Category: OVCF News

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #233

Hello everyone and welcome to Midweek Message #233. Thanks for allowing me to “crash” your inbox and for taking some time out of your day to read this. I appreciate it when you spend a small part of your day with me in this way.

I would like to remind you to pray for our educator of the week, April Chandler. April is another one of our homeschool moms. She and Jason have been married for 25 years and are the parents of 4 children and will soon be grandparents! 😊Jason works at Duncan Supply in Bloomington as an account manager. The two older boys, Brandon and Justin, are married. The two younger ones, Gracie and Gloria, are 11 year old mischievous identical twins. 😊They play volleyball for Upwards and love to read and help in the garden. They also think it is funny to trick me. At one point I had them down pat. Gloria had glasses; Gracie did not. That was all well and good until they decided to come see me one Sunday and Gracie wore the glasses. I said, “Hi Gloria!” (I was so proud of myself…until they started giggling). Jason and April were laughing as well and I knew I had been had. Now I’m really up a creek. They both wear glasses and they look so much alike I take a guess and hope I’m right. In her spare time, April loves to read, take care of her chickens and learn about homesteading.

A super good day Sunday was crowned by the baptisms of Zoe Wyatt and Hudsyn Biggs. Zoe is married to Brayton and they have a daughter, Hazel. Hudsyn is the son of Geoff and Kala Biggs. It was a privilege to watch Brayton baptize Zoe. It is something they will remember for the rest of their lives. Pastor Ryan baptized Hudsyn while his mom, dad, sister (Amelia) and other family members looked on. Geoff thinks it might have to be done once a year. 😊

Don’t forget our Pitch-in dinner TONIGHT starting at 6:00. Last year I did a series on “Feels Like Home” where I emphasized the church should be a place where people feel at home. The idea of “Welcome Home” was based on 5 essentials:

• • • The Gospel is Preached
    • Jesus is Honored
    • Grace is Offered
    • Lives are Changed
    • Obedience is Encouraged

The pitch-in is just one effort to help people get to know others, to connect with one another, and to laugh, tell stories, and establish friendships that will carry on beyond the church walls. I look forward to sharing the evening with you. All we ask is that you bring something to share. We will provide plates, utensils, and drinks!

Diana would like you to know that your 2024 tithe letters are available at the info table.

New Beginnings Pregnancy Resource Center (NBPRC) is one of the local missions we support on a monthly basis. Every year they have a Diaper Drive during the month of February. The ministry of NBPRC is so essential and so vital to people in Owen County (and even beyond). It no longer serves just new parents. It also serves extended family members who help take care of or even raise the children. They also offer counseling and help in other ways. So during the month of February would you please remember NB with diapers and wipes? You can leave your items at OVCF or drop them off at the center. You may want to call ahead since they have different hours and days they are open. Did you also know that several of our ladies volunteer at NB? They are Vicki Hogan and JuliAnne Wiegand (board members), Becca Anderson, Sally Carlson, and Cindy Shipley. Dick Hogan has also done some volunteer maintenance for them.

NBPRC is also having a Valentine’s Day Dance on February 14th at the Christian Life Center. More information is on the bulletin board in the hallway or you may pick up a postcard at the info table.

YOUTH CORNER

• • • Winter Jam has become an annual outing for our young people. This year it is on Friday, February 7th at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. All 7th-12th grade students are welcome but you must RSVP to Pastor Ryan by February 3rd! That is next Monday!! A waiver is required. Tickets are $15 at the door + bring money for dinner. Any questions? See Pastor Ryan.
    • Hilltop Christian Camp registration is open. It is hard to believe we are shivering in our boots and we are already talking SUMMER CAMP! If you plan on making Hilltop part of your child’s summer, please contact Pastor Ryan or Diana for a scholarship code to use for a discount. We also ask that you complete a simple scholarship form for our file in the office. Years ago the elders of OVCF made a promise that any child who wants to go to Hilltop Camp will have the funds to go if needed.
    • Mom told me that Eliza Chambers came away with a first on balance beam this past weekend.

