Shiloh Children's Christian Ranch
We are looking forward to Kevin Blew from Shiloh visiting West Village on October 15.  He plans to have a few of Shiloh’s young people with him.  He will make a presentation during the Sunday school hour.  Sunday school classes from Junior High up will meet in the auditorium.  There will be a meal shared with him at the Village on Main following services.  The missions committee will provide the main course and drinks.  If you would like to  join us and spend more time with Kevin, please bring a side dish or dessert.  See Rodney or Denise Michels if you have questions.

Pinehaven
Both Bob and Nancy Larsson, the founders of Pinehaven, passed to their heavenly glory in 2023.  There will be a Life Celebration for them on Thursday, October 5th from 5-7pm at Oil Belt Christian Service Camp.  If you are interested in going, please contact Rhonda Everett.  If there is enough interest we will take the church van.

    This school year during youth group, the Junior High and High School classes are learning about leadership. The first lesson we did taught us that a leader passionately prays. I’m going to put all my cards out on the table - I am not very good at praying. This year, I decided to try to combat that by doing a prayer journal. There are days that I don’t do my best, but my prayer life has gotten stronger as I progress toward being a leader that passionately prays.
In our Christian world, we can oftentimes fall in the trap of asking someone on Sunday mornings how they are doing, and when they respond with something other than the typical “fine” or “just great,” and they voice true concerns or prayer needs, we find ourselves saying “I’ll definitely be praying for you!”
The unfortunate truth though, is that often there is no follow up. We tell someone we will get to it this week, and then sometimes, we just don’t ever get to it. One way to combat that is to be in prayer not just for our brothers and sisters, but with them. If someone tells you they are having some troubles with something, stop what you are doing and pray with them.
When I think of people in my own life that did this well, I think of my Grandma. I could call her anytime of day, about anything. It could be illness, it could be anger, it could be heartbreak, and she would always stop everything she was doing and just start praying for me on the spot, and it made a massive difference for me.
The truth is, a praying church is a healthy church. In his final advice to the church in Thessalonica, Paul says to always be joyful and to never stop praying. But he doesn’t just tell the Thessalonians to never stop praying, he exemplifies that to them. He tells them in the beginning of his first letter that he prays for them constantly. I leave you all, and myself for that matter, with this challenge: never stop praying. Exemplify leadership in your life by praying not just for your friends, but with them.