Month: July 2017

MESSAGE. This Sabbath morning I will continue my “Seven Signs of Christ’s Soon Return” series. This will be my fifth sermon on this subject. The key verse of the study is Revelation 3:15. Spiritul apathy and indifference characterize the church right before the coming of the Lord. However, the spiritual condition of the church is a simple refection of the spirit dominating our society. “It’s a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little mediocrity.” Richard Yates.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.” Revelation‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

MINISTRY. OAKS Work Bee. Shelly Turkenkopf reporting: “The heat of the morning did not discourage the dedicated OAKS families from spreading mulch and cleaning up the back of the school. 40 volunteers worked in and out of the building to remove trash, clean desks, paint, and exchange items from storage. What a difference their hard work has made. School starts in 15 days and the Lord is helping OAKS prepare for the blessed work of saving the hearts of our children. Thank you so much for those who came to support with their hands and backs. Our new sign and updated playground will draw the children in that first day of school. Please keep OAKS in your prayers. Many families are making sacrifices to send their children to OAKS and the devil likes to discourage them. Pray for the safety of our families as many travel to return home from summer vacation. School starts August 9.”

The Cereal Barrel needs your help. Thank you for being so generous in the past. Let’s fill it up to the brim again.

Church Newsletter. A beautiful church newsletter has just been published by our new communications director, Alisa Hall. Thank you, Alisa, for this informative and nicely designed publication. Great job! A hard copy will be available this Sabbath at church. A digital version is available online. Click here or go to our church website www.ooltewahchurch.org and open the COMMUNICATIONS tab.

Local Budget. I’m grateful for your generous and continued support of our local church budget. Your contributions are supporting our school, children’s activities and ministries, and of course our outreach programs. If only half of our church members contribute $15 a week towards our local budget we would always reach our monthly goal. Let me encourage you to make an extra effort on this last Sabbath of July. God bless you.

This week I took a few of my vacation days and traveled to Nova Scotia to speak at the Maritime Conference Camp meeting. What a beautiful camp! Located right on the ocean shore. The sunsets and sunrises are of indescribable beauty. I am speaking every day in the main auditorium and exploring Nova Scotia in my free hours. After this trip it is definitely on my short list of places to retire 😊

Here are a few of my exploration photos.

SAU Student from Ukraine. A young Seventh-Day Adventist lady from Ukraine graduated from Mountain View Academy this spring as a straight A student. All summer she worked as a colporter to raise money towards her SAU tuition. She has been accepted for the fall semester, but needs a room for the next six months. She does not have resources to pay for the room, but is very musically gifted and is willing to bless your home with beautiful music or singing. She is also ready to clean, wash, cook, etc. Here are a few links which will help you to learn more about Evelina. Evelina Bio, Request Place to Stay Letter, Evelina Vakal Acceptance Letter Southern Adventist University 

I am looking forward to a blessed Sabbath day with you. Our worship services will have a new layout. Larry and his team proposed a new format. It looks great to me.

Sincerely,

Peter

MESSAGE. The exponential explosion of knowledge is now. This certainly reminds us of the time Daniel foresaw as the time of the end. It coincides with the many other End Times predictions of the Bible which we have been studying in the last few weeks. Jesus once said, Matthew 16:3 …and in the morning [you say], ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening…’ You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. Well, for the last three Sabbath we have been studying these signs of the times! They are all around us.

They serve to remind us of something that needs no sign. Jesus promised He would return for us to resurrect the dead in Christ and to take living believers. Get ready, stay ready, keep looking up.

MINISTRY. Yesterday was the last night of our Vacation Bible School. What a blessing it was to see up to 60 kids every night come to walk through the streets of ancient Rome and to learn about Jesus’ power to protect His children. Thank you, volunteers, for your commitment and hard work. It was not an easy endeavor but you did it well. Special words of appreciation to Many Vela, who served as the VBS leader. I was sincerely amazed with his many talents. God bless you, Manny and your wonderful team.

New Associate Pastor. Last Sunday morning the Ooltewah church board interviewed pastor Matthew Shallenberger for the Associate pastor position. After an hour and a half of questions and answers, prayers and discussions the board unanimously voted to extend an invitation to Matthew to serve in this capacity at our church. Matthew is married to Emmalee and they have two sons; Malachi is three years old and Eli is one. Matthew will officially start working at our church on August 19th. Please pray for the Shallenberger family as they are starting their transition from Southern Georgia. Here is a link to pastor Matthew’s  Resume and the cover letter.

Here is a photo of Ben Thompson’s baptism from last Sabbath afternoon. Praise God for Ben’s decision.

Here are a few photos from the Turner family baby dedication:

I hope to see you tomorrow morning. There will be another baptism and a VBS presentation.

Happy Sabbath.

MESSAGE. “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:10-13

This Sabbath morning we’ll study the third sign of Christ’s Soon Return. I hope you’ll not miss this important message.

MINISTRY. VBS. Below is a brief report and lots of great photos from pastor Aubrey: 

URGENT! More volunteers are needed this afternoon, Friday, July 7. Esther is working in the Fellowship Hall of our church as I’m typing this message. She is concerned that we don’t have enough people to finish the sewing for the VBS program. She’ll gladly accept help throughout the day. If you have a sewing machine and have some basic sewing skills please come and help. Thank you in advance.

Tomorrow we have a baby dedication during the second service. John and Jessica Turner will present their baby boy Alexandre to the Lord. Pastor Aubrey will officiate the service. This will be her first ever baby dedication experience. Exciting! Here is a photo of Alexander:

Church directory update. Our new church directory was printed in January. Since then many new members joined our church. We certainly want to have their photos in the directory. Our church elder Michael Haughee made arrangements for an additional photo session. The company (Church Life Publishing) is going to send a rep and photographer on Sunday, July, 16th. We will get supplement sheets to peel and stick into the directories.  We will also get a PDF and App update. Please, don’t miss this opportunity to sign up for the July 16th session.

Family Life. We all love when life is going great. But what happens when it doesn’t, when we are struggling with the pain and grief of loss? Grief often looks different for each person and can come from varied life events such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, income, home, health, status, broken relationships or the loss of a cherished friendship. The Family Ministry Department of the Georgia Cumberland Conference will be sponsoring a grief recovery weekend, “Letting It Go, ” on August 24-27, 2017 at Cohutta Springs Conference Center. The guest speakers will be David & Beverly Sedlacek from Andrews University. Early Registration is July 27, and the final registration deadline is August 7. Registration information will be located in the church foyer, or you can register on the conference’s website. For more information, call (706) 629-7951, ext. 342, or visit https://www.gccsda.com/events/38148 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Ps. 34:18. 

Linda Kulik

PRAYERS. Please continue to pray for the Bremner family. Steve and his family will travel back to NC this afternoon to support their mother.

Bettie Chastain still needs lots of prayers for her family.

RESOURCES. Church bulletin: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/058e52_23fa6ac8bc374d4c90ba6eb6a7ce6d38.pdf

Online Tithe and offerings https://www.ooltewahchurch.org