What a great Holy Week and Easter! It felt as if God was active and present in our midst. We had great numbers at our Lenten Luncheons and Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday were amazing. Thank you for being a great part of these festive events. We have even had a very successful Men’s Fish Fry on Friday, April 22. With all these activities happening, I think that everyone is thinking about a few days of rest.
On April 24th we were able to use our new sound system in our 10:55am service. It seemed to go very well. We still have a few things that need to be tweaked, but everyone indicated that they could hear better with the new system. The church has selected a new phone system and the implementation of that new system is beginning as I write this article during the last week in April.
Our Wednesday night activities are coming to an end. We will resume our Wednesday night activities the first Wednesday in September. However, keep your eyes on special activities that may be coming during the summer months.
On Sunday, April 24, 2022, the Chair of the Pastor Parish Relations Committee informed the congregation that Bishop McAlilly has decided to reassign me to be pastor of this congregation for another conference year. I am excited to be reassigned here and know that God will continue to do great things in and through this wonderful church. I am humbled to have been reappointed and promise to do my best to guide our spiritual lives always in the direction that God leads us.
As we look toward the summer remember that Vacation Bible School will begin on June 20th and Kim will need lots of help making this a special event for all the children that will participate. Our theme this year is to celebrate all of God’s creation because we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
Our youth will be completing a campaign to raise money for “Hannah’s Hope” on Mother’s Day Sunday May 8th. They are collecting change with the expressed goal of raising $500 that will go to this Memphis Conference Adoption & Pregnancy Counseling ministry. I would like to see this church raise considerably more than this goal, and expect that many of you will want to support this ministry with more than just your loose change. When you give for this project, please mark your checks “Baby Bottle Campaign” so that we can properly direct those donations.
Please remember to invite your friends and family to come back to worship, in person, with us here at Somerville First UMC. This is God’s church for this entire community, and the doors are always open to all of God’s children.
Blessings and peace
Bro. Don VanVoorhis
