Announcements 4/13/24 There are many events in these announcements. As always I need to alert you to the possibility events may get disrupted by unforeseen happenings so be aware that things can get rearranged sometimes.
4/13: ROLLWMS. The students will be teaching in the first service; we will have communion in the second service.
ROLLWMS deadline adjustment: The deadline for previous work was 4/11, but it has now become 4/18.
4/14: We begin the study of Water Baptism and 2 Corinthians. The study sheet was sent 4/12 to everyone on the email list.
Annual fasting time: The following is a span of thirty-one days : We began 3/27/24 and stop midnight on 4/26/24. Pick twenty-one days out of this timespan to fast. If something prohibits that time span from working for you, feel free to start earlier than 3/27 to complete twenty-one fasting days (or, you may add some days to complete your full twenty-one days). (Simply “reply all” to one of the announcement emails to be able to use that list.) You may continue to add additional prayer requests into that bowl right up until 4/24.
Please put your requests and those of your children into the prayer bowl in the front of our sanctuary. For each person put their full name on the paper and the prayers requests. IF it is a lengthy list (more than ¼ of an 8 ½ x 11 sheet), break the requests into ¼ sheet form . Be sure to add the name to each piece of paper you place in the bowl.
In the email you send out it is optional whether you add how you choose to fast. Feel free to include activities you may choose to refrain from or “good works” you intend to do; but, be sure to have a fast from certain food as well. Everyone chooses their own fasting plan. You may choose to break your fasting plan up into more than one pattern : E.g., “I will do a liquid fast for ten of the days and one meal a day for the remaining eleven.”
River Comfort practices for Passover on the platform 4/17 and 4/24.
4/16: Deadline for forms to be sent to rbarnesrol@aol.com for the 4/20 deliverance and counseling time. Fill out the deliverance and counseling form at the bottom of your email. Send to rbarnesrol@aol.com. I , Rosemary , exceedingly prefer a return by email; however, if that is impossible for you, you can hand me your completed form at church on 4/13. Please! Do not ask to be scheduled for 4/20 if you have not filled out and handed in the form.
As you know, we frequently have people come up front for prayer, you are always welcome to make a request for someone to minister a deliverance in response to a specific request for that at that time.
4/17, This coming Wednesday: After Prayer, praise, announcements, and the offering, we will have a cleanup night.
4/20: Around fifteen minutes after the second service: A time of counseling and deliverance after service for those who have completed the form. We will probably meet in the office at first for all issues that certain individuals prefer to be dealt with in private; then there will be one- on- one ministry time. If necessary , some of the private issues may be booked for a later time.
4/27: We celebrate Passover. Suggested theme: “Behold the Lamb.”. In the first service you may share Word about Passover (three minutes for all but Associate Ministers). The ROLLWMS students will be sharing too. If there is not time for all, then we will have more from the Word in the second service as well as our normal opportunity to express Passover related truths through songs, dance, skits, poems, an art piece – any creative way in which you can present an edifying message! If music is involved (including an instrumental), send the lyrics to riveroverhead@gmail.com.
We will have a continental breakfast after the first service and a potblessing after the second service.
5/4: The senior singles will meet in the fellowship hall right after the second service. Subsequent dates: 6/1/24, 7/6/24
5/14: Board Meeting: Potblessing, Finance reports, a discussion of the associate ministers being involved in prayer, Wednesday night teaching, and Communion.
5/18: ROLLWMS. The students will be teaching in the first service; we will have communion in the second service.
5/19: We begin to study Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Philemon
6/1: Light Force begins 😊 Every Saturday night at 7:30 PM we meet downtown by Kilwin’s Ice cream place , across from Rosa Parks Circle and pray together for an opportunity to bless people with prayer and the gospel. Whatever the Lord wants to do with us is fine: E.g., we are delighted to be used in the gifts of the Spirit, in encouraging fellows Christians , exhorting a backslidden believer, or leading an unbeliever to the Lord.
We pray for whomever the Lord leads us to. We are not “targeting” any particular socio-economic group.
We urge extreme caution in giving handouts to the people who ask for physical help or money. Be aware that there are many organizations downtown who meet the needs of “street people” and the “unhoused.”
After we pray together to be led by the Spirit, for around an hour we go around the area on foot and approach various people (as we feel led) to minister to them. Some of our team prefer to be with others as they walk about; some prefer to minister alone (e.g., Robert and I, Rosemary, prefer being alone).
If anyone wants to come and feels they need more information or “training” in what to do, ask me, Rosemary, after a service to talk with you about this.
After we are done with the ministry to the people, The Light Force participants meet again by Kilwin’s to share about what happened during the time of ministry. We usually end with prayer.
We meet every Saturday night unless it is raining or below 68 degrees outside. If Light Force is canceled for any other reason, we will text all regular participants (or announce it in the morning at church).
Each year we begin Light Force the first Saturday after Memorial Day and end Light Force after Labor Day.
6/8: Semi-annual sacrificial giving offering.
6/15: ROLLWMS. The students will be teaching in the first service; we will have communion in the second service.
6/16: We begin to study Ezekiel and Jude
6/24 Pastor Cliff Baker’s birthday. We will have a birthday offering for him on 6/22.
6/ 27 Deacon Dylan Schneider’s birthday: We will have a birthday offering for him on 6/29.
Future events:
Tentative plan: Robert and Rosemary to Florida to be with their son, E.G.: Rosemary will be gone on 9/4 and Robert flies out on 9/5. Robert is back in service on 9/18. Rosemary is back in service on 9/21. I would appreciate it if our usual helpers ( Pastors Cliff Baker, Karen Cook, and Karen Vander Vliet) would let us know if that time works for them.
River Comfort practices for the Feast of Tabernacles: In office 9/25; on the platform 10/2 and 10/9
10/16 : The roll call of nations
10/19: We celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The suggested theme this year is “Praise be to our Father, our Provider, Now and Forever”. The Feast itself , in addition to celebrating the provisions from a natural harvest , is also a commemoration of the Lord’s care for Israel when He delivered them from Egypt and provided for their every need in the desert as they travelled to the promised land of Canaan.
10/16 : The roll call of nations
10/19: We celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The suggested theme this year is “Praise be to our Father, our Provider, Now and Forever”. The Feast itself , in addition to celebrating the provisions from a natural harvest , is also a commemoration of the Lord’s care for Israel when He delivered them from Egypt and provided for their every need in the desert as they travelled to the promised land of Canaan.