Special Easter Services

On Thursday, February 28th at 6PM we will celebrate a special Passover meal in Fellowship Hall. This is something we have done for the past several years and it’s a special time of worship followed by communion.

Bright and early at 6:30 AM on Easter morning, we will celebrate the resurrection with a special sunrise service as well as our regular morning worship service.

Details will be announced closer to time so just keep these two special times in your calendar.

ABW: Mission Projects

Our ladies meet the first Thursday of every month 12 :15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. We have several mission projects that we are working on and would love to have you join us.

Our “undie Sunday” project is going well. Each month we ask the congregation the last Sunday of each month to bring in underwear and socks for children. These items are taken over to Helping Hands and distributed from there.

We also have a mission project called Quarters for Kids where we collect quarters and send them to Weirton Christian Center where they give their kids quarters for good grades. What a special way to acknowledge a child for good grades.

We delivered some special treats to our shut-ins and we were truly blessed as well as shared some fellowship with our special ladies.

Backpack Ministry: Greatly Blessed!

Our Backpack Ministry has been greatly blessed in January and February. In January we were recipients of a generous grant from the Posey Perry Emergency Food Fund. We are purchasing food items and hoping to build our pantry with food that will carry us into the 2025-2026 school session .

In February we received 206 cans of soup from the Souper Bowl Contest. Helping Hands also received 206 cans of soup. What a blessing for both ministries.

Since we have adequate funding for the time being we will not be asking for food contributions from our congregation. Thanks to all of you for being so kind and generous with your giving.

Our Church still has other Children’s ministries you might want to consider. Remember our Shoebox Ministry which benefits children around the world. The Undie Sunday project of the ladies circle can use donations of socks and underwear for the children of Helping Hands clients.

We praise God for his provision to our Backpack Ministry. Twelve years ago Joyce Mills knew that this ministry was badly needed and that God would provide all our needs.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

11 Million Shoeboxes!

After all was boxed up, collected and ready to go, over 11 million shoeboxes were collected worldwide with over 10 million of those coming from the United States. What a true blessing to know that millions and millions of gospel opportunities are going out to children around the world who have never heard the name Jesus and are given a box chosen just for them full of love from someone they have not even met. These are gospel opportunities that would not have happened but for the grace of Samaritans Purse and Operation Christmas Child.

For the month of March, we will be collecting wash clothes and individually packed bar soap. These items can be left in the box in the Welcome Center. I thank you for your prayers and ask that you continue to keep these gospel opportunities in your prayers as they are circulated to children around the world.

Helping Hands – Current Needs

Our fearless Leader, Edna Nasby, is still on the mend but Helping Hands is continuing to help those in need in Beckley and Raleigh County. With the weather in March so unpredictable, winter is not over yet but spring is just around the corner.

We are extremely grateful for your donations but are always in need of non-perishable food items as well as toilet paper, bar soap and blankets. These items seem to go out as fast as they come in. Your donations can be either taken over to Helping Hands Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 until noon or left in the cart outside the church office. Your prayers are also appreciated.

Early Expectations

The month of March seems to usher in our early expectations of spring and summer. We begin to look forward to our vacations, traveling, visiting family and fellowship! Those of us who experience “cabin fever” of the winter we are excited to get back outside with family, friends and our community. The City of Beckley has done an outstanding job planning events nearly every weekend. There are numerous opportunities to take advantage of fellowship. But what does that word mean for a Christian? What’s the biblical view of “fellowship” and how are we to interact with those outside of this “fellowship”?

According to the New American Standard Bible translation the first time we see a Hebrew word for “fellowship” is Psalm 55:14, “We who had sweet fellowship together, Walked in the house of God in the throng.” David is writing about someone who has turned against him. Not a stranger, not an enemy, David has experienced deceit from someone he had fellowship with. David refers to this person as a friend, companion, a man his equal. This is obviously a heartbreaking experience for David or anyone else who may have experienced this type of destruction, but the focus here is on the “fellowship” term. It’s סוֹד/cowd—council, assembly, circle of friends. There is also a meaning of intimacy. It’s rooted meaning is in the word yacad, which refers to the laying of a foundation. It’s the idea of building our relationships on a firm foundation.

We then see our first New Testament use in Acts 2:42, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” This Koine Greek word is κοινωνία/koinōnia—fellowship, association, communion. This is obviously connected to the birth of the church. The early church here is exercising absolute “fellowship”, teaching/learning, breaking bread, and prayer. “Christian fellowship, then, is the mutually beneficial relationship between Christians, who can’t have the identical relationship with those outside the faith.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-fellowship.html)

With March being around the corner and the Spring plans are being made, be on guard with where and with whom you fellowship. The world system belongs to Satan, but the Universal Church belongs to God. Seek out your brothers and sisters in Christ across our communities, state, country and world. Rejoice and fellowship together. Remind each other of that common shared unity, for we are all partakers of the Divine, “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3)

OCC: What a Powerful Message

Wow – what a January we had. Snow and bitter cold temperatures kept a lot of us in our homes but God’s love continued to be spread around the world through Operation Christmas Child. Shoeboxes are being delivered all around the world and the name of Jesus is being shared with children who have never heard his name or the message that a shoebox brings. That message is that someone who they never will meet cared enough for them to pack that shoebox and share God’s love. What a powerful message.

Here in Beckley I’m sure the cold temperatures kept a lot of us from shopping at our favorite store. So for the month of February, we will continue to collect children’s winter gloves. There’s a box in the Welcome Center for your donations. As always, please keep this mission program in your prayers as the name of Jesus continues to be shared with children around the world.

ABW Projects + You

Our ladies meet the first Thursday of every month 12 :15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. We have several mission projects that we are working on and would love to have you join us. Our “undie Sunday” project is going well. Each month we ask the congregation the last Sunday of each month to bring in underwear and socks for children. These items are taken over to Helping Hands and distributed from there.

Backpacks and Snow Days

Winter showed its ugly side with snow and ice causing our children to miss school multiple days in January. Many children depend on school breakfasts and lunches for the only food they have for the day. Not only do they miss learning, they miss being fed.

Luckily they had one day of school during that week and we prepared their Backpack weekend food and delivered it to the school on that day. Hopefully they had food for the next few days till school started again.

Thanks to everyone who donated food, money and prayers to this important ministry. May God Bless each one of you.

For the month of February please donate applesauce cups.