Faith in Action is a four-week, church-wide campaign that creates an outward focus and a heart to serve in your congregation. Faith in Action culminates in a Sunday where regular services are rescheduled, and the entire congregation engages in service projects in and with the community.

Our Faith in Action Campaign Will Include:

• 28 daily devotionals
• 4 weeks of small groups
• 4 sermons/services
• Our 2 worship services will be merged into 1 service to be held at Moore Square which will be followed by a day of community service – all wrapped up with an evening celebration featuring The Rev. Delores P. Berry.

Faith in Action Intent:

• Change focus to "others" instead of "ourselves" and inspire action among members
• Raise awareness of local, national and global needs
• Create unity and spiritual commitment as church members work side by side
• Help every person realize that they can make a difference
• Build relationships between churches and community organizations
• Reach unchurched friends by inviting them to come serve

About Relocated & Rescheduled Services:

• A radical and unique idea – canceling weekend services to “turn the church inside out”
• Worship is actually never canceled, just redefined
• Participation is voluntary and based on the commitment, passion and gifts of an entire congregation

For More Information on Faith in Action, please contact: Fred Cannady, Co-Director: Service Ministry or Charles Leake, Co-Director: Service Ministry

With budget cuts, many non-profit organizations have had to cut back. St. John’s MCC wants to help Haven House students get ready for Fall. Haven House is an organization that accepts runaway youth ages 10 to 17. In the weeks leading up to Sunday, August 15th, we are sponsoring a “School Tools” drive to collect school supplies to be distributed on that day at Haven House. Purchase a few extra school supplies and bring them to the church.

You could bring:

Pencil Boxes	Small bottles of hand sanitizer	3-ring Binders
#2 Pencils	Pens	Loose-leaf Ruled 3-hole Filler Paper
Hand-held Pencil Sharpeners	Highlighters	One-subject Spiral Notebooks
Pocket Folders	Erasers	Compasses with Measuring Guides
Glue Sticks	Composition Notebooks	Post-It Note Pads
Crayons	Index Cards	Calculators
Markers	12" Rulers	Weekly Planners
Colored Pencils	Scissors	Tabbed Dividers
Small packets of Tissue	Dry-erase Markers & Boards	USB Flash Drives

Ask Fred Cannady or Charles Leake about the details.

If you’ve taken a moment to look over the upcoming Service Ministry events in the 2010 Calendar for St. John’s MCC, you’ve seen the staggering schedule that the Team has proposed. It made me tired, and I can swirl around a room for days at a time! These people need some help getting it put together.

The Team and quite a few interested Saints made their way to the basement classroom after the 11:00 Celebration worship service on Sunday, February 28th, to see if all of that was possible.

Lunchboxes of Love at Moore Square

It seems that every time you turn around, these Saints are going to be feeding hungry people as a part of the Lunchboxes of Love at Moore Square project. The dates on the calendar are March 20, April 24, May 29, June 26, July 24, September 11, and December 11. All of them are on Saturdays.

Since that is a whole lot of feeding that the Saints want to do, several different people volunteered to coordinate the efforts for the different Saturdays. But, of course, those coordinators will need more help. They always seem to clean the kitchen after they fix all those lunchboxes, so there won’t be much left for me afterward, but it will be fun watching all the scurrying about. I’ll try to stay out of the way.

NC AIDS Walk & Ride 2010

The first Saturday in May (May 1) is the NC AIDS Walk & Ride for 2010. Every year, St. John’s MCC takes a lead in walking, riding bicycles, setting up a booth near the finish line, and staffing a pitstop along the bike route. St. John’s people also take a lead in soliciting contributions to this annual event that benefits the Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina.

The Saints at the meeting volunteered to coordinate the various aspects of the event so that no one person has to do it all. You will definately be hearing from them soon.

That’s going to be a very fun Saturday.

Mother’s Day Potluck Lunch

One weekend later, they’re also planning a Potluck Lunch to follow the 11:00 am worship service on Mother’s Day, May 9th. You know how this works. You’ll bring enough food to feed your family and a few extra helpings for a guest or two. The leftovers will be fun for me. You’ll hear more about it as it gets closer.

Faith in Action Month

In August, these people are planning a whole month of activities that show how the Saints from St. John’s put their Faith in Action. It will be culminated by a Sunday of Service on August 29th. You’ll hear more about that too!

Sometimes It Is Good …

Sometimes it is good to be a fly on the wall at these things. It was exciting for me. I hope you feel it too.

Mr. Fred – the guy who coordinates all this stuff along with Mr. Charles – wants me to come back on Sunday, March 14th when they put some finishing touches on the plans. I wouldn’t miss it for nothin’!

The Service Ministry of St. John’s MCC plans to distribute Lunchboxes of Love at Moore Square again this year. If you participated in this event earlier this year or last year, you know how personally fulfilling and rewarding it was to share a bit of help to many of the homeless people who gather there. If not, just ask any of the people who did help.

The Saturdays we’ve scheduled in 2010 are March 20th, April 24th, May 29th, June 26th, July 24th, September 11th, and December 11th.

That’s a very aggressive schedule, and we can ONLY meet this goal if we have enough people to help us pull it together. We need people to help make the sandwiches and put the meals together as well as people who can help us distribute the food at Moore Square. We also need monetary donations to help cover the cost of the food.

If you volunteer to help now, we will be encouraged and can proceed with full confidence that we will have enough Saint-power to minister to these wonderful but unfortunate individuals who need our help. Please contact Fred Cannady as soon as you have checked your schedule.

Live OUT Loud with Compassion: Join Our AIDS Care Team Ministry!

Please note: Because of the weather, the AIDS Care Team Ministry meeting originally scheduled for Sunday, January 31st, has been rescheduled to Sunday, February 7th.

On Sunday, February 7, from 2:30 until 5:00 pm in the Friendship Hall, we invite you to become a part of the AIDS Care Team Ministry of St. John’s MCC. An AIDS Care Team is a small group of people (5-7-12) who covenant together to build relationships with and respond to the needs of those living with HIV/AIDS.

If you have a minimum of 4 hours a month and would like to be a part of this ministry, please join us on Sunday afternoon, February 7 at 2:30 pm as several new care teams will be established.

All people interested – currently trained or not – are invited as we birth new care teams to respond to the needs of people in our community. Please let the Church Office know if you plan to attend. See you there!