Compassion

Compassion. To suffer with. Feeling of distress and pity for the suffering or misfortune of another often including the desire to alleviate it. It goes hand in hand with empathy.
First, we were created in the likeness of God right? Second, God called us to love him with all our heart mind and soul. It’s the greatest commandment. So if God made us like him and Jesus is his son, we should be like him and we should love him with all we have; then ultimately we should be striving to live like Jesus.

Well we know this already. We’re supposed to be like Jesus. Jesus was the most compassionate of them all. The most loving. The most brutal. The most honest. The most perfect. Yet all still human like us. So then why does God demand us to be compassionate even if we sometimes can’t see the change it makes in the world? Maybe the best way to see God work is to try to see others the way He sees them.

1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and humble mind”. If you go on to read verse 9 it calls us to put it into action: “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing”.
BLESS. It goes hand in hand with compassion. When we are loving God genuinely, then we ought to be loving others genuinely. The good Samaritan blessed the hurt guy. Even if the hurt guy never acknowledged it or if he in turn got beat up as well, he still did the right thing. With no hidden motives. He saw the suffering and wanted to fix it even if he would suffer too.
Compassion is about caring for someone even when they’ve done wrong and then wanting to help or suffer alongside them. This goes for our family, our friends, our children, our bosses, the homeless, the murderers, everyone. Jesus didn’t pick and choose which friends he wanted to show compassion to. He saw the need and met it. Period. End of story.

None of us are the same, but we are still called to love each other. Especially working in ministry with other believers and having influence, we are ALL called as Christians to love each other as brothers and sisters and “put on” godly attitudes and actions. God desires to free people from their suffering. If we are made in the likeness of God, then we need to turn our focus on becoming great at the great commandment: loving God= loving others= compassion.

written by Kaity

Upcoming Events

What an amazing summer with our Alliance Aviators! We had a great time learning about heroes in Hero Headquarters VBS & the Kids at Kamp were fueled up about Christ.

Here are a couple of important dates to remember:

August 22nd- Promotion Sunday!!! We will be promoting all kids birth thru 5th grade. We will have a great time on that day and maybe even a surprise!

September 12th- Baby Dedication If you know of anyone interested in dedicating their child on this day, please have them get in contact with Dondra Pyle.

We hope each of you have a great day and look forward to starting another wonderful year.

Faithful

As I have reflected this past week and thought about what to say today, I keep going back to a couple of weekends ago. My parents and I drove to West Texas to attend the funeral of a family friend of ours. The emotions were complex. We were sad to see him go but know that he is in a better place. Througout the day, I kept pondering and asking questions about this friend to my dad. Isn't it amazing how that at funerals we actually take the time to reminisce and think about what makes that person so special, so great. We think about how they influenced our own lives. We long for one more chance to tell them what they meant to us. As my dad shared the story of the parable of the talents, he read these verses " The man with the two talents also came, Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents; see I have gained two more. His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matt 25:22-23) I often wonder what others would say about me at my funeral. What would Jesus say to me? I want to encourage each of you that Jesus sees your talents being used to glorify Him. You may think that you only have small talents that no else sees but He sees them. We see them. Our children see them. I appreciate each of you being willing to be used of Him. And know this, Jesus is saying "Well done, good and faithful servant" to each of you.

Dondra

Upcoming Dates

Here are some important dates coming up:


May 13th- Informational Meeting for Kids Kamp parents


May 17th @ 7:00 pm- Informational Meeting for Vacation Bible School "Hero Headquarters" teachers


June 5th @ 6:00 pm- Training for Kindergarten thru 5th grade teachers


June 21st-25th- Vacation Bible School "Hero Headquarters"

A Call to Serve

Mark 10:45 says "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many"
We are getting really excited about some upcoming events happening in the life of ACF!
Here are some ways you can serve:

Family Weekend

May 1st 2:30 pm-6:00pm Little Sprouts/ACA dinner theatre and auction -If you can help us out on this night, we need 4-6 childcare workers during the dinner and auction.

May 2nd 10:30 am Family Day Service -This is a break-down of the classes and ways you can serve.
Babies- 4 adults; Toddlers- 3 adults; 3 and 4 year olds- 3-4 adults; PK-Kindergarten-2 adults; 1st and 2nd grade-2 adults; 3rd-5th grade-2 adults.
Following the service, we will be having family games. This will be a kid-oriented time to share with your family. We will need 2 adults for each game or 1 adult and 1youth. The games are as follows: kickball, volleyball, soccer, bounce houses, and extra activites such as face painting, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and such.

Out of the Box event- This event is going to be taking place on Sunday May 16th @ 11:30 am. If you can volunteer and serve during the third service, that would be great!


Vacation Bible School- Hero Headquarters- Monday, June 21st thru Friday, June 25th

Childcare for the volunteers (birth thru 2 years old)- 2 adults

2-4 year olds- we will need 2-3 adults in this class; Christy Wilson is the lead teacher

PK/K- 2 adults

1st and 2nd grade- 2 adults

3rd-5th grade-2 adults

Snack Team- 2 adults; Dondra is the leader of this team

Craft Team- 2 adults; Elaine is the leader of this team

Games Team- 2 adults; Kaity is the leader of this team

Bible Team- 2 adults

Worship Team- 2 adults; Heather is the leader of this team. We need some actors as well.

