Welcome to West Haven as we continue our series through the book of James entitled “Practical Christianity.” James 4:13-17 will remind us of the importance of knowing God’s Word and making His will the top priority in all of our plans. I’m glad you are here. If you are visiting, I hope to meet you before the day is over!

Today, we turn our attention toward preparation for our Community Carnival at Tongie Days on Sept. 18. If we’ve ever had an “all hands on deck” day, this is it. In the foyer, you’ll find a whiteboard with a variety of needs. There are spaces to sign up for an hourly shift. Aside from taking a shift, we’ll need you to be around to mingle with people, troubleshoot, and help with something that might come up.

Because we want to be generous with our community, we are giving away a number of items. There are approximately 250 backpacks we will give away. We are also going to put some school supplies in the backpacks. We are giving away six $50 gift cards to Brothers. Everyone who enters the drawing will receive a “thank you” letter and an invitation to church. We want to have a “prayer section” at our hospitality tent for anyone who wants prayer. And we hope those lead to gospel conversations. If you would like to volunteer to be part of the “prayer section” please contact Nathan or me. We are also having most of the games we’ve had at the Carnival in the past (and one of the games is called FLINGING FROGS – I don’t know what means but it has to be awesome!). There will also be inflatables.

All of this is contingent on your participation so I am praying that every one of you will be there for as much of the carnival as possible.

And NONE of this would happen without the leadership of the group putting this together behind the scenes. This group met for two hours after church last Sunday. I always hesitate to recognize people because invariably, someone is left out but here’s who I know was part of this meeting: Gordon Brest, Terri Brest, Bill Mages, Donna Mages, Dan Williams, Sherri Williams, Rebekah Schultz, Michelle McIntyre, Kenny Schultz, Donna Schultz, and Randy Wager. We could not do this without their fantastic leadership.

Pray for this opportunity. This will lead to other opportunities to bless and be visible in our community. It’s a lot of hard work but Jesus is worth it!