7/28 Sunday Announcements

1. *WELCOME TO HOSANNA! – *If you are a new or returning visitor, please stay after-service and let our Welcoming Team give our welcoming gift of a beige multi-purpose bag, an informational card, and serve you a meal and cup of water! Our church lunch is always free for all. It is our joy to serve you! Stay with us after-service to break bread. Fill-out a yellow newcomer’s contact card so that we can keep in touch. We welcome you into this family of Christ’s loving arms and remain here for you as His body to grow and flourish together!
2. *CONTINUING OUR SUNDAY WORSHIP GATHERINGS in GYMNASIUM until further notice – *With some additional complications that have arisen with the final preparations for the move-back to Ezra Chapel, the Session has prayerfully decided to continue our Sunday Worship gatherings in the gymnasium until further notice. We thank you for your continued patience and endurance to gather in this new location and time. *Seek to arrive in the gymnasium around 10:20am to 10:30am to give the Lord and yourself plenty of time to prepare for worship. Pickup a bulletin, pen, and giving envelope. Grab some tea or coffee from the Welcoming team. Pre-read the Scripture text for the message. Greet someone with the peace of Christ. Move forward and leave the rear seats vacant. Silence your cell phones and other distractions. Ensure you have a Bible. Let us honor this Day of Rest created for us!
3. *DISMISSAL (children (kinder to 5th grade) to BCM and preschool worship to rear tables)! – Children, at this time, you are dismissed to Pastor’s Sunny’s children’s ministry – please proceed to the children’s chapel. Preschool worship students, follow Director Rachel and Teacher Ashley to the side tables for your worship to the Lord together.
4. *UPDATES from Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church –
   • *For the next few weeks, there is a guest preacher for the youth ministry worship – Pastor Dennis Shin. We are continuing our prayers for the youth ministry and the search for a new youth minister. While the search for the youth minister is in progress, any further questions about the youth ministry can be directed to Deaconess Kris Lee, Director of youth ministry.
   • This week from Thursday (8/1) to Saturday (8/3) at the church, the youth ministry will hold their summer retreat with guest preacher Daniel Kim (Pastor of Teaching and Vision at The Well Church in Orange County, California). Please pray for a life-transforming and Spirit-empowering time for all the students!
5. *JOSHUA LIFE GROUP HAS MULTIPLIED! Praise be to God! Life group for our adults and families has multiplied with the growing number of families that the Lord has added to our number. The new JOSHUA group has been organized with three families and four adult members through the shepherdship of brother Chong Choe, while the old JOSHUA group has reorganized itself with five families through the shepherdship of Elder Joung Park. Please pray that the fruits of the Spirit will continually grow and multiply in these two new groups!
6. *CONTINUING TODAY, SEARCH for 2024-2025 DEACON/ELDER CANDIDATES – Until 8/18 (Sun), the prayerful search for potential new candidates for Deacon and/or Elder offices will take place. There are two main ways this will happen: (1) The Board of Elders will directly reach out to potential candidates for prayerful consideration; (2) Interested candidates who prayerfully have a calling from the Lord to serve in these offices are encouraged to directly reach out and approach the Elder Board for a time of discussion and prayer. During the search process, let us pray for the Lord to send and appoint His choice servants! Refer the QR code or handouts at the Welcoming table for information on the ordained offices. *Among many other needs and roles, in particular we are looking to fill the following needs for the Deacon role:
   • Deacon – Lead or Assistant Shepherd to life group ministries
   • Deacon – Coordinator for Men’s Ministry
   • Deacon – Coordinator for Women’s Ministry
   • Deacon – Coordinator for Welcoming/Hospitality Ministry
   • Deacon – Worship Space/Equipment Setup/Cleanup Ministry
   • Deacon – Event Coordinating Ministry
   • Deacon – Coordinator for Global Kingdom Expansion Prayer Guide Ministry
7. *TONIGHT, SR. HIGH GRADUATES & VISITING COLLEGE STUDENTS DINNER & FELLOWSHIP, 6pm @ Elder Heather’s home – Elder Heather has opened her home for a time of dinner and fellowship, beginning 6pm, with our newest family – the Sr. High graduates and matriculating college students, as well as any visiting college students for the summer. Graduates and visiting college students back on Dallas on break, we welcome you there and please let Elder Heather know if you can make it!
