Month: April 2023

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Col. 3:12-14

If we follow Christ we’ll see people through His eyes of grace. He loved to forgive and to accept. He had enough grace for the prostitute, for the criminal on the cross, for His disciple who walked away from Him in the hours of shame and despair. This is a true nature of a Christian who shows grace to those who are different in their lifestyle, political orientation, diet preferences, or spiritual experience. Put on love today.

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This last week was pretty full with many committee meetings, visitors in my office, but mostly with home visitations of our elderly church members. We have many precious church members who cannot come to church due to their physical condition. They need our grace and our hugs. I am so grateful to our elders and lay members who visit our elderly friends. God bless you for your caring hearts.

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Our Pathfinders were camping last weekend. During the Board meeting on Monday night, David Reynolds reported that the club had a great time inspite of the cold weather and a storm. They are truly a brave bunch of young people. I am very confident that our club will continue to grow next year.

Here are a few photos I downloaded from Matt Geraghty’s Facebook (without his permission 😦 Thank you, Matt! )

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May 6 will be our Youth Sabbath. Here is a brief announcement from Connie Reynolds:

“Good morning! Happy Friday! Thought I should give you an update on our Children’s Service for next week. Theme “Great Is His Faithfulness”. Ina Longway & Ralph Williams will be our speakers. There will be several musical selections by our young people.  Primary Class will be in charge of the music. Juniors Class will do a skit. Both children & grandparents will be participating. During Children’s Story we will honor our eldest brothers & sisters. The children will hand out flowers to each of those in their 80s & 90s.”

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This Sabbath evening you are invited to the Music Ministry Vespers.

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Happy Sabbath!

Pastor Peter

I may not remember exactly what my blood type is, but I know for sure that I have matching blood in Christ. He is inviting me to “drink His blood”. In other words He is saying that there is healing in His blood. The cancer of sin is destroying me. I feel weak and my prognosis is bleak. But I do not need to remain on hospice care with no hope. There is power in the blood of Jesus. He is strong to help and he can renew my mind. He can soften my temper and change my spirit. He can transform my marriage. He can restore my broken relationships. All this is offered in the healing blood of Jesus. He wants us to be of the same genetic nature as Him. That’s why apostle Peter makes a profound statement in 2 Peter 1:4 “you may be partakers of the divine nature.” It seems unreal but it is a guaranteed reality. It was at the Lord’s Supper table that Christ presented this life-changing truth when He broke a loaf of bread and poured a glass of wine and invited His disciples to eat and to drink His body and His blood to be One with Him.

I am looking forward to the blessed spiritual experience of a Communion Worship service with all of you this Sabbath morning.

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OAKS has a new playground! On Friday, April 14 Phase One of our new playground opened up.  Students and teachers gathered after Chapel for a ribbon cutting ceremony and enjoyed playing on the playground equipment afterwards. Phase one included a massive net climbing structure, two new slides, two spinning elements and an upper-body exercise system.  Phase 2 will take place this summer with the replacement of the decking and slides on our existing centerpiece, replacing the swings, and adding an additional swing set.

We want to send a special, heartfelt THANK YOU to Mr. Lambert for spreading new mulch.  He has put in countless volunteer hours making sure the surface of the new playground is perfect.  We also want to thank YOU, our parents, students, families, friends and volunteers for your monetary donations, fundraising efforts, and especially for the volunteer hours helping to set up the new playground.  We could not do it without you.

Thank you, OAKS staff, teachers, students, parents, and church for this exciting improvement to our educational program! Great things are happening at our school. Please uplift our principle, Shelly Caswell, in your prayers especially this weekend as she is celebrating her marriage to a wonderful gentleman from our community, Todd Parrish! Let God’s blessing be with both of them as they are starting their new and exciting journey.

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Hey Pastor, just wanted to send you a few pics from last weekend’s women’s retreat at Cohutta. We had a group of 18 ladies and teens. We were truly blessed in getting to know one another, in attending the inspirational seminars, and participating in the music (led by a Kenyan choir and other ladies within our conference). It was also a blessing to meet our NAD Women’s Ministry Director, DeeAnn Bragraw and other leaders within our Southern Union Conference. A huge thank you to Patty Geraghty for putting together a beautiful centerpiece with the theme of “Armed and Dangerous”…..preparing for battle with the armor of God.

