"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 City-Wide Christian Community Concert - Joe Davis Stadium (8/9) Fireproof Screening - Area Leaders Invite (8/12) Pastors and Ministry Leaders Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship (GHIMF) - No meeting (July/August) Greater Huntsville Pastors Prayer Summit (GHPPS) - Madison County Library (8/20) Huntsville Association for Pastoral Care (HAPC) - Opportunity for Spiritual Care Training (8/23) Marketplace and Business Community Marketplace Chaplains - North Alabama Business As Mission (BAM) - Area Seminar Young Business Leaders (YBL) - The Man in the Mirror Prayer and Intercession DPPJ International Leadership in Huntsville Compassion, Mission, Outreach Shevet Achim, Uniting Brothers for Life - Life-saving Heart and Medical Care

"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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Pastors Prayer Summit - Strategic Focus:

Please note that the Pastors Prayer Summit for the month of August will meet at a special time (11:30am) and location (Madison County Library) to enable a time for pastors to meet with a strategic focus including students and education with school starting. There will be a time of informed and focused prayer for the students and schools of our city and community.

If you would like to be part of this strategic time, please join us at 11:30am Wednesday August 20th, 2008 (Room C, Reference Department on the 2nd floor of the Madison County Library, downtown Huntsville - map).

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

Special August Mini-Summit
Wednesday August 20th

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

“Family Systems for Lay Spiritual Caregivers”

Saturday, August 23, 2008
8:15 am - 12:45 pm

The CPCA Denominational Center
226 Church Street, Huntsville, Alabama

Target Audience
This class is designed for lay spiritual caregivers (Stephen Ministers, deacons, ministry team leaders, Sunday School teachers), youth and children directors, and helping professionals (counselors, nurses, social workers), but the class is open to anyone interested in learning about family systems.

Theme and Objectives
Spiritual caregivers are most effective when they can recognize the emotional dynamics of their care receivers' family systems and work within them. Learning through a variety of methods, class participants will be able to:

• Name two biblical insights about the caregiver's role in promoting healthy systems.
• Identify one way personal history affects boundary-setting in care-giving situations.
• Recognize three markers of out-of-balance emotional systems.
• Implement two means of contributing to stability in an emotional system.
• Utilize one spiritual practice to deepen connections with God, self, and others.

Faculty
The Rev. Donna Scott resides in Nashville , Tennessee where she serves as an Episcopal Priest, licensed clinical pastoral therapist, and former Stephen Ministry trainer and consultant.

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
The cost (including breakfast, handouts, and tuition) for the class is $35, but congregational sponsorships (group rates) are available. For more information or to register, call 658-7426 or e-mail hapc_sam@yahoo.com. Please indicate if you will need professional contact hours. The deadline to ensure breakfast and materials is August 21.

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.

Marketplace Chaplains USA provides a proactive, personalized and unlimited use Employee Care Program to public corporations and privately owned companies across America. For two decades Chaplain Care Teams of experienced, professionally trained, male and female chaplains, representing all major ethnic groups, have extended compassionate care to our corporate client companies' most valuable asset – employees and their families. Marketplace Chaplains USA is a 501(c)3 non–profit Christian organization.

"Our company has been recognized as one of Fortune’s ’Best Companies to Work For’ for the last three years. The chaplain program is a low-cost employee benefit that has gotten us more loyalty than our other ’standard’ benefits and resulted in lower turnover, improved morale and a general sense of ’caring’ on the company’s part about our employees’ well being." - David M. Weekley, Chairman of the Board, David Weekley Homes (Client since 2000; 1,230 employees)

“When you run a big organization, from time to time your people will deal with issues—some of them tragic. For a manager, it’s immensely comforting to have a chaplain at your side when you talk to your employees in their most vulnerable moments. From the employee’s point of view, a chaplain has two advantages over a traditional EAP: First, he or she has a presence on site, so the employees already have something of a relationship with the chaplain. Secondly, the chaplain has the tools to touch on the spiritual needs of the employee, regardless of the employee’s faith. Everywhere we go, we are conditioned to avoid dealing with issues of faith, but faith can be an important part of the employee’s coping mechanisms, and the chaplains aren’t afraid to go there if it will help.” - John Thomasson, VP of HR, Brock

