What Does the Future Hold for PCF?

Good Morning PCF family and friends, the board met this past Monday to look at the possibilities of meeting together soon. Here is where we stand at this time. After discussing several possibilities, it is the boards consensus that the best option is to stay at Immanuel Methodist Church if at all possible. I have been in contact with David Broderick the new pastor of Immanuel and he and their board will be meeting at the beginning of May to discuss our returning. At this time our continued use of their facility does look promising, however, we may be looking at returning to a Sunday evening service since Sunday mornings appear to be off the table.  I know there was talk of us going to the Cottonwood Church which is now occupied by African Vision of Hope. There are several of things that keep us from moving forward with this option.

• The facility is not conducive to our music program.
• It is a temporary option,
• and after talking with Bob Bertels there is another church interested and willing to commit to a muti-year lease with improvements which would be beneficial to AVOH.

So we have removed Cottonwood church as a viable option. We talked about meeting at Glik Park regularly but weather is always an issue. So as it stands right now we are going to continue with the 10:00am online services until we hear back from the Immanuel United Methodist board sometime in May.  We will then make a final decision. When we begin meeting live again, we are planning to continue live streaming the services over Facebook.

The board believes it is very important moving forward for PCF to maintain a consistent time and location if we want to experience future growth. We do not want to start meeting at a location and then in a couple of months have to pick up and move again. That is why we have decided to wait and see if we can go back to Immanuel. Our sound system and all of our musical equipment are still there. It is a beautiful little church and we believe remaining there would best suit our needs as we move forward. Of course God always has the perfect plan, so I ask all of you to pray for God’s guidance in finding Praise Community Fellowship a home.

Our church continues to support local organizations and charities with our offerings. We have been very blessed this past year in that even though offerings were down, our overhead is next to 0 so we are still able to continue our support.

We will be setting up an option that allows people to have automatic bank draft for their offerings. Since COVID we are down on our offerings and we feel that making it easy to contribute will help us maintain consistent budget so we can do more in the community. I hope to have this option available soon. I will keep you posted.

• Please watch for special donation request coming this afternoon for Beverly Farm

I want to thank Nelleke Weese and all our TWIGS volunteers for their consistent weekly work making sure the kids in the Edwardsville School District who have needs for food are taken care of. Nelleke and her team are packing hundreds of food packages for these kids every month. That includes going to Granite City to pick up the food supplies and then organizing and packing the food into individual packages for each child and then delivering these food packages to the many schools in District 7. Thank you for all your dedication and hard work for this very special ministry.

Another person I want to thank is Cathy Watson who began a personal Card ministry to all the people we put on our prayer list. Cathy designs the cards and adds a wonderful uplifting message. She sends these cards letting people know that the PCF family is praying for them and loving them. Thank you Cathy for such a wonderful ministry.

One of the most important things our ministry does is offer to pray for people! We currently have a pretty big prayer list. The one thing you can learn from the New Testament is that Jesus Prayed!  It is what kept him connected to His power source. He taught us to pray. A church that does not pray is a dead church. Never cease to pray even when you don’t feel like it. Even if you are not seeing results, stay connected to the vine because it is the source of all Good, Power, Peace, Wisdom, Love, and Healing.

Our Prayer list: 

• Rusty Tharp, Alexis’ father, was working overseas in Africa and cmae down with COVID. He was flown to a hospital in Germany. We lift Rusty to God’s healing hands and ask for wisdom to the doctors treating him and God’s healing Peace over him and Alexis and Audrey.
• Mike Rodgers, Lori’s husband. Mike is still in need of our healing prayers, He has now been diagnosed with blocked arteries in his legs. Lord please open Mikes heart to your Healing, your love, and your Peace.
• Alene Schuette, Alene is my aunt and she is experiencing lot’s of pain and other issues since she broke a couple of vertebrae in her back. We are asking God’s healing Grace and comfort and Peace for her and my Uncle Howard.
• Jim Gabor, Jim is my brother-in law. Jim has played in the RTP band and has drummed for PCF on several occasions in the past. Jim has had 2 mild strokes and they are trying to figure out what is causing them. We lift Jim to God’s healing grace and wisdom
• Stephanie Powell, the daughter of Mary Knapp. Stephanie is facing an extremely difficult situation with her mentally handicapped 30 year old son who lives with her. He has gotten aggressive and violent and she cannot find a facility to help her. Let’s pray for God to intervene with an answer for her and her son Conner.
• Michelenne Bounds, one of Bonni’s best friends, is having some serious eye problems due to a degenerative form of arthritis. Please pray for God’s intervention and healing touch.
• Susan Dedmon, Susan is the sister of John Grant. John called me this week and asked for prayers for his sister because she has also been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She was struggling with fluid in her lungs so we need to lift her up to the healer of all healers. We ask for your love, peace, mercy, and healing strength for both John and his sister Susan.
• Louise (Snookie) Burns, Bonni’s mother. Please lift up Louise to God’s healing touch as she has been diagnosed with macular degeneration and is having a hard time seeing.
• Mary and Leland Knapp, Mary is having trouble with her eyesight and Lee is having some issues with his walking. We ask for God’s mighty hand of healing and love and peace for the both of them.
• John Grant, John is home, which is wonderful but we will continue to lift him up for God’s healing touch, wisdom and peace as the doctors continue to work with him.
• Keith Sedlacek, Cathy Crowder has asked for our prayers for Keith who has been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Let’s lift Keith and his family in prayer for God’s healing Grace, Peace, and Love.
• Emmett, Bob and Judi Bertels grandson is a 12 year old young man who has just been diagnosed with macular dystrophy which causes loss of eyesight. We ask for God’s intervention and healing.
• All who are seeking a deeper relationship and deeper understanding of Jesus’ teachings.
• Courage to be bold for Jesus with our neighbors and family.

Love, pastor kent.  Please watch for a special offering request coming later today.