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RAMP UP FOR CHRIST: Our summer camp isn’t just for kids! During the week of July 6-12, 2008, adults and youth will eat, sleep, worship, and work together. Using the church as home base, we will go out into the community and work on building projects. Last summer, 18 youth and 12 adults built a 57-foot concrete pathway to increase the independence of one of our neighbors, built two wheelchair ramps so that folks had more access to the outdoors, and helped Cedar Park Kids Day Out by constructing another classroom for them. Plans are underway now; please contact us if you know of someone who may need adaptations to increase accessibility in the home. HOPE FOR US: We are sending one of our congregation members to Haiti this summer to help with health education. However we don't see ourselves as "saviors of the world." We see ourselves as a part of a larger story that God is weaving. And so our missionary, Stephanie, is supported by several congregation members. Together this group is learning more about Haiti and about how all of us are tied together in the global search for the alleviation of disease. They are reading Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. And they will pray and learn and when Stephanie gets back we'll all learn some more. And that will help us to pray and to act faithful ways. FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY: The Rock supports Hill Country Community Ministries (www.hccm.org) in a variety of ways. We have an on-going collection for non-perishable food for their local food pantry, we round up specific food items to our share with our neighbors on an as-needed basis, and we open up our church home to this agency by providing meeting space. KNITTING: Several Mondays nights a month, congregation members gather to knit at the church. We pray over these gifts and then use them as a tangible way to show people there are others who care. Several of us have learned to knit or crochet just so we could join in this ministry. Check the newsletter to see when we’re meeting this month. CROP WALK: We walk with Church World Service in their annual stand against world hunger and support them financially in their international relief and development efforts. (For more information, go to http://www.churchworldservice.org) NOTHING BUT NETS: We recently helped this organization purchase mosquito nets so that those in underdeveloped countries could halt the spread of malaria. This is just a small sampling of our recent efforts. In the past our congregation has participated in Interfaith Hospitality Network which helps house homeless families who are in transition (See www.foundationforthehomeless.org.) and UM ARMY (United Methodist Action Reachout Mission by Youth), a vital ministry that transforms the lives of members of communities in Texas while building the faith and spiritual lives of the missionaries. (See www.umarmy.org.) You can usually find us praying over a new ministry to discern God’s call to us in mission. We participated in a prayer vigil for our city and are now supporting and praying for our Districts’ new church start initiative. |