PK-5th teachers, remember you will be there to watch over students as
they transition, help support leaders of activities and of course join
in all of the fun!

We appreciate each of you and your servants heart! If you are interested in serving in any of these areas, you can leave a comment here on the blog or email me at dtpyle@msn.com

Updates

I hope each of you were able to enjoy your Easter with family and friends. It was a beautiful time to celebrate Jesus' resurrection and what He has done for each of us. I appreciate those of you who helped out this past weekend and we want to achieve that excellence every Sunday!

The last entry was about the Nehemiah challenge. I pray that each of you were able to look at the entry and pick one thing from Nehemiah's life and practice it. I had a wonderful time of prayer and fasting during that week. It is exciting to see what God is doing in my own life and the life of others. Prayers are being answered!

Just a reminder...this weekend, April 11th, is our make-up training for volunteers who are teaching our babies thru 4 year olds. Please let me know if you will be attending the 8:15 am or 11:30 training session.

Blessings...

Dondra

the Nehemiah Challenge

Pastor Nathan has been taking us on a journey through Nehemiah. I don't know about you, but personally I have been convicted and encouraged. There have been several things that have “stuck out” to me that I have never really known about Nehemiah. First, no matter what he was doing, he prayed. He prayed and sought God's face before making any decisions. There was a time in Chapter 1 that he fasted and prayed. I know that in my own life I get caught up in making decisions and then pray and ask God “Did I make the right decision?” It should be right the opposite. We should all pray and seek God's face first and then we will know that we are making the right decisions. Secondly, Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem displayed joy and excitement over building the wall even though there was opposition. The opposition came in the form of Sanballet and Tobiah. Chapter 4 discusses how they arose to the opposition and were ready. Nehemiah's distractions came in many different ways. How do your distractions come? I know that I can relate to Nathan when he speaks of the endless chatter that comes around us. The enemy tries to distract and take us down so that we are not following God's leading. Lastly, Nehemiah was a leader. He arose to the challenge that was set before him and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. He worked along side his neighbors and friends. He led them to a place no one else had. He showed them how to be a leader by example. What does a leader look like to you? Has God asked you to lead? Have you accepted His call?

My challenge to you is this: I want you to find one area of Nehemiah's life whether it is prayer, joy during opposition, leadership or something that has spoken to you and truly practice it. My personal challenge is going to be a time of prayer and fasting. There are some specific requests that I will be taking to God. I will be participating in a modified Daniel fast for 7 days. I encourage you to share your thoughts. I want to know if you will accept this challenge.

Dondra

Upcoming Events and Dates

I wanted to remind each of you about some dates coming up.

April 4th: Easter Sunday- We ask that you make every effort to be here for this important day. If you are a teacher that works on a rotation and you know you are going to be here, we would welcome some help on this Sunday. It would be great to have extra greeters, people to walk visitors to and from classrooms, and extra teachers. Please let me know if you are available to help out. After each service, we will be having an Easter egg hunt and a time for you to have a family picture made.

April 11th: Training for Teachers Birth thru 4 years old- this is our make-up training from February. We will be offering it at 8:15 am or 11:30 am. It will be about 25-30 minutes long. A light breakfast will be served. Please rsvp to Dondra as to when you are coming.

May 1st & 2nd- Family Weekend- We will be having Little Sprouts and Alliance Christian Academy's dinner theatre and auction on Saturday. Our family day service will be on that Sunday. This event will be like last year, one service under the big tent. If you know that you are available to work that Sunday, we would appreciate you letting us know as soon as possible. We will need alot of help on this weekend.

June 5th- Teacher Training for Kindergarten thru 5th grade

June 21st-25th Vacation Bible School


We appreciate each of you and your willingness to serve. May God bless you.

Growing in Christ

As teachers, ministers, and parents we have witnessed the below scenario.

A baby, a child, that is very "needy." He is crying. He is whining. He is unconsolable. He wants your undivided attention and will do anything he can to get it. You are trying. You are frustrated. You want him to understand that he will be okay. As you are helping him you remember that he is just a baby, a child and really does not know any better. Fast forward until he is an adult. He is poised. He is good-looking. He is educated. When you are around him, he is silly. He acts stupid. He is an adult but acts like a child. He is immature. He knows better. As we look at these scenarios, it is easy to complain about each one. Think about it on a spiritual level. Think about how God views us as Christians. Are we babies? Not really knowing any better? or are we the adult acting like a child in Christ?

I want to look at two different scriptures this week. The first is Ephesians 4:14-16. It says " We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by the wind of teaching and by the cunning and crafitness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." The second passage is Matthew 22:37-39. It says " Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is this...love you neighbor as yourself."

I want to focus on the scripture in Matthew. The first commandment is to love God. How do we love God? We love God by having a personal relationship with Him. We love God by reading His Word and remembering it. We love God by praying. The second commandment is to love our neighbor. To love others. How do we love others? We love others through service. We can serve by teaching kids their Bible lesson on Sundays, we serve by volunteering at our child's school, we serve by offering dinner to a friend. The main thing to notice is that neither one of these can be done without the other. We can not love others without loving God first. We can not love God without loving others. When we are growing into maturity with Christ, we will be doing both. We will be loving God. We will be loving others.

What does this look like to you? Are you growing into full maturity in Christ?