Toledo First Seventh-day Adventist Church

>Home >Toledo First Blog >Toledo First Headline News | December 18, 2018

Toledo First Headline News | December 18, 2018

 

Theological Hmm: We are placed on this earth in order to proclaim, in the midst of darkness, this message: The Morning Star (Rev.22:16) has risen in my heart, in our hearts, and soon will rise over the whole of the darkened world. Repent! Believe in the gospel! He who is coming is near! - Eberhard Arnold

 

Coming soon:

• COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS EVE We hope you can join us in welcoming Jesus our Emmanuel. Grab some invite cards this week in church to share with friends and family. The holidays can actually be lonely and many people would welcome your invitation. Don't miss this one hour service! It's gonna be special
• CHURCH MAILBOX Please check your church mailbox periodically. You may have mail! All church members should have a mailbox. If you don’t have one, please call the church office
• VEGAN CHALLENGE POTLUCK We invite everyone to stay for the Vegan Challenge Christmas Potluck this week after church
• ADRA (ADVENTIST DEVELOPMENT AND RELIEF AGENCY) LIFE SAVER CHRISTMAS KITS are designed to meet the specific challenges faced by families and communities. One $30 kit might include emergency food rations, drought resistant seeds, or farming tools. Another could include a micro finance loan to start a business, small business training, or educational opportunities for children. Every DEC we collect an additional love offering in the foyer at church to share the gift of Jesus with others. So get ready to receive some weekly reminders in the form of Life Savers on your way out of church and plan to set aside a little something to contribute if you can. All the additional offerings collected after church in the foyer will be given to ADRA for them to purchase Life Saver Christmas Kits
• LOST AND FOUND items are above the coat rack on the west side of the foyer. Please take dishes/cookware left in the kitchen as well
• 4Q FINANCIAL UPDATE our church treasurer Duane shares that we have received 86% ($130,778) of the anticipated $151,340 we need for local church budget. Thanks for your cheerful financial support
• OPEN TABLE CONTINUES They meet again 12/27. Please pray for our Open Table volunteers
• SPANISH ADVENTIST GROUP OF TOLEDO had 19 people last week PTL. They also have a new Facebook page
• WOMEN'S PRAYER GROUP resumes in church office after church on JAN 5, 2019
• YOUTH MISSION TRIP TO BRAZIL Interested teens and parents are invited to a short informational meeting at the front of the church by the baptistry after church on JAN 5, 2019. Next summer we will be joining another group of teens and building a school along the Amazon River. It will be an amazing opportunity to show God’s love to a remote village and provide a way for the local kids to access an education!
• LEADERSHIP TRAINING ARCHIVE is avail online. So if you missed it 12/1, you can now watch and send me your TF Takeaways 
• SDA RADIO now features new Christmas content like readings on the Incarnation from the Desire of Ages, Scripture, and Uncle Arthur's Bible Stories in addition to a blend of mild contemporary, sacred, instrumental and songs about Jesus not Santa. Listen live at www.sdaradio.com
• SHOE DRIVE CONCLUDES Continue to bring your gently used shoes until the end of DEC
• PLEASE DO NOT SALT the new concrete in our church courtyard when it snows. It could cause damage. The courtyard will be heated to melt snow and ice from beneath
• CAMPANAS CRISTALIS bell choir will be performing at the following locations around Toledo. Way to go! Join them!
  • THUR DEC 20 @ 6pm at The Imagination Station Lobby
  • SABBATH DEC 22 @ 11am during worship in TF Church
  • MON DEC 24 @ 5pm during Community Christmas Eve hosted by TF Church
• SUNDAY SIX WEEK GROUP 10am-12noon for Bible Study with Regina Davis—at church and continues Sundays same time. Everyone is invited
• YOUTH LAN PARTY JAN 5 Bring your computer (and a fave snack to share) to the fellowship hall for some serious gaming from 6-10pm
• SOUP FOR YOU RESUMES JAN 9 (and continues 1/16; 1/23; 1/30; 2/6; 2/13). We will be discussing Tom Hughes' book Perfect Grace! at 6:30pm. Books are available in the church office for a donation of $5. Let us show you how to lead a small group. Then you can tell others how somewhere else. Would make a great Six Week Group book
• ENTRANCE TO TF CHURCH BIBLE STUDY RESUMES JAN 12 @ 5pm in the church office (and 1/26)
• PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS AT HUNTINGTON CENTER JAN 12 car pool with others from church to see the Professional Bull Riders. Reduced ticket price is $10 / ticket minimum donation. Sign up on church bulletin board or RSVP church office 419.882.6200 before 1/7/19; pay Randy Neal that night
• SCRAPBOOKING / CRAFTING / CARD MAKING JAN 13 from 10am - 8pm. Pick up a Registration form at the foyer table
• TJA KINDERGARTEN ROUNDUP AND VISITORS DAY JAN 16 begins at 9am and concludes at 11am. Contact TJA for more info 419.841.0082 and help us recruit for Kindergarten next school year
• YOUTH PIZZA MAKING / AFTERNOON SERVICE PROJECT JAN 19 Join us in the kitchen right after regular potluck begins. Service project (3-5pm) follows pizza making
• YOUR HEALTH YOUR CHOICE JAN 18-19, 2019 Toledo First welcomes back friend and former member (when he lived locally) Dr.Charles David. He is coming to share how his medical missionary work around the world (I recently woke him up in Bangkok) has been received and some practical ways we can improve our health in the new year. So make plans now to spend a rewarding Friday evening vespers JAN 18 @ 7:30pm and SAT JAN 19 @ 11am and (new time) 5:30pm
• PANCAKE BREAKFAST / CHURCH BUSINESS MEETING SUN JAN 20 Pancakes served @ 9-9:30am; Church Business Meeting follows at 10am
