Knollwood News
May 9, 2021
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Volunteers Needed for our Greeter/Usher Team
It has been such a blessing to see so many people at our Sunday morning worship service (both regular attenders and new visitors!). In light of our increased attendance on Sunday mornings, we are looking for new volunteers to join our greeting and usher team. No prior experience is necessary, just a heart that's willing to serve and help people feel at home here at Knollwood.
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Outdoor Game Night
Saturday, May 15, 2021
6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Worship Center Patio
We hope you can join us for our Outdoor Game Night on Saturday, May 15th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. We will set up outside on the patio in front of the Worship Center.
In order to make people feel as comfortable as possible (COVID stuff!), we will set up our Game Night as follows:
- Everyone needs to bring their own chair.
- Wear a mask!
- Participants will sit either with their families, or in a pod where they all feel comfortable participating together (for example, if everyone in your community group is vaccinated, and everyone wants to participate as a group, that's totally fine!). Each pod will be socially distanced from other pods. Pod locations will be marked out on the patio using chalk.
- One person in each group needs to bring a well-charged cell phone for texting in answers.
- We will be providing snacks and drinks for everyone in pre-packaged/sealed containers.
Our hope is that this will be a fun, safe event. In the event of rain, we will look to reschedule for the following Saturday (May 22nd). If you have any specific concerns or questions, please contact Katie Conaway (Katie@knoll.org).
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Graduate Recognition
Sunday, May 30 during the Worship Service
Submission Deadline for Information: Sunday, May 16
High School & College Graduates
If you have a student that is graduating from high school or college and would like to have them included in Recognition Sunday, please email the following information to Mary Mendez at mary@knoll.org by Sunday, May 16.
- student's full name
- school they are graduating from
- future plans
- five digital pictures
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Bikes for Nicaragua - Update
Our community responded very positively last Saturday as 123 bikes were collected for Nicaragua. Since 2004, NicaWorks has been helping break the cycle of poverty through economic and spiritual growth. Thousands of families have been blessed by donated bicycles shipped to Nicaragua. In the last five years Knollwood has collected 661 bikes for this important ministry.
To learn more about this ministry, visit their website at nica.works.
Awesome work Knollwood! Thanks, Glenn Keller
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Volunteers Needed
Looking for an opportunity to serve? Knollwood is teaming/partnering with Abiding Presence Food Ministries to serve our local community. The food pantry provides food for local families on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month. Recently they have served up to 200 families on a Saturday and need assistance. Volunteers are needed to distribute food on pantry day, two Saturdays each month, as well packing bags during the week.
- Distribution: volunteers needed for distribution must be at least 18 years old. The hours are from 7:45am to noon. They have a big need for Spanish speakers. The distribution days in May are the 8th and 22nd.
- Food Packing: volunteers needed Monday through Friday, 11:30am-1pm and/or 2:00pm-3:30pm. Middle school aged children (children need to be accompanied by an adult) and older are welcome.
- The food pantry observes all COVID 19 safety protocols.
There is a tab at the top of the page for “food pantry” and another for “food pantry: packing”.
Food Collection
We will collect food at Knollwood on the first Sunday of each month starting on Sunday, May 2nd to support the food pantry at Abiding Presence. You can also drop food off at Abiding Presence's food shelter in front of the church at any time. Please click here to see a list of the food, snacks, and household items most desired.
Abiding Presence Lutheran Church is located at 6304 Lee Chapel Rd, Burke, VA 22015 (very close to KCC).
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Introducing Zachariah Lee Bouamri!
Laura and Younes Bouamri welcomed Zachariah Lee Bouamri into the world at 3:33 p.m. on April 26th. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces, 19 and 3/4 inches. Mom and baby are at home and doing great. Big brother Noah is super excited, as are Nanny and Papa - Claudia and Terry Ulsh. Welcome to the world, Zachariah!
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Children’s Ministry Show
It's about 15 minutes long and will air right before the worship service starts. You'll see a kids' worship song and the So & So Show, all with the click of a button. We'd love to know if you tune in, so please say hi in the chat comments so we know that you're there!
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We’ve got Rhythm!
We played a game called “Rhythm” that involved clapping and snapping and then calling out numbers at the same time and if you’re off beat, you’re out. It was a ton of fun and we discovered that our teens have a lot of rhythm! We ate Debbie Cakes and talked about how we can develop habits to bring us closer to God.
The high school students went to Cafe Rio after church and enjoyed catching up over tacos but we forgot to take a picture.
There are no youth meetings this Sunday. Enjoy your Mother’s Day!
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The staff and prayer team are praying for our Knollwood Family. Please let us know how we can pray for you. You can send an email to prayer@knoll.org or complete a prayer request form at knoll.org/prayer-requests.
