For those of us who have school-aged children and as the end of another academic year approaches, we find ourselves in a whirlwind of activities.\u00a0 Students, teachers and parents\u00a0are preoccupied with impending final exams, end-of-year trips, concerts, awards and graduation ceremonies.\u00a0 Just recently, I had the pleasure of attending an award ceremony with a special young man.\u00a0 The headmaster of the school focused his podium speech around apples, in particular, a familiar saying: \u201cthe apple does not fall far from the tree\u201d.\u00a0 To emphasize his point, a shiny red apple adorned a corner of the podium.\u00a0 As each student proceeded up on stage to receive his award, the audience cheered and applauded.\u00a0 When the headmaster\u2019s son went up to receive his award, the headmaster took the red gleaming apple off the podium and dropped it besides himself. \u00a0Needless to say, the headmaster made his point and all the \u201ctrees\u201d in the audience were amused and were proud of their \u201capples\u201d.\u00a0 On many levels, the headmaster was stating that children reflect their parents, whether positively or negatively \u2013 such as the saying \u201cone rotten apple spoils the bunch\u201d.<\/p>\n
In much the same way, as children of God, we\u00a0reflect His character and who He is to a broken and hopeless world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thus, God has given us the community of believers, the church, to nurture and grow our faith so that every believer will reach maturity in Christ and will be equipped for every good work.\u00a0 I sincerely extend a Thanksgiving tribute to Pastors, Deacons & Elders, Teachers, and Counselors who faithfully serve to spiritually nurture the people whom God has entrusted to their care.\u00a0 May the Lord bless you and keep you!<\/p>\n
Please be in prayer for the following:<\/p>\n
\n
- 2018 Summer Fun<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Pray for campers, youth & adult volunteers, program directors and all who are involved with this important children\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 Pray for safety in travel and field trips.\u00a0 Pray for group leaders to take concerted efforts to connect with campers.\u00a0 Pray for strength and perseverance for all involved.\u00a0 Pray gospel truth and precepts will be communicated clearly and faithfully.\u00a0 Pray campers will be encouraged to draw closer to God as a result of attending Summer Fun.<\/li>\n
- Urban Promise<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 20th-anniversary celebration.\u00a0 Pray for the Youth Group as they will be joining in the celebration this\u00a0Saturday, May 5th\u00a0at Peoples Church.\u00a0 Pray they will be inspired by the stories and encouraged by the faithfulness of the Urban Promise leaders.\u00a0 Pray they will be affirmed in their knowledge that they worship a living God who is at work in their city. \u00a0Please also pray for SCBC Urban Promise Short Term Missions this summer.\u00a0 Pray the Lord would raise up 10 individuals for this short-term missions team.\u00a0 If you are interested in this great outreach opportunity or know of someone who is, please contact Felix Tam.<\/li>\n
- Alpha<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 session began on April 24th and runs for 8 weeks.\u00a0 Please continue to pray for seekers as they explore life, faith, and God in a welcoming and informal environment.\u00a0 Pray for group leaders to lend a listening ear and have discernment in leading discussion.\u00a0 Pray the seed of the gospel will be sown and it will take root.<\/li>\n
- City of Toronto<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 recent tragedy along Yonge Street & Finch Avenue.\u00a0 We remember and continue to pray for the grieving families of this tragic incident.\u00a0 For victims who were injured and still in the hospital, we pray for recovery without complications.\u00a0 For those who have lost loved ones, we pray for peace and comfort though they may struggle to understand why this happened.\u00a0 Pray for the affected neighbourhood, that they would not live in fear but have the courage to carry on.\u00a0 Pray this community will become stronger as a result of this tragedy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Looking forward to a time of fellowship and prayer together\u00a0this Sunday\u00a0at\u00a08:30\u00a0am\u00a0in the Community Room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For those of us who have school-aged children and as the end of another academic year approaches, we find ourselves in a whirlwind of activities.\u00a0 Students, teachers and parents\u00a0are preoccupied with impending final exams, end-of-year trips, concerts, awards and graduation ceremonies.\u00a0 Just recently, I had the pleasure of attending an award ceremony with a special young man.\u00a0 The headmaster of the school focused his podium speech around apples, in particular, a familiar saying: \u201cthe apple does not fall far from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_event_category":[299],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_event\/7037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7037"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_event\/7037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7751,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_event\/7037\/revisions\/7751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_event_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_event_category?post=7037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}