"O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon His Name and make known His deeds among the people!" (Ps 105:1)

May the LORD cause His face to shine upon our City and Valley!

Please be aware of several of the following opportunities for prayer, support, or community involvement, and pass this information along to others who may be interested as well (you may also access this update on the web at http://www.MissionHuntsville.org/updates.htm).

Community and Special Events MCCHM Area Marriage Festival - First UMC (2/10) Burning Hearts Huntsville - Letter, Preparations, and Prayer Pastors and Ministry Leaders Area Youth Pastors Prayer - Young Life House (Weekly) Huntsville Association for Pastoral Care (HAPC) - Spiritual Care Training Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship (GHIMF) - Blackburn Chapel CPCA (2/9) Greater Huntsville Pastors Prayer Summit (GHPPS) - Covenant of Peace Church (2/12) Prayer and Intercession Spring Healing Rooms (Training) - Area Churches Joining in Prayer and Ministry Compassion and Outreach North Alabama Youth for Christ - Area Survey Serving the City as One - Preparations Missions and the Nations Prayer and Missions, Community Learning Conference - Asbury United Methodist Church (2/21-23) E3 Partners (Equip, Evangelize, Establish) - Ignite (2/29)     E3 North Alabama Mission Conference

"GOD be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause Your face to shine upon us ... that Thy way may be known upon earth, and Thy salvation among all the people!" (Ps 67:1-2)

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AREA YOUTH PASTORS JOINING IN PRAYER!
8:30am Thursdays

Stephen Hampton (Young Life of North Alabama) and a group of youth pastors in the Huntsville area began meeting weekly last fall to simply pray for kids and for each other. They meet every Thursday morning from 8:30-9:30 AM at the Young Life House (YL House, 201 Bob Wallace Ave.). He shared it has been a great time to cry out to the Lord on behalf of kids.

Please share this opportunity with other youth pastors or others involved in youth ministry who might like to join together in this special time with others from this geographic area! For more information you may contact Stephen below:

Stephen Hampton, Area Director
Young Life of North Alabama
201 Bob Wallace Ave.
Huntsville, AL 35801
(256) 533-1251
younglife@arilion.com
http://ylhuntsville.younglife.org

YOUNG LIFE OF HUNTSVILLE
www.YLHuntsville.younglife.org

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation..." (NIV)

Young Life's mission is to introduce kids to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.  When a kid is introduced to Christ, he or she becomes a new creation and they receive a new heart.  And as they begin to grow in their faith, kids understand more and more that "All this is from God".  If you are interested in knowing more about how you can help Young Life Huntsville make an impact in the lives of kids, then call the Y.L. House at 533-1251. 

Announcing the Huntsville Association for Pastoral Care
School of Applied Ministry Winter 2008 Class

“The Healing Beyond Denial”

Saturday, February 9, 2008
8:00 am to 12:45 pm
(Breakfast and registration are from 8:00 – 8:15)

Hosted by Hospice Family Care, 3304 Westmill Drive, Huntsville
(Off of Ivy Street, just west of Milton Frank Stadium)

Target Audience
This class is designed for lay spiritual caregivers (Stephen Ministers, deacons, ministry team leaders, Sunday School teachers) and helping professionals (ministers, counselors, parish nurses, social workers) but is open to anyone seeking tools for recognizing and addressing denial in individuals and groups.

Theme and Objectives
The class will explore how the Biblical faith addresses denial, healing, and moving into the light of understanding. Participants will be able to:
• List three insights from scriptural texts on denial
• Distinguish between healthy and toxic denial
• Name four negative consequences of unresolved denial
• Identify four denial defenses
• List three ways to confront denial in ourselves and others

Our Faculty
Judy Zecher has served as Minister of Parish Education at Grace Lutheran Church, coordinated Grace’s Stephen Ministry, and led prayer seminars and Bible studies. Carl Malm works with the Center for Loss, Grief, and Change and provides leadership in community chaplaincy, including serving as Chaplain at Pathfinder and Health Rehabilitation Hospital.

Continuing Education Units
Continuing education credits will be offered free of charge by MTM Services of Alabama: 4.8 contact hours for nurses ABNP #1318 (expiration date 10/5/2009) and 4 contact hours for social workers. NURSES, PLEASE BRING YOUR LICENSE TO CLASS.

Cost and Registration
For more information on Continuing Education Units, cost ($35, but reduced significantly with congregational sponsorship), or to register, call 880-2074 or e-mail hapchsv@yahoo.com. Please indicate if you will be needing professional contact hours. The deadline to ensure breakfast and materials is February 7.

Huntsville Association for Pastoral Care (HAPC)
School of Applied Ministry (PDF)

HAPC was founded in 1977 through a joint effort of clergy, medical professionals and local congregations.

Mini-Summits occur the 2nd Tuesday of each month.

February Mini-Summit
Tuesday February 12th

Covenant of Peace Mission Statement:
"Educate to Liberate!"

Our mission and vision are carried out in three ways:

1. Educational opportunities are the focus of our ministries.

We believe that learning is one of the highest forms of worship, and we support many educational ministries. We actively support teaching opportunities to equip men and women to be mature in any vocation (divine calling). As noted in our articles of faith, we are committed to developing spiritual maturity in the home life of the church members because we believe strong families are a firm basis for a strong church.

2. We teach the church's heritage from a Judeo-Christian viewpoint.

Our mission is to educate believers on the spiritual relevance of the Hebrew matrix from which our Messiah and our Bible came. By doing this, we can better worship Him in spirit and in truth.

3. We are dedicated to preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

In the four gospel of the New Testament, Jesus speaks more about the kingdom of God than he does any other subject (more ...)

