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Our Online Bulletin
Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am
HAPPENINGS is found any time on our website at www.s-heights.org/happenings.
Once per week HAPPENINGS will be emailed to everyone on our email list.
email us at shcrc1@gmail.com if you want to be on the email list.
Bible Humor
What’s a missionary’s favorite kind of car?
Scroll to the very bottom for the answer.
PASTOR TODD’S WEEKLY WORD
Dear Friends…
When I was a kid in Sunday school, I sang a song about church, that went: “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.” That song still rings with some good truth today. (…though some folks looked remarkably “restful” during our quieter worship service last week 🙂 ). In some ways, this childhood truth is even clearer to me today, serving at a church like Southern Heights, where we carry the simple tagline and mission statement: “I Am The Church Wherever I Am,” to which I say AMEN!
But you know a secret? Every now and then, I forget for brief moments that Southern Heights is a people, or even a ministry. That doesn’t happen because I’m engaged in some great sin or anything. It happens when a lot of great things are happening! When meetings are efficient and numbers look encouraging and conversations seem to be going the way I want them to and it feels like we’re making distinct progress toward implementing our vision and calling within our community…THAT is when I tend to forget sometimes that we aren’t just a really cool organization. We are The Church.
Friends, I’m telling you this because that’s where I have been of late. There are SO many neat things going on around here kinda “behind the curtain”!!! If Southern Heights WERE just an organization, it would be one REALLY cool organization! But we’re much more than that too :)…we are The CHURCH!!!
More specifically, we’re the church at 4141 East Hillandale…we gather to worship the Living God at 10:30 every Sunday morning, and we’d LOVE to have you join us! We’ll save you a seat…see you Sunday :).
His…Pastor todd <><
Upcoming Events at Southern Heights
These are highlights only. CLICK HERE to see the calendar for a full listing.
April 21 – High School End of Year Party
April 28 – Pizza with the Pastor
May 1 – 1st & 3rd Wednesday Ministries (no Gems or Cadets)
– 10:00am – Women’s Ministry: morning edition
– 5:15pm – Light pizza supper
– 6-7:45pm – Middle School Student Life
– 6-7:30pm – Women’s Ministry (same subject as in the morning)
– 6-7:30pm – Men’s Ministry
May 5 – Communion
May 5 – Spaghetti Fundraiser after worship (For Student Mission Trip)
May 12 – Mother’s Day
May 15 – Season Finale – 1st & 3rd Wednesday Ministries – Party Day
(No Pizza – food will be at each ministry’s party)
May 19 – Student and Graduation Sunday
May 26 – Volunteer Appreciation Sunday
PIZZA WITH THE PASTOR
Sunday, April 28
If you are new around Southern Heights, Pastor Todd wants to meet with you and share lunch – on us. Join him for some pizza immediately after worship on April 28. You can ask questions if you want, or just chat and have a nice lunch. Contact the office (shcrc1@gmail.com) if you are interested so we can order the right amount of pizza. (Also let us know if you have any food restrictions.)
Donations to “TEE Food Relief”
Templo Evangelico Emmanuel – or TEE – is our sister church in Honduras. One of their ministries is providing food to people who live near the church. These people have a hard time providing necessary food to live and the TEE Church buys food and delivers it to them.
This April, we are taking donations to help TEE with this important ministry. If you would like to donate to TEE Food relief, please mark your donation with TEE Food relief or use the pre-printed envelopes on the information table. Thank you and God Bless.
A Good Word
Spaghetti Fundraiser
For Student Ministry Mission Trip
Save the Date – May 5 – after worship for a special Spaghetti Fundraiser to raise money for the Students to go on their summer mission trip to Appalachia. More details to come soon.
Calling all Post-High School Graduates!!
May 19 will be our Student and Graduate Sunday. We have a good idea who our High School Seniors are, but we want to know who are our post-high graduates.
If you are going to graduate from any post-high institution; Associates, College, Trade School, Masters, PhD, or any other school; we’d love to CELEBRATE with you. Please email the church at shcrc1@gmail.com with the information (name, and where you are graduating from) and we will be sure to include you in our May 19 celebration.
