Pastor's Weekly Update October 1, 2021
Greetings, Friendship Family!
Happy Friday to you! Can you believe that today is the First Day of October? Can you believe today is the first day of the last quarter of the year? I can’t, but it is! The year 2021 is indeed slipping away. In roughly 90 days, this year will be over!
BIBLE READING
How are you coming along with your bible reading challenge? At Friendship, we encourage every member to read one of six bible reading plans in the year. These plans include;
If you have not completed a reading plan, there is still time. To help you, we will load a 90-day plan to complete the Gospels in the Church App. Simply open the “Bible” tab from the bottom menu of the church app and select “plan.” Each day will include a reading of ONE chapter per day... just one chapter a day to complete the Gospels in 90 days!
If you would like to complete a different plan, I have attached some other 90-day plans HERE for you to download and follow. So let’s finish strong and read our bible before the end of 2021.
REDEEMING THE TIME
Now, Paul uses a phrase in Ephesians 5:16 & Colossians 4:5 that I think we ALL should consider as we stare the last three months of the year in the face. That Phrase is “REDEEMING THE TIME!”
When Paul wrote of “redeeming the time,” he was speaking of redeeming opportunities. He told us that God could help you recoup, recover, regain, and retrieve lost time and opportunities! Of course, we’ve all lost opportunities along the way in life for various reasons. Some of it was due to our stupidity or inexperience. Some of it was due to hardships or difficulties in life that prevented us from doing what we wanted to do. But regardless of the reason, Paul told us that if we’re willing to go the distance to do whatever is necessary to “redeem the time,” we can turn things around and end up with a lot of brand-new, wonderful opportunities that make up for any lost or wasted time in your past.
This week, I ask that you pray about areas you feel you need to redeem the time, and next week, I will talk more about this subject!
THANK YOU
Now, before I do an update, please allow me to say THANK YOU once again! Thank you for the WONDERFUL Pastoral Anniversary Celebration this past Sunday. It was simply amazing, and Lady Karima and I are very appreciative of you!
✔️ Thank you for coming to celebrate (and for many of you, this was your first time out).
✔️ Thank you for your generosity.
✔️ Thank you for serving.
✔️ Thank you for sticking with the church through thick and thin.
✔️ Thank you for inviting your friends and family.
✔️ Thank you for allowing me to be me.
✔️ Thank you for loving my wife and family!
A very special thank you to the Guardian Angels. You all did an amazing job of coordinating and executing a grand celebration! I am also grateful to the various leaders within our church, including the Deacons, Trustees, Ministers, Teachers, and all Ministry Leaders. If I could give each of you a gift, I would! Thank you for believing in me. We have accomplished much together in the last eight years, and these accomplishments are not mine alone. We are a team, and I am grateful that you have faithfully joined me where God is at work. May we continue to work for God’s purposes together! Again, THANK YOU!
Here are your updates!
FAMILY PRAYER SERVICE
Tonight, Friday, October 1st, is our next Monthly Family Prayer Service. We gather and have prayer every Friday before the First Sunday regularly. This service is a time for us to pray through the monthly prayer focus, come together as a worship community, and prepare for the First Sunday. This time is an open time of prayer where members are encouraged to pray. I pray you will consider joining us. This prayer meeting remains virtual for now via our Google Meets Prayer Line HERE. We start promptly at 7:30 and go for approximately one hour. The prayer focus for October is Faith Forward with God’s Holy Spirit as our Guide.
FIRST SUNDAY IS COMING!
This Sunday is the First Sunday of October, so please do not forget it is a communion Sunday. For those joining us for in-person worship, we will have Communion for you. If you worship from home, we want to encourage you to gather your communion elements for worship on Sunday. For more information on how to prepare yourself for Communion virtually, please go HERE.
LEADERSHIP MEETING RESCHEDULED
We were due to have our quarterly Leadership Meeting tomorrow, October 2nd. However, due to scheduling conflicts, I need to move that meeting to Saturday, October 9th at 10am. This meeting will take place via ZOOM. We will send out the link the Thursday before the meeting. I apologize for the change and any inconvenience this may cause. If you cannot attend, I understand, but please make us aware by contacting Leigha Carrington at leighac@wearefriendship.church so we can be sure to get you meeting notes afterward!
