United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
Mission Moment 6.3.26
Matt Norman
Field Personnel in Barcelona, Spain
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. – Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)
A Blessing for Everyday Life
inspired by Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
May you wake each morning
not with haste,
but with holy attention…
to the breath in your lungs,
the light stretching across your walls,
the soft ache or quiet joy that reminds you
that you are alive, and you are loved.
May your coffee, your routine,
your conversations and calendar
become altars of offering…
not perfect, or polished,
but placed freely before God
who delights in your ordinary.
May you slow down enough
to truly listen
to the rustle of leaves,
or horns from the street,
the tone behind the words,
the still small voice
nudging you toward love.
May your eyes
be trained by grace
to see wonder again:
the sacred stitched
into sidewalks and dishes,
emails and errands,
the Divine hidden in plain sight.
When the world tells you to speed up,
consume more,
dislike,
give up,
fit in and blend,
may you dare to fix your gaze
on the God who beckons you toward
relationship and transformation.
And in your everyday life,
may you hear how God
whispers your name,
with deep gladness.
And may you respond
not later, not someday,
but now,
in the quiet trust
that this life,
just as it is,
is where holiness begins.
Amen.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
Mission Moment 5.27.26
Kim Wyatt
Field Personnel in Raleigh, North Carolina
A Blessing for Emeritus Field Personnel
You have been faithful in both the small and the large responsibilities. We celebrate with you many years of your faithful service! As we consider all the ways that you have shown love, devotion and obedience towards God, we are grateful. For the plethora of ways that you show love for your neighbors due to the welling up of the love for God deep within you, we are forever indebted.
For the tireless joy with which you have served others and the continuation of this service that will follow beyond your tenure with CBF, we are thankful.
As you go, you go with our love and our admiration. You go with our abiding appreciation for the costs of your discipleship to serve among “the least of these” which often took you far from your extended family and your country of birth. Yet always, even on the rough, uncertain days, you continued because of the call of Christ deep within you.
So again, I say, well done good and faithful servants. Your light shines so brightly that you will not be deterred by retirement, but will continue to serve our glorious Lord out of your deep abiding love for God and your neighbor.
Words of blessing and appreciation to our field personnel who retired in June 2025 (and to all those that have retired before these):
Anna Anderson
Chaouki and Maha Boulos
Steve Clark
Mary
Lynn Hutchinson
Jenny Jenkins
Karen Morrow
Mary VanRheenen
Cindy Ruble
Greg Smith
Sue Smith
Marc Wyatt
“I pray that the Lord will bless and protect you, and that he will show you mercy and kindness. May the Lord be good to you and give you peace.” —Numbers 6:24-26.
First Explorers Update 5.27.26
On the last week of After-School for the spring semester, we had tons of fun. On Monday, Rebekah from 4-H came and talked about underwater ecosystems. She also had the kids make their own ecosystem out of various candies on a plate. On Tuesday, we had all the kids draw with chalk by the back door carport. On Wednesday, we let the kids play outside the entire time. And on Thursday, we again had the kids play outside the entire time as it was the last full day of school for them. We didn’t have After-School on Friday because it was only a half day. Overall, it was another great week and great year at After-School!
First Explorers Update 5.20.26
Last week at After-School was all about food! On Monday, we had all the kids make their own butter using a mason jar, a marble, and the ingredients. On Tuesday, we made homemade chocolate chip cookies while Ms. Gaye did chapel with the kids. On Wednesday, we celebrated the end of RAs, GAs and Mission Friends by having an ice cream and cookie party outside. On Thursday, Generation Kids came and did a fun lesson and played some games with us outside. On Friday, the kids made their own homemade ice cream. Overall, it was a fantastic week at After-School!
Mission Moment 5.20.26
Rick Sample
Field Personnel in San Francisco Bay Area, California
I didn’t grow up knowing that I wanted to be a missionary. In fact, as a sophomore at Samford University, I decided to try summer missions for one summer only. Afterward, I ended up being a summer missionary for five years. That first summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was challenging to me. I had to go door-to-door witnessing! For this introvert, it was torturous to knock on 1200+ doors that summer. All summer long, I thought that it would be my only missionary service in my lifetime.
What I really liked was a sports club I started with some teenage boys in the neighborhood, playing baseball or basketball three afternoons each week. After each game, I led a brief devotional and prayer in the park. On the last night of the summer, I invited all the boys out for ice cream. After the ice cream, I presented each youth with a small New Testament hoping they would read the Bible after the summer. What happened next crushed me.
These teenagers whom I had spent the summer ministering to and praying for mocked me for being a Christian, and, before running off never to see me again, they ripped some pages out of the Bibles and threw them in the gutter. I started to cry and as I bent down to pick up the torn sheaves of Scripture, something struck deep within my soul. It was in that moment that I knew God was calling me to be a missionary for life. What was momentarily an unexpectedly tragic moment was a threshold I stepped over that became a lifelong BLESSING.
The next summer, I was part of a Samford mission team. Four of us spent the summer in LeFrak City, an inner-city enclave in Queens, New York City. And today, in my third decade serving with CBF Global Missions, I can say that my lifelong BLESSING is renewed every day. At the end of my summer in Queens, I penned a poem based on the 23rd Psalm.
A Summer Missionary’s 23rd Psalm
By Rick Sample, summer missionary 1983, Queens, New York City
The Lord is my Supervisor, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down on my plywood and foam; He leadeth me through the playground and down 57th Avenue.
He restoreth my soul with laughter; He leadeth me in the paths of Vacation Bible School for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I ride through the subways at night, and transfer at Times Square, I will fear no muggers: for Thou art with me; the smiles of the children they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of 10 pairs of eyes peering in at the terrace door; Thou anointest my walls with graffiti; my cup runneth over with people to love.
Surely thoughts of Artif, Caleb, Charles, Joseph, Freddy and Robert will follow me all the days of my life: and I will be a richer person because of New York City.
Church Office Closed Memorial Day
In observance of Memorial Day, the church office will be closed on Monday, May 25 and will reopen on Tuesday, May 26.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of laundry detergent.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.
Thank you!
