It’s that time of year when school starts, schedules change, and in some cases homes look different. Home might look different because you have dropped off a teenager to further his or her education. And you are praying for that son or daughter. Others have a child who has started at a new school. That’s a lot of change and you, too, are praying for your son or daughter. Some are tackling homeschool, and some are involved in Genesis or Veritas. We are going to ask every person here today who is involved in education, be it public, private, home, or virtual, to come to the front this morning. We want to recognize you. Then, we want to pray for you. We want to lift you up before the Lord so you are divinely empowered to honor the Lord in all that you do!

Like many of you, my heart breaks over the situation in Afghanistan. The entire situation is unconscionable. Several Christian pastors do not expect to live more than a week. It’s been accurately said many Christians will die this week because they chose faithfulness over safety. We pray for them this morning. And their example of DYING for the faith once for all delivered to the saints certainly encourages me to faithfully LIVE for that very same faith.

We start our Wednesday night ministries this week. AWANA begins at 6:15 and Student Ministry at 6:30. Adult Bible Study will meet at 6:20 in the Worship Center because of the anticipated size. And we will have to vacate the worship center by 7:20 so AWANA can finish there. We are still investigating the possibility of meals on Wednesday nights. We’ll let you know!

Tomorrow we will deliver “Welcome Back” bags to every employee at Tonganoxie Elementary School. Thank you to Jenny Slusser for leading and organizing this effort!

We are hitting the home stretch in preparation for the Community Carnival. Very soon (probably next Sunday) we will have a whiteboard in the foyer for you to sign up to help. No matter what, we are asking everyone to be there. Wear your green West Haven T-shirt. And if you neglected to order one, talk to Nathan. We ordered a few extras. I’m looking forward to seeing what God will do through this! Pray for God’s blessing.

As we think about the Community Carnival, let’s keep our focus outward. We never want to become an inwardly focused church. We are here to fulfill the Great Commission. How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus in a bolder and broader way in the future? What can we do to more significantly impact our community? And ultimately, in so doing, how can we proclaim the gospel? Please pray that God would reveal His will. And through what only He can do, that large doors would swing open for the fruitful proclamation of the gospel!