2023 YEAR END LETTER

Dear Soma Family,

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

– Proverbs 19:21

No one really knows how a journey will end as they take the first step. Life is full of unexpected roadblocks, detours, and hidden blessings—and this year has seen all three in abundance. Honestly, how many of your plans made it to the finish line this year? The end of the year is a good time to pull over and consider the road behind us as we prepare to navigate the road ahead. 2023 is ending, and how different this year turned out to be from what we expected when it began.

Though these past months have been tough, I am thankful to God for how he has worked in and through our congregation. We have seen church members work valiantly to keep us connected through worship gatherings services and Gospel Community meals/ study. We have ministered to our community through Affordable Christmas project, serving Lincoln University students, staff and administration while also serving our local elementary school Moreau Heights and in favelas in Brazil. We have also learned to pray together better than ever.

Many people are struggling financially this year, so I do not want to pressure you to give if you are unable — in fact, if you need help, we invite you to contact our Elders to explore ways we might assist you — but if you are in a position to give right now, I encourage you to consider Soma in your year-end giving plans. You can give in-person or online at somajc.org.

These last few years has been hard for our church financially. Many people have given faithfully, and we have been helped by fundraising efforts from our Elders, but we are still running behind our budget. So, any extra amount you might give at this time will be a big help.

More than anything, please continue to uphold our church in your prayers. Post-Covid we have had members of the congregation in a multitude of life stages and as they come to mind, please mention them in prayer to the Lord. These have been difficult times for all of us, and we all need each other’s support. Continue to be expectant and patient as we move into the new year. Join me in seeking God’s face in prayer (more on that in the coming days).

I’m not sure how many of your plans crashed and burned this year. Many of my friends feel like 2023 was a hard year—a year that lacked momentum, even so, plans are different from purpose. Plans involve getting to a desired destination in life—purpose is about destiny. The beautiful thing about God’s providence is that it unites our plans (even the bad ones) to His purpose for us and we know His purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son as He prepares us for an eternity of solid, unending joy (Romans 8:28-30).

While there are many worthwhile ministries to which many of us give, we encourage you to make your local church, the bride of Christ, a priority in your giving. This might be a chance to renew your monthly tithe, or to give a special year-end gift. Those in our church who give generously would all tell you that there is great joy in giving. May you experience his joy and contentment as you give back to God the first fruits of what he has given you!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Jon C. Nelson, on behalf of the elders

VBS Covid Outbreak

Dear Church Family,

After our recent Vacation Bible School (VBS) we received news that multiple volunteers and participants may have been exposed to Covid-19 (possibly BA.5/ Ninja variant). We have been informed of multiple people, as of Wednesday afternoon, have tested positive. This composes 25% of those in attendance which includes volunteers and participants.

VBS families are being notified and we are contacting people with whom those who are positive were in close contact. It could not be known exactly how many people were exposed before coming to church; therefore, we are asking the congregation to assume they are a close contact and test immediately.

Soma is consulting directly with a medical expert on COVID who is treating acute COVID patients and patients with COVID long-haul symptoms daily. We have learned that even the medical community has been surprised by how quickly this current surge has come upon us. Many organizations are experiencing breakthrough infections even in vaccinated people. Although rare, breakthrough infections can be severe. Thankfully, those who have tested positive in this church have communicated they are experiencing only mild symptoms and it looks like there will be no further positive cases.

The Elders have made the following adjustments through careful deliberation after listening to expert medical advice:

We are asking all persons who were at our Sunday Service (July 17^th) to test immediately and report any positive results to a healthcare provider and the church office (573-635-4832).
We are cancelling Gospel Community for Thursday night (July 21^st)
The church offices will be closed July 22^{nd –}24^th(Friday – Sunday) for disinfecting.
This week’s Sunday gathering is cancelled, and we will be hosting an online service both on Facebook (facebook.com/somajeffersoncity) and YouTube (youtube.com/somajcmo).
Sunday Gatherings that meet in person will be socially distanced where possible. If you are feeling sick, please where are mask or choose to join us online.
Positivity rates will be monitored continually and adjustments to these policies will be made as is appropriate.

We understand how fatigued we all are with Covid, this virus: however, knows no fatigue. Therefore, it is important that we stay prepared to make necessary adjustments to keep one another safe. The good news is situations that occur like this one no longer have to shut our church down indefinitely. The science is clear that when people gather masked, vaccinated and/or boosted it protects us and others, it makes the risk of transmission extremely low. Much more is known about this virus now; such measures ensure that we can continue to worship safely and in person.

We love you each more than you will ever know,

The Elders of Soma

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. The LORD is God, and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.”

