Church family,

God is doing so many great things among us at First Bethany that I didn’t think that a simple social media post would do it justice. I hope that you will be as excited about the things that I share here as I am. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom to hear about the new things going on next school year!

We are currently in the middle of Vacation Bible School. It has been a phenomenal week thus far. I can’t say enough about the theme, the materials, the visual tools, as well as the volunteers that have given of their time this week… So many blessings to thank the Lord for! There is one more night left, please come and join us!

Normally, we would change gears immediately after VBS to our summer schedule. This year, we will maintain our normal schedule for two weeks, culminating in a special Wednesday night session for parents on June 19th. If you have a student that attends classes here at First Bethany on Wednesdays, please try to attend.

Then the following week, we will begin our One Church Wednesdays at the J.A.M. House

For the remainder of the summer, we will meet at the J.A.M. House each week. The schedule will be as follows:

6pm- gather for (Free) Light Dinner

6:30pm -Kids Devotion

6:45pm – Kids Recreation & Adult Bible Study

7:30pm – Dismissal

It’s going to be great fun and a great time to learn more about Jesus. Please join us!

In July, we have two special events that will happen on the same day in the same location, just at 2 different times. Please consider volunteering and attending these events….

We will celebrate the end of summer with a special church outing. We would love for everyone to attend. Students will be free, adults will be just $10. Sign up information will be available soon.

Somewhere in there, I would also like to do another Lake Baptismal Service, we will see where the Lord leads us…

I am very excited about our lineup for the Fall. You should here all about it at the June 19th Fall Preview For Parents, but I will give you a brief update on each:

We are well on our way to renovation on the Nursery… Soon you should be seeing some progress. Our prayer is that our Mission Friends will have a new space to learn in prior to starting back on August 7th.

This next school year, our RAs and GAs will combine to form a unified Children In Action group. They will share the lesson time before splitting up into smaller groups for Recreation and Crafts.

Our Youth Group, led my our Family Ministry Leader Patrick Griswold, will into a study called The Jesus Studies. The Jesus Studies is designed to cut through the confusion, teaching students a Christ-centered look at the major issues they deal with in their daily lives. I am very excited about this study!

Finally, I will be leading our adults through a Bible Study called Worldview… where we look at various wolrdviews of people both home and abroad and learn how to reach them.

In the midst of all these activities, we pray that we would continue to progress along the path that the Lord has set us on. We pray that we will KNOW God’s Word more faithfully and that people would come to KNOW Jesus as Lord and Savior. We pray that we would GROW in our walk with Christ while GROWing closer to one another. And we pray that we will listen to the Lord and GO; to make disciples and to baptize and teach as He commanded us to.

I will be praying for you, please pray for me, as we travel this path together.

I love you all,

Pastor John