A Note from Pastor Kirby

Dear Church Family,
 
I’m happy to share one more ministry update with you as Pastor Roger completes his annual sabbatical this week.
 
The next two weeks hold big events for our CityRise family!

The final night of August Apologetics is this coming Monday, August 19 at 6:30P at our West U Baptist campus. This last session will be very popular as Dr. James Tour presents the topic “Scientists Remain Clueless on the Origin of First Life.” This is a can’t miss opportunity, so invite your family, friends, and neighbors to attend with you.

LiftOff Sunday (August 25) promises to be one of the most exciting and meaningful Sundays so far this year. This day serves as a call to everyone who attends one of our CityRise campuses to join a Sunday morning Community Group. If you are already in a group, be sure to attend that day. This is a high attendance emphasis, and we are pumped about packing out our campuses for worship and Bible study.

We all know someone who needs authentic biblical community. Make it your mission to personally invite someone to your Community Group on August 25.

To close this letter, I’d like to provide you with a few staff changes.

We have an amazing team of ministry leaders here at CityRise. For the last several years, Lauren Grossman has served faithfully as our Bellaire Kids Ministry Director. She and her husband, Matt, and son, Oliver, will be transitioning to the Austin area for Matt’s work and will be nearer to both of their families. Anna Lauren Nelson is stepping away as our Preschool Ministry Director. She has grown in her role over the years and is a creative and supportive member of our team. She and her husband, Cole, and sweet daughter, Holly, will be moving to the Dallas area for Cole’s work and will also be much nearer to both of their families. Matt and Cole have also volunteered in a number of key ways that have been a huge help to us.

It is always bittersweet to say farewell, but the Lord always supplies our needs by sending awesome new people to fill those spots. Please join me in congratulating Lauren Grossman and Anna Lauren Nelson on a job very well done! Our prayers go with you, Lauren and Anna Lauren! You will be missed.
 
Lauren Erwin will be transitioning from serving as the Administrative Assistant to the Kids Ministry to serve as the Program Coordinator for our new ACV Bellaire program. Lauren is a talented, devoted member of our team and has served very well previously in both our Student Ministry and Kids Ministry. ACV Bellaire will be blessed to have her on the leadership team!

Lastly, we are very excited to welcome three new team members to CityRise.

• Rosie Hirschfeld, who has attended our Bellaire campus for the past several years with her husband, Jake, and kids, has joined our staff as Director for our new ACV Bellaire program. Rosie brings a great spirit and solid credentials to this role, and we can’t wait to see her in action as this ministry launches and grows over the next few months.
• We also welcome Emma Straub as the new Administrative Assistant to the CityRise Kids Ministry. Emma and her family attend our Bellaire campus, and most recently Emma served as a Student Ministry Intern this summer and did an amazing job.
• Emily Heinzman will join the Bellaire Kids Ministry team as Program Coordinator. Emily and her husband JD have been active members of our Bellaire campus for several years and attend there with their sweet new baby. They have also given volunteer leadership in a number of ministry areas. We are excited to welcome Emily and look forward to the year ahead under her leadership.

Please pray for these staff changes! If you know highly qualified candidates who may be seeking employment, please direct them to cityrise.org/jobs to check out our open positions and, if interested, submit an application there as well.

Looking forward to the days ahead, Church Family. We'll see you on Sunday!


Stay Expectant,
Pastor Kirby

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