North Alabama Youth for Christ has requested feedback from the Christian community
with the following survey. Please see note and details below.

Our Vision
As a part of the body of Christ, the vision of Youth for Christ is to see every young person in every people group in every nation have the opportunity to make an informed decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ and to become part of a local church.

Our Mission
YFC reaches young people everywhere, working together with the local church and other likeminded partners to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their godliness in lifestyle, devotion to the Word of God and prayer, passion for sharing the love of Christ and commitment to social involvement.

"It was my privilege to be the first full-time employee of Youth for Christ. After fifty years, Youth for Christ continues to communicate the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to our young people. We all know that the problems confronting today's young people are staggering. I can think of no greater cause than to reach our youth for Christ. Let's save our kids." - Dr. Billy Graham

Serving the City as One 2008 – Saturday, April 19

What is Serving the City as ONE?

Serving the City is an annual event to bring the churches of Greater Huntsville and the surrounding communities together to visibly demonstrate the love of Christ through united prayer, a day of serving in the community, sharing (food, clothing, blood drive, etc) and celebrating together God’s goodness. Saturday, April 19, 2008 will be our city and community-wide day of service.

The Stated Purposes of Serving the City is to:
• Allow churches an opportunity to serve the community together
• Demonstrate the love of Christ
• Build bridges from the church to the community
• Meet basic and urgent needs in the city

The Demonstration of Christ’s Love

Christ gave us abundant examples of how we should serve with servant hearts in our community. Everywhere he traveled he would serve all of the people he came in contact with. We have numerous biblical commands of Christ which lead Christians to display God’s love through service.

Philosophy of “Serving the City”

It is very important that “Serving the City” be an effort led by many churches in our area. Our perspective is this endeavor should not reflect on any one church, be run by any one church, and that the focus be on impacting the city for Christ. The “Serving the City” director will work with the church directors and the coordinating team so that all churches are represented in the organization and the decision making in each area. It is a Christian effort to demonstrate the love of Christ to all we come in contact with. Each and every decision will begin with prayer and prayer will be the foundation for all the work to be carried out. The greater Huntsville area and the surrounding communities need to see churches and Christians working together meeting basic needs through out the area.

LETTER FROM DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

We have finished all the Serving the City interest meetings and are now reminding everyone of the training session we have scheduled for all churches who are interested in participating this year.

We are having many new inquiries about this year’s service day and enthusiasm is building. We encourage you to help spread the word in your church and encourage your leaders to be involved this year. We hope to have more Christians than ever out on that day serving our Lord. Last year there were over 31 congregations, more than 1067 people involved in over 87 ministry projects all over Madison County.

I have attached a document that gives the basic information about the service day. But the best way to find out how your church can be involved is to come to the Serving the City training and information session scheduled for Sunday, February 3 at 2:00. Plan to have a representative from your church attend that session. I will provide all the materials to sign up for the day and provide answers to all your questions. All those who sign up for Serving the City at the February 3 meeting will be able to take advantage of all the promotion material available to your church.

You can help by forwarding this email to your church leaders and help enlist representatives to be at the meeting.

Meeting Information – Sunday afternoon, February 3 at 2:00 in the chapel of First Baptist Church, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville. The chapel is to the left of the big tower as you come in from Governors Drive. I will have a bunch of balloons at the entrance of the chapel for you to easily find your way. We will plan to meet about an hour.

What a great experience we had last year! I hope you and your church will be involved for 2008. Please call me or email if you have any questions. My cell phone is 655-3423, office 428-9448.

Hand in Hand,
Mike Pearce
Director of Serving the City 2008

Serving the City as One - Interest and Training Meeting Guide (PDF)

Developing a Heart After God’s Own Heart
Through Prayer and Missions - February 21st-23rd, 2008

Asbury in Madison, Alabama has a new learning opportunity for everyone who desires a heart after God’s own heart, one that overflows in service to the world. There will be a series of workshops and general sessions with inspirational speakers on the topics of prayer and missions within our annual 2008 Global Impact Celebration. Asbury has learned and continues to learn from excellent teachers about the foundational aspects of prayer, and about how the inner heart of prayer expresses itself in an outreach to the least, the last, and the lost of this world. We hope you will join us in this learning experience as we seek to develop a heart after God’s own heart ourselves.

As we have freely received, we will offer this conference, including the learning workshops and the general sessions with renowned speakers, as a gift to those in attendance. Asbury UMC will fund the conference, the speaker’s participation, and pay for the promotion of the conference.

For additional details see Developing a Heart After God’s Own Heart (which includes video clip) and the following links, or may contact John Bailey (email: john.bailey@asburyumc.ws , phone: 256-837-9696 x226).

January 29, 2008

Greetings!

By now you have heard about the upcoming, regional mission conference to be held in Athens at Friendship Methodist Church on February 29th at 6:30PM. Ignite 2008 is sponsored by e3 Partners Ministry. Nathan Sheets, one of the original creators of the EvangeCube will be our keynote speaker. Ignite will be a fun, stimulating, highly motivational two-hour mission event.

The event is free, but you do need to register at www.ignite2008.org.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In His Steps,
Mike and Mary Wagner
www.hisgreatplan.com
www.e3partners.org

to helping fulfill the Great Commission! Jesus commanded us to pray for workers because the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. will equip you to share the life and hope of God’s love with men, women and children who do not know Him. Ignite 2008 will enable our church to help establish new churches that will live, multiply and bear fruit for years to come.   The e3 Ignite 2008 short-term missions conference – coming to a church near you – will make it easy for you to be part of a team going out to share the story of Jesus Christ among unreached people.