Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  -Ephesians 3:20-21

It’s important to pray Scripture. For years now, I have prayed that God would do far more abundantly beyond all I could ask or think in Northwood Baptist Church Greenridge, and now in all the Northwood Family of Churches, including our own Northwood Berkeley.  I pray that God’s power would be evident and that whatever happens will bring glory to God.  God is faithful!  Ever since I have been your pastor, I have encouraged you to pray this, and again today I invite you to continue. I am happy to report…

• Northwood Berkeley saw seven baptisms this summer, a successful VBS, several new families started attending our church, and we’ve had several members participate in the first ever Family of Church Youth Mission Trip.
• Northwood Restoration has a Pastor in Zoro that despite his busy schedule faithfully preaches the Word for his congregation but also has been preaching for other churches as well.
• Northwood Greenridge continues to grow despite sending out good families to help replant or plant new churches.  Several church sponsored mission trips took place this summer.
• Northwood Wando Woods called a new children’s director, saw their VBS grow from seven children to forty-seven children, recently witnessed a baptism, leverages their building and property to bless the community.
• Northwood East Bay lead by Pastor Logan launched as a church plant with over ninety for their first service!

Speaking of prayer, the 23^rd of every month is the day that Northwood Berkeley signed up to join the Charleston Baptist Association in prayer.  On August 23, take thirty minutes or an hour and just start praying for your church, our community, the spread of the Gospel, and whatever else you want to pray for.  I don’t care how busy we are, I don’t care how many activities we have if we don’t pray, don’t expect God to move mightily in our midst. We need to humble ourselves pray, fellowship with our God, and realize that we can’t accomplish anything through our own efforts.

We have already met our goal for giving to the Janie Chapman offering for State Missions.  Keep on giving.  We will be collecting monies until the end of September.  I want to think our Women on Mission group for promoting and educating us on that offering.  I am glad we have started a Women’s Missionary Union chapter in our congregation. The goal of the Berkeley Women on Mission group is to promote, pray for, educate, and do missions.  The ladies will have a great time fellowshipping with one another, but it’s not designed to be a craft hour, Tupperware party, or tea party.  It’s a group of ladies that are mobilized for missions.

This Sunday in worship we will be listening to a message from 1 John 4:7-21.  Please read that passage in advance.  Looking ahead on August 24, our children will be singing in the 11:00 a.m. worship service.  On September 7, we will observe the Lord’s Supper. On September 14, we will have a Connect to Northwood Berkeley class, and on September 21 we will celebrate Covenant Sunday as we reaffirm our church membership, our doctrine, and our covenant to God and each other.  In celebration we will have a covered dish supper following the worship service on September 21. 

Soon you will hear about opportunities to serve on church ministry teams for the 2025-26 church calendar year.  Our greatest need now is to expand and revamp our Greeter Team.  We must place people outside to greet people before they come in the door, and we need to rethink some of our current strategies.  And for a good problem we are going to need even more background checked members to help with nursery, preschool, and children ministries.  I pray that in the coming year more problems will be created by growth. 

Grace to you,
Pastor Jay