'God loves you no matter what' Tagged Posts (Page 8)
New Worship Times Starting July 9
New Worship ScheduleStarting July 9 Your Church Council voted unanimously to move to a new worship schedule starting in a few weeks on Sunday, July 9. Our 9am traditional service will remain as it is. Our second service will move to 10:30am and will be a shorter 45-50 minute service with music and the message, designed for families with children. Godly Play and our Youth small group classes will be offered during that time period (youth small group resumes in…
Grief & Hope
June 7, 2023A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, When I walked into the main hall of the Dayton Convention Center last week, I could feel the heaviness in the room. People were milling about the room trying to find a table where they could sit. Some were greeting old friends that they hadn’t seen in years. Others were sitting at the corners of the room with arms crossed, avoiding eye contact. I immediately wanted to leave. As the morning…
Summer Events!
We’ve got some great stuff planned this summer to connect, play, serve, pray, and learn!
There All Along
June 1, 2023A Note from Deborah Mitchell Dear Friends, It’s Been There All Along, Waiting for You What does it mean to “grow”? What does it mean to grow as a Christian? To grow as a human being? In many ways, the idea of “growth” has been central to how I’ve tried to understand and interact with the world throughout my life. When I was a little girl, very early on I gravitated toward the idea of growth as mastery,…
Celebrations
May 17, 2023A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, Seventh grade was rough. In the small town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, all the students in seventh through twelfth grade went to school in the same building. The older students at our school were notorious for picking on the seventh graders. As a brainy, insecure, and extremely skinny 12-year-old girl, I was an easy target. I’ll never forget the afternoons and evenings spent crying in my bed, wishing that I could…
Stand Up & Go Gold!
May 10, 2023A Note from Robin Ozbolt Dear Friends, In our preschool world, colors are a topic of conversation on a daily basis. What is your favorite color? Can you share the red crayon? My dress is pink! My shoes are green! But when does a color represent much more than a shade on the spectrum of colors? The Color Gold The color gold has been on all of our minds this year. Gold is a precious metal, but it…
Prodigal by Proxy
May 3, 2023A Note from Diana Huey Dear Friends, My mother and I have a long, complex relationship, fraught with anger, disappointment, rebellion, grief, and denial, but also laughter, love, longing, healing, and hope. We didn’t speak for a quarter of a century, yet God has been working on us and we are slowly & steadily rebuilding & healing. Mom is a texter, not a talker, so imagine my surprise when she texted to ask if I was available for…
A Rock & a Hard Place
April 26, 2023A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, I’ve always been a goal-oriented person. I enjoy the work of problem-solving and finding the best possible outcome for everyone involved. Even when it’s hard, the process of overcoming obstacles and getting to the finish line is something I find incredibly satisfying. (Here’s me finishing my longest race ever of 10 miles!) The reality of life is that some things aren’t things you can “overcome.” Some things can’t simply be problem-solved.…
Discomfort
April 12, 2023A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, It was mid-January when my doctor called me with the news. “Your blood tests came back, and I’m sorry to tell you that you are pre-diabetic. We’ll need you to be on a strict diabetic diet for the next three months to see if we can get those numbers back down.” It wasn’t entirely a surprise. I had gone to the doctor that day after a few unusual blood sugar incidences.…
Holding in Tension
March 29, 2023A Note from Molly Collier Dear Friends, I recently went skiing with some friends, and we were reminded of some very valuable lessons before we even hit the slopes. Mind you, this is Ohio skiing. I’m not sure if I can call them slopes, but they were high enough for me, a novice skier who hadn’t skied in over 10 years. It’s okay to ask for help The first lesson we were reminded of was that it’s okay…
Curiosity
March 15, 2023A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, Curiosity killed the cat? (But did it really?) Growing up I remember when I found myself asking too many questions (never understood what that means) that the grownups started saying, “You know, Jon, curiosity killed the cat.” It only took a few times of hearing that statement before becoming conditioned to stop asking questions out of my own curiosity. My curiosity was often stifled and discouraged. As an Enneagram 9 (see…
Seasons of Change
March 8, 2023A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, This week, my younger child turned 13. I remember people telling me that the time would fly by. Most days it didn’t feel like that. So much of parenting is the little moments, the daily routines, the consistent showing up to the needs that are happening in the present moment. It’s slow and steady and repetitive kind of work. So many days I felt like a broken record repeating the same…