If you have been using the Everyday Gospel Devotional and reading the Bible passages that coincide with it, you will be experiencing one of the hard parts of reading through the Bible. I don’t want to rain too much on our parade 😊 but Leviticus and Numbers is coming! As I read the dietary and dress restrictions; the offerings and feasts which are required; the law after law they must adhere to, I keep reminding myself how grateful I am for the NT and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for the sins for which previously the blood of bulls and goats was shed. I remind myself what Hebrews says, “The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin” and that once and for all Christ was offered as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (Hebrews 9). So, don’t quit reading even though it is tough to get through. Keep telling yourself, “Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from my sin by your blood.” With those thoughts in mind, I will be preaching on In the Presence of the Lord this Sunday. It involves the Tabernacle and the God’s presence in that sacred place. You will want to read Exodus 25-Leviticus 4 for Sunday. I can’t wait to see you there! Know you are loved.

Pastor Bill

Someone special to me is celebrating her birthday Thursday. I will be taking her to see our daughter, Janna, but mostly our grandson. 😀We will be back Saturday. Prayers please for a safe trip.

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #232

Hello everyone and welcome to Midweek Message #232! As I write this (Sunday) the weatherman is telling us we will be going from the ridiculous amount of snow just a mere two weeks ago; to fairly decent weather this past week as the rain helped melt the snow; to some more ridiculous temps in the below zeroes. I know what I am hoping (Sing with me: “We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave.”), but I have this sneaking suspicion that it really doesn’t matter what I want in the grand scheme of things. 😊Anyway, I hope you are able to bundle up and stay warm.

Please pray for our educator of the week, Shelly Sutton, one of our homeschool moms. Shelly and her husband, Johnathan, have been married for 27 years. They are the parents of three children. Lauryn, the oldest will graduate from Ivy Tech in December. She was in Kindergarten when Shelly started homeschooling. This makes Shelly’s 16th year! Brodie is a senior and Ayzleah is a freshman. Lauryn is involved with two Christian college groups; Brodie enjoys ROOTS and Deeper; Ayzleah just started choir this semester. Shelly enjoys party planning and gardening. Johnathan has the green thumb and is project planner. They also enjoy watching movies together.

YOUTH CORNER

Yay!! I finally have some information to include in the youth corner!! It has been silent the past two or three MMs.

• • • A little birdie told me that Addilynn (Addi) Hutchison won the Top Cat Award in her class for the second nine weeks (Fall break to Christmas break).
    • Another little birdie (might have been mom) told me that Tanner Wood also won the Top Cat Award for his class.
    • Eliza Chambers won some medals this past weekend for gymnastics. Her first meet was successful after moving up two levels to be on the level 6 team and overcoming 8 weeks off for a wrist fracture. Here are her awards: Beam (2nd). Bars (4th). Floor (5th). All around (3rd). A little birdie (mom) told me the results and was a pretty proud mama Sunday.

We often focus on the educators of the week and rightly so. But do you know this is School Board Administration Month? Here is the S-OCS School board (In alphabetical order):

• • • Lizz Bixler- School Board Secretary (Lizz is part of our church family😀)
    • Chad Cooper- School Board Member
    • Derek Morgan- School Board President
    • Mark Rogers- School Board VP
    • Rick Smeltzer- School Board Secretary
    • Deanna Stickles- School Board Member
    • Jack White- School Board Member

If you know any of them, or see any of them, make sure you let them know that you appreciate
their involvement.

There are two events scheduled for this coming Saturday!

