5 Ways to Be Missional on Halloween

Give out the best candy, not just regular candy. Don’t give out tracts. Kids are looking for the motherload of candy - be a blessing and give out the best candy you can get.

Think of the parents, they have their hands full. Having some coffee or hot apple cider with some pumpkin bread for that mom wrangling four kids around could be a massive way to give rest.

Be present. Don’t hide out all night. Consider taking the evening to sit out front. Take a few minutes to learn people’s names and where they live.

Be encouraging. Kids want to hear how awesome their costume is. We all know the power of words. Take some time to talk about their costumes. Utilize the few minutes you have to speak words of encouragement. 

Be attentive. Ask the Spirit to help you see. It really is not every day your neighbors come to your door. During the few minutes the Spirit gives you, be attentive to them. Take 1-2 minutes to hear their stories, learn their needs, etc. Ask the Spirit for help with every door ring!

The Table Church Update - Fall 2021

GAME TABLES: Family Game Night

It is my sincere hearts desire to see folks at Living Hope get better connected, and to that end we are starting a series of table events whereby Living Hope will facilitate the connection of fellow church attenders for opportunities to establish new relationships and to deepen others. The launch of these table events will be a Game Tables event at the church building, simply put, a Family Game Night on Friday, September 24th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Please plan to participate! In preparation for the event, we need to borrow some card tables from any of you who have one. We will certainly have some games that can utilize the larger round tables that we already have at the church facility, but many games are better played around an old fashioned folding card table. So, write your name on the underside of your table, and drop it off at church this Sunday or on the 19th, please.

I am also putting out an urgent call for those of you who are fun-loving and willing to lead a table game. If you would volunteer to be such a leader, please reach out to me ASAP…Alan May, 901.652.8526…and let me know if you have a particular board game or family game you would organize. Scrabble, Rummikub, Twister, Catch Phrase, Trivia Pursuit, Rook, UNO, Dominoes, Shoots and Ladders, etc. We need games for all ages!

Following our Game Tables: Family Fun Night, we will start facilitating the organization of other Tables Events in homes, parks, and restaurants. Look out for upcoming Picnic Tables, Dinner Tables, Coffee Tables, Sewing Tables, etc. These will be great opportunities to invite guests to join us.

“And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.” Matthew 9:10

-Alan May

Why I Serve - Jenna Dargie

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” - Colossians 3:16

Growing up, I watched many people “serve” in the church; and I was taught that this is part of what it means to be a Christian. As my walk with the Lord has matured, the word “serve" has taken on a much deeper meaning. The Lord has opened my eyes to see that serving is an expression of gratitude for the finished work He’s done for me and because of that, my desire is to serve and lead others to experience the same.

In serving, my relationships have become enriched and community is more valuable to me. God has also taught me to step out of my comfort zone and trust Him to lead me in the area of service He’s called me to. As I obey, God reveals certain gifts He wants me to use, and that has brought me great joy. Leading a girl’s Bible study, greeting families as they enter church each week, discipling young women, training and encouraging our LH Kids teachers are just a few ways He has blessed my life and used me for His service.

I remember singing a song in Sunday school that has stuck with me and it goes, “This is My commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full”. “Full” joy comes when we choose to love and serve others.

- Jenna Dargie, Associate Children’s Director

Why I Serve - Coleton Segars

In 2017 I was ready to step away from ministry and do something else….anything else. I was tired. Weary of churches more interested in systems and growth and lulled to sleep by the status quo of southern, cultural Christianity; claiming staunch fidelity to the scriptures but denying the very scriptures that tell us there's power available in prayer, the Spirit, and the gospel.

That death and resurrection thing Jesus did broke the world and then healed it at the same time. Death's reign ended, sin's shackles fell off, and darkness cried for mercy as Jesus walked out of that grave. That's wonder. I wanted that. I wanted to be around people who believed in impossible things: that God hadn't run out of miracles; that people can be transformed by the gospel, the power of salvation and not by trendy church strategies. I wanted people who believed that, maybe, if we asked, He'd do those famous acts of old, in our time.

So God sent me to Living Hope and I've had the privilege to serve with people like Shawn and Kyle and Hannah and Emma and Banker and Terri and Diane and Troy and Ben and the list goes on. An expectant people. A people willing to pray til the promises come true.

I serve because I get to serve with them.

I serve because Jesus continues to outdo our prayers.

I serve because I'm filled with awe of wonder of what He might do next.