NEW MEMBERS CLASS
The next installment of our New Members Class begins this Sunday, October 3rd, at 10:00 am in the Carrington Building, Room 209. This 8-week class is open to anyone who has joined Friendship in the past two years and has not completed the orientation of new members to our church history, existing ministries, and foundational beliefs. Completion of the New Members Class is a prerequisite for serving in Friendship’s ministries. So let’s get you started today! For more information, visit the church website HERE.
SIDE-BY-SIDE COUPLES MINISTRY
The Side by Side Couples Ministry invites all married, engaged, and seriously dating couples to join us for a new study titled Growing Together in Christ. This study starts on Friday, October 8th, at 7 pm and will be held virtually via Zoom. Couples are encouraged to join us for this 6-week series, where we’ll learn about: The power of prayer in marriage, what it means to follow Christ together as a couple, and having a spiritual influence on other families. Growing Together in Christ will help you pursue God together as a couple. Go HERE to attend the class. All couples are welcomed and encouraged to attend as we strive to grow together in faith.
SCHOLARSHIP MINISTRY 2021-2022:
We are excited to announce the open enrollment for our Scholarship Ministry beginning today through October 4th! We are now accepting applications for students to join for this academic year. The scholarship ministry is available for all students K-12th. Our scholarship ministry is designed to nurture Friendship’s students to be the best scholars and be a meaningful part of our faith community that we believe is a catalyst for faithful ministry and service. Potential applicants and their families can find the application on our website. Please go to www.wearefriendship.church/scholarship to access the application. We need all new and returning students to complete the online application. More information about our “Virtual Kick-Off Meeting” in early October will be coming soon. If you have any questions, please email Rev. Jaron Singley at jsingley@wearefriendship.church.
REMEMBERING OUR LOST LOVED ONES:
Don’t forget our 2021 Remembering Our Lost loved One’s Service takes place Tuesday, October 19th, at 7:30pm at Friendship in the Sanctuary. This event will be an in-person service that will also stream live. This event honors those who we have lost and serves as an opportunity to remember the memorable moments of their lives and share the impact of those moments with other grieving people. Sister Vanessa Hunter will be our speaker, and we will have other impactful moments of remembrance.
From the Community:
100 BLACK MEN OF ORANGE COUNTY – PASSPORT TO THE FUTURE:
The One Hundred Black Men of Orange County invites young African American Males in the 6th through 12th grades to participate in their Passport to the Future College Prep & Mentoring Program! This mentoring program is free and seeks to assist the transition of these students from adolescent boys to confident young men ready to successfully take on the challenges of college, career, and community. For more information, visit the One Hundred Black Men of Orange County Website HERE. Also, HERE is the link to the 2021-2022 Passport to the Future registration portal.
General Church things to remember:
Well, that’s all I have this week! Thank you for reading! Thank you for your prayers and support! Continue to Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected God loves you, and so do I!
In His Service,
Rev. Kenneth C. Curry, Jr.
Your Pastor
Happy Friday to you! Can you believe that today is the First Day of October? Can you believe today is the first day of the last quarter of the year? I can’t, but it is! The year 2021 is indeed slipping away. In roughly 90 days, this year will be over!
BIBLE READING
How are you coming along with your bible reading challenge? At Friendship, we encourage every member to read one of six bible reading plans in the year. These plans include;
- The Entire Bible,
- The Pentateuch (or the first five books of the Old Testament),
- The entire Old Testament,
- The Gospels (or the first four books of the New Testament),
- The Entire New Testament and
- Psalms and Proverbs 3 times
If you have not completed a reading plan, there is still time. To help you, we will load a 90-day plan to complete the Gospels in the Church App. Simply open the “Bible” tab from the bottom menu of the church app and select “plan.” Each day will include a reading of ONE chapter per day... just one chapter a day to complete the Gospels in 90 days!
If you would like to complete a different plan, I have attached some other 90-day plans HERE for you to download and follow. So let’s finish strong and read our bible before the end of 2021.
REDEEMING THE TIME
Now, Paul uses a phrase in Ephesians 5:16 & Colossians 4:5 that I think we ALL should consider as we stare the last three months of the year in the face. That Phrase is “REDEEMING THE TIME!”
