October/november 2022
In-the-Know Monthly Newsletter
Moving Into the Holidays
– by Kent Wagner
It’s almost time for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Some of my most cherished memories surround these two holidays, and I’ll bet the same is true for you as well.
God has a special place in His heart for holidays. The Jewish people had several holidays they celebrated, and all of them were intentionally designed to look back at what God had done in their lives and to remember His goodness and faithfulness.
As we near this holiday season, I think it’s important to look back and be thankful for what God has done in our midst. The lives changed, the hope was revealed, and the families were restored. What is it for you? How have you seen God move? What has He done over the past year or more that deserves celebration?
What if this holiday season we didn’t just enjoy a great turkey dinner and unpacking gifts, but what if we enjoyed reflecting back on the goodness of God to us? What if we looked forward to what He was going to do in the years to come?
God is still in the business of creating reasons for us to celebrate, so let’s be the kind of people who look for those reasons and enjoy them when they come!
This year, Christmas Day falls on a Sunday morning. Our leadership began thinking about what this would mean for the huge amount of people who get up early and come prepare and serve on a Sunday to make it possible for you and me to attend. There is an entire team of people that arrive by 7:30 to begin preparing. We talked and debated for quite a while and realized that we had the ability to provide an opportunity for people to worship in a unique way without overburdening our volunteers (many of whom have young children that they will have to miss out on Christmas morning with). So, with that said, corporately, we are choosing to partially celebrate Christmas differently this year. First, we will still have Christmas Eve Eve on the evening of Friday the 23rd, this service will be an actual full church service with Communion, a shortened sermon, offering, etc. with some really fun activities available after the service. On Sunday the 25th, we will have online experiences that will go live throughout the day for your family to experience worship, prayer, and the word of God together (we’ll even have some fun experiences for your family). These will serve in lieu of having a physical service.
We know this is different, and for some, it may be a little difficult, but our hope is by having Christmas Eve Eve as a full-blown service we will be able to celebrate what God is doing and has done in our church together and then honor and care for our volunteer team.
We love you all and can’t wait to celebrate this holiday season with you!
Serving Jesus,
Kent Wagner
Kent Wagner
Prayer Requests
Calling all Prayer Warriors
- Pray that God will raise up people to serve in our ministry to kids and REACH
- Pray for opportunities for our church to make a difference in people’s lives in Georgetown
- Pray for people to serve on our worship team and that it will grow
- Pray for those affected by grief and loss
- Pray for our church as we continue to seek financial stability in order to reach more people with the Gospel
- Pray for our Student Ministry (Teens) and those who lead them, these students face such huge pressures and issues and need to deeply know the love of God
Have a prayer request? Join our Online Facebook Community to post it or contact our care ministry via email
Ephesians 1:18-19
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
%
of every dollar given at Harmony goes straight to Missions, the rest goes to creating stories of Kingdom Impact in the lives of those you touch!
Travel with Harmony to Israel in 2024!
Visit the temple ✡︎ Stand on the sea of Galilee ✡︎ Walk where He taught
Last Month Recap
Wins for The Kingdom!
- We collected enough Thanksgiving baskets to feed 200 families in Scott County and provided support to the AMEN House with storage space
- We are seeing many first time guests each week but also seeing returning guests
- There were 2 baptisms in September
- The Barnabas card ministry started selling cards between services to raise money for their ministry. Check it out again on 11/13!
- We saw 4 groups start up from the spin-off experience. We are excited to watch them play, pray & grow together!
- There were 73 children chosen in Mwala, Kenya by Harmony members. Robby was able to travel to Kenya for the chosen party and meet some of the kids we are supporting
- Our Care Ministry team has been ministering to so many through prayer, calls, and visitations
Text2Give
SEE HOW IT WORKS: Text $1 to (859) 459-0316, afterward text “refund” (no quotes) to get a refund.
In the future simply save the Text2Give number on your phone and text any amount (add ‘weekly’, ‘biweekly’, ‘monthly’, or ‘yearly’ for a recurring gift).
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| $50 | Donates $50 to to Harmony. You can type any amount; the dollar sign is optional (e.g. $50 and 50 both work). |
| give $50 | Same as above. |
| give | You will receive a response asking “how much you’d like to give”. |
| $50 missions | Donates $50 to the missions fund. You can also give to the building fund this way (example: $50 building) |
| $50 weekly | Sets up a recurring gift of $50 each week. Frequency options are ‘weekly’, ‘biweekly’, ‘monthly’, and ‘yearly’. |
| $50 missions weekly | Sets up a recurring gift of $50 each week to the missions fund. Frequency options are ‘weekly’, ‘biweekly’, ‘monthly’, and ‘yearly’. |
| refund | Refunds the previously given contribution. This command can only create a refund within 24 hours of giving the gift. If the previously given contribution started a recurring gift, the recurrence will also be canceled. |
| update | Allows a donor to update their payment method or recurring gift. You will receive a response with a link where you can make these changes. Please note: You can only update recurring gifts via text when the recurring gift was established via text giving. |
| unlink | Unlinks a your phone from the text-to-give system. If you want to set-up two recurring gifts from two different methods, using “unlink” will allow the donor to set-up a secondary recurring gift from an additional method. |
| commands | Provides the user with a list of the available generic text commands (will not include the unique specific keywords you have set up for your church) |
HCC Financial Update
The Past 12 Weeks at a glance
by David Burchfield
We are continuing to evaluate development for the “Undeveloped Space”. We will keep you updated on our continued progress towards leasing the undeveloped space.