(If you know of someone, please let us know as well – we’d rather have multiple emails than miss anyone.)
Have a Praise or Prayer Request?
Click on this prayer prompter image or email deborahbos2@gmail.com and your prayer or praise will be included in our weekly Prayer Prompter, which is received and prayed over by many in our Southern Heights family. Tell us if your request is confidential and it will only be shared with elders and staff, who will confidentially pray for you.
Congratulations Jacob Van Dyk!
Jacob Van Dyk (far right), along with two other Kalamazoo Christian High School students (Jacob Williams and Sahib Dhillon) developed an app that won the 2023 Congressional App Challenge.
Wildlife GO, encourages Michiganders to get outside and enjoy their local parks and nature areas. The app challenges users to photograph plants and animals to score points. As winners of the CAC for Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, Jacob and his co-creators, Sahib, and Jacob W, were invited to attend the House of Code event in Washington, D.C.
If you want more details about Wildlife GO, click on this YouTube link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEdlz9oy_a4
Congratulations Jacob!
Donations to “Ministry with Community”
Southern Heights is accepting donations of personal care items for Ministry With Community (MWC) this April! The mission of MWC is to empower people to make positive life changes by offering resources in downtown Kalamazoo including meals, showers, laundry, computer access, social work, housing assistance, recovery support, crisis intervention, and more. MWC provides services to more than 250 people including adults and children experiencing homelessness, poverty, and other crises.
HOW CAN SOUTHERN HEIGHTS HELP TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?!?!
YOU ALREADY HAVE, by your generous giving of personal items in 2023! We would like to give you another opportunity in 2024. We are collecting the following items for the month of April: Deodorant (travel & full size), Shampoo (travel & full size), Conditioner (travel & full size), Lotion (travel & full size), Toothpaste (travel & full size), Bar of soap (travel size), Lip balm, Two-blade razors, Toothbrushes (individually package), Shaving cream, Band-Aids, Wash cloths, Hand warmers
All items will be collected in plastic totes under the mailboxes in the lobby. Any help given will be GREATLY APPRECIATED and will certainly make a difference in someone’s life.
Education Hour
NOTE – The Education Hour (9-10am on Sundays) season will be complete at the end of April.
Student Ministries – Middle School and High School – will still have their Wednesday evening and Sunday evening gatherings until the end of May.
Ed Hour takes place on Sundays from 9-10am.
Adults meet in the conference room for their study.
High schoolers dig into pillars of our faith.
Middle schoolers dive into questions that need good answers.
High school and middle school begin Ed Hour in the Student Room.
Deepen your faith and knowledge while having a meaningful time with your church family.
Ed Hour series for adults:
April 21 – Parable of the Good Samaritan – People are always more important than our plans. It’s a truth that can be difficult to remember that truth in our fast-paced world, but those who follow Jesus are called to love in a distinct way that begins with asking how to be a neighbor to those around us.
April 28 – Joy Eckstein will lead a session on adoration of God in prayer
1st & 3rd Wednesday Ministries
There are a lot of people here in the building on 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, so bring the family and join in. Women’s Ministry has a 10-11:30am study, (the same as the evening study, in case you can’t make one or the other). At 5:15 there is a light pizza dinner, (donation accepted). From 6-7:30 there are ministries for Middle School Students, Women’s Ministry and Men’s Ministry. Our learning, games, crafts, friendships, prayers, and Bible study all glorify God. Come and be part of it all!
**NOTE** – Gems and Cadets (1st to 5th grade girls and boys) have finished their season and will meet again in the fall.
FREE & CONFIDENTIAL COUNSELING IS AVAILABLE
If you feel the need to talk to a professional counselor, we have a confidential Church Assistance Program (CAP) with Pine Rest Mental Health Services. To get started – or for more info – call 616.455.6210 or 800.442.0809 and mention our Southern Heights CAP membership when you do.
Your Offerings to God
as of April 14, 2024
If you have questions about your giving, want a copy of your statement, or for a reminder of what your First Fruits estimate is, please email our Treasurer, Jeff Baas at jmbaas1@gmail.com. He is happy to help you.
Answer to Bible Humor
“A Convertible”
