Weekly Announcements

The Week of June 29th at a Glance

Mon. July 7 – Trustees, 6:00 (7)

Tues. July 8 – Worship Team, 5:30
Finance, 6:00 (Conference Rm.)

Wed. July 9 – Praise Band, 6:00 (FLC)

Thu. July 10 – Compassionate Friends, 7-9 (FLC)

Fri. July 11 – AUGUST newsletter deadline

July 11 & 12 - FLC reserved for VBS set-up

Sat. July 12 – Dress A Girl, 9-1:00 (main building)

Pastor’s Corner

By the time you read this, I will have started my fourth year here at Ebenezer UMC. I consider it a privilege to serve as the pastor here. We have a diverse and dynamic family of Christ here.

We seek to be a church family where anyone is welcome. We acknowledge that we are all broken folks seeking to walk with God. Therefore, if anyone is seeking God, they are warmly welcomed to come join us in this great adventure of walking with God as we make a difference in our community and in the world.

We are a PRAYING church. We have a Prayer Hotline that anyone can use if they have someone in need who needs immediate prayer. There are roughly 10 prayer warriors who will stop right then and pray when a text request for prayer is received.

We have missions in the church including a food pantry open twice a month to help those folks with food insecurity. We are now connected to the Virginia Food Bank so our mission dollars go much further in keeping our shelves stocked. Ralph and his team have even made deliveries in special cases because we believe no one should go hungry.

Our Dress-A-Girl ministry has hand sewn over 140 dresses, along with hand-made dolls, and reusable sanitary pads. And this ministry has expanded including folks who don’t come to our church. From that mission, in July we are offering a class for kids (age 10+) to learn how to sew! Our “We Care” group continues to crochet and knit lap blankets and prayer shawls for adults in nursing homes and the VA Hospital; crib blankets are delivered to several NICU units and given as gifts at baptism for the little ones in our church. While this group is small, it is Mighty!

We have gotten connected with the first deaf church in Tanzania through Carol, one of our members who does Sign Language. In December of 2023 she told me they didn’t have a church building to meet in and it would only cost $1300 to build one. Our Christmas offering that year sent them $1500 (through the UMC Global Ministry to ensure accountability). Since then, we have sent several large donations to help build the Yatosha Deaf School, and a special gift for a motorcycle for the pastor whose motorcycle was washed away in a flood.

We open our Singalong to the community to sing a variety of music and enjoy homemade pizza and ice cream. And we are blessed as the Praise Band and Ensemble play together for several of our songs! We are modeling being in one family, working together.

Several times a year we open our doors for “Hope and Happiness” which is a ministry to developmentally challenged folks. Often it is our Praise Band playing for those dances.

We also host hospitality events like the 4th of July Celebration and the Fall Festival where the emphasis is more on giving to our community than fund raising. And as always there is our Vacation Bible School which is geared to both the church and our community children, providing a safe place to learn about Jesus. At Christmas time, you can pick an angel and adopt a child or senior citizen. And at Thanksgiving, you can adopt a family and see that they have what they need for a Thanksgiving feast. (Bountiful Blessings)

Ebenezer UMC is alive and we seek to make a difference in our community and in the world. “Come and See.”

Blessings in Christ, Pastor Tom

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