Can you believe that June is coming to a close already and July arrives Saturday? Even so, I'm already hearing ads about back to school shopping and I'm sure Christmas decor & trees will be showing up in stores in no time. But I think we should all just take a little time to enjoy our summer here in New England. Frankly, that's why so many come to our area to vacation this time of year. Summertime in New England is spectacular - seacoast, lakes, mountains - it's really the full package! So let's not become distracted from this great season of Sabbath that we can have with our families and friends.
Last Sunday we started a new sermon series called Biblical Life Hacks where we began to look at truths from the Book of Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is known for the great wisdom of God that may be found there, but in 1 Corinthians 3:19 Paul writes that, "The world's wisdom is foolishness to God." Well that certainly seems true when we see a culture often pressuring us into thinking that in order to be good parents or neighbors we need to be rushing and getting ready for things that are months away still! In fact, Jesus tells us not to even worry about tomorrow, "for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34) Planning is good and necessary, but let's not let it become an idol and miss today's opportunities. So let's agree to enjoy this summer and trust God's plan for our future.
Here are some great summer events that are going on where Rock Church Plaistow has an opportunity to show we are FOR OUR COMMUNITY:
July 4th Pancakes in the Pines - Next week we celebrate Independence Day. That day was when the colonists won the right to be free from the rule of a king of this world to live in the peace, liberty & joy promised by the King of Heaven. We'd love to invite you to start that day of celebration by having some 'Pancakes in the Pines'. For decades, our church in Amesbury has blessed the community with a pancake breakfast at the Amesbury Town Park. Last year we served over 500 people, and as you can imagine, that takes A LOT OF VOLUNTEERS! Historically we have had people from all three campuses come out to volunteer and enjoy the morning in good conversations, connections and food. For more information please see last week's newsletter and contact Tom Hodge at tomronda@verizon.net
July 15th One Response Concert Join us at Rock Church Plaistow with Right Hand Shade for an amazing Night of Worship! Admission is free and we'll be doing some well-known worship tunes as well as some originals. Come join us as we lift up our Creator in unity! Rock @ 6 Pastor Dan Elliott will be sharing an encouraging message and guest worship leaders will join us for the event. Doors Open at 6:00pm Program begins at 6:30pm
Soulfest 2017 The week of August 1st through 5th we will be taking a group of approximately 120 youth and adults from Rock Church to New England biggest and best Christian music festival, Soulfest. We camp on site together as a group, share all of our meals together, worship together each morning and experience live Christian music from some of the greatest bands around. This year's line-up includes: Jars of Clay, Tenth Avenue North, For King and Country, Rend Collective, Matthews West, Crowder, Sidewalk Prophets, Toby Mac and much, much more. Click here to register before our space is full.
Camp Rock at Rock Church Plaistow August 14-18 This year we are only having one week of VBS/daycamp and it is going to be an amazing week at our Plaistow campus. Please visit RockDayCamp.org for more information
So remember to plan well, but enjoy the beauty and blessings of this summer before us!
