Town of Harmony and Church at Harmony are working together to create an awesome day of fun for Flag Day this year. It will be held Saturday June 16th from 10am – 1pm at Lakeshore Park in Harmony. There will be LOTS of FREE food ( grilling ), cold drinks, games, activities for all ages and a refreshing waterslide!!!

Flag Day is a day some people are unaware of…but it’s important to remember the basis of this Patriotic Day!

On June 14th, 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a 19 year old teacher at Stony Hill School, placed a 10 inch, 38 star flag in a bottle on his desk then assigned essays on the flag and its significance. This observance, commemorated Congresses adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. This observance was also the beginning of Cigrand’s long years of fervent and devoted effort to bring about national recognition and observance of Flag Day. The crowning achievement of his life came at age fifty when President Wilson, on May 30, 1916, issued a proclamation calling for a nation wide observance of Flag Day. Then in 1949, President Truman signed an Act Of Congress designating the 14th day of June every year as National Flag Day.

The Osceola Community Choir will be present at the picnic, and we will be singing a few Patriotic songs to honor the holiday! EVERYONE is welcome, so bring your friends and family, and a hearty appetite for food and fun at this year’s Flag Day Harmony Lakeshore Picnic!

Get your lawn chairs and blankets out again and come enjoy the FREE movie night at Harmony Town Square. Over 190 people enjoyed COURAGEOUS at last month’s Movie Night and we expect a great crowd again on Friday June 1st. Don’t worry… there’s PLENTY OF ROOM and plenty of free popcorn, sno-cones, cotton candy and coffee! Check the story below that will explain the basis of this AWESOME movie!

Bethany Hamilton has become a source of inspiration to millions through her story of faith, determination, and hope. Born into a family of surfers on February 8, 1990, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany began surfing at a young age. At the age of eight, Bethany entered her first surf competition, the Rell Sun Menehune event on Oahu, where she won both the short and long board divisions. This sparked a love for surf competition within her spirit.

At the age of thirteen, on October 31, 2003, Bethany was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing off Kauai’s North Shore. The attack left Bethany with a severed left arm. After losing over 60% of her blood, and making it through several surgeries without infection, Bethany was on her way to recovery with an unbelievably positive attitude. Lifeguards and doctors believe her strong water sense and faith in God helped get her through the traumatic ordeal.

Miraculously, just one month after the attack, Bethany returned to the water to continue pursuing her goal to become a professional surfer. In January of 2004, Bethany made her return to surf competition; placing 5th in the Open Women’s division of that contest. With no intention of stopping, Bethany continued to enter and excel in competition. Just over a year after the attack she took 1st place in the Explorer Women’s division of the 2005 NSSA National Championships – winning her first National Title.

In 2007, Bethany realized her dream and turned pro. Bethany has since participated in numerous ASP and World Tour Events with her major highlight being a second place finish in the ASP 2009 World Junior Championships

Since losing her arm, Bethany’s story has been told in hundreds of media outlets and she has been recognized with numerous awards, public appearances, and various speaking engagements. 

In October 2004, Bethany shared her life story in her autobiography entitled Soul Surfer. Seven years later, the bookwas made into a major motion picture bearing the same title which released theatrically in April, and for home entertainment in August, 2011.

From a young age, Bethany’s parents instilled their faith in Jesus Christ; and at age 5, she made the decision to have a personal relationship with Him. Bethany’s foundation of faith has been her backbone; her source of truth, hope, and strength.

Bethany’s story is continually growing as she strives to be the best at whatever God calls her to do. The future is truly wide open for this young soul surfer!

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood.

While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they’re quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.

When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God … and to their children?

From this powerful movie comes and even more powerful teaching series. Join us on Sundays at 10:30am at Harmony High School Auditorium  and be a part of Courageous!

Protecting the streets is second nature to these men. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That’s courageous.

Well yesterday was a great “Empty Tomb” day….AMEN……We started the day with a great crowd at The Harmony Town Square and our Sunrise Service at 7am…unlike many sunrise services we began our service at 7am…. this gave us a chance to prepare for a full worship time with our Praise band and singers! Then Pastor Karl brought a powerful message about Jesus’ “Famous Last Words.”

We then moved to the Harmony High School Auditorium and prepared for our Easter musical, Remember. WOW….what an anointed time with the Lord….many new faces at the church and a really great time of worship. Ken Harvey blessed the church as he led us in worship. My beautiful wife Lisa and Ken narrated through the presentation as they have together for years…..and the choir was powerfully anointed…filled with hands raised and joyous faces as they worshipped our Lord! What a day……Pastor Karl finished the day by bringing the final message of Jesus’ Famous Last words…..

It was a great day for Church at Harmony, but it was a miraculous day as a Christ follower as we remember that our Savior knowingly went to Calvary to die for our sins so that we could spend eternity with Our Father…..I hope that truth doesn’t fade away as the days and weeks church on away from yesterday  - and pray we all realize that as a Christ follower we know that EVERY day is resurrection day for us…Praise God…….

In Jesus’ Name  - Pastor Keith

Over 2000 years ago, God used twelve ordinary men to transform the world. As followers of Christ, the call on our lives is no less. We are to be a dangerous people, allowing ourselves to be God’s vessel for accomplishing extraordinary things. When is the last time you believed God for something extraordinary? Prepare yourself to take a risk and go where no church has gone before!

