Christmas Service

Folks – just a reminder about schedules…

 

Today –                11:00am - Christmas program practice for kids (includes Toddlers and Children’s Church kids)

                                 1:00pm – Christmas Choir Practice

 

Tomorrow:         9:30am – Cinnamon Roll Breakfast

                                9:50am – Christmas program practice

                                9:50am – Adults help set up the fellowship hall for dinner

                                10:30am – Christmas Program/Service starts

                                12:15pm – Holiday Dinner

                                 6:00pm – No Evening Service

 

We are going to have a wonderful service!  I know you’re going to enjoy it.  This would be a great time to invite a friend or family member to come!

 

Pastor Bob

 

P.S.  Don’t forget about your special gift to the church offering! Because of the winter storm last week and church cancellation, we are an extra $1,800 under our budget!  We now need approximately $6,000 yet this year to fulfill our obligations.  Can you help us out?

Update

Dear folks – wanted to let you know about a couple of people who need our prayer.  Amy Smith had surgery today (hysterectomy) and is recovering at Bixby hospital.  She will probably come home tomorrow.  Also, Elsie Jeffrey went to the hospital today because she had passed out (low blood sugar).  She has not been feeling well the last couple of weeks, and has been unable to eat – leading to the sugar problem (she has diabetes).  Anyway, they have not been able to stabilize her blood sugar count and she is not doing too well. 

 

Please pray for both of them!

 

Just a note about this weekend.  We will be having an additional Sunday School Christmas program practice this Saturday at 11:00am.  Please have them there so we can get everything ready for Sunday.  The Christmas Choir will be practicing at 1:00pm on Saturday. 

 

See you then!

 

Pastor Bob

Christmas presents and Sunday schedule (pt. 2)

Oops – pushed the send button accidentally…

 

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you tonight at church for AWANA and Bible Study - and on Sunday for the Christmas program.  There will be no evening service this Sunday. 

 

Remember next Sunday evening’s family game night (Dec 30^th)!  Bring snacks to share, a favorite family game and some friends.  We’ll try to set up the ping-pong table and bring some video games for the kids.  It will be fun!

 

Pastor Bob

Christmas presents and Sunday schedule

Dear folks – just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to those who contributed to the special Christmas project.  We received over $300 in donations and were able to purchase everything we needed (and even some extras)!  The ladies who went shopping had a great time together.  The church provided Bibles and food from the CARE Center.  I know that the families involved will be very encouraged with your generosity.  The kids will be surprised!

 

Also, an update about the change in Sunday’s schedule.  We will be having our Christmas Cinnamon Roll & hot chocolate breakfast at 9:30am as scheduled.  At 9:50am the kids will practice their program (make sure they are there!), and  everyone else will help set up the fellowship hall for the Christmas dinner.  At 10:30am we will start the Kid’s Christmas program and adult Choir Concert – we have lots of music and other special things – invite a friend to come!

 

At 12:15pm we will enjoy the Christmas Dinner – If you signed up to bring food, please bring it again (if you can).  We are preparing ham, roast turkey, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, side dishes and dessert!  A wonderful meal!  Please stay and enjoy the family time together.  We even have some festive gift baskets to give away!  After dinner, we’ll probably need some help taking down the tables and chairs and cleaning up.  If you can stay and help that will be great.

 

I’m looking forward to a

 

There will be no evening service

Christmas project

Dear Folks – just a reminder about our need for funds to help a couple of families in our church for Christmas.  Some of you have already given/purchased some items for this project – thanks!  We are going to be purchasing the rest of the items tomorrow.  We need at least $250 total to get the items we need – we have about $100 on hand (from the benevolent fund).  We weren’t able to collect any funds during the service yesterday L, so we’re kind of stuck.  If any of you can help with this, please call Dana Hendrickson (517-423-1125) or email her (craigndana@tc3net.com)

 

Thanks!  Pastor Bob

 

 

Church is cancelled

Dear Folks – Due to the extreme weather situation, all church events will be cancelled for today.  Please contact those you think might not get this message.  We will let you know if/when the holiday dinner will be rescheduled.  Have a nice day with your family.

 

Stay safe!

 

Pastor Bob

church tomorrow

Well – it’s not looking very good weather-wise right now, but I think we’ll still wait ‘til morning to see what it’s like.  I’ll go out pretty early tomorrow morning and test the roads, and let you know if we’re having services – I’m sure we’ll be able to tell by 7am if we’re going to get the storm that’s predicted.  Maybe God will be gracious and make it possible to come! 

 

If we do end up cancelling and you made food for the dinner, I hope you’ll be able to use it for your family! 

