Kids Against Hunger 2019

Kids Against Hunger food packaging, equivalent to 16,000 meals. Great turnout of volunteers from Greenville Area congregations, Saturday, Nov. 2!

Packaging these nutritious bags of food for up to two hours (10a-12p) requires 5 tables (10 persons per table) for every 10,000 meals. As in the past, we can package up to 20,000 meals with 10 tables, requiring approximately 100 volunteers. This equates to a cost for food supplies of about $500 per table (2000 meals packaged per table). Donations to our Benevolence Fund are most welcome to help pay for a table of volunteers. We’re thankful to Thrivent Financial for their commitment to this year’s event! Pastor Jeff

Spoke Folk Pictures

Mount Calvary will host a traveling Spoke Folk team of bicycling youth and adults from all over the country who share Christian messages of Good News and encouragement through a program of music, skits and puppetry engaging all ages. Our goal is to also have a bicycle safety fair. Volunteers will work together to welcome and support the Spoke Folk team as they develop relationships and share the Gospel with our congregation and the community.

A “Spoke Folk” Festival will be held at Mount Calvary, Greenville, Monday, July 22, beginning at 4:00 pm.  “SpokeFolk” consists of a team of bicycling high school and college youth and adults from all over the country who share Christian messages of Good News and encouragement through a program of music, drama and puppetry for all ages. The group is stopping overnight at Mount Calvary, Greenville, as part of their 12-day bike tour in West Michigan.  Cameron’s Bicycle Shop will also be there to show off their bicycles and offer bicycle safety checks. Activities begin at 4:00 pm, Dinner will be served at 6:00 pm, the Program begins at 7:00 pm, and an Ice Cream Social will follow.  Everyone is invited to bike or travel over to Mount Calvary, Greenville, meet the team members, participate in some activities, and enjoy some food, fun and friendship. 

POC: Pastor Jeff Wilhelm

Be part of the Action Team as we welcome the Spoke Folk 2019 team cycling to Greenville for an overnight stop, Monday, July 22. Bicycle Safety Fair, Food & Fellowship, Music, Skits, Puppetry & Ice Cream! Thanks in advance for your help!

TO PREPARE FOR WORSHIP,

MARCH 6 and 10 Lent begins with Ash Wednesday this week, March 6. Receiving the imposition of ashes as a mark of the cross on our foreheads reminds us: “We live from ashes to ashes with the assurance of our Lord’s resurrection.”Before next Sunday, read Romans 10:5-13.In his Letter to the Romans, Paul uses three different Greek words and one idiomatic phrase quoted from Proverbs, which all convey or are related to the idea of shame (v.11). What are some things that might make you feel ashamed or disgraced? Someone might feel ashamed of the Gospel, but Paul insists he, himself, is not ashamed of the Gospel and neither should we be.How do you honor the Good News of the Gospel in your life?

Opportunities For Success – Christmas Giving

JOIN THE TEAM

Hey! We’d love your help with our upcoming Thrivent Action Team.

Opportunities For Success (Christmas Giving Tree)
Christian Growth Ministry Team (Pastor Jeff Wilhelm)
Now through Epiphany Sunday, 1/6/19
Opportunities for Success will receive monetary and material donations to assist local school students and their families in need. Items to be provided are socks, hats, gloves, sweatshirts, sweatpants, after school snacks, and personal care items. Please register as a volunteer participant! Thank you for giving!
#livegenerously
REGISTER NOW

Advent

Advent, a preparatory time of waiting and watching, communicates the message of hope, assisted by the color of the sky, BLUE. Our Christian faith rests on the hope that Christ, who came in history assuming our flesh, will also return on the last day of time from that same blue sky he ascended into long ago.

During Advent we are urged to slow down, wait, and look past ourselves. We do this by taking our time (four Sundays and weekdays) getting to the manger. We do this by staging our journey to Christmas in steps — Advent greens, an Advent wreath, Christmas trees, a Christmas manger scene, and then “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night.” We do this by keeping Christmas long after the trees are put outside and the decorations packed away — a full twelve days that stretch out what we have waited so long to celebrate.  It’s important to realize that when we over-schedule church activities, we mirror the busyness of the world in a bad way. Sometimes there are so many things going on at Church that it seems literally like a roller coaster ride to Christmas. Advent should be slower and much more deliberate. During this season, we do not compete with the harried schedules of the world around us by matching them event for event. No, we compete by offering what no one can find except in the Church — the Gospel of the Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ! Most importantly, we celebrate Advent by listening to the Word of the Lord, and by hearing that Word with the ears of faith, and by the joyful acknowledgment that the Christ of the manger has come among us to deliver the fulfillment of His promised gift of forgiveness, life and salvation.

Christmas Focus

Christmas is the season in which we hear the “tidings of great joy” that the Savior of the world was born in Bethlehem. The Second Person of the Trinity had to become man in order to redeem man. After the Feast of the Resurrection, then, the Feast of the Nativity is the greatest in the Church. The atmosphere and appearance of the church building, in addition to its message and music, reflect the exceeding gladness of this celebration.

A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great.  (Proverbs 18:16)

God’s gift to us at Christmas is a little like a very special gift received in the mail.  The gift looks plain on the outside, but God knows that when we take the time to carefully unwrap the package and get to know what’s inside, we will appreciate the gift very much.  In fact, it’s the best gift we could ever receive!

Similarly, we are like the brown paper wrap.  There are messages about Jesus Christ to be sent and delivered all around the world today and they can be delivered by people who are humble, simple, and plain, just like the brown wrap.  You don’t need fancy words or clothes.  Look at Jesus who was born in a barn.  It was not a fancy place, yet God’s message and gift to us came so precious and beautiful, just like the fancy ribbon and paper.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, help me be the sender of the Christmas message to someone who needs to hear your Word.  You are the best gift anyone could receive.  Use me, Lord to be the packaging wrap of brown, simple paper and not to be afraid to tell others about eternal life in heaven.  Amen.

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