8. *THIS FRIDAY (8/2) AGAPE life group, 6:30pm @ location TBA – We invite all young adults to this Friday’s gathering. RSVP to Elder Patrick Liu or in the group chat. Thank you in advance to all those opening their homes for this ministry. Pray for our AGAPE ministry of college, postgraduates, and newlyweds, gathering every Friday evening at 6:30pm at various homes, and our interim shepherd, Elder Patrick Liu, as he guides this precious family.
9. *KINGDOM EXPANSION PRAYER – We will resume our Kingdom expansion prayers next week for our persecuted Bruneian brothers and sisters in Christ residing in Brunei, southeast Asia. *KRISTEN: I now invite our Pastor forward for a few other important announcements today.
10. *CHILDREN AND PARENTS BEGIN WORSHIP TOGETHER, 10:40am – I want to thank everyone for their understanding and endurance to gather in a new location – the gymnasium – and the new start-time, 10:40am. We’ve had to start earlier – as you may have noticed – so that our youth ministry can have their lunchtime in the gymnasium undisturbed at 11:50am. But also this earlier time has been a blessing for us too – as we’ve been able to start worship altogether with our children in opening prayer, praise, sacred giving, until dismissal at 11:50am during announcement time. The Session and myself want to emphasize the importance of this new structure as a sacred discipline and teaching for all our families with children. We believe families should be worshipping together. All children belong in our midst – they belong next to us, behind us, in front of us. My encouragement is for all our families to follow this structure so that children can have the blessing to see their parents pray, sing, and give to the LORD, and honor the dismissal time that Presider Kristen gives at approximately 11:50am to Pastor Sunny’s children’s chapel and Director Rachel’s preschool worship activities. Thank you for your understanding!
11. ***STARTING NEXT SUNDAY (8/4) AFTER-SERVICE BREAKOUT DISCUSSION GROUPS – We have been announcing the after-service “cell group ministry” for the past several weeks, and now the launch is finally here for next Sunday (8/4)! We are changing the name to “breakout discussion group” ministry because that is exactly what we meant by initially calling it “cell groups.” To save us from the confusion from our biology class days with terminology like “cells, molecules…” we’ll stick with “breakout discussion groups” - *next Sunday, the welcoming team will be giving everyone a number. You will be getting a number every week – most likely a different number every week. Immediately after-worship, you will gather with those who have the same number and spend 15 to 30 minutes (or more, as able!) discussing one applicational takeaway question (that will be projected on the screen as well as at the bottom of the message note page in the program) about the message preached for that Lord’s Day, and close in praying for one another. That’s it! We hope the breakout discussion groups will be a breakthrough help to internalize, digest, and live out the seed of God’s Word planted for that Lord’s Day. We pray that all will joyfully participate in this breakout discussion ministry and God will use it powerfully to build us up!
12. *TODAY, ORDAINED OFFICERS & SERVANTS APPRECIATION – As the term of one covenant-year ends and another begins for our Deacons, Elders, and appointed servants, we want to take the time to acknowledge and honor and thank them for serving Hosanna so faithfully, as Scripture says to honor our spiritual leaders, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves” (1 THESSALONIANS 5:12-13).
13. *COMMISSIONING (Jeong family) – Today, we are also sad but incredibly joyful to commission the Jeong’s – Amanda, Jake, and their soon to come newborn – as their last Sunday with us here at Hosanna. They sense God’s calling for a new chapter awaiting them to a new community, a new ministry to continue building up the Kingdom of God as they have here. The Session has approved and supported this decision, and therefore today we commission them out as the Lord Jesus said, to “go and make disciples of all nations” wherever you go. Jake and Amanda, thank you for your obedience to Jesus and His mission, and all that you have added to this Hosanna family with your presence. We will miss you. We will continue praying for you. We will continue our partnership in the gospel.