• TJA SPAGHETTI DINNER AND MOVIE NIGHT JAN 26 @ 6:30pm. Come and support our school and students
• TOBOGGANING FEB 2 at Pokagon State Park, Angola, Indiana. Meet at canopy side of church at 4pm. Cost is $5 per person and includes pizza on the way home. Everyone’s invited!
• VALENTINES FOR TOLEDO FEB 16 Our annual winter church evangelistic effort is coming so save the date and time 7-8:30pm for a very special concert featuring teenage piano protege Elle Rhee. Invite cards will be available two weeks before. This year's love offering will benefit the local non-profit organization she started called "Spectacles for Students." Please see Felipe Zapata (419.250.5889; felipeogando@yahoo.com) to join the group handing out invitation cards 2/2 and 2/9 after church #blessedtobeablessing
• FIFTH SERVICE SABBATHS 2019 Mark your calendars and bring your sack lunch / tools / service clothes. The church will be open all morning but no organized worship service will occur 3/30; 6/29; 8/31 and 11/30. We encourage you instead to plan ahead as Sabbath Schools or Six Week Groups or church friends to be a blessing to the poor and needy in our community and have one person prepared to share what you did the following Sabbath during church. May God help us stop pretending to be pious religious know it alls. The end! #Deuteronomy 7:10 #Luke20:45-47
• JESUS MOVIES What's your fave? Christmas Grace; The Nativity Story; The Star; The Conscientious Objector (2004); The Ultimate Gift; Shadowlands; The Shack; Cutback; Soul Surfer; Grace UnPlugged; End of the Spear; The Mission; Beautifully Broken; Running for Grace; Steve McQueen: American Icon; The Resurrection of Gavin Stone; Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed; Is Genesis History?; God's Not Dead; Fireproof; War Room; The Case for Christ; The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry; Amazing Grace; Once I Was a Beehive; I Can Only Imagine
• GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE If you've never heard of the Geoscience Research Institute, here's their website https://www.grisda.org Established in 1958, this organization is sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church with a mission to discover and share an understanding of nature and its relationship with the Biblical revelation of the Creator God. It has all kinds of resources and articles related to intelligent design and evolution and dinosaurs and many other interesting subjects. I enjoy reading their quarterly email update. You can subscribe by clicking here and filling out the form asking to be included in their quarterly e-newsletter
• ONLINE BIBLE STUDIES The Discover Bible Study series is online. Anyone can enroll and complete them in the privacy and comfort of their own home minus all the USPS mailings. Good for friends and family interested in becoming acquainted with the Bible and finding answers for facing the issues and challenges you deal with every day. Remember and refer others to this website: biblestudies.com
• PRAYERS AND PRAISES Because we need to be praising God with our lips (Psalm 63:3), here's another alternative...email CathieH directly at heathcs@sbcglobal.net with your praise. Yes, it can be anonymous, if you prefer. Just specify in your email you don't want your name mentioned. You can still write your prayers & praises and put them in the box at the foot of the cross in the foyer at the courtyard exit doors. Cards and pencils are provided
• BEST COMMENTARIES ON DANIEL AND REVELATION Want a chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse practical but thorough commentary on the book of Daniel or Revelation from an Adventist viewpoint? Here's what I use and recommend Daniel: Wisdom to the Wise and Revelation of Jesus Christ
• NEW SERMONS Please see church website for sermon archives and more info at tfsda.org
  • DEC 22 - Jeconiah's Curse vs. Jesus' Birth (Pastor Mike preaching from Jeremiah 22:30; Matthew 1:12)
  • DEC 29 - Nearing the End of the Beginning: Part 1 (Pastor Mike preaching from Luke 21:5-19)
  • JAN 5 - Nearing the End of the Beginning: Part 2 (Pastor Mike preaching from Luke 21:20-28)
  • JAN 12 - Nearing the End of the Beginning: Part 3 (Pastor Mike preaching from Luke 21:29-38)
• OUR WELCOME We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, y no habla ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, skinny as a rail, or could afford to lose a few pounds. We welcome you if you sing like Andrea Bocelli or can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re just browsing, just woke up, or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s baptism. We welcome service dogs and their handlers. We welcome Muslims, Jews, politicians, and sinners like us. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk- food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems, or you’re down in the dumps, or you don’t like “organized religion;” we’ve been there too. If you blew all your offering money at the casino, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, who work hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or come because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church. We welcome those who are inked, pierced, or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid, or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers, doubters, bleeding hearts...and you.
• OUR STORY Our church website at the very bottom of the home page has an excellent downloadable resource featuring our story and explanation of our unique Christian Adventist emphasis. It's called the Toledo First Assimilation Manual and if you've never read it, I would encourage you to do so. And don't forget, God loves you like crazy. And so do we (2 Corinthians 5:13-14 NLT)!

Love ye,