Where did we start?

First, we PRAYED!  Next, we went straight to people who had experience and wisdom.  Stan Self, from the Mission Society, has been extremely helpful in guiding us.  Amy Smith has been a crucial part of helping us to refine this process and create the application and supporting documentation.  She worked in the non-profit world and has experience in grant-writing and enterprise management. Other council came from Al, Brenda Georgi, Bill Johnson, and churches in the area that have a deep commitment to missions.

What happens next and how does all of this work? 

Our team has developed a funding request approval process.  Individuals, team leaders, or project managers can fill out an application requesting money from our Faith Promise budget to fund a project.  This application will give the Action Team important information that we need to determine many things.  First, it will help us to get to know our partners true focus and where they can best use our support.  But most importantly, we need to make sure that the resources you have entrusted to St. Michaels is treated with the greatest level of stewardship possible.  Through the questions on the application, we will have the information necessary to make these decisions.

Who and what are we looking for to apply for these funds? 

To use the resources that have been entrusted to the GIC movement according to our mission statement, we are looking for projects that are Specific, Strategic, and Incarnational.  We want to be specific in who we partner with and how we assist our mission partners be it through short term mission trips, funding needs at home or abroad, or praying for those who are in the field.  We want to be strategic by seeking long-term partnerships where the gospel is spread and disciples are made.  And we want to be incarnational by putting flesh on our efforts to reach others who have either not heard the gospel or have not had the opportunity to begin a relationship with Christ.  By going deep with our partners, we will be able to build longer term and more meaningful relationships that bless our congregation as well as those we serve.  Using a set of criteria including the SSI model (specific, strategic, incarnational), the Action Team will meet quarterly to review applications and determine who will receive funding.  We will communicate to the congregation about those applicants that we are supporting.  As you all know, what we are able to fund will be directly proportional to the balance in our Faith Promise account.  Stay tuned for more information about the mission trips that are currently being planned to Burundi, Dorchester, and Ukraine!!!

Interested in receiving an application?  Contact swain@stmichaelschurch.net

~ Heather Coleman

The series will be on exhibit during the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, May 25^th through June 10^th, in the upstairs drawing room at the Dock Street Theater on Church Street in Charleston.  Gallery hours are from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.   The exhibit will continue at the Dock Street Theater, June 11-29 with gallery hours 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.  Interested parties can meet the artist on special days and times which will be posted at the Dock Street Theater during her show.  For more information, contact:

Christina Harms

740-418-8228

Christina.harms89@gmail.com

Over the years many have seen great changes in the world, this country, this city,  this church, in our friendships and even our family. Some change may be welcomed, but the nagging little voice is always present, “What does this mean to me? What will this change bring?” Some changes are greeted with, “I hate this.  It is not the way it used to be.  I don’t even recognize this ( you fill in the blank) anymore.  I don’t think I can do this or be this. “

Anxiety or helplessness may seem overwhelming as we see ourselves aging, our children growing up and leaving, or marrying, careers ending, dear friends dying.  Yet in the midst of all this we can find our stability – our unchanging Lord, who promised to be with us always.  I treasure Psalm 139 where the singer prays – “even the darkness is not dark to thee, O, Lord”

Change or transition is difficult for most of us. Yet change is in God’s plan for us.  He desires to see all of us changed into the very likeness of Christ.  He desires to see old things pass away.  Yet we struggle with letting go and receiving change as part of God’s plan to transform us and grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

Recently a dear friend was overwhelmed with change in her life and unexpectedly came across the following passage (no coincidence but a true God incident).  I too have found this to be meaningful.  I leave it with you as a blessing and a comfort.

Be at peace. Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life;

rather look to them with full hope as they arise.

God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.

He has kept you hitherto, and He will lead you safely

through all things;  and when you cannot stand it,

God will bury you in His arms.

Do not fear what will happen tomorrow;

the same everlasting Father who cares for you today

will take care of you then and everyday.

He will either shield you from suffering,

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

     St. Francis de Sales

~ Melody B. Martini,Psy.D.

Open to All Alpha Graduates

Beginning Monday, July 2nd,

from 5:30 – 7:30 pm in the Kinloch Room

Cost: $45 for Individuals,

$55 Total for Couples

Interested to Learn More?

Information and sign-up meeting in the Anne Hester Willis Room immediately after church Sunday, June 10^th.

Contact the Rev. David Booman to Register, (843) 724-7589 or davidb@stmichaelschurch.net

The international Order of St. Luke the Physician is a 7-week course, facilitated at St. Michael’s by Johnnie and Jean Corbett.  The course explores the healing accounts of Jesus Christ in the Gospels as a foundation for the healing prayer ministry.

