MESSAGE.
This week our church is celebrating fifty years of ministry. Over these years the church grew from a hundred members to over six hundred! This is a wonderful symptom of a church that is alive! The Spirit of God fills up the lungs of this church with the “sweet aroma” of Christ’s character. This spirit is breathing in dozens of active ministries. Today we praise God for the blessings of the past, and ask Him to lead us to new horizons of service until the day of His appearing.
MINISTRY.
This Sabbath we will meet the pioneers of our church. There will be no lesson study in the adult Sabbath school classes. Both services will take place in the Fellowship Hall. After first service I invite everyone to join the celebration in the FH. We’ll hear our church “charter members” share memories of the the early days of our congregation. Parents with children are invited to take their children to the Lower SS division for regular activities.
In the afternoon we’ll continue our celebration:
Children’s music program from 4 to 5 pm,
Honoring charter members from 5 to 6 pm,
Brass for Worship mini concert and Prayers for the Future church expansion from 6 to 6:30 pm.
Church dinner/Potluck 6:30 pm
A special Thank You to Shelly Turkenkopf for the wonderful posters showing the history of our church from its very first day. You’ll find these posters along the hallway between the sanctuary and the Fellowship Hall and in the hallway adjacent to the FH. Great job, Shelly!
Many of you joined the Slavic night celebration last Sabbath. It was good to see many visitors from the community around us. I hope you enjoyed the music by Oksana Kozun. Some of you were brave enough to try Russian borsht. 🙂 A special thank you to Galena and her sister Luda. They worked hard to prepare many exotic dishes. Lupina earned her honorable Russian citizenship for her selfless support of the program. I am almost finished printing her passport on my printer. The Rose family and Mary Wagoner, Thank You, from the bottom of my heart.
Your prayers and financial support of the upcoming meetings in Siberia will bring the warmth of Christ’s love into the hearts of many in Krasnoyarsk city this December.
On Thursday night the Zollinger family came together for a Memorial service for LeLand, who passed last week. It was good to see many from our church who came to support Freda. LeLand and Freda were married for almost seventy years! The last few years they needed one another in a special sweet way. Lelaland became hard of hearing and Freda lost her vision. We’ll continue praying for Freda as her family will need to make some important decisions about her future years of life.
Church deaconess went an extra mile preparing the reception meal. They fixed Leland’s favorite dishes for the memorial service last night. Thank you, Lupina and your wonderful team!
This morning I had to drive to Dayton, TN to officiate at the graveside service. It was a beautiful morning. A bit chilly (42F) for the outdoor service, but definitely gorgeous in the setting of a small country cemetery near Laurelbrook Academy. On my way to the service I took the photo below. Finally, I see some fall colors.
We are just a few days away from the opening night of the “REVELATION TODAY” Bible Seminar. The seminar is starting on Friday, November 1 @7PM. It will continue through the month of November every Thursday, Friday, Sabbath and Sunday nights until November 24. Your help is needed every night of the meetings. Sign up sheets are available in the church lobby. Please, help! Jesus needs your time, your hands and your heart.
PRAYERS.
Judson Jamieson had to spend over a week at Erlanger because of his heart condition. He is very weak and appreciates our prayers.
MESSAGE. 
The church building committee got together Wednesday night to meet with the architects from … . This meeting was a follow up on the church business meeting decision to further explore the need for a new Sabbath school wing and a larger capacity sanctuary. The architects presented a portfolio of their past and recent building projects. They have fifty years of experience working with various churches. We were especially interested in the fact that their firm designed and provided architectural oversight for a big building project for Georgia-Cumberland Academy. After thorough consideration the committee approved hiring this firm for the feasibility study. The results of this study will be presented to the church business meeting in early December. Please, keep this important and exciting project in your daily prayers.
Ooltewah Seventh-day Adventist Church 