• • • For the past 5-6 years, maybe more, OVCF has hosted the Legislative Breakfast (LB) for the community. Some may wonder if we are venturing into politics. The answer is No. The Owen County Chamber of Commerce was looking for a good venue to host the LB and I offered our building. It has been a fantastic place to hold it. Due to our ability to live stream it has become even more valuable. (Pastor Ryan graciously stepped in to do that). This is a long session for the Legislature so there will be 4 Saturdays of meetings (One/month).
    • Also this coming Saturday is the Connection Women’s Ministry event from 2-4 p.m. It is called Coffee and Chocolate and you are asked to bring a treat to share and join other ladies for the afternoon. If you have any questions, please ask Macy Carlson, Sally Carlson, Hope East or Linda St. John.

Don’t forget the Pitch-in dinner scheduled for Wednesday, January 29th at 6 p.m. This will be a great time to eat, chat, laugh, visit with friends, and get to know other people from our church family. Bring something to share and we will provide the plates, utensils, and drinks!

From the “I CAN’T REALLY BELIEVE IT” department: Hilltop Christian Camp registration is open! Yes, you read that correctly! SUMMER camp!!! Register soon to receive the early bird discount. Please contact Pastor Ryan or Diana for the scholarship code. You will also be asked to complete a simple scholarship form the church keeps on file. I saw one scholarship application on Diana’s desk Monday morning. Now THAT is getting an early jump on camp!!😀

I hope you are enjoying the Everyday Gospel Devotional (EGD). I have heard from so many who are thoroughly enjoying it. I spoke with someone who got started late and they are catching up by reading a couple a day. I love hearing that!! This past Sunday I had several ask me about the EGD, especially after hearing Wayne Akerson, one of our elders, mention it during his communion meditation, and then listening to the sermon Sunday. I explained to them about reading the previous week’s devotions and Scripture in preparation for the Sunday sermon. I preached Sunday on Joseph, whose story we read about all week from Genesis 37-Exodus 3. I relayed to them to read January 19-January 25 in preparation for this coming Sunday’s message. They asked for copies of EGD. 😀 Someone else asked me if we had any copies so she could give them to two co-workers. I dropped them off at her work and met the two ladies. This coming
Sunday’s message is Do You Really Know God? from Exodus 4-24 (I will include some discussion of Exodus 1-3). You can prepare by reading the devotional or the Scripture.

It will be good to see you this week. I trust you know you are loved.

Pastor Bill

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #231

Hello everyone and welcome to Midweek Message #231! WOW! Has this past week and a half been something else, or what? Two Sundays ago we had our first cancellation of a Sunday service in a long time. We made the right call. Our first priority is your safety and the live stream allows us the opportunity to facilitate that. The weather was just downright unsafe to be out in so I am glad for the live stream. Final total was at least 96+ people watched the live stream. (Preacher count says 200!😊) Guess something good came out of COVID (starting our live stream)! Thanks for understanding and being willing to “go with the flow.”

The students also had an extended Christmas vacation with the cancellation of school for three days. Then they had an eLearning Day on Friday. All in all, we were at the mercy of the weather. Here is a novel thought! Maybe, just maybe, we won’t have any more snow the rest of the winter!! I would not complain about that.
Pray for Jeanna Srinivasan as our educator of the week. Jeanna homeschools her two children, Aasha and Nathan. I asked Jeanna for some info about their family. Here is what she sent: She and Kartik have been married for 15 years and met while she was attending The University of Indianapolis and he was pursuing his Master’s degree (he is a Physical Therapist for IU Health). Aasha is 12 and in the 6th grade and Nathan is 7 11/12 (his answer) and in the 2nd grade. Aasha runs track for Indy Genesis, cross-country and basketball for Bloomington Bobcats, was just initiated as a cadet into the Civil Air Patrol, co-president in the Pathfinders 4-H Club, sings in the White River Music Studio homeschool choir and is in dance. Nathan loves working outdoors. Anything laborious like chopping wood, hauling and lifting things, he’s your man. Jeanna
teaches high school sciences for the Freedom Homeschool Co-op and is on the Eli Lilly Scholarship selection committee. In her spare time (?) she has dogs, chickens, ducks (this spring) and loves going camping.