Life Groups – consider taking OSL together as a summer course!

VBS June 4-7, 2012

VBS is only a few weeks away and we can’t do it without you teens! Come serve humbly and hangout with us afterwards!

New Youth Orientation Meeting Sunday June 10, 12pm

ALL RISING 6^th grade families – Come join us for a briefing on what to expect for youth ministry after church June 10 at 12pm in the Youth Lounge! We are excited to serve alongside you and answer any questions you may have! At the completion of your student’s 5th grade year, he or she is now a YOUTH, which means summer youth activities!

MUGs (Mornings Understanding God)

Our female bible study is open to any 6-12^th grade girl and is held primarily at the Hare House with Molly Hare leading it. Come in your pj’s and bring your Bible and a mug for coffee, hot tea, or hot chocolate! We will meet June 11^th, 18^th, 25^th, July 16^th and 30^th!

THUGs (Turning Hearts Unto God)

Our male gathering will be spent growing together doing a variety of fun events from fishing, to basketball, to football, to going to the beach! We will meet June 11^th, June 25^th, July 16^th, and July 30^th!

Riverdogs’ game Tuesday June 5^th 7pm

Join us at the Joe for a night of food and fun!

Holy City Mission Week June 25-28

Have a heart for lost people and seeing the City of Charleston reached for Christ? Want to do something radical and serve this summer? Well you can with our youth mission week in Charleston! We will be praying with people, serving our community, and reaching out to bring all to meet Jesus this summer!

Movie Nights Thursday June 21^st and Wednesday July 18^th

Join us at the local movie theater for a summer flick!

Water Park Adventure Thursday Aug 9

Trip to a Water Park to enjoy the last little bit of summer fun!

Parents Night Thursday Aug 16, 6:00pm-7:30pm

For all parents of Youth. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT for all parents of youth – hear what is in store for this year and what role you can play!

Youth Confirmation Informational Meeting Sunday Aug 19 12pm

Families of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade – Important meeting of what Youth Confirmation is all about. All middle school families (parents and/or youth) are encouraged to attend, particularly new 6^th grade families! This is your time to ask questions, make suggestions, or raise concerns you may have with what Youth Confirmation is like at St. Michael’s!

So here’s where I am most seeing Jesus at work in the lives of our youth over this past year:

5) Our series entitled, “Real Men, Lovely Women” – In our youth gathering times on Sunday, we did a 5 week series on what it means to really be a real man and a lovely women. With all the influences both consciously and subconsciously, today may be the hardest generation to know what it means biblically to be a godly man or a godly woman. We discussed not only positive character traits that are important for both sexes, but we looked specifically at some of the all important distinctions that God has created in men and women. We examined passages like Titus 2, Genesis 3, and Ephesians 5 for specifics on what marriage really is (A living, breathing covenant representing Christ and the Church), we looked at how to prepare for that now by cultivating the qualities God desires for husbands and wives, and we had a Q&A panel with real life testimonies of singles, married couples, and courting couples which provided a real-life look into men and women seeking to follow Jesus as best as they can in their relationships. Students were surprised, challenged, and encouraged to trust Jesus and prepare for a delightful, God-glorifying marriage that lasts!

4) 2011 Parent Child Mission to Dorchester – With the bus delivered, a team of St. Michael’s families with teenagers flew up to Dorchester for a mission trip to the church plant of Christ the King Dorchester. We had five teens and their parents join us for a week of service to our dear friends in Boston. Being in a very unfamiliar place with a very different culture was out of many of our students comfort zones, and not only so for our youth, but also their parents. With a flexible daily structure that centered around an informal, simple VBS in one of the local parks, we had to be creative and open about how God could use us in Dorchester. We not only were blessed by our time with CTK parishoners, but we were able to pray with and encourage them, and support their church by simply being helping hands to their ministry of summer VBS. Our youth and families were stretched thin, but to see them come together, humble themselves, and serve to the glory of Christ was definitely a top-5 moment for me this year!

3) Festival of Faith youth skit – No one could argue about whether or not the youth skit at the 2011 Festival of Faith was gospel-saturated. Aside from some timing failures, it was an incredibly powerful witness to the power of the gospel. I personally witnessed a team of teens put a lot of time and energy over the course of 6 weeks to perfecting the timing and motions of this very difficult skit. And it paid off beautifully. I heard from many adults how special that skit was and how relevant it was to so many youth and adult lives today. If you are interested, you can see another reenactment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA.

