New Hope News: Mid-August
You all know that recently New Hope had not only a prayer and fasting weekend, but a prayer and healing vigil and prayer service. Here's an update and testimony from Pastor Earlando about how God moved.
The past few weeks have been incredible! Four days prior to our prayer and fasting gathering at the church on July 02. 2022 I was experiencing a severe toothache. For pain relief, I was taking 400mg of Ibuprofen every four hours with meals. I was extremely concerned that taking Ibuprofen on an empty stomach while
fasting would result in stomach pain so I asked my wife to pray for my healing. Shortly after her prayer, the pain subsided significantly, and since then I have not taken any pain medications.
Then the Lord showed up in another significant way a week later. For the past ten years, I have gently encouraged one of our staff members to consider marrying her fiancé. They have been living together as a family with two children for many years. However, from her perspective, they are already functioning as a
married couple, which was good enough for her. In trying to get support for our upcoming Marketview Heights fundraising golf tournament, part proceeds of which go toward purchasing a shed for the community garden, I was showing her pictures taken at a Saturday morning harvesting. The same staff member immediately recognized a couple that was volunteering as her aunt and uncle.
But there is more! She then turned to me and said, “I am getting married on the first of July next year please mark your calendar. It will not be in a church, but will you officiate our wedding? My fiancé and I would very much appreciate you officiating our wedding.” I was extremely surprised at her request but told her I
would be delighted to do so.
When we remain faithful in seeking God, he will reveal himself to us, sometimes in miraculous ways. In the coming weeks, we will be sharing testimonies of what God is doing in the midst of our beloved community. Stay tuned.
Blessings.
Pastor Earlando.
Worship Ministry Notes
Andrew Cashner, Catalyst for Worship and Creative Arts
ACOUSTIC BLANKETS. Why are there two giant black blankets hanging in the sanctuary? These are acoustic blankets designed to absorb sound and reduce reverberation. Our sanctuary was originally built as a photography studio for trucks, without much concern for acoustics. The result is a nasty flutter echo that can make things hard to hear clearly, both speech and music. I want to make sure our worship services communicate the good news clearly to everyone. Thanks to Ben King for building brackets and installing our first two acoustic blankets! Our first step is just to get the blankets up and see if that fixes the problem or if we need more panels or other treatments. Once we fix the audio problem, I'll want to see if we can make these more visually appealing, and I welcome ideas from our artistic and creative people!
JOIN THE WORSHIP TEAM AND TECH TEAM! We are always looking to include more people in the Worship Team and Tech Team. The purpose of the Worship Ministry is to lead the church in weekly and occasional times of worship, in which we praise and thank God, hear the word of God read and proclaimed, call on God in prayer, receive God's grace through the sacraments, and as a a community, offer ourselves in commitment to serve God in the world. The Worship Team leads those times of worship through music sung and played, Scripture reading, and prayer. Their first job is to support congregational singing to help people connect with God through the service; but the sky is the limit for the amount of additional creativity and artistry that we can add, according to the gifts given by the Spirit, to inspire people and glorify our Creator.
WORSHIP TEAM participants play or sing in the service as often as they are able to (it doesn't have to be every week), and meet to rehearse and prepare before those services. We typically meet on Thursday nights, 6:30-8pm in the sanctuary, and on Sunday mornings, 8:30am before the service. You only need to come to rehearsals on the weeks you are going to help lead the service, and all of this can be worked out according to your needs.
We welcome people of a variety of ability and experience levels, ages, and cultural backgrounds - in fact our ministry depends on that kind of diversity. If you are interested and care about worship, I can teach you the skills you need. If you have a more Classical background (like me) and are more comfortable reading music, I can accommodate that; and I can help you stretch into playing more by ear and improvising. Or if you don't read a note I can work with that, too! Also, if you feel like the current Worship Team never plays music in the style that you like to play (or language you like to sing in, etc.), that may be just because you are not yet on the team! Join us and help shape the sound and feel of worship at New Hope. Contact me at music@newhopefree.org to let me know you're interested, or just come on a Thursday night and check it out.
TECH TEAM participants make it possible for everyone to see and hear the service, in person and online. This includes setting up microphones and loudspeakers, running the mixer (sound board), creating the song lyrics slides and displaying them in time on the projector, and setting up lights and cameras and producing the livestream broadcast. Just like with singers and instrumentalists, there is a place for people with different levels of experience and ability. This is primarily a Sunday-morning-only commitment (rehearsal at 8:30am), and does not need to be every week. The current team members and I can train you on our systems. Many people experience our church for the first time through the livestream, and for some people it is their only way to join us, but not one sound or sight will reach them without a strong and committed tech team. If you care about worship and you are technically inclined, and enjoy being behind the scenes, please consider helping out with this vitally important area.
It with joy we celebrate a new chapter for some members of our church. It is with sadness we have to say goodbye for now.
Fred, Bridgette (pictured right), and their children moved this week to Indiana. They will be closer to Bridgette’s parents (Pastor Jotham’s family for those that knew them), and other extended family. Fred hopes to find work there, but mostly it is a reconnection with family for support. ILS has been able to help Fred resolve a very complicated immigration problem, which has now freed him up to relocate to be near family. We thank God for his provision for them, and for the work of Rev. Patricia Welch and the ILS.
As we know, Alice has just recently married, and moved to Wyoming, Michigan. Get a peek at one of her beautiful wedding photos (pictured left).
Lastly, Byishimo Runane, his wife Patience, and their three children (family not pictured) moved to Seattle for a fresh start. We were able to connect them to a sister church there called Ranier Avenue FMC. New Hope's first pastor, Pastor Delia also served there for a time. We celebrate their fresh start and pray that God opens doors for them in Seattle.
Here are a few pics from our recent fellowship night! Thanks to Eric Logan for most of the pics!
New Hopers, we have another opportunity to continue to work with our local Rochester neighborhoods. Community Connection is looking for help with canvassing the EMMA and Beechwood neighborhoods to help people become aware of the schooling options close by. Please click the image to sign up to help them out.
The Cultural Life Center is partnering at Roberts Wesleyan College invites you, in conjunction with Stay Encouraged, Inc., to a worship night for the youth of Rochester!
Join us Saturday Sept 3 at 8pm for worship, prayer, and an encouraging word on this last weekend before the school year begins. Start off the year right! This event is free and open to the community. No tickets required.
