DAILY DEVOTIONAL: Susan
Our latest devotional is from Susan Leonard, who along with her husband Mike leads our Celebrate Recovery ministry.
Devotional from Susan from Hope Chapel Maui on Vimeo.
UNITED PRAYER:
Let’s pray for our neighbors today, that we would see how we can best love those that we live nearest to during this time. In James 2 it talks about how, if we have faith in Christ, it will naturally manifest itself in what we do, and we are all called to love our neighbors. Does a neighbor of yours need groceries or prayer? Do they need encouragement? Pray and listen to what God has to say to you today about the best ways that we can love and help those that live close to us!
FAMILY RESOURCE: Educational Online Activities for Your Family
You may have seen some great online resources lately that are being offered free of charge. Things such as museum tours, livestream concerts or plays, and much more! We’ve compiled a few that would be both educational & entertaining for your kids, or even fun to sit down and explore as a family. Enjoy!
1. Museum & Zoo Tours
Many museums & zoos around the country have made their exhibits available online, this is both fun and educational! Spend some time with your kids exploring The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History or see if you can spot all of the animals at The Georgia Aquarium. Links are included below:
https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/vt3/NMNH/ - The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
www.georgiaaquarium.org/webcam/ocean-voyager/ - The Georgia Aquarium
2. Focus on the Family Magazine
“Clubhouse” is Focus on the Family’s faith-based magazine just for kids, they have a regular and Jr. issue that comes out each month. This magazine promotes family closeness with challenging puzzles, hand-on activities, and entertaining stories. They are offering their April issue online for free for your kids to read through. Here’s the link!
https://www.flipsnack.com/Focus/clubhouse-april-2020.html - Regular Edition
https://www.flipsnack.com/Focus/clubhouse-jr-april-2020.html - Jr. Edition
3. Check out a National Park
Take a virtual tour of America’s first National Park! Yellowstone National Park has updated its website to include 8 different virtual tours of the most popular places in the park. You can also watch a live stream of the famous Old Faithful Geyser, and even submit a prediction of when you think it will erupt!
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htm - Virtual Tours
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm - Old Faithful Live Stream
HOW-TO: How To - Get Your 'Ohana Group Online
How To - Get Your 'Ohana Group Online
As we continue on as the church distributed in homes across Maui, we are calling all of us to get together online in small groups and do just 3 things:
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Worship with us for 1 weekend service
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Meet online with your ‘Ohana Group (don’t have one? Grab a few friends!) and walk through the Message Application Questions together. Pray and encourage one another as you check in- how can you help one another?
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Go and make a difference: Pray for someone or submit a request, serve a friend or neighbor in need. (Have an encouraging story come from this? Share it with us here!)
Thankfully, technology has made it possible to continue meeting together, even now. If you’re connecting with a friend or two, FaceTime or just a conference call works great! But to get bigger groups together we’re using a free platform called Zoom. Here’s how to use it.
OPENING AND RUNNING ZOOM:
Zoom can be used on your phone, a tablet or iPad, or your computer (if it has a camera).
1. Download Zoom: Go to your app store, and download it on your laptop, phone or iPad (it is a blue app with a white camera in the middle). If you’re on a computer, go to https://zoom.us and install the application.
2. Create a free account (note that free accounts are limited to 40 mins, but you can jump right on another call if you want to go longer!). It’ll warn you as you get close to the time limit.
3. Have each of your ‘Ohana Group members download the app and create accounts as well.
4. Start a new meeting and invite your friends:
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From your phone or iPad: Open Zoom and start a new meeting. Tap the screen and touch “Participants” at the bottom of the screen. Then, again at the bottom of the screen, tap “Invite”- then choose to send an email or text to invite people to your meeting. On their end- they simply click the link that is sent to them, and they will join your screen!
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From your computer: Open Zoom, and start a new meeting. Mouse over the Zoom screen and click “Invite,” which will pop up a new screen. Click “Copy URL” or “Copy Invitation”, and email or text this to your group members. When they click the link, they’ll join your screen. *If for some reason the software requests a Meeting ID or Password for your attendees, it’s found in the “Copy Invitation,” copy and paste this into an email.
There are some advanced features like setting meetings in advance- if you’d like to know more about that, here’s an in-depth tutorial:
https://vimeo.com/400310934
OTHER WAYS TO STAY CONNECTED
Phone Calls:
Although seeing each others’ faces is nice, phone calls are always a great way to connect. You can pray together over the phone, stay updated on each others’ lives, and study God’s Word together. You can read it out loud, and have them follow along or simply listen and engage afterwards.
Email & Text:
There is always email and text as well, where you can send encouragements, songs, verses, videos and share prayer requests with one another as the week goes on. This is a great way to care for your group from a distance in an ongoing way.
We pray that you find yourselves encouraged by this time, and that the Lord continues using you mightily!