{"id":11329,"date":"2023-06-21T10:04:15","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T14:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/?p=11329"},"modified":"2023-06-21T10:04:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T14:04:15","slug":"3-midweek-message-01042023-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/2023\/06\/3-midweek-message-01042023-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Midweek Message 06\/21\/2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #162<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #162! After surviving last week\u2019s introduction of the MM (world famous, much-read and ever popular MM) I didn\u2019t think I ought to try for another grand entrance. J \u00a0So, I\u2019ll simply say, thanks for taking the time to read this edition of MM.<\/p>\n

Please remember to pray for Nikk Wood as our Law Enforcement Officer of the week. Nikk serves with the Bloomington Police Department as well the Indiana National Guard so he gets double duty from time to time. He is father to Charli, Cooper, and Tanner.<\/p>\n

By the time you get this, the Ice Breaker camp at Hilltop will be over. It started on Sunday and was over on Tuesday. It is the camper\u2019s first foray into overnight camping. Campers this week were Cohen Frye, Oakley Groomer, and Tanner Wood. It is never too late to pray for their time at camp to have a lasting effect on them. Reports from last week\u2019s Jr. High Wilderness Week were very positive. I believe that is not only due to the planning and work of the faculty, and the campers\u2019 cooperation, but also the prayers made on their behalf.\u00a0 Let me encourage you to never stop praying for a camper even though the week is finished.\u00a0 The Bible is very clear about planting seeds and the harvest that comes as a result.<\/p>\n

Jo and I are grateful to all of you who sent us cards celebrating our 50th<\/sup> anniversary. We are very thankful for the thoughts expressed in each card and felt very loved, appreciated and celebrated. I understand there were some partners in crime I need to thank, primarily our daughter, Tami, and Diana, who sent out an email making doubly sure our names were deleted from the list. J We were able to take a few days and make a trip to Ohio to watch Mike, Janna\u2019s significant other, play softball; then watch Braden play 3 ballgames. It was a wood-bat tournament. If you know anything about baseball these days, they normally use aluminum bats. This was \u201cold school\u201d in that they went back to wooden bats (the kind I used when I played oh-so-many-years-ago). His team lost by 1; came back to win the next game by 3 or 4; then lost by 1. \u00a0The good thing for us is that no game was cancelled because of rain. Last year, every game but one was rained out, and then it was so cold it froze my face off. We enjoyed our time with our family, but it is always good to get back home and sleep in your own bed.<\/p>\n

Father\u2019s Day 2023 is history. We had a good day with nine different men sharing their thoughts on the man in the Bible whom they most look up to. A big thank you goes to Wayne Akerson, Andy Wood, Scott Herrington, Terrie MacMorran, Joe Pavich, Jeff Carlson, Westin Linville, Ryan White, and Steve Pendleton. Tony Roberts was unable to take part due to a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Father\u2019s Day was also the official end to New Beginning Pregnancy Resource Center\u2019s Change for Life <\/em>fundraiser.<\/em> If you were unable to bring your change-filled baby bottle to the church building, you may turn it in at OVCF or take it directly to the NB building on Main Street in Spencer.<\/p>\n

I thought I would practice the old adage \u201cThe early bird catches the worm.\u201d Due to the MM coming out midweek, camp is already underway, so I thought I\u2019d be proactive and give you a heads up about the upcoming Sr. High Wilderness Week at Hilltop. There are\u2026get this\u202640 campers! Add the faculty to that and it promises to be a whopper of a week!! Faculty is Pastor Ryan and Hope, Westin and Cassie Linville, Anna Katz, Brandon Chandler, Linda St. John, and Mollie Wainscott. Campers and friends of students from OVCF include McKenzie Adams, Anna and Caleb East, Meilynn Hess, Nolan Miller, and Hannah Pendleton.\u00a0 To add to your prayers, there is also Jr High Girl\u2019s Week on the dormitory camp side with Charli Wood and Bella Madorin taking part. \u00a0That is a lot of campers to pray for!!<\/p>\n

This Saturday is Serving Owen County Together at the OVMS\/OVHS parking lot. I\u2019ve been sharing you with the past month or so the details, so at the risk of being overly repetitive, let me just say we can use your help. The event goes from 7:00-4:00. I\u2019ve said this all along: it is a great way to serve our community.<\/p>\n

I just finished reading The Church in Babylon<\/em> by Erwin Lutzer. He tells the following story:<\/p>\n

Bishop Samuel, who died in a hail of gunfire when Anwar Sadat was assassinated in Egypt in the early 1980s, told a friend of mine how Christianity conquered North Africa. Christians were marginalized, and, at best, were given the hardest jobs, such as working in the fields or collecting garbage. When the plagues came, dead bodies were stacked up and burned. Whenever possible, the Christians washed the bodies and buried them, arguing that in light of the resurrection, even the wicked have a right to a decent burial.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t have abortion like we do, but unwanted babies were left out on the streets or in alleys to starve, unless someone wanted them. The church organized \u201cbaby runs\u201d to find these abandoned babies. Of course, there were no baby bottles in those days, so the babies were brought to nursing mothers to nurse them as if they were their own.<\/p>\n

And the pagans asked, \u201cWhere is all that love coming from?\u201d\u00a0 (Pp.262-263)<\/p>\n

He goes on to make this point: \u201cIt\u2019s true the world can outnumber us, out-entertain us, and out-finance us, but let it never be said they can out-love us, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given unto us.\u201d (p.263)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will know we are Christians by our love\u201d the old chorus says. And may you always know you are loved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pastor Bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #162 Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #162! After surviving last week\u2019s introduction of the MM (world famous, much-read and ever popular MM) I didn\u2019t think I ought to try for another grand entrance. J \u00a0So, I\u2019ll simply say, thanks for taking the time to read this edition of MM. Please remember to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-midweekmessage","category-ovcf-news","nodate","item-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11330,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11329\/revisions\/11330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}