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ever. The adults who work in support of the youth ministry are awesome. Pray every day for their continued ministry among us. I hope the summer has been a chance for you to get in touch with God in deeper ways. We have had a good experience with Summer Sunday classes and the worship and finances have been better this summer than last. You can see the note in another place in this Lib-erty Bell. I would urge you to start inviting friends and neighbors to church this fall. There are a lot of ways to help people get connected to God with what’s going on around here. The most successful form of church growth and evan-gelism, is that friends invite friends to church. It provides an instant contact with someone you know, when you come to a strange church for the first time. Nearly eighty percent (80%) of unchurched participants are looking for a church and would go if someone they knew would invite them. We have a lot going on this fall. There are activities for all ages. We have ways of help-ing people get in touch with God through Sun-day School classes, especially with five classes for adults, and each age is represented. We have Bible Studies going on throughout the week that would help you get more com-fortable with the Bible. You can ask Anne Humphries, or Rob Pierson or the pastor about those ideas. We will be covering the best stories in Gene-sis in the sermons this fall. If you could use a refresher course this is a good place to start. But it could be the place where you get a real handle on what the Bible is all about, and how do we plug it in to our daily lives. The great thing about this season’s sermons, is that they will correspond to the Sunday School class topics, so parents and their children can talk about the stories all during the week. There is even a parent section at Faithweaver website for midweek ideas for conversations. Now is the right time to think about how you are going to grow in reaching your five stars discipleship. Your getting involved with Serving in anyway is one step, your getting into a Bible Study or Sunday School class is Training your mind and heart. Increasing the number of times you worship and the number of times you have private or family devotions will increase your Adoration of God. Coming to the suppers, special events and small groups and committees will nurture your Relating to one another. Inviting a friend to church for a special concert, event or service will make Sharing a part of your balanced faith journey. We urge you to grow spiritually this fall. It’s a tough world out there, getting more chal-lenging everyday, having the spiritual encour-agement and guidance will make a big differ-ence for you. Welcome back. I look forward to encouraging your faith development this fall. I consider what I do a form of coaching you spiritually and I look forward to the pro-gress we will make together. Thank you for bringing the bulletins from churches you visited this summer, it inspires me greatly.

The Liberty Bell

B-SHARP is in its eighth year of

serving our community as a haven for

students who are suspended from

school. Since 1999, we have provided

a safe, supervised place for students

to serve out their suspension while

getting assistance with their assignments,

learning to take responsibility for their ac-

tions, and receiving referrals to other ser-

vices. Although we are one of seven sites in

Montgomery County, B-SHARP is unique in

that it is clearly a ministry of Liberty Grove,

supported by the congregation out of our love

for children and families in our community

that need help.

All of B-SHARP’s volunteers are church

members who selflessly devote time during

school hours to children who are often from

single-parent homes and living marginally.

Usually, the other option for these children is

to stay home alone or wander the streets un-

supervised during their suspension.

We recently decided to re-open B-

SHARP on Fridays so we are now available

five days a week when schools are in ses-

sion. In a typical school year, that means our

services are available 1,104 hours and there

are at least 368 three-hour slots to

fill with volunteers. Volunteers are

scheduled in shifts from 7:30 a.m.

to 10:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. to 1:30

p.m. We currently have about 20

active volunteers, many of whom

have weekday jobs and/or busy

schedules, just like you. Many of

them have been volunteering for

years and some are slowing down

or finding that other needs or inter-

ests are calling them. It has become increas-

ingly difficult to find volunteers who can de-

vote more than 1 or 2 shifts per month, which

means we need more volunteers to help.

Can you find 3 hours once or twice a

month to help out? You don’t need any spe-

cial skills–just a smile and a little empathy for

kids who made a poor decision. Some em-

ployers encourage community service by al-

lowing employees to take leave to volunteer;

you could go into work late and miss rush

If you are interested in volunteering or

have questions about the program, please call

Kathy Magid at B-SHARP (301-476-9621),

at home (301-388-2178) or on her cell phone

(301-675-0763). You can also e-mail Kathy at

b-sharp@comcast.net or

klmagid@verizon.net.

Please consider helping out at B-SHARP -

What a summer this has been. The

trip to Rochester is a wonderful

example of the incredible spirit

that is Liberty Grove church. I

had a great time, I certainly ap-

preciate the work that DON

HAUPRICH does now more than