Congratulations, Tammy!
On December 14th, UVa student Tammy Teng was baptized into Christ! Her parents are disciples in the Jakarta church and flew half-way around the world the previous day to be a part of the celebration. Everyone was very moved by their testimony and by their obvious love for all of their daughters.
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Christmas Banquet Slideshow
Due to popular demand, the Christmas Banquet slideshow is available here. It is a 90MB Powerpoint file, so it might take a while to download. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!
Christmas Service 2010
Our annual Christmas Banquet and Church Service will be held this Sunday, 5 December 2010, at 10:30am at the Blue Ridge Café in Ruckersville. The banquet will be catered by the “The Chef” Sean Hayes and was a big hit last year. There will be a slide show, a talent show, and Christmas merriment of all kinds. Tickets are $13/adult and $8/child 5-13 years old. See you there!
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Thanksgiving Service 2010
On Thanksgiving Sunday, 28 November 2010, we will be meeting at the normal time and place: Burnley-Moran Elementary School at 10:30am. In past years we have held house church, but during this year the church has grown to the point where the typical holiday-season congregation no longer fits in any one (or even two!) homes. To God be the glory, and Happy Thanksgiving!
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
~ Colossians 3:16
Restorations in Amsterdam!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
~ Romans 2:7
Greetings from the family in Amsterdam! So far the year 2010 has been eventful, encouraging and inspiring for our small but faithful church in the Netherlands (now 28 adults and 22 children). The Wolmarans family moved here last year and after resolving work permit issues, Stefan was employed by the church to work full-time in the ministry since February.
It has been an exciting year for the Amsterdam Church. In April a sister was restored to the fellowship who inspired us all and showed real courage in overcoming challenging life struggles to come back to the Lord. In June our brother Ranny was also welcomed back to the fellowship. Ranny is a real hero in the faith who was part of the church planting in Suriname many years ago, and encouraged our little church family greatly with his humble sharing when he was restored to the fellowship.
In August we happily let go of our sister Kim Connor to be married to Leif in Stockholm. She has been a faithful single for many years and a real example of perseverance in faith for many mature singles. The brothers and sisters in Amsterdam flourish on fellowship, and in addition to our own church retreat make great efforts to attend the various European church events like the European Bible School, European Singles retreat, Nordic Missions Conference in Eckero, New Year’s Camp in Denmark, Berlin Campus Conference, etc. Living in a wealthy country also brings opportunity for material generosity (2 Cor 8:14), and the Amsterdam church really opened their purses to the HOPE fund or Haiti to help our family in need.
We have a fantastic children’s ministry in Amsterdam with an annual kid’s camp for the younger kids and now a blooming pre-teen and teen ministry. Our pre-teens and teens linked up with the German-speaking churches for their annual teen-camp in Germany. We are really excited about the start of our new teen ministry in October this year. For the coming year we will have a big focus on growing our campus ministry, where we currently have one American student (with the faith and zeal of many). Our sister Zamira surprised and inspired us all when she announced in the summer that she has saved up some money and will be changing to part-time work so she can work as a volunteer for the next year with our teen and student ministries. The one thing that is really on our hearts as a congregation is to have some baptisms this year. Please pray to God to send us a harvest before the end of this year.
Love in Christ, Stefan Wolmarans.
www.missionssociety.org
Virginia Statewide Church Service
Join us as the Roanoke Valley, Richmond, Charlottesville, Hampton Roads, Potomac Valley, and Northern Virginia churches come together for our annual statewide worship service!
This year’s worship promises to serve as an inspirational, unifying, and bonding time with well over 1,000 disciples expected to be in attendance. Be sure to allow at least 1 hour, 20 minutes for traveling to the service from Charlottesville. See you there!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
500 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
804-643-3400
ACR Early-Bird Registration Deadline Extended!
Good News!
The Hampton Roads Church, hosts of this year’s ACR conference Generations have decided to extend the early-bird registration to midnight Sunday, August 15th.
This gives everyone an additional 2 weeks to register before all prices go up by $10 and coincides with the Virginia Statewide Worship Service where we will have on-site registration again this year.
Take advantage of the extension and register for the conference now!
M ap sonje ou, M ap priye pou ou (I will miss you, I will pray for you)
By Dr. Mark Ottenweller
A few weeks ago, thirteen volunteers and I sat in a tent with some of the 80 poorest and most neglected children on earth – orphans living at the Cadre D’Action pour le Developpement (C.A.D.) orphanage in Ganthier, Haiti. Many were suffering from scabies, diarrhea and all sorts of parasites.
As I sat there I thought about the words we were teaching them in English, French and Creole. I said to them, “I will miss you. I will pray for you.” The children repeated those phrases and then it struck me…they had never heard those words nor had they uttered them to anyone. You could see it in their eyes. Then I experienced an “a-ha” moment, we are here to show the something they have never experienced or knew about - how God cares about each of them.
You can give these children food, clothing, medicine and shelter… but they crave love. They want what we provide for our children – love, respect, appreciation and validation of their worth. That’s what the HOPE worldwide volunteers are bringing to Haiti - lots of it.
This first HOPE worldwide Haiti Volunteer Corps was life-changing for the volunteers, the local HOPE worldwide team and the orphans. We taught English, math, health, science, art and dancing (or at least our dance moves). Plus, we had plenty of fun art projects and parties.
We had several great Bible lessons with the orphans. One afternoon the volunteers shared Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” It was awesome.
The volunteers were the real heroes. Despite the heat, the bugs, bucket showers and sleeping on the ground, no one complained. Instead, for one week they gave their hearts and souls to the children. What a difference they made! Each day the sun, the stars, and children’s faces got brighter and brighter.
As we prepared to leave, I have never seen so much crying. Through their tears, these beautiful children verbalized those words they had never said to anyone. “We will miss you. We will pray for you. We love you.” With sincere hearts the team replied, “We will miss you. We will pray for you. We love you.”
Please pray with us for the poor and the fatherless of Ganthier, Haiti, and others like them all over the world.
[Below is a video message from HOPE worldwide's relief efforts in Haiti.]