When Paul wrote of “redeeming the time,” he was speaking of redeeming opportunities. He told us that God could help you recoup, recover, regain, and retrieve lost time and opportunities! Of course, we’ve all lost opportunities along the way in life for various reasons. Some of it was due to our stupidity or inexperience. Some of it was due to hardships or difficulties in life that prevented us from doing what we wanted to do. But regardless of the reason, Paul told us that if we’re willing to go the distance to do whatever is necessary to “redeem the time,” we can turn things around and end up with a lot of brand-new, wonderful opportunities that make up for any lost or wasted time in your past.
This week, I ask that you pray about areas you feel you need to redeem the time, and next week, I will talk more about this subject!
THANK YOU
Now, before I do an update, please allow me to say THANK YOU once again! Thank you for the WONDERFUL Pastoral Anniversary Celebration this past Sunday. It was simply amazing, and Lady Karima and I are very appreciative of you!
✔️ Thank you for coming to celebrate (and for many of you, this was your first time out).
✔️ Thank you for your generosity.
✔️ Thank you for serving.
✔️ Thank you for sticking with the church through thick and thin.
✔️ Thank you for inviting your friends and family.
✔️ Thank you for allowing me to be me.
✔️ Thank you for loving my wife and family!
A very special thank you to the Guardian Angels. You all did an amazing job of coordinating and executing a grand celebration! I am also grateful to the various leaders within our church, including the Deacons, Trustees, Ministers, Teachers, and all Ministry Leaders. If I could give each of you a gift, I would! Thank you for believing in me. We have accomplished much together in the last eight years, and these accomplishments are not mine alone. We are a team, and I am grateful that you have faithfully joined me where God is at work. May we continue to work for God’s purposes together! Again, THANK YOU!
Here are your updates!
FAMILY PRAYER SERVICE
Tonight, Friday, October 1st, is our next Monthly Family Prayer Service. We gather and have prayer every Friday before the First Sunday regularly. This service is a time for us to pray through the monthly prayer focus, come together as a worship community, and prepare for the First Sunday. This time is an open time of prayer where members are encouraged to pray. I pray you will consider joining us. This prayer meeting remains virtual for now via our Google Meets Prayer Line HERE. We start promptly at 7:30 and go for approximately one hour. The prayer focus for October is Faith Forward with God’s Holy Spirit as our Guide.
FIRST SUNDAY IS COMING!
This Sunday is the First Sunday of October, so please do not forget it is a communion Sunday. For those joining us for in-person worship, we will have Communion for you. If you worship from home, we want to encourage you to gather your communion elements for worship on Sunday. For more information on how to prepare yourself for Communion virtually, please go HERE.
LEADERSHIP MEETING RESCHEDULED
We were due to have our quarterly Leadership Meeting tomorrow, October 2nd. However, due to scheduling conflicts, I need to move that meeting to Saturday, October 9th at 10am. This meeting will take place via ZOOM. We will send out the link the Thursday before the meeting. I apologize for the change and any inconvenience this may cause. If you cannot attend, I understand, but please make us aware by contacting Leigha Carrington at leighac@wearefriendship.church so we can be sure to get you meeting notes afterward!
NEW MEMBERS CLASS
The next installment of our New Members Class begins this Sunday, October 3rd, at 10:00 am in the Carrington Building, Room 209. This 8-week class is open to anyone who has joined Friendship in the past two years and has not completed the orientation of new members to our church history, existing ministries, and foundational beliefs. Completion of the New Members Class is a prerequisite for serving in Friendship’s ministries. So let’s get you started today! For more information, visit the church website HERE.
SIDE-BY-SIDE COUPLES MINISTRY
The Side by Side Couples Ministry invites all married, engaged, and seriously dating couples to join us for a new study titled Growing Together in Christ. This study starts on Friday, October 8th, at 7 pm and will be held virtually via Zoom. Couples are encouraged to join us for this 6-week series, where we’ll learn about: The power of prayer in marriage, what it means to follow Christ together as a couple, and having a spiritual influence on other families. Growing Together in Christ will help you pursue God together as a couple. Go HERE to attend the class. All couples are welcomed and encouraged to attend as we strive to grow together in faith.