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On Thursday night the Health Team had their second session of the Immune Vitality seminar. The dinner was absolutely healthy and delicious. It’s not always guaranteed to find these two elements combined in the same meal. Galena and I were impressed with the quality of the program. There are several more sessions ahead of us. I invite you to join the seminar next Thursday at 6:30 PM in the Collegedale town hall building.

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Have a blessed Sabbath Day.

pastor Peter

“Christ’s followers are to be more than a light in the midst of men. They are the light of the world. Jesus says to all who have named His name, You have given yourselves to Me, and I have given you to the world as My representatives. As the Father had sent Him into the world, so He declares, “have I also sent them into the world.” … While our Saviour is the great source of illumination, forget not, O Christian, that He is revealed through humanity. God’s blessings are bestowed through human instrumentality…. Angels of glory wait to communicate through you heaven’s light and power to souls that are ready to perish…. If Christ is dwelling in the heart, it is impossible to conceal the light of His presence.” (MB, 66)

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On Thursday night the Health Ministry team started the first session of the Immune Vitality seminar. Heather Neal presented the first topic. The meeting took place at Ooltewah City Hall. I wish many more of you participated in the event. There will be five more session and I hope you’ll invite your friends and neighbors to receive the blessing.

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Our Midweek Bible study experienced a complete makeover. The emphasis this quarter is on the steps leading to Christian growth. Everyone is invited to attend.

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Next week is Communion Sabbath. I invite you to celebrate Christ’s power in your life. He died because of our sins. He resurrected to bring us back to life. It is in our communion with Jesus that we find hope and assurance.

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Just from my heart.

This week a local pastor from the city of Perm, Russia, contacted me with a request to record a short video greeting for their church. In a few days the church in Perm will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. In 1993 I was invited by pastor Lonnie Melashenko and his Dad, Joe Melashenko, to go to Perm for a series of evangelistic meetings. Our Bible school instructors travelled to Perm six months in advance to start in-person Bible school with hundreds of people who responded to my radio broadcast and asked for Bible studies. On the first night of the meetings we celebrated the graduation of 450 people who completed the full course. At that time there were only fifty church members in the local Seventh day Adventist Church. After 4 weeks of nightly meetings we had a massive baptism with close to 500 people accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. This week Lonnie, Jeannie, and I had a long phone conversation reminiscing about our special time in Perm. Lonnie sent me a few photos from that event. Below are a couple of them.

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Happy Sabbath!

Pastor Peter

By His own resurrection Jesus proved that He has power over death. No one needs to live in fear. If we believe in the promise of Jesus we can live with confidence that our resurrection is guaranteed. However, in these words of Jesus I hear more than the promise of a future miracle. All of us need to experience a spiritual resurrection today. Meaningful life is only in Christ. That is the reason He states that He is the LIFE. It is time for us to wake up from our lethargic existence and hear the cries of the suffering, see the tears of the struggling, offer help to the sick and extend love to the rejected. This is what the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus should be all about.

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On Wednesday the Young at Heart ministry gathered almost thirty people for lunch and fellowship. I so wanted to be there, but unfortunately couldn’t join the group again. Willis shared with me the following photos.

It is great to see pastor John Sabo in these photos. We are glad that Kathy and John are back!

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Last Sabbath I was blessed to offer a prayer of blessing over my granddaughter Charlotte. I felt a bit overwhelmed with emotions. Praise God for our families.

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Our Spring Communion Worship service is scheduled for April 22. Please put it on your calendars.

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Dr David Hartman is preaching tomorrow for both services. David agreed to preach only on the condition that Galena and I will take this Sabbath off and leave town for a couple of days. I guess I’ll not see you tomorrow, but I am sure you’ll be blessed with Dr Hartman’s message!

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“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3

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Hugs and Happy Easter,

pastor Peter