Shepherd of the Hills UMC Rancho Santa Margarita Campus

As we anticipate Pastor Jon returning to the pulpit next Sunday, we celebrate and give thank to Darren Cowdrey who graciously stepped in to preach since the beginning of 2021. Here's his last sermon with us. It's Sunday, folks - let's worship! https://vimeo.com/512067708

Highlighting the programs, groups, and activities we have planned for Lent 2021. If you have "checked out" of church, this is the time to step back into faith on Love's Journey.

GOT PANCAKES? Join us on ZOOM next Tuesday for some Shrove Tuesday (a.k.a. Christian "Mardi Gras") fun. There will be some history, trivia, but most of all, fun with pancakes. Get ready by getting your ingredients ready. Here's my favorite recipe here: 2 cups milk (with 2 Tbs plain yogurt added) 10 oz flour 2 Tbs sugar... 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp each salt and baking soda 1 egg 3 Tbs melted butter Comine liquids in bowl; combine dry ingredients in second bowl. Mix until barely combined (lumpy batter is ok). Cook in lightly oiled pan.

Original footage and recording of our worship band. Song by Michael Frye.

Dear Church Family, Praying for one another is something the church has always been able to do; whether in person or separated physically as we are today. Prayer is perhaps the earliest version of Online Church, as it connects us all together as the body of Christ. The good news with prayer is that the connection can never be lost. The strength is not based upon the prayer traffic in our neighborhood. And we don’t need a modem or unlimited data plan to offer a prayer.... So this week Pastor Darren and I want to invite you to share your prayer requests with us for worship. During the prayer time, we will lift these joys or concerns up in both of our online worship services. In order to be able to share them all, I’m asking that they be very succinct sentences. We know that God already knows the depth and detail of our prayer, but there is something about naming them that places these people before us all in worship. Here are some examples, Healing for ______ Comfort for the _________ family at the loss of _________ Unity for our community Healing and restoration of a marriage For victims of _______________ Joy at the birth of ____________ Thankful for ___________'s birthday and the gift of their life Direction for ____________ A job for ______________ Etc., etc., etc. By keeping them brief, we can share a great number of prayers. Please send your prayer sentence to Pastor Karl at [email protected] by the end of the day on Wednesday, February 10th. We will record the prayers on Thursday and have them up for worship on Sunday morning. Thank you for praying for one another in these times. With God's Peace, Pastor Karl

As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, here's another great article from USA Today. I love these lines from the beginning of the article: With faith, we will come forth stronger and better, but we all have to do it together. We need to first examine how we got here. How do we dismantle ideas and systems that keep racism alive? We also need to hold our leaders as accountable for progress as we do ourselves. Here's the full article, with many great links: https://www.usatoday.com//black-history-month-/6567631002/