SCHOLARSHIP MINISTRY 2021-2022:
We are excited to announce the open enrollment for our Scholarship Ministry beginning today through October 4th! We are now accepting applications for students to join for this academic year. The scholarship ministry is available for all students K-12th. Our scholarship ministry is designed to nurture Friendship’s students to be the best scholars and be a meaningful part of our faith community that we believe is a catalyst for faithful ministry and service. Potential applicants and their families can find the application on our website. Please go to www.wearefriendship.church/scholarship to access the application. We need all new and returning students to complete the online application. More information about our “Virtual Kick-Off Meeting” in early October will be coming soon. If you have any questions, please email Rev. Jaron Singley at jsingley@wearefriendship.church.
REMEMBERING OUR LOST LOVED ONES:
Don’t forget our 2021 Remembering Our Lost loved One’s Service takes place Tuesday, October 19th, at 7:30pm at Friendship in the Sanctuary. This event will be an in-person service that will also stream live. This event honors those who we have lost and serves as an opportunity to remember the memorable moments of their lives and share the impact of those moments with other grieving people. Sister Vanessa Hunter will be our speaker, and we will have other impactful moments of remembrance.
From the Community:
100 BLACK MEN OF ORANGE COUNTY – PASSPORT TO THE FUTURE:
The One Hundred Black Men of Orange County invites young African American Males in the 6th through 12th grades to participate in their Passport to the Future College Prep & Mentoring Program! This mentoring program is free and seeks to assist the transition of these students from adolescent boys to confident young men ready to successfully take on the challenges of college, career, and community. For more information, visit the One Hundred Black Men of Orange County Website HERE. Also, HERE is the link to the 2021-2022 Passport to the Future registration portal.
General Church things to remember:
- IN-PERSON EX-HOUR: In-person Ex-Hour meets each Sunday from 10am to 11am each Sunday in the Multipurpose Building. We invite you to stay after the first service or come earlier for the second service to attend Ex Hour in person.
- EX HOUR: Virtual Ex-Hour meets weekly on Sundays via ZOOM. Join us for class at 10a via this link HERE.
- YOUTH EX HOUR: Our youth Ex Hour takes place during our designated EX Hour time via Google Meet and in-person. Yes, it’s a hybrid approach! Parents, please encourage your students to join youth teachers for this biblically fun opportunity to learn God’s Word, connect with others, and grow. To join Youth Ex-Hour, follow the link HERE.
- CHILDREN’S MINISTRY VIDEO: Remember there’s a weekly Children’s Ministry Worship Video designed to keep our children connected, encouraged, and worshipping! Rev. Jaron Singley works hard weekly to produce a Children’s worship video. It is available through our website HERE or via the Friendship Youtube Channel HERE.
- WEDNESDAY Prayer Day: Join us each Wednesday for Prayer. We pray at 6:30a, 12p, and 6:30p. To connect with our prayer services, please follow this link HERE or dial in at +1 (413) 418-4274 and use the PIN 287683504#.
- FBC FOOD BANK OPEN: The FBC Food Bank is OPEN with a new drive-thru system where our clients will receive a pre-packaged food box and a bag of groceries. The Food Bank’s hours of operation are Tuesday - Thursday 2:30p-4:30p.
- COVID Recovery Kits:
We still have Covid Recovery Kits through Providence Health and the Yorba Linda Rotary Club. These kits help individuals who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and are recovering at home. Each kit includes a pulse oximeter to monitor breathing, a thermometer, a box of masks, and a package of sanitizing wipes in a small canvas bag. If you or someone in your family could benefit from one of these kits, please call the church office and arrange to get one.
- COVID Membership Assistance Fund: We are STILL accepting applications for the COVID Membership Assistance Grant. If you are experiencing financial distress due to COVID19, we invite you to apply for one of our $500 assistance grants. The guidelines are available HERE, and the application is available HERE.
Well, that’s all I have this week! Thank you for reading! Thank you for your prayers and support! Continue to Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected God loves you, and so do I!
In His Service,
Rev. Kenneth C. Curry, Jr.
Your Pastor