Weekly announcements from Shady Grove

Hello Church Family!
Read below for a few announcements, but first a personal message from Pastor Jason:

"Earlier this week, United Methodist pastors and churches received a letter from our Bishop, Reverend Mary Taylor, addressing the current and ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Holston Conference faith communities. 
It is the thinking of our Bishop that it remains unsafe to resume in-person worship in our church buildings. If anyone would like to read her letter outlining her reasoning, you can see it here: https://www.holston.org/post/bishop-taylor-churches-to-remained-closed-13651862. 
Bishop Taylor says, 'Our United Methodist Churches are not to be open. We will reopen our churches when it is safe to do so across the entire conference.'
For some of us at Shady Grove this is difficult news to hear as we have now experienced two months of canceled in-person services and the Bishop's letter presumes at least another month and a half of only online worship. This news is particularly disappointing to many in our church as our Tennessee government has now relaxed restrictions on churches and the Bishop's mandate to remain 'closed' stands in contrast to the actions of our governor. 
For others, I know the Bishop's order to continue canceling in-person worship is comforting and welcome news. 
Regardless of our opinion on the Bishop's action, we are required to not meet in person for the foreseeable future. 
This saddens me as I truly long for the joy of worshiping and gathering together to celebrate our Savior Christ and the communion of believers. I also recognize the mantle of responsibility weighing upon our Bishop and believe she is acting as she feels is best for our churches, witness, and communities that we love.
I hope you will continue to join us for online worship, devotional videos, and Zoom Bible studies. I also hope you will continue to join me in calling, texting, sending cards, and praying for one another. 
God is yet advancing this Gospel, even in this unprecedented time! I dearly love you, Shady Grove, and anxiously wait for the day when we can all be together in the house of worship we love. 
In Christ, 
Pastor Jason

-This year's Holston Annual Conference Hands-on Project is providing food buckets for starving people in Liberia.  Even though Annual Conference has been postponed, the shipment of buckets will still take place in early June. This year, because of COVID-19, we are doing things differently than in the past.  Instead of giving you a list of food items to purchase, we have decided to buy the food in bulk to put in the buckets.  We are asking you to help us "purchase" a filled bucket by contributing $25. This includes bucket, lid, food and shipping.  Our goal is to send 40 buckets.  You may send a check to the church and designate it for Food Bucket.  If you prefer to give cash, call Helen McClaren at 731-694-7271 and she will arraign to get the money from you.  Church family, we may be experiencing hardship right now, but these people always suffer from lack of food and other necessities that we take for granted.  Help us reach our goal of 40 buckets.  God bless each of you. - Helen McClaren

-As many of you know, Shady Grove will host a Guy Penrod concert on September 21, 2020 at 7:00pm. If you would like to buy tickets for this concert, click this link: https://www.itickets.com/events/437692 . The tickets are $25 a piece, and there is a limited amount available. If you have any questions about this concert, you can email Linda Matthews at sunsetred34116@gmail.com.

-There are many ways that this church has found to meet together, particularly over Zoom. Listed below are the various Zoom meetings that happen each week with small groups throughout the church. If you would like to attend one of these meetings, please email the group leader and ask for an invite.
--- Ignite Youth- Monday, 7:00pm led by Eddie Thomas
--- High School Girls- Tuesday, 6:30pm led by Tammy Knierim
---King's Kidz- Tuesday, 7:00pm led by Ashley Wren
--- Adult Bible Study- Wednesday, 6:00pm, led by Jason McIntosh
--- Women's Small Group- Thursday, 6:30 led by Sharon Steinberg (email Tammy Knierim)
--- David Rankin's Sunday School Class- Sunday, 7:00, led by David Rankin

We hope you are all staying safe and well. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you!
Pastor Jason
Ashley
Eddie
Linda
Helen