MIDWEEK MESSAGE #244
Hello everyone and welcome to Midweek Message #244. Well…Easter 2025 is now history. And what a history it brings! We had a beautiful Sunday morning. Sunshine. Spring weather. Plenty of smiles and hugs all around. I saw little girls smile at me and when I got close play shy and hide. I saw little boys be…well…little boys. I heard the worship team do a tremendous job in leading us to worship. I heard the congregation raise the roof on the songs. I saw a great spirit of cooperation setting up before and tearing down after. Pastor Ryan had the shuttle system working like a well-oiled machine. You should also know that Diana puts in a lot of extra work to make sure things go smoothly for us. Many thanks to all those who helped set things up (chairs, sound and live stream) and tear things down. And in case you are wondering, we set a new attendance record for our worship of any kind: 315. Abram Event Venue only has 300 chairs so that meant many folks gave up their seat so others could sit with family or at least find a seat. Thank you to those who did that. (I still wonder why no one wanted to sit up front with me). A super big thank you to Pastor Ryan who noticed the nursery was packed with little ones who were too big for that room and took them outside and played kickball, tag, and a whole bunch of other games.
I had someone ask about our addition, someone who was visiting for the first time and is moving here from Indy. I explained where it will be and what the capacity will be. They said they really enjoyed today and would be back. We also had someone who went to the church building and saw the cars and wondered where everyone was. They finally figured it out and came as I was finishing up. But they did say they would be back. I’m sure glad Tiffany Kropack was still greeting when they came.😄 Thanks to all of you who invited friends and family to join us. I hope they had a joyful experience.
Up to this point in the MM, everything I have written was done on Sunday afternoon. From this point on it is Monday. So here it is: Back to earth. 😄
This coming weekend, April 26-28 eight teenagers will be attending the Brown County Chrysalis Flight. Those eight are Rogan Campbell, Abigail Clausman, Elijah Clausman, Caleb East, Rachel East, Kalissa Hamlin, Meilynn Hess and Nolan Miller. Some of you have been to a Chrysalis weekend or Emmaus Walk in the past. Ryan, Hope and Anna East are sponsoring many of these young people in this venture. If you would consider writing an agape’ letter of love and encouragement to any of these students that you know, it would be much appreciated. If you do, please return your letter to Ryan, Hope or Anna by this Friday the 25th so they will be
received on time. Candlelight is at Hilltop Christian Camp, and anyone who has attended Emmaus or Chrysalis is welcome to attend.
YOUTH NEWS
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- Congratulations to Cecilia Arnold. This past week she was awarded the True Patriot Award for the third quarter of this school year. Grandma Melissa found out it was for being kind and respectful to her peers and teachers, being a good student, getting good grades, etc. She was nominated by her teacher. What an honor Cecilia!
- The Jr. High track team is making history. Liam Bevington set the record for the 200 m. Walker LaGrange, Charlie Burkett, Dane Stahl (Kim’s son), and Landrin Wolford set the record in the 4×400. To top it off those same 4 young men set a record in the 4×100 as well. Congratulations to all of them!
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Our time with our grandson, Braden, playing high school baseball is winding down. I’m not sure Jo will know what to do when she can’t watch him on her iPad as the games are live streamed. Oh, I know…she will have to talk to me. But I think she would prefer to watch him.😄 We have not been able to watch him play at all this spring. Our last time to watch him play high school baseball live is next Monday and Tuesday so we will be heading out after church next Sunday for Ohio. We will be back Wednesday in time for the pitch-in. (You didn’t expect me to miss that did you?) Our next time gone will be in May for his graduation. Would you please pray for a safe trip for us? Pastor Ryan and Diana will hold the fort down rather well. Because of being gone for the first part of the week, there will be no MM next week.
Because of what I just said, I’ll include our educator of the week for this Sunday and all next week in this edition of the MM. Our educator will be Jenn Zigler. Jenn graduated from Taylor University and received her Masters from Ball State. She has been a counselor at OVMS for 8 years. She has been married to Chris for 13 years and they have two sons, Winston (8) & Barrett (6). They love going to McCormick’s Creek Park to hike, picnic and walk the trails.
Last Monday evening the Building Team met with Jerry Benton, our contractor, to talk about the next stages of our expansion. I know some of you have asked so I thought I would give a quick rundown of our discussion points:
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- Underground utilities are in and this past Wednesday our power was switched over to the new service cabinet. The new gas line will go in when the building is completed.
- What is next? Top soil work is first, hopefully within the next 2 weeks. (This is the second week). Then gravel work, a stem wall (footer and wall) and rough grade work will be done. Dirt work, seed, and straw will quickly follow.
- The pad will be poured when we are ready to enclose it. Jerry is hesitant to pour the pad and then have it sit in the sun for a long period of time.
- Parking lot expansion will also be taking place. We are planning on 50-75 more parking spaces to the east of the current parking lot. We will be placing flags out soon for that work to be done.
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When will all this be done? When it stops raining!😄And please keep in mind that we will proceed as we have the money.
My sermon this Sunday will be entitled Our God Reigns! from 2 Kings 1-19. The next Sunday will be Simple Words-Lifetime Lessons from 2 Kings 20-I Chronicles 17. I look forward to seeing you! And once again I say thanks for making Resurrection Sunday one to remember. I love you all.
Pastor Bill