This Sunday at 10:30am Pastor Karl Schroeder will begin this exciting news series…..take a risk and drive out to Harmony High School Auditorium for DANGEROUS CHURCH!

Make sure to watch your speed on the drive…..or you’ll be sure to experience something else extraordinary…. a speeding ticket….

Four men, one calling; To serve and protect. When tragedy strikes home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering.
Please join us at 7:00pm at Harmony Town Square as we offer a FREE showing of the lifechanging movie “Courageous!” If you haven’t see Courageous yet, bring your whole family and bring your friends too! This will be a movie you’ll never forget! If you’ve already seen Courageous, bring some lawn chairs or blankets, relax and enjoy the FREE popcorn and other refreshments and watch this life changing movie  again! It’s on us! Place the date on your calendar now…Friday April 27th at 7pm at the Town of Harmony Square!

http://www.churchatharmony.com

When was the last time you spent hours just sitting at a desk, not driving down the road, not looking through work assignments, not distracted by a T.V. program in the background, but just sitting alone and worshipping your Father and basking in His awesome presence in a dimly lit room? Well, I have to be honest, it’s been a while for me…. I seem to always have a hand in something else while I’m doing something… I pride myself ( notice the word pride) in being able to multi-task….anyone else do that? Anyone else too busy to be single-minded about anything – EVEN the Lord of Heaven and Earth? Well how unfortunate that all is…..it just keeps me ( and us) from truly feeling His awesome presence and the beauty in the truth of so many lyrics in worship songs….I prayed last night as I worshipped that the Lord would bless our church and that he would free our emotions to love him openly in our worship… that we would not fear to be outwardly joyous and even not fear to cry and cry out to Him….that as a church we would crave to come to church and worship Him and sing to Him, and that as we sing the presence of God would come down and be in our midst…. that’s what I prayed for last night as I worshipped, and that I pray will be the desire of our heart as a church…that we desire to meet with Him every week as we prepare to come to church… not to just be a well structured church that is growing, but rather, a church that is on fire for Him and wants Him in everything we do……a church like that DOES GROW! There aren’t enough churches like that around I have to admit…. too many churches worry about the programming being cool so people will come… it’s a sad focus….we don’t want to be that kind of church I assure you! So, I encourage all of you to set aside some time before we meet again on Sunday to worship Him…. alone…be daring – and bold, dim a light or two, and listen – listen for Him… and with Him… John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. I’ve attached a song that I think you’ll love….I know I do….click the link below!

Rock of Ages You Will Stand

Be blessed – Pastor Keith

What a blast today…..I loved looking out and seeing new families and hands raised in worship…our first song was a fav of mine for a long time….i hide myself in Thee..notice all lower case until the word Thee…Tommy Walker wrote this and deeply loving tune which is such an encouragement as we sing it….it was just awesome to hear the congregation sing those words….. followed by the rest of the worship time that was filled with the Lord’s presence…..

then ATA Mass Defense came out with a Taekwondo demo after our lead in videos…1st video was a “Chick Flick” and the second was man-type movie…..

here’s the “chick” flick” – click on the link below:

Chickflick

here’s the 2nd flick we showed at church ( more guy like)

Manly Movie

Great time at Church at Harmony – Pastor Karl brought a solid and anointed message.. I’m looking forward to next week already!!!

- Pastor Keith

This Sunday at 10:30am we will begin our new  “Warrior” teaching series.

For years the church has taught men how to be nice guys when they have really been called to be Warriors. During The Warrior message series, men can learn how to prepare and win every battle that must be fought.

In every man’s and woman’s life, there is a cause worth fighting for and a victory worth claiming. What is yours? Discover how to not only prepare for the battles ahead, but more importantly, how to emerge victoriously. It’s time to stop playing the role of the nice one and instead live as The Warrior.

We will talk about our upcoming Warrior Covenant Ceremony which will be along the lines of what you may have seen in the recent movie “Courageous”. The church is going to challenged to step up & live out the values of a warrior and to be the Warriors God has created them to be.

I encourage you to NOT miss this Sunday…start learning about being a Warrior on the same day that the Superbowl is played…

- Pastor Keith

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15, NIV

One of the most familiar questions we hear as Christian leaders is: “will God give me anything I ask of Him? If not, why should I even pray?”

In my answer I encourage people, if they feel confident that what they want is a good thing, to pray boldly for it. But at the same time they should be willing to submit to God’s will if He says no. More than that, they should be glad about it, for God’s will is always best.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus provided an amazing model of prayer for us. He agonized with the Father over the suffering that lay ahead for Him. He wanted to be spared it. Nevertheless, He remained submitted and obedient to His Father. Jesus’ words “Not what I will, but what you will” should be a principle of the heart for all of us.

Unfortunately most of us are more like the disciples in the garden scene. These guys couldn’t keep their eyes open. They needed an awakening in their life- literally…. If prayer is getting hard for us, we should listen more to our willing spirit and less to our weak earthly nature.

Here’s a promise for you…The more you live in a passionate relationship with God, the more your desires will line up with His. And consequently, the more you will see God saying yes to your requests as the two of you work together in fulfilling His great plan. What could be more exciting than that!

If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God. —E. Stanley Jones

Lord, whatever you want, wherever you want it, and whenever you want it, that’s what I want. —Richard Baxter

Today’s Fasting Video Encouragement:

Bible Reading Plan: Mark 14:32-42

Prayer Focus: What are the deepest concerns on your heart today? Pray for the Lord’s will to be done in them—and then give them up wholly to Him.