 

Pastor Bob

holiday dinner

Just so you know – the dinner tomorrow is not a potluck.  We have several people who have signed up to bring/cook food for the dinner.  If you have not signed up for something, you don’t have to cook or bring anything!  You just get to enjoy it!  Just wanted to let you know…

 

Pastor Bob

Three weeks in a row!

Hi folks – looks like we’re in for another interesting weather weekend!  We’ve been able to get through the last two ice storms – let’s see how it goes with a snowstorm!  They’re calling for 6 – 10” of snow Saturday night/Sunday morning with winds gusting to 30 mph.  We’ll keep an eye out to see if church will be cancelled or not.  We’re right on the edge of the storm, so it could go either way.

 

I hope we do have church!  We have lots of things planned!  Our kid’s Christmas program practice at 9:45am; our missionary speaker (Andy & Ruth Bishop) at 11:00am and our Holiday dinner after the morning service are all part of the day’s events.  The worship team will be singing Christmas Carols and we’re having a meeting for those who are coming for membership/baptism.  We are also going to collect an offering for a couple of families in our church who need extra support for Christmas.  We’ve collected $25 so far.  We need a lot more!

 

I will let you know by 8:30am if church will be cancelled.  Please check your email or listen to WLEN (103.9).  If we do cancel church, we will try to have the dinner next Sunday – but we’ll have to see.

 

Thanks to all those who offered a stationary bike for Phillip!  We were able to borrow one, and he has already begun using it!

 

Hope your day is going well!  See you tomorrow (hopefully)!

 

Pastor Bob

 

P.S.  What a great picture!  I can’t imagine what it must have been like the morning of Christ’s birth…

 

Stationary Bike and stuff...

Hi folks!  Hope your week has been a blessing to others!  I have a few things to pass along...

 

Needs: Does anyone have a stationary bike that we could borrow for a few weeks?  Phillip (our son) is coming home from College on Friday for Christmas break and part of his knee surgery therapy is to ride a stationary bike every day.  We would be glad to rent it if needed (it could be Phillip’s Christmas present J).  Anyway, let us know if you know of one that’s available.  Also, Shirley Garmany (Jim Stewart’s mom-in-law) had mouth surgery on Tuesday.  She is recovering okay – please pray for her!  Continue to pray for Renee Rendell (blood clots in her brain) and Lisa Hendrick (Libby’s sister – cancer surgery recovery).

 

Church this Sunday – I’m excited about the holiday dinner this Sunday!  We have some nice gift baskets to give away and some great food (being prepared by several families from the church!)  Don’t miss it.  Also, we are having a special missionary speaker this coming Sunday.  Andy & Ruth Bishop (our missionaries to Italy) will be sharing about their ministry and challenging us from God’s Word. 

 

Giving - Last week someone gave a $1,000 gift to the Faith Promise fund – Wow!  Our General Fund giving is down by $5,000 for the year.  We only have 3 weeks left to bring it into balance.  Please help us continue our ministry in full force!  Mark your gift “General Fund gift”.  Also, we are taking up a collection for some families in our church who need some extra help this Christmas – please give generously!

 

Christmas Program:  The kids will be practicing in the Auditorium for their Christmas program during Sunday School.  Make sure to have them there by 9:45am!  I know you’re going to really enjoy the program on the 23^rd!

 

Pastor Bob

church is cancelled tonight

Folks – just wanted to let you know that we are cancelling church tonight and all related ministries (Christmas Choir practice, CE Committee meeting, High School ministry and Young Adult ministry).  The ice is getting pretty SLICK! 

 

It was good to see all of you this morning!  Thanks for coming.  I really enjoyed the Brass group (it really adds a lot to the service – thanks Phil!).  Also, the song Stephanie sang is always one of my favorites (O Holy night).  Thanks for helping us celebrate.  The thing that impressed me about the message today was the ordinariness of the people involved in the Christmas story.  God uses people just like us to accomplish His plan.  What a privilege. 

 

I was going to say something about the teen that killed those people in the mall in Omaha last week, but didn’t get time.  One thing he said in his suicide note was that his life had no purpose – and he didn’t think it was going to change.  How tragic!  If only he could have heard the message of salvation from someone and believed…maybe he would have had a different perspective.  Not only did he end his life – but the lives of nine others.  God’s message of Christmas gives hope and - most of all - purpose to our lives. 

 

Don’t forget that we will be having our Holiday dinner next Sunday.  Please come, stay and eat!  We have a wonderful meal planned.

 

Also, we’re collecting a special offering to help a few families in our church with Christmas items.  Please designate your gift “Christmas offering” and put it in the offering plate or give to Dana Hendrickson.  Thanks!

 

See you Wednesday!

 

Pastor Bob

Letter from Peni Howder

Folks - Many of you have been asking about Peni and the recent hurricane (cylone) in Bangledesh. Here is a letter I received today!