- Coleton Segars, Student Pastor

Why I Serve - Alan May

Unlike many men, I have never found my identity in my work. My identity is in Christ Jesus. I have done a lot of different things to make a living throughout my life…cut lawns, delivered newspapers, sold cleaning products door-to-door, bussed tables, washed dishes, cleaned and repaired swimming pools, worked for a Fortune 100 company as an operations manager and an international business advisor, established a children’s home in East Africa as a missionary, delivered pizzas (as a middle-aged man), tutored students in math and Spanish, taught English to refugees, and directed non-profit organizations. Now, for two and a half years, I have served as a part-time staff member at Living Hope.

Prior to becoming a staff member, I had always done a lot of things in churches as a member of the body…taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, chaired committees, preached, taught discipleship classes, led small groups, cleaned church buildings, directed ESL ministries, cut church lawns, shoveled snow from church parking lots, served as an elder, baptized folks, officiated a wedding, prepared church bulletins, served in the nursery, and led mission teams. In fact, for 56 years I never aspired to serve on a church staff. I was even sure I did not want to do that. Then, one day Gib called to ask me to consider serving as Living Hope’s part-time Missions Administrator. I was happy to do that because Living Hope was different, in a good way, than any other church of which I had been a member, and Missions was my heart’s passion. I absolutely love to lead others on mission trips and to keep in touch with our ministry partners and missionaries here and abroad to encourage them, pray for them, and endeavor to see their needs met.

My life was turned upside down when my precious wife Pam succumbed to Covid-19 near the end of 2020 and went to be with Jesus, and I, too, battled a bad case of the virus from which I am still not fully recovered. After all the years of serving the Lord and others, I became the beneficiary of outreach and an overwhelming outpouring of love and care by the body of Living Hope. The Lord has always met my needs, and most often uses others to do so. Thank you, Living Hope!

Shortly, after Pam’s death, the Living Hope elders asked me to take on an additional role leading our Connections efforts. This in itself was a precious act of caring because my medical insurance abruptly terminated when Pam died, and the elders saw an opportunity to increase my responsibilities and make me eligible for employment benefits at the same time. A win-win for me and Living Hope. Like Missions, Connections is a natural fit for me. Pam used to tell me, “you talk to everybody!” She was right, I not only talk to everybody, but it has always been my practice to make sure that folks in my presence are introduced to each other. I have naturally and organically been a connector of people for much of my life. So, when asked, “Why do you do what you do?,” I can simply say I do what I do because of what Jesus has done for me.  “We love because He first loved us.” I John 4:19

- Alan May, Missions & Connections Director

Young Life's Capernaum Ministry

Living Hope financially supports Susan Rice and the ministry she leads at Young Life. The YL ministry to intellectually disabled young people is called Capernaum. Several folks at Living Hope have helped with Capernaum events in the past, and now there is opportunity for others to get involved. Perhaps the following will be of interest to individuals, families, and hopefully LH Gospel Community Groups. Please let Alan May, amay@lhchurch.com, know if you and/or your GC Group would like to participate.

“We are so excited for MCYL Day Camp!!! The dates are July 29-Aug. 1 (thats a Thursday-Sunday). Thursday, Friday and Sunday will be at our YL Center in Memphis (1177 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38105) and Saturday will be at Bolin Grove Farms in Hernando, MS (our staff associate Olivia, it's her family's farm).

I would love to pass along these needs/places we are needing folks to serve alongside us. We would love to have folks come hang out and help for as much as they would like!

PRAYER NEEDS:

For our friends to sign up!!!

For MALE LEADERS ... currently we have 2 male leaders who will be with us all day Saturday and Sunday, but only part of the time Thursday and Friday

Meals/Snacks:

Thursday night dinner is covered with Chick-Fil-A

Friday - Lunch

Saturday - Lunch

Breakfast/Coffee - we would love to provide a little something for our leaders Friday and Saturday morning - Leaders will arrive between 8:15-8:30.

Snacks - Saturday we are hoping to have a snack bar like we do at camp (chips, candy, popsicles, drinks, maybe even slushes)

I am double checking on COVID guidelines around this to determine what we can serve.

Work Crew (service opportunities):

Each day there are events that will need to be set up while campers are busy with something else. Having a work crew helps free up leaders from having to leave their friends to set up the next thing ... instead they get to lead them to the next surprise!

Friday - outdoor/yard games - think ladder golf, corn hole, foursquare, etc.

Saturday -

Field Games - a series of events that the program team will lead us through, so the work crew will make sure the props are in the right places.

