For everyone who may have been away this past weekend....
Pastor Sarah made a special announcement. With a heavy heart she announced that she has resigned from her position as our student ministries pastor as of August 15th 2010 to pursue a degree as a social worker. She has been investigating the possibility of going back to school since last September. She tried to find ways to stay here and do her schooling through correspondence and other types of options but ultimately came to the conclusion that to fulfill the call on her life, she needed to move to Winnipeg.
Winnipeg has a salvation Army University (Booth U) that will allow her to study exactly what she's looking to do - in a Christian environment - with the support of her immediately family. Sarah's brother moved to Winnipeg about a year ago and her parents just began a new career as of May. Winnipeg also has a large native population which is very much her passion for ministry. The timing couldn't be better for her and while we are deeply saddened by the fact that she will be leaving, we are very proud of her and will support her as she makes this new transition in her life/ministry.
Please pray for Sarah as she prepares to leave. This has been very tough on her emotionally and it is very hard for her to leave us. She loves you all deeply and has received your love with an open heart. Be sure to spend some quality time with her in the next two months and please plan to be with us to celebrate and thank her on her final Sunday with us (August 15th).
She would love the opportunity to speak to you personally about this if you have any questions or if you want to share anything with her. You can also speak to myself at any time.
Please also pray for us (church leaders) as we have begun the process of figuring out "where we go next". We are trusting the Lord to provide and we are going to be patient for Him to make clear to us what to do.
Thank you all for your support, your prayers and your love.
Pastor Jason
Starting in Janurary 2010, Southside will be regularly supporting Charles and Desiree Silva and their family as they serve in Chennai India. The Silva's are going to be working closely with Prasad and Dawn Samson as the operate HOPE FOR THE CHILDREN's orphanage and help manage the ministry details.
The Silva's were with us in October and they were anxiously waiting for funds to come in before they were released to go. As of December 13th, they were able to secure funding and were released by the PAOC to depart. They are now celebrating Christmas in their new home in India and are already hard at work! We praise the Lord for this along with them.
Please remember to designate funds to missions as you are able. As we all give and do our part we are able to support wonderful people doing good work for the Lord.
Check out their latest video blog at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YznubGg_ahs