While I am asking you to pray, I want to bring up the whole California wildfire situation. I said this past Sunday that natural disasters like fires have no favorites. They don’t care if you are rich or poor, white or black, Republican or Democrat, or any other mixture you can think of. I was just speaking with someone (I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon) who called to tell me about her friend who lives in California. He was 12 miles away, then 6, and now is waiting to see which way the wind blows. When this person told him we were praying for them, he was shocked. You know why? Remember when I said fire has no favorites? He is married to a man and his friends are all of the same persuasion. I saw church buildings leveled and collapsed (good thing the church is not the building). I’m going to ask you to keep praying for the victims of these fires and that the winds shift, rain falls or something miraculous happens to bring an end to this devastation. I was not here in early 2005, but I was here in the flood of ’08 and still remember the destruction our small community faced. Pray not only for the victims but also for those trying to minister God’s love to them. Perhaps this will draw people who are desperately looking for hope to the ONE who alone gives hope.

My Wednesday Night Conversations begins this Wednesday, the 15th. The topic of discussion will be 9 Common Lies Christians Believe and Why God’s Truth is Infinitely Better. It is based on a book by Shane Pruitt. The goal is to discuss and study what the Bible says about different topics:

• • • God won’t give me more than I can handle
    • God gained another angel
    • God just wants me to be happy
    • I could never forgive that person\
    • Follow your heart
    • God’s doesn’t really care
    • Well, ________ will never change
    • I don’t think God likes me
    • Believe in yourself

You may have a topic you would like to discuss. I will fit that in here or in the next WNC. There may an occasion where we might need to combine two due to scheduling conflicts. We already know that the Wednesday night pitch-in will omit one study. The plan is to go to March 12th and then pick it back up after Spring Break for about 6 weeks or so. We meet from 6-7:00. Bring a Bible, a notebook (if desired) and yourself. Oh yeah…no school = no WNC. I just mentioned the Wednesday night pitch-in. It is scheduled for the 29th of this month at 6 pm. We are trying something new and ask that you consider it along with us. As I said in last week’s MM, we used to have these when OVCF was just a baby. We are looking at different ways to foster a church family connection and this is one way we can make it happen. I look forward to seeing you there!!

I hope you have been enjoying the Everyday Gospel Devotional. I heard from several people this past Sunday who are really loving it. I’m so thankful for those who have taken the time to let me know how it has helped. I’m convinced God doesn’t really care how we study His Word or spend time with Him, just that we do, and this is a great way to get started. I told someone recently, when they talked about reading it and the  Scripture, that she will grow by leaps and bounds by the year’s end. I believe many of us will. Some of you are probably wondering about our expansion. Two four-letter words sum it up: R.A.I.N. and S.N.O.W. That’s all we know at this point. 🙁 We will keep you informed when work begins again. 😀

Sunday’s message is Overcoming Life’s Challenges from Genesis 35-Exodus 3. The main emphasis will be on Joseph. I look forward to seeing you there. Love you all.

Pastor Bill

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #230

Hello everyone and welcome to Midweek Message #230. It has been several weeks since the last MM. I hope you missed me! If you didn’t please don’t tell me!😊My last MM anticipated the Christmas break. This one anticipates going back to school. Well…only if the weather cooperates. I have to admit I was kind of disappointed when the weather report for this past Sunday was snow, snow and more snow. I had been looking forward to preaching the first of the Burning Hearts sermons in person, but instead took a detour. I’m so glad for the live stream that makes it possible for us to make a change like we did and still be able to include anyone who wants to watch and listen. Granted, it isn’t like being there, but it is the next best thing. Unless, of course, you want me to come to your house and preach the sermon. Nah…never mind I even said that! Please just keep in mind that we made the decision to just do live stream because we love you and want you to be safe. I wrote the preceding paragraph before the snow started flying. Guess the weather people were correct this time.