Please keep this in mind when giving we have the following options to give, so please use whatever works best for you:
1) Giving easily using Breeze
a. online at my.harmonychurch.cc/give
b. by text for example text “$50” to 859-459-0316 to give $50
2) Direct ACH (automatically withdraw from your bank)
3) Physical check placed in giving boxes or mailed to Harmony 4) Cash placed in giving boxes
5) Facebook “Donate” button on Harmony’s Facebook page.
We want to continue to encourage you to give Breeze a try for giving donations as it is super simple to give for example $100, just text $100 to 859-459-0316 or click on “give” online If you haven’t tried it, please pray and ask God what he would have you give.
Be sure to check out the TV at the Generosity station in the lobby to see the latest information.
If you have any questions about giving options or the financial processes of the church, don’t hesitate to reach out to me and I will be glad to answer. Thank you again for your generosity!
-David Burchfield.
The Past 12 Weeks At a Glance
- Avg weekly giving is $9,106 which is down from the October report of $9,718. This is 93.5% of critical need, which is down from the October report of 98.3%.
- It is 82.3% of full ministry need, which is down from the October report of 86.4%.
- We hope to see continued giving in November.
- Avg weekly live attendance is 358 which is up from 348 in our October report. This is now 4 months where we have seen continued growth. Thanks to everyone for sharing the good news about Jesus!
- Total baptisms year to date is 23, praise the Lord! Let’s continue to win people to Jesus!
*This amount DOES NOT reflect income from facility rentals. It is offering only.
**The percentages DO include facility rental income.
Missons Corner:
Mustard Seed
By David & Alyssa Wissel
First, we recently hit a HUGE milestone: 100% of our monthly support. We are praising God for his provision of generous partners who are sacrificially helping us make Christ known in Japan.
Second, earlier this month we traveled to Tokyo for a week-long preview/vision trip. During this trip, we met Mustard Seed Network teammates from six churches across Japan at a network-wide retreat held near Mt. Fuji. We spent time with the amazing team we’ll be working with during our time in Tokyo as well. It was so helpful to learn some practical, daily life essentials such as what apartments are like, good neighborhoods to live in, and what we should pack.
Through reaching full support, taking this trip, and a thousand other ways, this month God has greatly shored up our confidence and peace about what he is calling us into!
On Sunday, we were able to join for a worship gathering of Mustard Seed Christian Church Tokyo. This is the church where we will serve and be members during our first year and half in Japan, when our focus will be on full-time, intensive language school.
At the service, we sang great Japanese worship music, heard an edifying, gospel-centered sermon on 1 Samuel 17, and fellowshipped with so many wonderful church members.
An especially sweet part of our time in Tokyo was spending time getting to know the team we’ll be working with in Tokyo as we explored the area around Ikebukuro station (more likely than not, this is where we’ll live as well).
As good as our week in Japan was, pondering its level of spiritual lostness can be overwhelming. The Tokyo metro area is home to over 40 million people. It’s not only the largest city in the world, it’s the largest city in the history of the world. Throughout the week, as I saw an unbelievable amount of people in train stations, street crossings, and mall–I remembered that over 99% of them do not know Jesus Christ.
However, all week the Holy Spirit continually brought to my mind the words of the Lord Jesus Christ from Acts 18. In this chapter, Paul is facing insurmountable odds as he proclaims the gospel in the city of Corinth. Corinth is a city a lot like Tokyo- large, pagan, hard-hearted. Despite all this, Jesus says to the Apostle Paul:
- “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.’ So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.” Acts 18:10 (NLT)
40 million people live in Tokyo. And many of them belong to Jesus. They just don’t know it yet. But they will hear the gospel, believe and be saved. Only God knows who they are. So our role is to boldly teach the Word of God to them and let the Spirit of God do the hard work. What an incredible promise! And how gracious is God to call us into this work?
We are grateful to have you as partners in the gospel! May God use our partnership to bring glory to himself and many to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace,
David Wissel
Members Make a Difference @ Harmony
At Harmony, we take membership seriously because our members make a serious difference!
We also think you should be able to become a member on your own time. That's why we created an innovative way to learn about membership and take your next step into becoming a central part of what makes our church amazing! Simply listen to a 9-episode podcast we produced and complete 6 online pledges - let us know you've completed the process and you will have become a member! Click below to visit the membership track podcast and get started today!
Upcoming Events
Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Our Latest Podcasts
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Giving to the Giver
Dec 17, 2024 • 41:07
Why would anyone give up everything for Jesus? What are we holding onto that keeps us from fully trusting Him? Tune in this week to be challenged to go deeper in Jesus! EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @…
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Week 1 - Regifting Jesus
Dec 3, 2024 • 41:25
OPENING ILLUSTRATION: What do you do to prepare for Christmas to come? Years ago we had a two-story house, our kids were young and they REALLY wanted Christmas lights on the house. Jenni gave me the whole, “It would just mean so much if you’d put them up”. So, I…
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Week 4 - Letter to the Anxious Heart
Nov 26, 2024 • 40:54
When anxiety grips us, what do we do? This Sunday, let’s talk about how God helps us face what feels overwhelming. EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins. OPENING…
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Week 3 - Where does my help come from?
Nov 19, 2024 • 39:47
OPENING ILLUSTRATION: Can I tel you a quick story, and I’m gonna be a little vulnerable here and expose myself some, is that ok, yall will treat me with kindness? So, a little over year ago Jenni and I started this journey to build a rental cabin at the gorge…
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