Welcome to another week.
Jerry Shannon of Embracing Hope Ethiopia preached at Fallowfield and Kennard United Methodist Churches at on July 27. Jerry and his wife, Christy, are missionaries in Ethiopia.
They run two day care centers that serve 100 families. One center is for babies under age two and another for children ages two to four. More than 40 Ethiopians work at the centers.
Jesus’ focus was on the powerless, including orphans and widows. These are people who especially need mercy. These are the people the Shannons minister to.
Jerry preached on Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good;/ And what does the Lord require of you/ But to do justly,/ To love mercy,/ And to walk humbly with your God?” (NKJV)
He encouraged the congregation to reflect the character of God to those around us by trying to right wrongs in our world. When we do justice we partner with God in what he is doing.
He urged us to reveal God’s character to those around us by showing mercy – touching those who are down and out, giving to them, and sharing the Gospel.
We resemble God when we walk humbly with him. This means walking in relationship with God. It is asking God, “What would you have me do?”
He closed his sermon by asking us to pray for Embracing Hope and to prayerfully consider sponsoring families within the project.
He shared the story of one of the mothers in the mission. She sells potatoes on the streets of the slum where she lives. She sells enough potatoes so that every other day, she and her daughter can each eat one potato.
Jerry shared another story of a woman who brought her daughter to the mission. The little girl was fighting an infection and was dangerously dehydrated. Before taking her to the hospital, this Muslim mother asked one of the women at Embracing Hope to pray for her daughter.
The woman agreed to pray for the little girl, but told her she was a Christian and would pray to Jesus for healing. The woman told her she didn’t care who she prayed to, as long as she prayed. After her daughter’s recovery, she gave her life to Christ.
If you’re interested in sponsoring a child through Embracing Hope Ethiopia, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.embracinghopeethiopia.com" www.embracinghopeethiopia.com and click on “Sponsorship.”
The mothers at Embracing Hope Ethiopia make bracelets, necklaces, baskets, and other handicrafts. The jewelry was made from recycled magazines.
They also sold coffee. Each $22.00 bag of coffee represented the work of five women: one to sew the burlap bag, one to embroider “Hope” in the Ethiopian language, and three to roast the coffee beans. We had the chance to buy these beautiful handicrafts and coffee after church.
Preparations for the Crawford County Fair are well underway at Fallowfield United Methodist. Pie bakers made 171 pies on Monday, July 20 and 188 pies on July 27. We had dynamite crews each night. We’ve made and frozen apple, Dutch apple, strawberry rhubarb, and rhubarb pies.
Fallowfield volunteers picked a total of 155 pounds of blueberries on July 15 and 22. We will use these blueberries in our blueberry crumb and summer harvest pies. Summer harvest is a blend of blueberries, cherries, and peaches.
There are pie bakes at Fallowfield United Methodist on August 4 and 11 at 5 p.m. We’d love to have your help. You don’t have to know how to make a pie. No one makes a whole pie. We work in stations. You could mix fruit fillings, make crust, roll it out, flute the edges of the pies, or bag the pies for the freezer. - To Atlantic next page
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You’ll have a lot of fun chatting with your neighbors and meeting Christians who want to serve God.
All net profits from pie sales are divided among missions, locally and across the world.
If you’d rather volunteer as a server, cook, or dishwasher at the fair booth, we’d love to have your help there, too. We cannot pull off this annual project without friends from our community.
Have a wonderful week. Blessings!