Friday, April 13, 2018

Dear Church Family,

The following two quotes offer important words to remember:

Christ’s rule of life, by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment, is, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Matthew 7:12. DA

Thus Christ on the Mount of Olives pictured to His disciples the scene of the great judgment day. And He represented its decision as turning upon one point. When the nations are gathered before Him, there will be but two classes, and their eternal destiny will be determined by what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering. DA 637

Sobering words indeed that call for thoughtful reflection by each of us. In tomorrow’s Daughter mother bulletin, you will find a couple of inserts as they pertain to the Community Services Center. Our CSC is our primary means at the church for ministering directly to those less fortunate. As you know our leader has retired and our food services director is soon to retire at the end of June. Without more volunteers and leaders, we may have to make some difficult decisions in the months to come with regards to what we can offer the community. Tomorrow one of the inserts will contain a jobs list which highlights the various positions at the CSC and the current needs that exist. We would ask that you review this carefully and consider how you might contribute to the ministry that is so vital for our community. Then the second insert will invite you to let us know of your possible interest so that a CSC volunteer can reach out to you with more information. Please keep this in prayer and consider how you might assist.

In the news:

This Sabbath the GAA Junior Choir will be with us for the worship service. I will be sharing the morning message.
There will be a fellowship dinner this week with the Myer team hosting.
As you likely heard in the church cast that went out this morning, Peggy West passed away yesterday morning after a long battle with ovarian cancer. There will be a visitation tomorrow from 2-5pm at Kiser-Rose-Hill Funeral home. The funeral service will be at 5pm tomorrow at the funeral home. Then on Sunday, those wishing to attend the graveside should meet at the funeral home at noon where they will depart for Dandridge where the body will be laid to rest at Resthaven Cemetery. Please remember the family in your prayers.
Also, Dawn Krentz lost her mother this past Thursday to ovarian cancer. Her mother was a member of the Rogersville church. Let’s remember Dawn and the family in prayer as they grieve.
Our Church board and the Riverview Church board just voted this week to approve the final legal paperwork to establish a $1,000,000 dollar endowment for our church school. These funds, which were a leave behind gift from Adventist Health Systems when they sold the hospital, will be used to assist worthy students and are intended to help minimize any ill effects the churches might experience as a result of AHS leaving. As a result of the endowment, $40,000 dollars will be available in interest each year to the school’s worthy student sub-committee to help ensure a strong enrollment so that as many children as possible can have the opportunity to receive an Adventist education.
AYA will be at 7pm tomorrow evening with the Andrus family leading in a Name That Hymn sing along.
The Church board voted to approve a bid by a company out near Nashville to do the work on overhauling our Audio system. This represents a 2nd phase in this process and because of the generous Christmas offering, and the Lord blessing, we can now move forward. The new equipment should be installed sometime in July and promises to make a big difference in sound quality allowing for a more even distribution of sound for everyone in the congregation.
The Koskovich baby boy shower (daughter & son in law of Walt & Mary Lou Cross) will be held on Sunday, April 15th from 1-3 p.m. at Dave and Diane Ondrejka home 885 Doyle Davis Rd. There will be an insert about it in this weeks bulletin.
We had another great turn out for Dinner with the Doctor with over 70 in attendance. About half the crowd at least were from the community. Brad Emde shared about the human eye.
Just a reminder that Orchestra will be playing at church on April 28^th. Contact Amanda Robinson if you would like to participate.
The church board voted this week the concept of the church participating in an overseas mission trip in the summer of 2019. Any church member with his or her family is invited to participate. We are looking to partner with Quiet Hour for the trip. Watch for more details in the coming weeks. Meanwhile please pray that you might know if God would have you to participate.
The church board voted to hold another evangelistic series this coming February. The evangelism council will be meeting soon to work out the details. With the nearness of His coming, we feel compelled to be diligent in getting the message out before the people.
The Church Board also voted to approve Pastor Alex holding a short intensive colporteur program this summer for our young people to participate in. I am excited to see this offered as it is a wonderful opportunity for our young people to earn some money while doing a wonderful work in our community.
In case you haven’t noticed, we have met our church budget for the year and I along with the church finance committee want to simply take this opportunity to say thank you for your faithfulness. God’s blessings can pour forth more abundantly when His people are faithful unto Him in their tithes and offerings.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is also scheduled for the 28^th of April. Please fill out the form in this weeks bulletin to participate. This is a great way to get better connected with people in our church family that you may not know as well.
We had a great turn out at the Oaks and enjoyed powerful presentations from Eric Wilson. Next year’s Oaks Spring retreat will be the 2^nd weekend of April and will feature Randy Skeete. Randy will be with us the 7^th-13^th and will be holding a week of prayer for our church family. I just communicated with him again this week as I originally booked him over a year ago. He is still planning to come God willing next year. Mark your calendars now to attend.