Dear Congregation,
Thank you so much for your extremely generous gift in my honor on Sunday, June 3. It was a totally wonderful surprise! I am truly honored to be the organist of this great church. Thank you again and please forgive my tardiness in getting this written. May God continue to bless you all.
In His service,
Lorie Meservey
Passport Offering
Kelly and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the Passport offering this year. Your contributions will help fund some very important ministries! Kelly and I divided the bottles between the youth and the children. The youth ended up donating $379.00 to the Passport offering. The total collected at Passport Choices in Greensboro was $1,327.00. There were 11 churches contributing and 28.5% of that offering came from FBC Sylva! The children donated $408.00 in Montreat. The total collected in Montreat was a little over $1,600.00 and roughly 25% of that came from FBC Sylva. There is also a little more (roughly $100) that was in the bottles as checks written to the church. These will be sent on to Passport as an additional offering. Thank you all so much for your willingness to help with these mission offerings. Your generosity will go far in ministering to those in need.
- Carol Cloer
Loving the Neighbors Who Are Different Than Us
"Several years ago we were invited to take part in an interreligious debate. Afterwards I talked with the Muslim Imam -- Hamza. Since then we have gotten to know him well. We ask each other hard questions and try to better understand each other's faith. Recently we talked about the violence practiced in the name of Islam. I was struck by his remark -- 'Understand that we also fear the extremists. Please tell your American friends that.'
Ignorance encourages fear and prejudice, so we must better understand Muslims and learn to live together in peace. Pray for the moderate voices of Islam in a world of extremes. Pray that the Lord will help us to see the world as God does and to love our neighbors and our enemies."
- David Brown, CBF field personnel in Paris, France
Roy McClure Graveside Service and Luncheon
A graveside service for Roy McClure will be at Keener Cemetery at 10:00 on Thursday, July 5, 2018, followed by a luncheon and fellowship in the MFC for family and friends. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to help with food or set up, please contact Tonya Lloyd by call at: 828-586-5917, text at: 828-226-9663, or email at: jolleytonya@hotmail.com
Watering Malawi Project
Remember the water bottles the GAs and RAs distributed after worship service a couple of weeks ago? Remember that you were asked to pray for the people of Malawi as you drank your water? Remember that we you were asked to bring your bottle back to church filled with change (or bills) to help the people of this African country to obtain clean, safe drinking water?
Sunday, June 24th is the day we are asking for you to return your bottles. Over 100 water bottles were handed out on June 2nd and less than 12 have been returned to the church office. Please bring your contribution to this project to church this Sunday. Our children and youth attending Passport will take the money collected and it will be added to the other contributions from across the state, helping to make a real difference in the lives of the people of Malawi.
Thank you for any help you can give!
Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes
Dorothy Edwards Circle learned our tracked Shoeboxes were distributed to Malawi in Africa. Rated as one of the planet’s least developed countries, poverty abounds and clean water is a luxury. Interestingly, our youth are collecting change now for a well to supply more clean drinking water in Malawi.
The Circle thanks everyone for their contributions to the children of this African country.
WATERING MALAWI WATER BOTTLE PROJECT
Every 15 seconds, a child dies around the world because the water they drink makes them sick.
This statement is the reason that GAs and RAs distributed water bottles as the congregation exited the sanctuary. On the bottles was a label with the following instructions:
1)Drink this water. Pray for those who don't have safe water.
2)Cut off top of bottle or cut a slit and fill bottle with change (or bills).
3)Return to church office by June 24th.
The money collected will be our children's and youth's contribution to the Passport project "Watering Malawi".
During their week at Passport Camp, the children and youth who are attending from our church will learn more about this mission opportunity and other ways to reach out with God's love.
If you would like to learn more about the project and about the Passport connection, go to wateringmalawi.org/about.
Our WMU is supporting this project. Thank you to Sandra and Leo James for obtaining the water bottles, Tia Ashley for printing the labels,the GAs for labeling the bottles, the RAs and GAs and their leaders for distributing the bottles, and Emma Burnes for making the announcement on Sunday.
Hope to see a lot of water bottles with money inside returned to the church office by JUne 24th!
Loving Kindness in Our Community
Card Shower for Elois Clegg
Elois Clegg, widow of a former pastor, will celebrate her 90th birthday on Tuesday, May 28. Her address is: WNC Baptist Home, 213 Richmond Hill Drive, Asheville NC 28806. Let us give her a “Shower of Blessings”!
A Note from Harold and Gwen Messer
To our loving church family,
Thank you for the cards, food, visits, phone calls, text messages, and most of all your prayers and love that you have shown to us during Harold's illness.
Love,
Harold and Gwen Messer