Water fun - field games will end with some water fun! We have 4 giant inflatable animals that spray water, there will be sponge bombs and maybe more!

Please let me know if any of these areas feel like a place the Living Hope family would like to help make happen. We are so grateful for your partnership and prayers! I am touching base with a few churches and groups to get areas covered - we are excited to provide a place for our friends to have a fabulous time while we point them to Jesus!” - Susan Rice

Bowie Family

LH Kids Baptism Class

Class of 2021

This last year for students has been one of the most difficult years of their lives. School online, quarantine, cancelled proms, cancelled sports, nothing normal. It’s been a year of pressure and very little relief. In the midst of all of the uncertainty it’s normal for people to question God’s plan or even His existence.

This is one of the reasons we’ve been so blown away by our seniors. They have grown more deeply in their faith this past year than any other class we’ve ever seen. Questions and doubts have been a part of that, but where there were questions, they brought them to God. Where there were doubts, they took them to Jesus together. It’s truly been a gift to watch and has stirred the collective faith in our ministry.

This past week we had the opportunity to share a meal together and hear from small group leaders and parents and pastors, about how each senior has made an impact in the student ministry. It was a beautiful night. We laughed. We cried. And we shared how God had been faithful in and through the lives of our seniors.

As they head off to college and begin a new season of life, we’re expectant for how the Lord will use their influence among their peers. They all come from different backgrounds, have different gifts, and are in different places along their journey with Jesus. But one thing they all seem to have is a desire to choose Jesus even in the midst of dark valleys. This year has proven that fact for sure. To any constant student of Jesus, faith will always be challenging. It will come with beauty, but it will definitely come at a cost. What I love about our seniors is not that they deny the difficulty and say it’s all great and easy. I love their honesty about how following Jesus is costly and difficult and often times against where they’d rather go, but they’ve learned to bring that to Him rather than try to work it out apart from Him. This is what the psalmists do. This is what the disciples did. And I’m grateful to see it in them.

Join us in thanking God for our senior class. Pray that they may continue to hunger for the presence of God in their midst and that many will say of them, as they did of the early disciples, “they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

- Coleton Segars, Student Pastor

Girls' Night Out...FINALLY!

So Good to be back Together Again!

That was the sentiment of 90 Living Hope women last weekend. We gathered at Living Hope on Friday evening for a delicious dinner, chatting and reconnecting and lots of laughter!

The highlight of the evening was our speaker, Linda Price. She is a local Memphis counselor who practices at Central Church. She shared that while many of us struggled this past year with the challenges of Covid and perhaps even referred to it as the worst year ever, her worst year was 2010 when her family had to relocate. She was not prepared emotionally or spiritually for the changes that she would encounter.

She shared with us some useful tools to help us negotiate changes that we have no control over. She encouraged us to start now in preparing our hearts and minds for hard times; “waiting” to get closer to the Lord, during a crisis will not work. She challenged each of us to begin to encourage other women in our lives. The world is tearing us apart and it is communicating a hopeless message. We have a message of hope and we need to speak it and practice it daily.

If you weren’t able to join us, you can listen to each of Linda’s sessions here.

- Helen Carlson, Director of Women & Children

Mother's Day

Pablo & Michelle Di Gilio

The following is an update from Pablo with some prayer requests. Please consider sending him and Michelle a note of encouragement at pablo.digilio@gmail.com.

Preaching training. The first week of March we attended another Simeon Trust preaching course with our pastoral team, and the Lord gave us a wonderful time learning more on how to stay faithful to the text and always preach what God had intended for each passage of Scripture. Please pray for our pastoral residents and our pastoral team as we approach the scriptures each week preparing to receive from God what He has for His people.

Lumina Institute. I asked you to pray previously that the attendants of our Institute would remain faithful to their commitment, and God has shown himself to be so gracious with us with a growing number of students in the past months. We just finished our first trimester and people are very excited about the next term. Some of our students have given testimony that they had never studied the scriptures in such depth and in the light of the Gospel now they understand better the redemptive narrative of the Bible.

Lumina Torreon. Sergio and the core team started gathering physically at a hotel’s conference room in March and people are feeling more comfortable attending there than at a house because of social distancing in the current pandemic. Please pray God will continue to move the hearts of the attendants to commit to this body of believers and to continue growing.

