Equipping Parents
We had a great turnout for our Parent Workshop in June!

Lots of parents were equipped with the the tools needed to succeed in special needs parenting. We also have gained several new families, one of which has twins who both have autism. Their mother has been so blessed by being able to actually attend church, which is often a challenge for families who have special needs individuals.

We are looking forward to the fall festival respite event on October 28th!

Communication
We're in the process of  implementing strategic communication to our church family while considering what methods of communication should be used,  including text messaging, videos, announcements, and social media. Intentionality is critical as we decide when and what to send from each pastor and the timing in which to do it.

Production Team
We're seeing new recruits to our Church Online team, and we're thankful to add Ashly Barnes, Nicole Curry, and Ari Gibbs to our ranks.  Our⁠ ⁠Production Team continues to cross train our volunteers,hoping to increase the flexibility of each serving position.  We believe that a huge growth moment for our team will come when we can see new people serving in each position with confidence.

Production - The Process & The Vision
When some of our key leaders stepped out of their roles on the production team (then called the tech team), it was a huge blow.   Camera shots grew stale, and it was a challenge sometimes to even have a single person serving on camera some Sundays.  While we aren't yet seeing exponential growth in terms of number of volunteers, we are absolutely seeing growth in terms of healthy serving and expertise.  

We've been placing key volunteers in leadership positions,  training our people to better utilize the equipment, brain-storming ways of improving, and trying new things with lighting, cameras, atomspherics, and showing B-Roll during announcements in a way that supports what the Lord is doing in our services.

The vision is simple.  Let our work be worship.  Whether on a camera, directing the service, or leading our online church...it's all worship.

Story Telling
Video continues to be one of the greatest methods we have to tell the story of Jesus working through people.  This quarter we filmed and edited several videos, such as One to One Discipleship, the Heritage 30th Birthday Promo, and a Fort Benning Video that shared what's going on at Fort Benning (hundreds of soldiers being saved and working towards discipleship)....we not only created a video to share this vision with the church, but also created a supplemental video that shared this vision with generals and other leaders in the army itself.

Good Friday Service
Our Production team worked through several iterations of what a Good Friday service might look like.  Overall the service and tone were a big success.  Afterwards we were able to sit down and talk through a few of the pain points in the planning stages as well as the execution stage.  It's exciting to consider that this might be a new tradition at Heritage, and could grow in the years to come.

The Storehouse
The Storehouse brought in $79,654 this quarter (April–June), exceeding last year’s Q2 record by $16,776. We are now $21,000 ahead of 2024’s YTD total which was previously our best. God continues to use the generosity of our donors, faithful customers, and dedicated volunteers to serve locally and send globally.

The Storehouse Relief Team served 34 individuals or households, including two recently released from prison!

A new partnership has begun with Ms. Rebecca Pressley, who now ministers weekly at the nursing home where she was once a patient on the brink of death.  She brings fresh fruit, large-print Bibles, clothing, and other essentials to residents in need. We’re honored to partner with Ms. Rebecca in her ministry.

Global Missions – Peru
Eddie Seagle’s team of 10 served in Peru, June 6–13, marking our 11th year partnering with Mike and Chelene Kennedy at New Life Children’s Home in Cieneguilla.

Some Highlights:
        •        Took children, staff, and families to a fun park and dinner; provided new shoes for all.
        •        Took older kids to a Peru vs. Ecuador professional soccer match.
        •        While the children were in school, the team:
        •        Set up 6 shanty homes
        •        Distributed blankets and Bibles
        •        Ministered at a rehab center, police academy, and on the streets of Gamarra

This partnership has seen long-term impact: previous teams have built playgrounds, outdoor cooking areas, furnished dorms, and more. Several team members return year after year, deepening relationships with the children and staff.

Over 50 people gathered at Bonnie Edwards’ home recently to hear the team share their experiences. Eddie continues to lead with excellence, and we hope to send a larger team (up to 45) next year. This, along with the Honduras SoloHope trip, would be a great intro to global missions.

What's Coming Up
We’re preparing for a Missions Fair on July 27 in the atrium. Our local, national, and global partners will host booths to share about their ministries and offer next steps for involvement.

Heritage Kids
For Palm Sunday we handed out over 100 Resurrection Garden Kits that sparked conversations about Jesus’ death and resurrection in the days leading up to Easter.

At our Easter Sunday Celebration, Kids experienced a powerful dramatic expression of the veil being torn and a child running to Jesus on the throne to emphasize the truth that we have child-of-the-king access to the King of Kings because of Jesus’ work on the cross!

We also held a Family Movie Day – King of Kings.
 We were able to hand out tickets on Easter for families to enjoy together a free movie experience about the story of Jesus!

