Midweek Check-in (May 28, 2026)

Good morning, church family!

Kindness is a mark of the Holy Spirit. Meaning – those whose lives are led by the Holy Spirit will demonstrate kindness.

Kindness also seems to be in short supply in our world these days. Or, maybe more accurately, kindness is fine until it gets in the way of things our world considers more important, such as being right, winning an argument or interacting with those who disagree with you and putting them in their place.

To borrow a phrase spoken by Jesus: Not so among you!

The people of God are called to kindness. Yes, we still speak truth, but we do it in love. Yes, we still promote holiness, but we do it without judgment. Yes, we still correct, but we do it with the goal of restoring relationships.

Last week, church family, you demonstrated kindness to one of our own.

When Randy Rouse passed away last week, we all mourned the news and the loss of our friend. But even in our grief, our church put together a Memorial Service and fed everyone afterward, according to Randy’s wishes. Debbie Rouse (Randy’s faithful wife of 55 years and 11 months) brought in a letter this week written by here to you, her church family.

Dear friends at Woodland Lakes Community Church,

I wanted to send my sincere gratitude to all of you for your love and support during the last few months and especially recently as my family navigated the loss of Randy. As many of you know, Randy was a very loved family man, and his absence is going to be greatly felt. However, our church home had made that loss at least a little bit more bearable. Thank you for your continued prayers and support, the beautiful service provided by the church and pastors, and the opportunity for family and friends to gather over food and conversation after the service. Billy and Cyndee provided a beautiful send-off for our beloved Randy. Our family will never be able to thank you enough, but please know that we feel your love and support, and we consider ourselves lucky to have a community like Woodland Lakes during such a difficult time.

Sincerely,

Debbie Rouse and the rest of Randy Rouse’s family

Friends, thank you for being the church! Kindness still makes a difference, and it is an irreplaceable part of our God-given mission.

Your pastor,

Billy Byler

CELEBRATION SUNDAY: Don’t miss this! Sunday, May 31 at 10:30 a.m. will be a celebration unlike any other with the big reveal of our commitments to The NEXT Initiative and more stories of God’s faithfulness and mighty works among us. The kids will join us for the entire service (even the babies!), because we don’t want anyone to miss out on the party in the sanctuary.

PRAYER PARTNERS: We’re launching a new ministry this summer that will connect kids with prayer partners within the church for prayer, encouragement and mentorship. All adult volunteers will receive training and background checks and must attend an informational meeting immediately after the Sunday morning worship service on June 14 in the sanctuary.

PRAYER: I’d like to know how I can best pray for you. We have a way to submit prayer requests online anytime day or night, which will help me join you in prayer.

JUST FOR FUN: Hey, you read Pastor Billy's midweek check-in all the way to the end! As a reward, check out these crazy stories I came across recently:

• Salons in Europe are dumping human hair in the forest for a very good reason.

• A newly discovered species of spider in the Himalayan mountains is called the happy-face spider because it has a smiley face on its back.

• A company in Florida has developed a new, highly effective, underwater search-and-recovery tool: a river otter named Splash.