Pastor Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Penelope K. Howder [mailto:hopenika@abwe.cc]
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 6:36 AM
To: beenapoisha@eznote.cc
Subject: Chittagong Happenings--December 2007

NOTICE: I wrote this letter yesterday on Dec. 3, but because of problems
with my internet, I have not been able to send it out until today. We
interviewed about 20 relatives today, but were able to only find about 6
students that we were interested in taking in. Please pray for us as we
interview new families tomorrow who are interested in having their
children in our school.

Cyclone Sidr
The cyclone that hit Bangladesh was on the western side of Bangladesh. We
also received strong warnings about the storm and the damage it could
cause. I was really worried about the guest house and since the storm was
to hit in the middle of the night, the day before I arranged to have the
guest house moved up to the fourth floor in our building. We got a little
bit of rain and our electricity was out for a while, but other than that
our lives have gone on as normal. However over 3000 people were killed
and many people lost their homes, livestock and rice crops on the other
side of Bangladesh. One of our team members has gone to the affected area
to investigate the best way for ministries to be involved.

School Picnic
Every year we like to take the kids on a special outing to a place that
they might not ever get to go. This year we decided to take them to an
amusement park. The park is just down the road from our school and all
the kids are familiar with it since it is near their homes. They always
have desired to go in, but cannot afford the entrance ticket or the
tickets for the rides. On December 2, 2007 we climbed into some vans and
rode to the park. We kept the destination a secret and when the kids
realized that we were going to Foy's Lake Amusement Park, they screamed
for joy. I am very thankful for the authorities of the park who greatly
reduced the price of the tickets for our students so that they could all
enjoy the rides.

Admissions
The next three days are very important ones for our school. We are going
to be taking in new students for the coming year. On Tuesday we will be
interviewing all our present students' relatives who wish to attend our
school. On Wednesday we will interview neighbors, friends and new people
who have heard about our school and who want to attend our school. Please
pray for us as we will need wisdom shifting through the crowd and
choosing which ones to take. Many people have been ringing our doorbell
asking about the details of admissions. One lady was forcefully asking
all kinds of questions about our entrance exams and what she needed to do
to prepare her child to get into our school. She would not accept the
fact that her child could not do a thing to prepare for the test and that
they just needed to show up. We never do any advertising, but just rely
on our students spreading the news in their slum areas that anybody not
in school wanting to study should come. Please pray that we will clearly
know which families are a good fit for the free school and what we are
trying to teach and accomplish through our school.

WCA Students
The last 2 Thursdays WCA students have purchased rice and lentils and
made packets for every family in our free school. After school on
Thursdays the parents have been coming and have received their special
packet of food. Food prices have increased and with the 2 floods in
Chittagong this year many of our families have lost their stored food
supplies. This has been a practical way to help them. I have especially
appreciated seeing the compassion of the students and have been
encouraged by their willingness to give and help their own people.

church is open!

Hey all – just wanted to let you know that we will be having church this morning!  I’m glad that the weather wasn’t nearly as bad as they had predicted.  So, all events will go on as scheduled – including the special Missions dinner today after church.  Make sure you stay!  Everything is provided.  We are having an international dinner featuring foods from Sweden, Africa, Asia, Mexico and Japan.  It’s all good, so enjoy!

 

Tonight for the adult group, we will be watching a new video from Lee Strobel called the Case for Christ.  It is based on his award winning book and will help us understand the practical side of knowing Theology and Doctrine.  Don’t miss it!

 

Pastor Bob

how do you spell break?

For those of you grammar buffs – right when I sent this, I noticed that I spelled “brakes” as “breaks”.  Wow.  Pretty bad.  Anyway – just thought I’d mention it.

 

Pastor Bob

church stuff

Dear folks – I just wanted to thank you for your kind words, cards, visits, food etc. that you have given to us over the last few days.  It has been a blessing to us.  It’s been an interesting week!  On the way home from the funeral Thursday night, we hit a deer with Bill & Valerie’s car (they had let us borrow it because our car’s breaks are out right now)!  Talk about surprised!  The poor thing flew up in the air and landed in the ditch.  Then the policeman wanted to know if we wanted to take it home with us (I don’t think so).

 

Anyway – we are adjusting. 

 

As far as church goes tomorrow – you may have heard that there is a winter storm watch for tonight/tomorrow morning.  We are supposed to get 1-2” of snow and up to ¼’ of ice.  We’ll keep our eyes on the weather and let you know if church will be cancelled.  It will be on WLEN by 8:30am if we decide to cancel it.  If church is cancelled, then we’ll also postpone Steve’s Missions Dinner for another time.  I hope it’s not cancelled, because we have some great food dishes planned (besides church)!

 

Well, hope your day is going well.  I’ll plan on seeing you tomorrow – unless God has other plans J

 

Pastor Bob