With school back in session, I want to get back to praying for specific individuals. Before the break we had been praying for some of our homeschool moms. This week please pray for Michelle Lippert. Michelle has been married to Geoff for 10 years. He is a commercial plumber for a company in Indianapolis. Their daughter, Marla, is 15 and a freshman. I asked Michelle if she had any hobbies and she said she enjoys crocheting, sewing, and reading. They have some sheep but her real heart, she says, is for her dogs. She has 3 Chinese crested dogs and a small little terrier.

This MM will involve a lot of catch-up since we have been out of the loop for a couple of weeks. Here is a list of upcoming events which involve our OVCF family and friends.

• • • For the youth there are several items to remember. ROOTS will resume this coming Sunday, January 12 at 5 pm at OVCF. Pastor Ryan would love to reconnect with each of you! DEEPER will resume meeting this Wednesday, January 8th, at 4:00 pm at the East’s home.
    • Wednesday Night Conversations will be starting back up on Wednesday, January 15th at 6 pm. My plan is to do WNC until Wednesday, March 12th, since the 19th is during Spring Break. The topics for discussion will be 9 Common Lies Christians Believe. I’ve read the book twice in preparation for the class and it lends itself to a lot of discussion. There is no sign-up sheet so please feel free to  come. In the event school in cancelled due to that white stuff that falls from the sky, WNC will also be cancelled.
    • The Connections Women’s Ministry will be having a Coffee and Chocolate get together on Saturday, January 25th from 2-4 pm at OVCF. Bring a treat to share and enjoy spending time with other ladies for the afternoon.
    • OVCF has hosted the Legislative Breakfast for the Chamber of Commerce for the past several years. This year will be no different. The first breakfast will be Saturday, January 25th. It normally meets on the 3rd Saturday of the first 4 months (this year due to a long session for the lawmakers), but a scheduling conflict caused them to make a change for this month only.

Something different is coming! One of the characteristics of families is gathering around the table to eat. The staff talked last week about having more pitch-ins to allow us to spend more time together as a church family. When OVCF was just a mere baby, we used to meet at the Owen Valley Sports Complex. One Wednesday night a month we used to have a pitch-in that was well attended. When we moved to this building we stopped having pitch-ins. Then we went to two services (as we are now) and it became difficult to find a good time for one. The folks in first service wanted to be involved, but that meant they would leave and have to come back two hours later. So the staff (Pastor Ryan, Diana and myself) got our heads together and came up with the hair-brained scheme of trying to have a pitch-in on a Wednesday night. Jeff Carlson used to be fond of saying, “One of our strengths is trying something new. If it doesn’t work, well then okay. We will try something else.” We aren’t sure if the Wednesday night idea is a good one or not, but we can at least try. If not, we will go back to the drawing board. Please set aside that date-Wednesday, January 29th at 6:00 pm-for a pitch-in. We will set up in the main auditorium in anticipation of a good group.😊You bring
the food. We will provide the plates, utensils, and drinks. *My WNC group will not meet that evening.

I trust you are reading your Everyday Gospel Devotional (EDG) daily. Did you know we wound up ordering 135 books? I told a friend that number and he was shocked. His exact words were: “Dude, that is phenomenal!” He and his wife are also taking part (from AZ). They are also committing to watching the live stream to stay current. My sermon this coming Sunday is Two Recipes from Genesis 16-34. Reading the Scripture and staying current in EDG will sure help you understand more, as well as make my job easier. 😊

One last thing before I go: this past Sunday I read something at the end of the sermon which I said I would include in the MM. Here is that reading:

No matter how much we know the Bible; no matter how long we have known the Lord; no matter how intelligent you are in spiritual matters; no matter how many facts you know; no matter how spiritually mature you may think you are; we all rely on God’s transforming grace. Be grateful you were included in that grace and accepted His offer of salvation. If you haven’t why put it off any longer?

My goal and hope is that as we go through the theme of Burning Hearts I will be able to leave you with something to think about and chew on for the week ahead. Thanks for joining me on Sunday and in reading this MM. To the new folks: WELCOME! Just know you are loved.

Pastor Bill