A Note from Pastor Roger

Dear Church Family,
 
I have some significant updates to share with you today regarding our Bellaire campus's worship pastor, Aaron Senseman, and his health journey, giving totals from the Deep & Wide Generosity Initiative, and a reminder about VBS and VBX at our inner loop campuses next week.

Over twenty years ago, Aaron Senseman, our Bellaire Worship Pastor, received a diagnosis of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). This rare autoimmune disease slowly destroys the bile ducts in the liver. It has no known prevention or cure and eventually results in liver failure. Doctors have advised that Aaron needs a liver transplant from a living donor. How can we help?

• Pray for healing for Aaron and for grace and encouragement for his wife, Brittany, and their children, Anna and Will.

• Bookmark teamsenseman.com to read more details and sign up there for regular updates.

• Join the TeamSenseman Facebook page at facebook.com/teamsenseman.

• Spread the word by sharing this update with others.

But we already have a praise to share! Due to the tremendous response by so many potential donors, the clinic has asked that we press pause on requests for new applicants. This is a huge praise! Aaron and Brittany are grateful to any of you who have considered this. If no match is found, a renewed request for potential donors will be made. Please pray that a match is found and that Aaron remains in relatively good health while he waits.

I will never forget worshiping alongside each of our six CityRise campuses for Deep & Wide Day last month at Houston Christian University! This two-year initiative has been one of the biggest undertakings—if not the biggest—in nearly one-hundred years of our church's ministry, a milestone to be sure. Since we began the initiative, we have seen 386 new giving households, which also equals over 1,000 new individuals who have led with “yes” in this generosity discipleship journey. A grand total of 1,197 households have participated through giving; this equals over 3,500 individuals! In the Deep & Wide Day service, we announced that we had collected a total of $29,347,547.75 toward a need of $31,900,000 and that we were so very close with only $2,550,000 remaining to finish by paying cash for our current projects.
 
I praise God as I update you with the following new totals:

• Total Receipts as of June 5, 2024:         $30,305,171
• Remaining to complete the initiative:      $1,594,829

Hallelujah! We are so close! If you have met and exceeded your pledge, we are grateful to you. If you are still working on your pledge, thank you for your faithfulness. And if you’ve yet to join us on this journey, please consider doing so now at cityrise.org/give.

This week, VBS and its Spanish-language equivalent, EBV, are close to wrapping up at our Missouri City campus. It's been an incredible week for those kids! Next week, it's the inner loop's turn. VBS will run at our West U Baptist campus from June 10–14, from 9am–12pm for kids who will go into Kindergarten through 5th grade this coming fall.

At the same time over at our Bellaire campus, students who will be in 6th–8th grade this fall will enjoy VBX, a week of games, small group Bible study, large group worship, and outdoor recreation.

These are two of our biggest ministry events of the whole year. To sign up for either of these or to learn more, go to cityrise.org/summer.

Have a great weekend, Church Family, as school is finally out and summer break is finally here. Continue to pray for me, Pastor Chuck Oak, and the people we are ministering to as we near the end of our time in Kenya. It has been a phenomenal trip. The Lord has been so good!

Expecting Greater Things,
Pastor Roger

Unable to join us in person on Sunday? You're welcome to be with us online at one of our livestreamed services through the following ways:

CityRise App • Livestreams Page • CityRise YouTube