Lumina Puebla. God has shown himself so gracious with the rapid growth of Lumina in Puebla. We have over 90 people attending the Sunday gatherings. We have run out of chairs and people don’t mind standing on their feet because they are so eager to belong to a Gospel-Centered, Bible-Preaching congregation. Please pray for wisdom for Hector and his team there, that they continue to love and serve their congregation and raise more disciples of Christ.

Personal Studies. On March 15th I restarted my Masters in Theological Studies as part of my personal challenge to continue growing in the knowledge of Scripture and wisdom. Please pray for good stewardship of my time as I continue to serve our congregations and my family. It’s been a challenge to manage everything I do, but I pray He will give us the strength for this season.

I think this would summarize everything going on right now.

We miss you!

Pablo

Southside Wildcats

Life Choices of Memphis

God's Faithfulness

The faithfulness of God is no small matter…it is to be celebrated! All of our hope hinges on His faithfulness…to show us grace and mercy, to provide for us, to redeem us, to watch over us, to prepare a place for us, to keep His promises, to comfort us, and to give us peace that passes all understanding. God showed His faithfulness to me as my dear Pam’s earthly life recently came to an end. Her passing was “precious in the sight of the LORD.” (Psalm 116:15), and an experience I described at the time as both awful and, likewise, ‘precious.’ By His grace, the LORD allowed me to be present with Pam during her transition from this life to the next. In my flesh I grieve her absence in my life, yet in my spirit I rejoice in her presence with the LORD. 

Throughout Pam’s illness, death, memorial service, burial, and the days following, the LORD has been faithful to me, as He  will continue to be. He has surrounded me with a church family who have showered me with love, demonstrating the hands and feet of Jesus in so many practical ways…prayers, cards, letters, financial support, phone calls, text messages, FB posts, visits to my home, delivery of food galore, invitations to dine out, as well as invitations to dine in with many of you in your respective homes.  

In my grief, the LORD has been faithful to comfort me, for “we do not grieve as others do who have no hope.” I can sing, “Great is Thy Faithfulness. O God my Father…All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness, LORD unto me.” My own faith has been tested, and thankfully it not only remains intact, but also has increased. This is nothing I accomplished, but rather it is another display of God’s incredible faithfulness…to give me the faith, hope, and wherewithal to carry on when my flesh would otherwise fail. It is my strong desire that you, too, know His great faithfulness. 

With great love and appreciation!

Alan May

Trauma Healing Seminar

Many people around us have, at some point in their life suffered trauma. For some the trauma was triggered by natural disasters and accidents, for others it was caused by abuse, conflicts, violence, death of a loved one, war, etc.  Most people who have suffered trauma, carry the scars inside them for many years. In contrast with physical wounds, these deep injuries are often overlooked and left untreated because they are often hidden from the outside world.   

At a recent five-day Trauma Healing equipping seminar offered by the Trauma Healing Institute, and presented by Steve Moses, Diana Spann and Cindy Jackson, I had the opportunity to learn more about trauma care and how the Body of Christ can come alongside those who have heart wounds. We were taught to identify people in need of healing; how to help them through the grieving process and to minister to them using biblical and mental health principles.  The main purpose of the training was to equip the participants with the ability to facilitate healing groups that can provide basic care for those wounded by some form of trauma. 

To share this with people from our congregation, a few healing group sessions will be held early in 2021. These sessions will teach participants more about trauma, the effects it has on the individual, and it will explore what the Bible teaches us about suffering.  The purpose of these groups will be to confront and release some of the emotional pain that people have who are carrying these heart wounds around inside of them.  If you have been experienced trauma in your life, please prayerfully consider joining one of these groups.  Please be on the lookout for more information that will follow in January 2021. 

- Rhe Janse

Baptism - August 16, 2020

Easter Reflection

Around 5 pm, it stopped raining for the first time all day.  I cannot remember such dreary weather on any of the 51 Easters of my life, but that is small news compared to the ongoing COVID-19 virus situation that has required us all to “shelter in place.”   It doesn’t feel like Easter at all, but I am grateful for the clearing sky, and I decide to take my dog on a long walk.  As we go through the park behind the elementary school, I notice the yellow police tape around the playground equipment.  I feel like I am watching the opening scene of a dystopian movie, and I am incredulous that I am actually living this.  I encounter other walkers, a few runners, and a few bikers along my circuit of roughly three miles.  Some are alone and some are in family groups.  Most of us wave to each other or give knowing glances conveying our essential thoughts: This is so weird, but at least we can go outside as long as we don’t get too close to each other.  Now it feels less dystopian and more like a big social experiment for which none of us volunteered.  