2) Confirmation/Lent Testimonies – After our first year of transition, I was blown away at the commitment and sacrifice, resulting in tremendous blessing for each of our confirmands in this year’s class. We ask a lot of our confirmands – attending spring classes, doing homework, having a retreat, and writing their own testimony to name a few – but we do so with good reason. Confirmation is not only a proclamation of owning one’s faith (which obviously is only entered into with the most reverent of ways and with sincere motives), but it is also our entrance in becoming a full member of the local church. We have found that the right understanding of what Confirmation is and what it is not has really blessed our students and families. It removes social norms and pressures of appearing “less holy” as other families, and it provides genuine significance to the truly converted teen. Most importantly it rightly protects the local church in being the visible representation of the gospel to the world. This year I saw teens sacrificing their time and energies to support St. Michael’s Church and to seriously contemplate their faith. At a time when it is easy to go with the culture, these students took a stand for what it means to be a follower of Christ and be a member of His bride in the local church. To me, the most encouraging moment is to hear the witness of these students themselves to what Jesus Christ has done in their lives, not just making them a better them, but calling them personally, convicting them deeply, and saving them by His all-sufficient grace.

1) High School Life Group – What has me most excited is a relatively new youth ministry. Modeling what we see at a church wide level, we began a High School Life Group meeting at Justin and Molly Hare’s house twice a month. Having deep convictions that students today want genuine relationship and real talk coupled with the fact that relational discipleship was Jesus’ main form of evangelism, we set out to see what this could look like. After a “slow start” with only 2-3 students coming, after only a matter of weeks we saw consistently 10-15 high schoolers coming to hang out over dinner, to catch up on life, to hear God’s word taught, and to apply it to their own lives. With strenuous schedules of teens today, we thought every two weeks was just the right schedule, and given that we feed our students (they have to eat sometime!), having the gathering from 7-9pm was perfectly situated for high school students. To see students engaging with the Word of God with at times literally having standing-room-only, this is what it is all about! Lives are being changed, hope is being granted, relationships are being restored at through the power of the gospel. I am so excited to see what Jesus has in store for our future!

As this summer  & VBS quickly approaches I want to challenge you to consider two opportunities to serve. Both have great evangelistic and discipleship impacts on the lives of our St. Michaels children. They are Vacation Bible School June 4-7th, 9:00 till noon, and Sunday Children’s Worship Ministries at 10:15 am.

This year’s VBS theme is “Incrediworld.” We will be taking a journey-filled ride through God’s Creation and meeting very LIVE and real creatures along the way. IT is NOT to be missed! Our friends from the Zoo will be visiting and maybe a surprise creature or two from a long time ago. We will have amusement park games and food. You can serve in a variety of ways through teaching, music, crafts, recreation, and prayer!

Please go to:

http://www.stmichaelschurch.net/vbs  REGISTRATION ENDS MAY 18th.

In our summer Sunday Children’s worship ministries, you can sign up to serve on a Sunday morning at 10:15-1130am. You will have a chance to serve our children ages 5k-2nd grade in this program. We are looking for craft, snack and fellowship leaders. We will be studying What’s in the Bible curriculum by the creators of Veggie Tales, and it will be a take-off from our VBS lessons. We will be offering take-home online family worship with this curriculum every week. So, the learning doesn’t stop in the classroom, but is carried to the home all week long.

Summer is a great time to get involved and become someone important in the lives of children. God can use you in wonderful ways this summer. Please pray and consider your involvement for both VBS and Children’s Worship. Contact me if you have any further questions or if you want to help with planting seed in our kids hearts this summer!

Smiles & Blessings,

Cyndee Cave

cyndee@stmichaelschurch.net

~ Peg Eastman

Join us for our next city-wide prayer event in Charleston that is part of the Alpha USA week of prayer from May 20 to May 27.  Churches from across the country will be joining each other in prayer, 24/7, as we lead up to Pentecost Sunday.

Come pray with us at the Cathedral of St Luke and St Paul, 126 Coming St, Charleston, on Thursday evening, May 24 from 7-8:30 pm as we come together as one Body in Christ .  The consistent message from the Bible, from church history and from believers in revival situations, is that the key to more power is more prayer.

Rev. Christian Zebley, of Global Leadership Dynamics,  Montreat, NC and several pastoral leaders from Charleston churches will come together to lead us in prayer as we pray for the world, our nation, the people and communities of the greater Charleston region and for the gifts of evangelism and outreach.  The evening will begin with worship.  Led by pastors, participants will be invited to pray for each of these important areas of intercession.  We will end with an opportunity for personal prayer ministry and uplifting worship.

This will be a special evening of prayer, Christian unity and fellowship.  All churches and individuals are welcome!  It does not matter whether or not your church has been involved with Alpha.

For more information, contact Margaret Cotton, Alpha South Carolina, at 843-971-1893 or margaretcotton@alphausa.org

ACTS 4:31

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

~Margaret Cotton