August 16, 2007

Back to School, Blessings and Backpacks

Beloved’s fifth annual Blessing of the Backpacks will be held Sunday morning, August 26^th.  Bring your selves and supplies to ask God for some divine intervention for the upcoming school or work year.  Invite your friends and neighbors! 

 

At the end of school in May, there were 2,194 identified homeless children enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.  Working through A Child’s Place each year during the Blessing of the Backpacks Sunday, Church of the Beloved collects school supplies on Backpack Sunday for these boys and girls that are, like us, created in God’s image. 

Supplies Needed include: Combination locks for lockers, Notebook paper, Glue sticks, Protractors, Pencils and pens, Liquid soap, Erasers, Rulers, Dictionaries, Hand sanitizer, Graph paper, Scissors, Mead composition books, Book bags (all grades), Folders, Crayons, Binders (1 inch), Pencil boxes, Facial tissues & Markers.  Please be generous!

 

Four Charlotte women were in the audience for the Oct. 26th show taping when Oprah handed out her "favorite gift" -- the gift of generosity.

Audience members were each given a $1,000 Bank of America gift card, then directed to go home and experience for themselves the joy of giving and making a difference in others' lives.  And so they did, helping two Charlotte homeless families establish homes of their own.

The Charlotte friends saw a TV news report the day after they returned home about the thousands of homeless children attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and immediately knew how they would use their cards.  Under the rules, audience members could give the money to anyone except relatives, or split it among charities.

They contacted four local non-profit agencies that help the homeless -- A Child's Place, Crisis Assistance Ministry, Socialserve.com and A Way Home.   The agencies collaborated to combine the $4,000 from Oprah with additional contributions of $5,000, furniture, food and other items to make homes for two homeless families.  One family, living doubled up with friends, was already working with A Child's Place.  The other family, previously known to one of the four friends, had been living in a van.  They quickly became A Child’s Place clients.

Both families' case plans are geared to ensure the stability of their homes long after the Oprah dollars are gone.  The children are attending school regularly and are top students.  A Child's Place social work staff will continue to monitor the families' progress and provide the resources necessary to minimize the impact of their homelessness on the children and their education.

Calling all adults or youth who play a band or orchestra instrument.  Let us know the instrument you play by clicking here.

 

 

Beloved is in need of baptized adults (16+) who would like to assist during communion by administering the Chalice.  Need more information?  Want to sign up?  Click here.

 

 

Beloved Kudos go to the Angel Army Design Team (Betsy Fox, Fred Mellon, Anna Moore and Martha Stone) who have worked so hard this summer to reconfigure the Angel Army (worship setup/teardown) Teams so that they will work more effortlessly this year.  Be on the lookout for more information from these wonderful folks in advance of the August 26^th resumption of worship setup and teardown.

 

 

The next publication date for Beloved eNews is set for August 23 when weekly publication will resume.  News and calendar information should be submitted via email by the Monday preceding the publication date.

 

 

August 5…Attendance: 87; Worship Offering: $3,240; August 12…Attendance: 105; Worship Offering: $2,789.  Income needed for ministry each week: $5,500 (fully funded) à $4,400 (requiring other funding sources i.e. fundraising events).  The financial goal of Church of the Beloved is to reach self-sufficiency (i.e. pay all expenses without income from outside sources) by 12/31/2008.

 

 

Scripture Readings for August 19…Hebrews 13:7-16 & John 15:12-17

 

 

Serving at God’s Altar on August 19…Hospitality light setup/partial teardown to stage: Volunteer team; Acolytes: Volunteer team; Offering Basket Passer & Presenters: volunteers; Altar Bread Baker: Kris Leinenkugel; Lay Eucharistic Ministers: Kris Leinenkugel & Al Krantz; PowerPoint: Cyteria Knight; Reader: Paige Wilson; Offering Counters: Roey Southard (Head Counter) & Craig Doyon (Assistant)

 

 

 

 

In our Prayers…Click here

 

 

Upcoming Calendar…Click here