5th Move Up  - Lunch & Equipping 
We celebrated and equipped 5th graders and their parents encouraging them in the next phase of discipleship as they transition into the student ministry. Students received a teen study Bible as a gift.

Slide into Summer
We had great participation at our annual  fun family outreach event with lunch, inflatables, and sweet treats.  We welcomed summer with joy, connection, and Gospel-centered community.

Summer Kickoff
Summer programming transitioned to VBS style rotations, bringing energy and wonder into our environment.  Beginning with a story and worship experience for K-5, we then rotated into fun-filled science, missions, and rec stations.  It's been a fun summer of growing together!

Change for a Change 
Kids began collecting coins to support a mission project in Guanacaste, Honduras where we will provide a system bringing water to their school.  This life changing project is empowering our kids to see their generosity as a form of worship.  Kids also ‘flew’ to Honduras every Sunday in a makeshift airplane and experienced an environment designed to show them what life is like in Honduras!

Kids Club
Kids club has grown so much as kids are enjoying the programming and this ministry is allowing so many families to participate in small groups! With intentional Bible programming, kids have been learning the Armor of God.

We anticipate this to be another huge place of growth this next season as we begin a new school year, which will mean adding to staff and increasing our training efforts to equip more leaders!  

Students
Student ministry kicked off the second quarter of the year with our next gen mission trip to Honduras with Solo Hope. This was an impactful time for families to get a worldview of Jesus at work. We led Vacation Bible School and did several home visits over spring break.

We ended the year with our senior celebration where we had a time of blessing seniors by their families. We also kicked off beach retreat signups for this year.

Snowbird
We took 59 students and leaders to Snowbird Camp for a week beginning on Memorial Day.  Students learned more about the book of Romans and Gods glory.  It's always such a huge week of fun and growth for our students.

During June we started having summer hangouts for middle schoolers and summer stories in high school consisting of student testimonies, worship, and hangout time.

Beach Retreat
We are now gearing up for our beach retreat at the end of July where we will focus on identity and how God sees us.  We hope that the Beach Retreat will be a great launching pad for the kickoff of encounter at the beginning of August.

Prayer
We’re greatly encouraged by the growth and renewed emphasis on prayer in this season. Our Sunday Morning Prayer Ministry Teams, Prayer for the Nation group, and Inner Healing Prayer (IHP) ministers are all experiencing fresh momentum. Events like Dwell, Sunday Night Fire, and Mark’s consistent call to prayer are making a significant impact. Our weekly staff meetings continue to begin with worship and prayer, fostering unity and spiritual focus in our planning and discussions.

Prayer Ministry Activity (Q2)
        •        59 individuals received ministry in the prayer room.
        •        101 prayer team serves occurred during Sunday morning services.
        •        Several women continue to minister IHP informally, and we’re in the process of relaunching it as a formal ministry.

We currently meet weekly with a core group of 18 prayer ministers, reading and discussing Freedom Tools by Andy Reese. These times have been rich, unifying, and equipping. From this group, we’re developing an official IHP training protocol to launch this fall. A key goal is to expand the team and equip more men before offering IHP publicly again. This growth is timely, as we’re seeing increased need for healing prayer in people’s discipleship journeys.

To strengthen the ministry’s long-term impact, we’re also planning to implement:
        •        A preparatory interview and information session before sessions begin
        •        Follow-up sessions to help individuals walk out and maintain the freedom they receive

Finally, several team members are exploring the opportunity to attend a Healing and Deliverance conference in October, which we believe will further enrich our ministry.

Pastoral Care
During the second quarter, there were numerous pastoral care needs. Many were met organically through small groups and serving teams. Pastoral Care focused on individuals who required additional support or were not yet connected.
        •        Bereavement Support: We ministered to 19 families who experienced a loss, providing meals for 145 grieving individuals.
        •        Personal Ministry: We provided 38 care touches through cards, visits, calls, texts, and prayer.
        •        Connections & Referrals: 19 individuals were connected with mentors, counselors, or other needed support.
        •        Inner Healing: We facilitated 22 inner healing prayer sessions. A special highlight has been ministering to several CrossRoads girls through these sessions.

Team Growth
We are celebrating the addition of new team members who are assisting with meals and cards. This is encouraging!

Looking Ahead
The monthly Prayer on the Square team is now under Dawn's leadership. Originally started by Laveta and led by Peggy Whitley, this prayer initiative has remained consistent and has great potential. As she has become more involved and discerned God’s hand on this ministry, Laveta asked to formally place it under Dawn's oversight. Peggy remains actively involved and continues to serve faithfully on the cards/meals team as well.

We’re grateful for continual increase of Spirit-led, team-based care happening throughout our church body and we anticipate continued growth!

Upgrades & Repairs
The Front Office recently had to upgrade our copier because the lease had expired on the old one.  We had the previous copier for 5 years, so we're hoping that the new copier will be of equal quality and productivity.