Near the beginning of his book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes a place where it is perpetually twilight, but night never falls.  The people there cannot get along, so they keep spreading out from the center of this “grey town” until some of them are actually millions of miles from anyone else.  In short order, it is revealed that the place is Hell, but most of the residents are so self-absorbed that they are oblivious to their condition.  Our current “shelter in place” situation seems the opposite of the grey town.  We want to be close to each other but have to remain distant in order to keep each other safe and reduce our own risk of being infected.  We are using technology as a virtual bridge across the physical gap we must maintain.  Most of us are looking forward to the day we can resume our lives as normal.  We want to be in the same room with our friends and family members.  We want to be able to shake hands with the new people we meet.  We want to gather in our houses of worship.  We want to laugh together, and many of us will need to do some grieving together.  When we are finally able to do be physically present and connected with each other, it will feel like a ray of light bursting into a dark room.  It will be a taste of Heaven.  Astronomer Hugh Ross has written that one of the supreme joys of the Christian’s final destination is that there will be unlimited time to get to know everyone intimately, to establish levels of connection with each other that are presently inconceivable. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, St. Paul wrote,  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 

I have seen many posts and comments indicating thankfulness for the slow-down, the halt of cultural busy-ness.  Some have referred to this as the Great Reset.  My cynical nature tells me this is more of a Great Pause, but I hope it really is a reset.  Prior to our current predicament, both our busy-ness and our technology were keeping us from each other.  We have been living in a grey town within our own homes.  Even when we are “doing something together”, such as watching a movie, some of us are on our own personal screens while we are ostensibly watching the big screen together.  There is a scheduled activity almost every night of the week. We are together physically but miles apart mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Can we change it?  Will we?

- Matt Smith

The Ups and Downs of the Coronavirus Spring

“How are you doing?”  That has become such a common greeting that often a serious response is not expected or provided.   

“Hey, how are you doing?” 

“Just fine, how about you?”  

 Yet in this most unusual time in history, the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems that the question has become much more serious and the answers are much more realistic.  How am I doing?  I’m glad you asked!  

I am very much a mixed bag of extremes right now.  I really hate being homebound so much, yet I have loved the opportunities to spend the season in Lent with additional Bible study, prayer, and reading of some of my favorite Christian authors.  I am sad that I am not attending baseball games and hanging out with friends.  Yet I love that our neighborhood is buzzing with people walking and playing outside, as we visit with one another from a safe social distance. I desperately miss corporate worship and the moving of the Holy Spirit when our church family gathers together in one room on Sunday mornings.  I greatly miss the face-to-face nourishment of Gib’s preaching and am saddened that my wife and other Hope Park teachers can’t be with the kids they love so much.  There is a great void caused by not being physically with my beloved church family.  Yet I am extremely thankful for the blessings of technology: live-streaming worship services, Zoom meetings with Gospel community groups, and FaceTime chats with friends and family; it’s the next best thing to actually being there.  I mourned that in our time of Communion on Sunday I was unable to walk with the Bride of Christ down the aisle to the representative of the Bridegroom to receive a personal blessing during Communion.  Yet I was absolutely thrilled to take my form of the elements (feeding tube formula and juice) at the same time as the rest of my church family for the first time in 12 years!   Oh, what a blessing!  I am brokenhearted that church doors will be closed on Holy Week.  Is there anything more moving than a Living Hope Tenebrae service or our glorious celebration on Easter Morning?  These are the holiest of holy days as we commemorate the events that are the bedrock of our faith in Christ.  Yet I am thankful that we have such exceptionally talented and passionate leaders at Living Hope that find creative and instructive ways to lead us in very special times of worship, even while physically isolated from one another. 

I am thankful to celebrate one year of retirement this week and totally pumped that by God’s grace I’ve gained ten healthy pounds in the past twelve months.  I feel stronger and healthier than I’ve been in many years and am oh so ready for at least a partial return to normalcy.  Yet I am saddened with the reality that I must be exceptionally precautious because Covid-19 could be extremely dangerous, even lethal to me because of my ongoing high risk of aspirational pneumonia.  I pray that during retirement that I’ve grown stronger spiritually even more so than physically, and that I use this very special Lent season to intentionally draw ever closer to my Savior and to enhance my prayer life.  I spend vast amounts of time with no other person around me, yet praise be to God that I am never alone!  May this be a season when millions of people across the world are drawn closer to Christ Jesus than they’ve ever been before, and may I be among that number!

- John Barton