We will be ringing our church bells at 11 am tomorrow in conjunction with all the other churches in our community. We plan to continue this as long as this pandemic lasts.
There is a blessing box placed out in front of the municipal building. Recently, the supplies have been dwindling rapidly. If you have been blessed financially, please consider helping the community replenish this box.
Typical items may include:
canned food and other nonperishable foods
toiletries
laundry supplies
For those of you who are wondering how to submit your tithes and offerings, the simplest way is to mail them to the church post office box, which is Box 226, Rio Grande, Ohio 45674.
April 12, 2020
Hope everyone is having a nice Resurrection Sunday.
Even though I announced this before my message this morning, I wanted to remind all of you that Judy Schrock is taking donations for a food truck to serve the needy in the area. If you would like to donate, you can either give it to her directly at Twinkleberries or mail it to box 226, Rio Grande. Designate what it is for, and we will see to it that she gets it.
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April 17, 2020
Thank you to everyone that supported the food truck.
I am pleased to announce that they have received the necessary funds and do not need any more donations at this time.
May 10, 2020
Happy Mother's Day!
I just have a few thoughts to share with you on this special day in May that we set aside every year to honor our mothers.
My heart goes out to all of you who will not get to visit personally with your children on this day. Hopefully, you will get to have some nice phone calls and get to talk and share with children and grandchildren, and in some cases, great and great great grandchildren.
I think about my own mother often, but especially on this day. She passed away almost five years ago, and I and my sisters miss her dearly. We were blessed to have a wonderful mother who took great care of us. She worked hard over the years, holding down many full time jobs and still keeping our household in order.
There was always food on the table and plenty of delicious desserts around the house for us to feast on. And even though she was not perfect, when I read the description of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31, I am reminded of my mother.
May all of you have a wonderfully blessed mother's day. May you get to share sweet memories with your children and, if possible, may you get to speak with your own mother and let her know how much you love her.
May 17, 2020
Good morning. As we read the headlines, we see that our country is slowly starting to open back up. Certain restrictions are being lifted, but not all.
Some states are much further along than others, and we need to monitor our state on a daily basis to determine our own course of action as a church.
Some churches are considering opening back up next Sunday, others Just want to wait till the first Sunday in June. I will be consulting with the deacons as to determine what they feel is best.
Of course, whenever we decide to open, we will be implementing safe hygienic practices to avoid any possible spread of the virus.
For instance, we won't be passing the offering plates around, but will place one in the foyer so that you can drop your gift into it without having to touch it. Also, we have ordered some special communion kits that will allow us to conduct it in a safe, contactless manner. And, of course, we will practice social distancing.
I will continue to update you in the days ahead as to how we will proceed. Hopefully, we will be able to fellowship with each other very soon.
May 24, 2020
Tomorrow is the day that many of us have been waiting for. March 15th was the last time we were able to meet together for our Sunday Service because of the concern over the coronavirus pandemic.
We will be meeting tomorrow, and for the peace of mind and safety of all, we will be following sensible guidelines in order to protect ourselves from viral infection. We will be practicing social distancing. Therefore, there will be no meet and greet. In place of the usual offering procedure involving the passing of the plate, we will simply place it in the foyer so that you can drop your gift there without having to touch anything.
Marcella and I disinfected the sanctuary and all the bathrooms and doorknobs today.
In two weeks, Lord willing, we will have communion, but not in the usual way. We have devised a procedure that will not involve personal contact.
Looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow morning.
God bless.
PS - I will continue to record my messages, but they will not be available until about 1 pm Sunday afternoon. I will also continue to record our bible study, even though we will begin meeting again on Wednesday evenings.
July 15, 2020
I just wanted to let you know that I will be removing some old posts of the bible studies and sermons as it is getting to be a chore to make room for the most recent posts. It involves a lot of clicking on the separate fields and dragging them down screen out of the way. Not difficult, but tedious and time consuming. However, If I eliminate one that you would like to hear again, I do keep audio copies on my computer, so they can be recovered if necessary.