from allison mcgee

"Today" (this was monday...) "I went to George Elementary School to Mrs. Brasfields class (1st grade) and hosted their Fall party for our lifegroup. They were so sweet and appreciative. I also gave two prizes away one boy prize and one girl prize (it was hello kitty and spongebob electric toothbrushes and both a pumpkin flashlight) I told the class I was a "Dental Hygienist" and asked if anyone knew what I did at work everyday as a dental hygienist and then asked if they know how many teeth they had and gave out the two prizes and then gave them instructions about their oral health. Kim Sims the one helps us going to George told me to see if our lifegroup class would contribute money towards the party I gave. I spent $75. I made cupcakes, punch and treat bags. I also had strawberries and cheese puffs. I was helping the 3 years old this Sunday and forgot to tell Geno to collect money, but if you would post the party and ask to bring money next Sunday that would be great!!!!!
allison"

so, class, come this week prepared to give, again! i know that there are several things we have been giving to lately, but consider it a blessing that we are able to give!

don't forget, too, to be working on your SHOE BOXES!!! if our class JUST did our part, it would be almost 20% of the entire goal!!!!

be praying, too, about giving to the children's night at Christmas. we are going to start taking up money so that when the time gets here, we will have it ready!

i will post this week's prayer requests tonight - i'm sorry that i didn't do it sunday afternoon.

arrangements for jenny's mom

arrangements for jenny's mom (barbara forrest) are as follows:

visitation: thursday, october 23rd
5:00-7:00
riles funeral home
vicksburg

funeral: friday, october 24th
10:00
first presbyterian church
vicksburg

if some want to get together and ride, please post a comment below and we'll see what we can arrange!

update

cory sent me a text a little while ago to let me know that ms barbara passed away this afternoon around 2:30.

i will post arrangements when we find something out.

please keep their family in your prayers!

update.....

tommy and cory were texting a few minutes ago - cory said that they have called the family in and ms. barbara continues to decline.

please pray for comfort for jenny and her sister leeann, as well as the rest of the family....

i will update as we hear....

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

please, please keep jenny, cory, and their family in your prayers.

jenny's mom, as you may already know from yesterday's prayer request, has taken a turn for the worst and is in the hospital still. the doctors have said that she has 48 hours left - short of a miracle (which we know can still happen!!!).

right now, lisa has parker and jenny is at the hospital. cory had gone to the coast with work and he just sent me a text to say that he is 5 minutes south of jackson.

i will update the blog again as i know information. just stop RIGHT NOW and pray.

Authentic Relationships...Week 3

1 Samuel 18:1-9

Intimacy - closeness. Society has made intimacy to mean sexual relations

God created Adam for a close, intimate relationship. He was lonely.

3 types of friends:
1) proximity: work, neighbors, school
become friends by talking, spending time together, etc.
2) like minded: political, etc.
become friends because we share similar interests.
3) true friends: intimate
kind of slide past the first 2! cry together, sacrifice, spend time, confide in, and are vulnerable around.
***proximity friends are those you spend time with, like minded friends are those you can get angry with, and true friends are those you can cry with (thanks, jeremy!)***

To build an intimate relationship, you must give some of yourself to your friend! Jonathan gave up his identity for David - his robe (the prince's robe), tunic, sword, bow, and belt. Do you have a friend now that you would give ANYTHING to?

As a child, we made friends in some of these ways:
let them in our tree house, share toys, "egging", sharing bracelets - necklaces - etc, blood brothers/sisters
As we got older, some of the ways we made friends:
speaking pig latin, through fraternities/sororities (certain handshakes, etc)

Satan's #1 took that he uses to destroy intimate relationships is jealousy!

To build an intimate relationship, you have to share things that you don't necessarily want to - being completely honest - even in the flesh. If you don't, eventually there will be a problem.

If you're going to have friends, you have to trust them! One way to do this is through listening!

In building true friends, you must have these 3: trust, time, vulnerability

Geno's challenge this week:
~share something with someone this week
~entrust someone to do something you do well - help teach them!
~give a gift to someone that says something about YOU - yes, even the guys!!!

next week is care sunday!!!