A few minor upgrades were made to Hub building to help with sound dampening issues.

On The Road Again...
We have also had many van repairs (both Chevy and Ford) along with repairs to the work truck.  A decision was made to sell the oldest van which was the Chevy.  We sold it for $6000.  The work truck needs replacing because of its mechanical issues.    We have also sold an old tractor attachment, finishing mower,  and the fishing boat that has not been used in several years.

In June we had many trees trimmed that were hanging over several buildings on campus affecting siding and causing roof damage.

Making A List
We have spent a good bit of the second quarter going through the list from the inspection. This led us to hire electrical, plumbing and general maintenance people to correct those issues.  A few new exterior doors have been purchased as well.

30th Birthday
Much time has been spent planning the 30th birthday celebration and how that affects property.  In addition, we're dreaming and planning for some much needed upgrades to the Prayer Chapel area.

We have some larger repair items to focus attention on during the fall.

Emphasizing One-to-One Relationships
This May-June we leaned into a special emphasis on one-to-one relationships, connected to our summer sermon series on 1 John. The response was wonderful and helped us identify summer as a strong time to encourage one-to-one connections.  As a church, we connected 40 men (20 pairs) and 84 women (42 pairs) for intentional spiritual conversations, Scripture, prayer, and encouragement. This doesn’t even include the many organic connections that took place as people invited others to walk alongside them during this season.  A big thank you to Liz Ruis, David Brown, and Sherri Beck for working really hard to make these connections happen!
Encouraging stories have been shared of people stepping out of their comfort zones and growing in their relationship with God and each other. One highlight: a woman who signed up for a one-to-one connection as a non-Christian came to faith in Christ during the summer and is being baptized this Sunday!

Equipping the Church
We hosted two major equipping opportunities this quarter:
At our Parent Equipping for Teens, 21 families joined us for a powerful equipping event with breakout sessions on anxiety and depression, gender and sexuality, technology, and building healthy relationships with your teen. This was an important moment for our community, and it’s clear there’s a need for this kind of support. We plan to make this an annual event to continue serving and equipping parents.

Understanding the New Testament in Seven Sentences
In June, over 70 people attended a weekend intensive led by Dr. Eric Foster-Whiddon (former youth/discipleship pastor) who drove from Kansas to join us. This equipping drew a diverse group from across our church family and beyond, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many participants expressed a hunger for more opportunities like this one to learn and dive deeper into the Scriptures.

Small Groups and Discover Heritage
This Spring we had 47 groups and 902 participants consistently involved.

Our summer Discover Heritage small group has been a place of connection and growth, with 30 people participating as they learn more about our church’s vision, values, and what it means to be part of this community. These groups continue to be a vital pathway for helping people take next steps in their faith journey.

Next Steps and Life Change
This summer, we’ve celebrated several people coming to faith in Christ during the 1 John series and many others taking intentional steps forward—through baptism, mentorship, deeper prayer, and service. It’s encouraging to see God using these relational and equipping environments to cultivate faith and friendship in our people.

It has also been a great time of dreaming about opportunities for community life for our church and working on an equipping calendar for the remainder of the year. We are looking forward to several more equippings this Fall including a marriage equipping in September.

Familiar Faces
Our team has reconnected with a few people that served in the past and are now back on our worship and tech teams. Our birthday celebration service had a lot of moving pieces and our teams really brought those moments to life.

We are also continuing to have fantastic people come through our infuse process and join our team! We have 3 positions filled over the summer where we normally take a break, but when God's blessing sends great people, it’s necessary to shift schedules and get them on board.

Baptisms
We're excited to report that we had approximately 23 baptisms, and  have connected with approximately 13 first time guests. We celebrated Easter, Mother's Day, and Father's Day with decor and meaningful scripture handouts in the Atrium.  Speaking of decor, we are in the process of decorating a wall in the Baptism room to display "changed lives" as they happen. We are also mailing baptism cubes that are completed the day someone is baptized back to some of those who have been baptized in the past as a keepsake.

Special Moments
We've had a few unique moments this quarter.  Someone shared that after receiving a Mother's Day card in the Atrium, she placed it on her fridge.  It turned out that the scripture on that card was exactly what she needed right then.  

We then had a woman who visited our church for the first time tell us that she had been on the fence about coming back for another service.  She had received a visitor bag and got a welcome card in the mail a few days later.  She was touched by the note and decided to return, and has continued to attend.

Fun Celebration
As we all need some team bonding time, we celebrated as an entire Sunday Support Team and had Bowling and Bingo Night. We had about 75 in attendance!

Safety First
Our safety team is on track to begin taking some training courses in the next month or so to better prepare them for their roles.  We want to be sure that those who help keep everyone safe are as up-to-date and trained as they can possibly be.