Marketplace Story

The largest mission field where more people who are out of church, out of hope and out of contact with God is the workplace. Almost everybody goes to work each day and with them goes a myriad of personal problems which negatively impacts their job performance, attendance, retention, safety, morale and teamwork. Add to that the unexpected crises of life, and it is easy to see why more and more companies are seeking ways to care for their employees and tangibly show them and their families they are valued with a Chaplain Care Team just as the U.S. Military, U.S. Congress, professional sports teams, police and fire departments and the FBI have done for years.

A personalized and proactive Employee Care Program using Chaplain Care Teams of male, female and ethnically diverse Chaplains has proven, since 1984, to be one of the most popular and effective ways to help employees through troubled times, help companies improve their culture and bottom-line and more importantly help people fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission in the area where Jesus spent most of his time, the workplace.

North Alabama

Gary Abney, now located in the Tennessee Valley, helps coordinate Greater Huntsville and North Alabama for Marketplace Chaplains USA. If you, or a business you know, may have interest in discussing Chaplaincy services or opportunities available, you may also contact him directly as follows:

Robert Stearns is the founder and Executive Director of Eagles' Wings, and the visionary behind the worldwide prayer initiative, "The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem,” which is observed every year the first Sunday in October. Robert and Dr. Jack Hayford serve together as co-chairmen of this mass prayer mobilization, representing the largest coalition of leaders in the Body of Christ focused upon prayer for Jerusalem. Robert has consulted and met personally with current and past Prime Ministers of Israel, Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu concerning Christian relations. He has been guest artist and worship leader at numerous celebrations of the Feast of Tabernacles, and has ministered in communities throughout Israel.

Robert Stearns will be in Huntsville in August visiting a personal friend, Pastor Rusty Nelson, and their local congregation. We tried to coordinate schedules to enable an Area-Wide Community Service during the weekend, but this will not be possible due to scheduling conflicts. Please know the intent is to host Robert Stearns in the future with an opportunity for a special area-wide community service and possible meeting with area leaders. We will keep you posted!

Additional details on the International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem (DPPJ) are included below.

The international Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem (DPPJ) occurs annually the first Sunday of each October. This is a unique international effort to fulfill the biblical mandate to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. If you have interest in being involved with DPPJ, or being a point of contact in your congregation, or to help organize at the local or state level, or just to get additional information, you may find details online or at the links included below.

See also:
www.DayToPray.org

What is the Day to Pray?

The International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem, instituted with the endorsement of hundreds of Christian leaders from around the world, representing tens of millions of Christians, will be held annually on the first Sunday of every October, until the coming of Messiah. Our call is for sustained, fervent, informed global intercession for the plans and purposes of God for Jerusalem and all her people. This global grassroots prayer initiative coincides with the season of Yom Kippur , and for the first time in Church history, makes an effort at linking the Christian liturgical calendar with the Biblical, Jewish calendar.

Our goal, by God's grace, is that by October 2008 we will have:
• 100 participating nations
• 100 million believers participating
• 100,000 churches committed to pray
• over 1400 minutes of additional prayer via global teleconferencing

UNDERSTANDING...that we are children of Abraham by faith, the "wild olive branch" grafted in to the root of God's covenant (Romans 11:17-26), and, RECOGNIZING....that God has kept his word to Abraham and His descendants and settled them in their homeland again, according to the word of the prophets (Amos 9:14-15),(Ezekiel 36: esp. v.24), and, RECOGNIZING...that we have a biblical mandate according to Psalm 122, and many other Scriptures to seek the good and prosperity of Jerusalem, until the Lord makes her a praise in all the earth, and AFFIRMING...that God's love and intended blessing is for all nations and peoples, and that we have goodwill and love for all mankind, including all inhabitants of the Holy Land, and desire the peace of this entire region; WE THE UNDERSIGNED call upon all men and women of prayer to yearly set aside the First Sunday in October, near the season of Yom Kippur, as the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. Sign the Prayer Resolution along with millions of Christians around the world