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Mission Update: Randy Newman (Connection Point)
God continues to open doors for my teaching and discipleship ministries. My books on evangelism have been used by God to encourage and equip believers for the work of outreach through:
- The C. S. Lewis Institute
- Reformed Theological Seminary (both the Washington, DC and Dallas campuses)
- Christianity Explored
- The European Leadership Forum
- Several individual churches in locations as spread out as Toronto, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
Of course, all my teaching for the past year + has been over Zoom. I have not spoken in the presence of people since early March of 2020. Somehow, that has worked and I’ve adapted to the challenges of Zoom. But, as you know, it’s nowhere near as good as being in the same room as people. I do have some in-person speaking opportunities set up in July, September, and October and beyond.
The pandemic gave me consistent times for writing and, by God’s grace, I was able to write another book on evangelism which, Lord willing, will come out in September. It’s called Mere Evangelism: 10 Insights from C. S. Lewis to Help You Share Your Faith.
Pam and I both continue to disciple many younger men and women in a wide variety of ministries. These times are great joys and wonderful privileges.
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for wisdom about post-Covid speaking and traveling. It’s not as safe, yet, as any of us would like.
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Please pray for the release and distribution of Mere Evangelism.
- Please pray for my mother. She’s 93 and having numerous health issues that come with that stage of life. The past two months have been rather stressful as she’s moved into assisted living and is in the process of selling her house. My two brothers and I are overseeing all that.
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Mission Update: Lebanon Disaster Recovery
Praise the Lord that the number of cases of the COVID-19 in Lebanon has started to level off. While slight improvements dealing with an international pandemic are badly needed, we still face multi-faceted that daily threaten the lives and well-being of everyone in the country. The deadly problems confronting the country’s economic, social, and political well-being have not improved. Elected officials have left Lebanon in a state of near-total collapse. Donors are begging to release something near $15 billion in life-saving financial aid and technical assistance, but that aid is contingent on the government enacting reforms that will curtail the well-known, well-documented graft, theft of public funds and mismanagement that brought the country to its knees. To date, Lebanese officials appear more concerned with avoiding prosecution for their past misdeeds than they are about safeguarding the well-being of the people.
Conditions in Lebanon are dire! Such essentials as milk, cooking oil, tomato paste, and cheese are simply not available. A single kilogram of meat can cost as much as half a month’s salary for average employees. Banks have frozen the accounts of thousands of families; they are now deprived of what little savings they once had accumulated. Our currency is worthless as it has lost more than 90% of its value on trading markets. Due of COVID, people need government permission to go to the grocery store. When they get to one, many shelves are empty. Stores have no funds to import foods. Schools do not provide classroom instruction. More than half of the country’s small businesses have closed. Unemployment is nearly 65% (more than 89% for Syrian refugees who are now trapped in exile in Lebanon). It is estimated that more than 60% of the population now lives below the poverty level. As the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan begins, an increasing number of poor families have had to resort to rummaging through refuse to find scraps of food.
Ministering to the Lost on Knollwood’s Behalf:
Our ministry reaches communities that are home to approximately 60% of Lebanon’s population, an area where the majority of people have lost jobs they once held in downtown Beirut. It is also an area where many businesses have closed. Communities that continue to be devastated by the aftereffects of the explosion in the Port of Beirut which left more than 200 people dead, 7,000 seriously injured, and more than 300,000 people homeless (and where the majority of those homes have yet to be repaired).
Working through our local church, we have initiated a multi-faceted response to these critical needs, including (among other elements):
- Food and prescription medicine distribution to help more than 130 families each month. Family visits include prayer and Christian witness, and invitations to small groups for continuing support.
- Community outreach and training in evangelism and family strengthening counseling.
- Restoring homes for families where costs are affordable, and materials required are available to make home habitable.
- We are launching a small business co-op that will enable a core group of families to start earning an income again in a way that will encourage others not to give up hope and will be replicable with a minimum investment of funds.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for the vulnerable families we serve, with a special focus on Muslims who ae open to the gospel as they fast during Ramadan.
- Pray for the families we serve that are ill, closed in, unemployed and who have lost all tangible hope for the future. They are barely hanging on. Children are particularly vulnerable, a growing number milk and balanced diets.
- Pray for those involved in our weekly Bible Study for women and families.
- Pray for those who are forced to live in unstable housing as they wait for help in a period where most international NGOs are no longer providing home repairs.
- Seek God’s provision to sustain our outreach as we look toward increasing instability in the months ahead.
- Pray for us as we try to plan a long-overdue visit to see our son whom we haven’t seen for nearly 18 months during the summer.
Many thanks to all of those at Knollwood Community Church for your faithful and truly sacrificial partnership in our work.
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Even though we are not all meeting as a church family physically, you can continue to worship through giving!
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FY2021 Budget Report as of May 2, 2021
Year to Date Budget = $537,475
Year to Date Income = $482,269
Year to Date Expenses = $492,717
Contact Executive Pastor Alan Fischer at alan@knoll.org with any finance related questions. |
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