Dear Asbury Friends,
 
Students, teachers, faculty, and staff are headed back to school.  I can tell this because the lines at Target are really long, and there are adorable pictures on Facebook of our Asbury kids who are going back to school!  
 
This Sunday, we invite all of our Asbury students and schoolteachers, faculty, and staff to join us at a special blessing at our 11 am service.  Students are invited to bring their backpacks.  To be a student and a teacher is a vocation -- a calling.  We want to pray a special blessing on all those people who will be living out this calling as they begin a new school year.
 
Our series on Joseph continues as we learn that Joseph has been given a position of power.  His brothers, who were unfair and cruel in their treatment of him, now are in a position of needing Joseph's help.  How does Joseph respond with this power that he has over people who have treated him this way?  This would be a great opportunity to prove that he was right and they were wrong. 
 
Someone once said that holding onto resentment toward somebody who has hurt you is like holding onto a hot coal, so you can be ready to throw it at them.  But what you realize as you stand there holding the hot coal, is that you were the person getting burned. 
 
Maybe if we could figure out how to practice and preach forgiveness and reconciliation, we would have fewer burns on our hands.
 
Blessings,
Rev. Gayla Rapp,
Senior Pastor

    Help needed with one of our Asbury Gardens!

We are grateful that the Pathways class has taken on care and upkeep of the landscaping at our main entrance of the church.  It looks wonderful!  Thank you Pathways to Joy Sunday School class!

The area by the MSR entrance is also in need on an individual or group to take on the care and upkeep of it.  Would you be willing to do this?  Would your Sunday school class or small group be willing to spend some time caring for this area?

If you're willing to help with this or if you have questions, please contact Rev. Gayla Rapp at [email protected] .  Thank you!
Asbury 101 | Sunday, August 18 at noon 
Are you interested in becoming a member of Asbury?  Sign up for Asbury 101 on August 18 and Rev. Gayla and Rev. Lee will serve you lunch and talk to you more about the church.  Please contact Phyllis Williams at [email protected] or call 913.432.5573 to sign up or if you would like more information. 
 
Chancel Choir Resumes August 25!
Calling all singers!!  Chancel choir will start back up on Sunday, August 25!  We will meet at 8:20 am in the Sanctuary to sing an easy anthem for the 9 am service.  August 28 will be our first rehearsal at 6:30 pm in the MSR.  New singers are welcome at either the 25th or the 28th!  If you have any questions, please contact Lindsey Lang at [email protected] or call 913.815.6690.
 
Gun Violence Awareness Event Hosted by the Church and Society Committee | Thursday, September 12 at 7 pm in Hager Hall
The Church and Society Committee will be hosting an event about gun violence on Thursday, September 12.  Our speakers will be Kansas Senator Barbara Bollier and Kay Richter.  There will also be an informational booth in the back of the hall by the group Grandparents Against Gun Violence.  The event will begin at 7 pm and will take place in Hager Hall.
 
Sign Up for Altar Flowers
We still have several available dates for Altar Flower sign-up.  E-mail Phyllis at
[email protected] or call 913.432.5573 to sign up.  Let us know who they are in honor, celebration, or memory of and if you want them to go to a home-bound member or you wish to take them home. 
 
Memorial Garden News
The upkeep for the garden still needs helpers as well as donations of $25 given in celebration of or memory of your loved ones. While many donations are given monthly, donations can be made in any amount or increment. You can sign up on the poster near the Memorial Garden entrance. To learn more about giving or volunteering, contact Kathie White at 913-362-5827 or email [email protected].  Most recent donations to the garden are from Stephanie Noland, given in memory of her mother, Harriet Noland, from Cindy Simpson, given in memory of Janis Barnett, and from Jim and Elaine Hager, given in memory and honor of their father-in-law, Al Hager.  
Children/Youth Ministry News
Heather Jackson, Director of Family Ministries
[email protected] and 913.815.6685
 
WOW! Choir
WOW! Choir begins Sunday at 9:30am!!  WOW! Choir is Asbury's children's choir for singers in Kindergarten through 5th grade.  We rehearse every Sunday during the school year from 9:30-10am in the children's Sunday school wing.  During that time your singer will participate in vocal warm-ups, learn a variety of performance and rehearsal songs, and participate in various movement and music theory activities.  It's like a free private group lesson every week!  We look forward to meeting your singer on Sunday!
  
Sunday School @ 10am
     Children (Prek-5 th grade)
o  We will continue hearing stories about David and learning:  how God knows us deeply, seeing into the heart of each of us; that God calls us to be peacemakers; that God wants us to show love and care; and that families can teach us about God and God's unconditional love.  
o  Coming Sunday, September 1:  Kids' Hour - A year-long adventure in loving God and loving neighbor in and through community. 

 
Youth (6-12 th grade)    
o  Beginning Sunday, September 8, we will have both a Middle School (6th-8th grade) and a High School (9th-12th grade) Sunday school class. 
 
"Fathom:  The Bible" - Middle School Sunday School (6th-8th grade) - Lead by Pam Ottaway - Begins Sunday, September 8 in Room 353 
The mission of Fathom is to dive deep into the story of God that we find in the Bible.  We'll encounter Scriptures filled with inspiration and encouragement, and we'll also explore passages that are more complicated and challenging.  Each lesson will focus on one passage, but will also launch into the larger context of how God's story is being told through that passage.  More importantly, each lesson will explore how God's story is intimately tied to our own stories, and how a God who is beyond our imagination can also be a God who loves us deeply and personally.  We'll be invited to wrestle with this and more as we dive deep into God's story.  We will begin our quest with the book that is written for us but not to us:  the Bible.
 
High School Sunday School (9th-12th grade) - Lead by Lori Wilkerson - Begins Sunday, September 8 in the Youth Lounge
Taking a cue from Mark Batterson's book The Grave Robber, we will be looking at the seven miracles in the Book of John.  Youth will discover Batterson's teachings that "Our impossible situations are God's greatest opportunity to reveal God's glory.  There are miracles all around us all the time, but you won't see them if you don't know how to look for them."

Youth Activities 
Sunday, August 18
o  10am - Youth Sharing about Mission Trip
o  No Youth Group
Sunday, August 25 @ 6pm - Youth Group
Sunday, September 1 - No Youth Activities (Labor Day weekend)
Sunday, September 8 @ 6 pm - Youth Group 
 
Save the Dates:
o  Sunday August 18 - Blessing of the Backpacks at the 11am service 
o  Sunday August 25 from 3-5pm:  Fall Kickoff at Pastor Gayla's House - Bounce Houses & Ice Cream!
o   Saturday O ctober 5 :  Camp Chippewa Fall      Festival Day
o   Saturday, October 12:  Fall Day of Caring
o   Sunday October 27 from 4-6pm: Trunk-or-Treat & Haunted Hallway 

 
If you are not receiving the children's ministry or youth ministry emails and would like to please email [email protected] to get on the list.
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