– Psalm 118:26–28 (ESV)

Church, Don’t Let Coronavirus Divide You

For church leaders and elder boards everywhere, the last few months have presented a near-constant array of complex challenges related to shepherding a church during the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest complex challenge is perhaps the trickiest yet: how to prudently resume in-person gatherings.

[Read more…]

GIVE BACK WEDNESDAY 2012

A few years ago (in a different life) I had the pleasure and privilege of working with, and ministering to a young woman with an amazing story and heart of gold. Her name is Crystal Renaud and she is the founder of a ministry called “Dirty Girls Ministries” and author of a book named “Dirty Girls come clean” which are both aimed at providing help, hope, and healing for women dealing with pornography and sexual addiction. The other day she tweeted this,

Oh dear. I’ve been bit by the idea bug. The only cure is to stay up for many more hours to see if said idea becomes nothing or something.

— Crystal Renaud (@crystalrenaud) November 20, 2012

Crystal is a dynamic, honest and very creative young woman and the idea from that tweet reflects this reality. I pray that you don’t just read this post but get involved!

Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. How about Give Back Wednesday?

As we know, Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks for all the blessings we’ve received over the last year. But it seems like for many of us, we go from giving thanks for all we have to the very next day ~~shopping~~ fighting for everything we don’t. And this year, Black Friday is beginning on Thursday (which, can you still call it Black Friday?).

What if before the big bird is carved and the big screen TVs go on sale, we all took a moment to give back to the ministries, organizations and individuals who serve others all year long?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with shopping this weekend and getting in on the great deals. But consider giving back on Wednesday first and support the causes that rely on your generosity to keep them going. Check out the “GIVE BACK” tab above for some organizations that would greatly appreciate your donation. If you would like to add to this list, please reply below with the name and website you would like for us to add.

Share this idea with your friends using the social media links below (#gbw). If you decide to give back, please leave a comment on the “I GAVE BACK” page. We’d love to track how many organizations are impacted by this effort.

Below is a list of causes who would greatly benefit from your donation. Click a link to visit their website for more info and to donate. If you would like to add to this list, please REPLY HERE with the name and website you would like for us to add. Non-Profit Organizations/Tax-Deductible Giving only, please. If you decide to give back, please leave a comment on the “I GAVE BACK” page. We’d love to track how many organizations are impacted by this effort.

Listed Alphabetically

American Family Assoc. of KS & MO

Birthday Blessings KC

Blood:Water Mission

Compassion International

Dirty Girls Ministries

Exodus Cry

Food for the Hungry

Hookers for Jesus

Invisible Children

Mercy Chefs

Oceans of Mercy

People of the Second Chance

RefineUs Ministries

Shiloh Restored

The A21 Campaign

The Mentoring Project

To Write Love on Her Arms

XXXChurch

88.5 KLJC

Blessings,
Crystal Renaud
Founder of Dirty Girls Ministries

If you have 10 minutes please..

If you have 10 minutes today please take a minute and look at this video. While doing it ask yourself this question…

What would you do if you were sailing over the place where your four daughters had drowned?

Horatio Spafford wrote this song…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUu2C6kLu8]

Please use this video and our media content to help raise awareness and resources for those who are suffering. One of the many things that I learned at my time at WFC is that those indigenous to the country are usually best suited and most knowledgeable of the pressing needs. We all know that the local Church is the hope of the world because through us Jesus is shared. For more information on what to do please go to Ch urches Helping Churches.com.

Actually Help Haiti!

Haiti just suffered the worst earthquake they’ve seen in the last 200 years. This is a tremendous opportunity for the Church (you guys) to share from our abundant resources to help bring comfort to the Haitians in the midst of such acute suffering.

Here are a few organizations that are mobilizing to help Haiti, any of them would be great to partner with:

The Courageous Church is trying to fill a immediate (as in yesterday) need of high power, military-grade laptop computers. They also will helping to facilitate new adoptions (not already in progress) of Haitian orphans. Do you feel CALLED to ADOPT Haitian orphans? Donate by clicking HERE! or send a check or money order please consider overnighting it via FedEx, etc. and send it to:

Courageous Church
190 Centennial Way
Atlanta, GA 30313

Compassion International has 65,000 sponsored children in Haiti.

World Vision has sponsored children in Haiti & is doing disaster relief work. They also have a program for churches to get involved, “Promise Packs.”

Samaritan’s Purse is providing disaster relief supplies. They hope to have 6,000 temporary shelters up in a couple weeks & by the end of next week will be providing 500,000 gallons of clean water daily.

Convoy of Hope has a warehouse there & feeds 7,000 children daily. They are providing food & disaster relief supplies. Here are some photos of their work so far.

World Hope is mobilizing their staff in Haiti & will be coordinating volunteers and volunteer groups from the U.S. (once emergency needs have been met).