Sunday, October 19th prayer requests

jerry welch
has been throwing up since yesterday. geno asked that we pray for him to get well and for none of the rest of the staff to get sick!

jenny & cory
jenny's mom is back in the hospital. the bad cells are back and she is dehydrated. they are trying to regulate everything with medicine.

susanna
her husband's cousin lost their 7 year old child in a car wreck

lori & kris
pastor of lydie's church (kris' mom) possibly had a heart attack - they are doing more tests. also, lydie's health has gone down - she is praying about a new position. she is a music leader at a church and would like to be able to just play instead of leading the music. lori's friend, dani, needs prayer.

robbin & todd
robbin's best friend, sue, lost her dad

adelle & jeremy
adelle is talking to her boss this week about possibly going part time. there has not been a part time worker there in YEARS. they will need someone on wednesdays to keep ella (cheap!). pray that this will all work out!

wendy & roger
roger's mom and grandmother traveling back home to memphis this afternoon

suzanne & tommy
suzanne's dad will be traveling in the next month - going to orlando and then when he gets back, he and her uncle will be going on their motorcycles to california for about 3 weeks

kecia & corey
expecting baby #2!!! due april 24th

keep the turkey mission team in your prayers.

from tommy & suzanne

please pray for our friends (and "charter" members of our lifegroup), holly and neal mccoy. it was confirmed last week that they were pregnant with their third child, but yesterday they had a miscarriage. please also pray for their two boys, mac and south, as holly and neal try to explain this to them. mac is four (old enough to understand that he was going to be getting another sibling) and south is two.

from brandi mccay

"My friend Brooke that lives in my neighborhood is going through a very hard time. When I was in New York last week, I called her she seemed like she was doing fine. She got into an argument with her husband about his daughter from a previous marriage. (She said it wasn't a huge argument) She hasn't seen or heard from him in 5 days. He turned his phone off; however, he did call his mother once and told her not to call him that he would call her and that he was "fine". He has drinking issues, and they fight about that as well due to the things he says while intoxicated. Please pray for them!
Thanks,
Brandi McCay"

News....

please scroll down below to read several things that were announced last week!

add to that:

~FALL FESTIVAL~
candy is needed!!! placed individually wrapped candy in the bin in the foyer! we don't want the kids to be disappointed!
also...pick up a "ticket" or pack of "tickets" for the fall festival and give them to friends! what a great outreach opportunity!

Authentic Relationships...Week 2

today was another good lesson!

verses for this week were RUTH 1:1-18

what are some times when friends have come through for you?
deaths, divorces, etc

what keeps you from having deep relationships?
busyness/time, pride, risk involved

even God doesn't like to be alone! deep down we all have a hunger for those deep relationships!

why was ruth so loyal to naomi?
how she was treated, naomi's character, naomi's love, loyal to the dead (her husband/naomi's son), respect, compassion/empathy (ruth lost her husband, but knew that naomi lost her husband AND 2 sons)

what do you think of when we say home?
security, safety, love, belonging

culture vs. blood ties:
culture:
~friends:
1. co-workers: don't always see outside of work, see them more than anybody, common thread
2. church family: breaking bread. common thread
3. neighbors:
4. married-in-family:
blood:
sometimes hard to show love, respect, loyalty, etc., to family. however you have no choice in blood ties!

how do you show ultimate loyalty?
death, sacrificing time, giving of self

there is a blessing that comes from loyalty!

***the rest of the story (after ruth 1:1-18): ruth remarried a true man of God who was also wealthy. she had children and was the great-great grandmother of king david and the great x-grandmother of Jesus!***

CHALLENGE FROM GENO:
read ruth. how have you sacrificed for your friends and/or family?

***REMEMBER THAT THE VERSES THAT NEED TO BE READ FOR EACH SUNDAY ARE LISTED TO THE RIGHT!!! THE VERSES THAT ARE BESIDE THE DATE ARE THE VERSES THAT WILL BE DISCUSSED THAT DAY - SO READ THEM THE WEEK BEFORE!***

Sunday, October 12th Prayer Requests

mary & lee:
lee's last trip was last week!!! mary's brother/sister-in-law are going to counseling - mary sent them the love dare book!

lisa & geno:
michael (lisa's brother) got married yesterday! pray for lisa's family from up north as they travel back home after the wedding. also, the closing on geno's mom's building was this week - and his mom is 70 today!

joanna & john:
pregnant! due in march

demetria & kevin:
kaden will start light box therapy for the psoriasis. he is also on new meds. please remember russ as he deals with anxiety issues.

susanna:
sister involved with a married man (she is divorced).

jenny & cory:
jenny's mom is still doing o.k.

jessica:
court was thursday. she is now jessica CASE again! she thanked everybody for their prayers through this and stated that she was on stand for about 8 hours thursday.

jennilee & brad:
brad's department was layed off this week. pray for a job (per geno, around here!). brad asked that we keep the older guys in his department in our prayers - the ones that were close to retirement...

we have a mission team leaving this friday for turkey

remember everyone through this economic depression that we are about to go through - but especially those individuals who are in their 50's and 60's who have lost so much of their retirement

from robbin hensley.....

Update on my cousin - Jared is home recovering from the gallbladder surgery. Tests on the liver biopsy came back good - non-malignent. He has a f/u visit with a heart doctor regarding his "mild heart attack". Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers!

