work to begin work I quickly recruited my husband and son-in- law to carry the chest to the garage. My husband willingly aided in the sanding and our 5 and 6 year old grandsons tried their hand at some interior painting! The process turned into a family project and in the end there was such gratification as we looked at our results! The chest turned out beautiful and became an object lesson in what can be done with a little imagination and a whole lot of work! Our new baby granddaughter now has a lovely, freshly restored-by-loving-family bureau!  I personally find such satisfaction in making something become new again! From my perspective the "transformations" always make me think about how God looks and deals with us spiritually! He continues to work on us, never discarding us but slowly transforming us! God also uses the people whom we do life with to sand and polish us! It takes surrendering, discipline, and many willing hands to be transformed! For those of us in Cord groups we have a "family" that will be used in our transformation process. One may be used as sand paper, another may be used to give vision. We are placed in one another's lives to enable each other to become the best that we can be! As we pray together let us be aware that God is at work and He may even be repurposing us! In the long run we will certainly be made new! May we delight in God's results! As we begin to see the summer come to a close let's be focused and intentional with our prayers for ourselves, this city, the body of Christ and this great body of believer's here at Church on the Rock!   Blessings, Pastor Leslie