Another prayer request, if you don't mind. I spoke to my mother over the weekend. They have been doing lots of tests on my Granny (in Ohio). She has only 1 working kidney (it has been that way for years), which now is not working so well. They are planning to start sending her to dialysis. I had no idea what that meant until now. I didn't know what it was, how involved it is or how long it takes. Also, that will make it more difficult for her to travel. Thank goodness we took that cruise this year!

Thanks again!

Authentic Relationships...

today we started a new study - this one will take us through the end of the year! it is called "Authentic Relationships - being real in an artificial world".

geno had bookmarks typed up with verses on them (and a letter from him on the back). the verses correlate to the date that we will be talking about them. i have decided that it will be easier to keep a list of this over to the right - so go over and scroll down.

be sure to read the verses for the next sunday during the week. see what God is telling you through them instead of just what He is telling geno!

today we talked about John 15:9-17 "Being a Real Friend".

some of the questions that came up were:
~do you have a friend that you can just stop by and see anytime (i.e. on your way home just decide to "run by" and visit)?
~what drew you to your best childhood/high school friend?
~did your friend ever sacrifice for you?

we talked about apprentices and said that if we are going to be "real" friends, we need to see how it's done - to be an apprentice of the BEST friend - Jesus Christ!
5 things that we said Jesus did for His friends:
1. He got on their level
2. He spent time with them
3. He showed compassion/empathy
4. He prayed with and for them
5. They ate together - A LOT!

in closing, we noted qualities of a good friend:
~reveals thoughts & feelings
~respects their friend's wishes
~sacrifices for each other
~encourages their friends to develop and use God-given talents.

(i will try to take notes each week and post them here during this Authentic Relationships study - stay tuned!)

~**NEWS**~

**READING AT GEORGE ELEMENTARY**
kim sims still needs people to read to children. if you have time on a friday, please e-mail lucaslifegroup@hotmail.com and i will get the information to you!

**LOVE DARE BOOKS**
this is the book used in the movie Fireproof (which you NEED to go see if you haven't already!). there are books available for purchase at the welcome center or through the education office. the cost is $10 (they are $15 if you buy them at lifeway!)

**FRIDAY FELLOWSHIP**
meets friday mornings from 9:00-11:00 in d201 for breakfast and Bible study. childcare is available!!

**FALL FESTIVAL**
october 31st! we will be doing trunk-or-treat again. be ready to bring individually wrapped candy to drop off. we usually have about 300 visitors here - SO - this year, the monday after the fall festival, 100 people are needed to go visit these visitors. contact us at lucaslifegroup@hotmail.com if you would like to help out and were not in lifegroup to sign up!

**OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD**
y'all, really. our goal CHURCHWIDE is 1,000 boxes. the challenge is to do one for each member of your family. if our WHOLE CLASS did this - we'd have 118 boxes just from the adults (i did this from an old class roll - so i figured people who come most of the time - not ones who have moved, etc.). this does not include children! so relaly, we could have about 150 shoeboxes JUST from the lucaslifegroup!!! i can't tell you how much my family enjoys this every year. i CHALLENGE you to do the same!

**GROWTHGROUPS**
wednesday nights at 6:00. there are some awesome classes to choose from and it's not too late to jump in!

**A CALL TO PRAYER**
each sunday in d201 from 5:30-5:50, you can join others in a special time of prayer for our pastor search committee and for the man that God has chosen to serve as pastor of chbc.

**FAITH**
a second fall FAITH begins on tuesday, october 14th. for more info, please call the missions and evangelism office.

Sunday, October 5th Prayer Requests

jenny & cory:
continue to pray for jenny's mom. she got a good report friday!

lori & kris:
lori's mom lost her job a while back and does not have insurance. they are trying to get her on tennessee's version of medicaid. she has diabetes and the insurance is much needed!

brie & t.c.:
brie doesn't have a voice! also, reagan has a rash that keeps coming up and they don't know what it is from! keep brie's mom, susan, in your prayers as david travels driving a big truck

wendy & roger:
there is a little boy harrassing gracia at school (4 yrs old). also, remember the family members/friends of the madison central student who committed suicide.

demetria & kevin:
kaden has severe psoriasis. the canton flea market is this thursday! russ is having an extremely hard time coming to anything at the church - he is in pre-school at chbc.

mary & lee:
mary's brother/sister-in-law are separated.

emily & jeff:
emily's sister (who divorced in december) is getting married this month.

lisa & geno:
the closing on geno's mom's office building is this week. also, lisa's brother is getting married this coming weekend and geno is officiating! lisa's cousin has been diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer.

suzanne & tommy:
tommy's bank - merger (we don't know if it is with citibank or wells fargo!). suzanne's great-aunt - omega marvil - is in the hospital with diverticulitis.