Toledo First Headline News | March 21, 2019

Theological Hmm: Those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! -  Isaiah 26:19

 

Coming soon:

  • BATTLE PLAN CHURCH CHAT is Brandi Myers' idea (as she shared in church last week) to solicit your texts / prayers to help her combat smoking. She wants to quit! Let's help her! Contact the church office or better yet text Brandi Myers at (765) 716-2190 with your preferred time (7a, noon, or 7p) and she will add your mobile number to the group chat. Then, each day at the appropriate time, you can text a prayer or verse or short devotional thought to encourage her and others. Please note: if you do not have unlimited data, messaging and data rates may apply. See your carrier for more info
  • WORK BEE THANK YE Big thanks and way to go to the volunteers donated their time last Sunday morning to deep clean the church
  • FREE PANERA BREAD available FRI 9-10am. Come to side door under canopy. To reach the most people outside our church (which is the point of all our ordinary outreach efforts), left over bread will now be donated on Fridays after 10am and no longer available after. Sorry for any inconvenience 
  • VEGAN CHALLENGE POTLUCK is this week after church. Everyone is invited to stay
  • SINGING BANDS Join the group going to Elizabeth Scott Community, 2720 Albon Rd. after church at 3pm
  • PAINTING The sanctuary and foyer and east hall at church will be painted throughout the week starting MON MAR 25 
  • MEMORIAL FOR DR. DAVID KAWAKAMI is now archived and available to be viewed here 
  • CAN ALZHEIMERS DISEASE BE PREVENTED AND EVEN REVERSED? Dr. David's presentation is now archived online and available to be viewed here
  • ¡VIVA VENEZUELA OUTREACH! In Venezuela, churches offer resources when they are hard to secure with the country in crisis. So if you want to help, you can donate non perishable food, over the counter medicine, and toiletries items in the black box on the table in the foyer
  • SIGN UP SHEETS FIFTH SERVICE SABBATH Sign up sheets for Fifth Service Sabbath (March 30) are on the divider screen in the foyer. Sign up soon! There are several openings for shut in visits. And a new outreach opportunity with NW Ohio Food Bank. Please see Cathie Heath for more info on that
  • SIX WEEK GROUPS CONTINUE Thank you for taking Jesus' Great Commission seriously and sacrificing six weeks of TV, sports, or other good things to make Acts 2:42 a weekly reality
  • SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS I am so proud of longtime Toledo First member and dear friend Will Frey. Recently, he gave me permission to share with you, our church family, that he has been struggling for years with alcohol. But he wants to quit! And as Brandi Myers shared in church last week, she is requesting prayer to combat her addiction to smoking. Whether you sign up to pray for her via group text, I assured them we would pray Philippians 2:13 (NLT) daily in their behalf which says, "13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." Will you join me? We're going to be the kind of church that prays, not condemns, people struggling with addiction!
  • ADDICTED? GET HELP HERE We are in the process of training to host a small group for those struggling with addictions but in the meantime, there is already help available now! Martin W. Hall, Executive Director of the Adult & Teen Challenge of NW Ohio, welcomes anyone struggling with addictions to join his "Overcomers" group that currently meets at Compelled Church (8970 Jackman Rd, Temperance, MI 48182) on Mondays at 6:30pm in Room B-17  
  • SUMMER CAMP MOHAVEN REGISTRATION  Once again, our 50/50 deal for young campers 6-17 is available. All you have to do is register online at ohiosdayouth.org/camp-mohaven and pay your half while adding a message that Toledo First will be paying the balance. The church will be notified and pay the balance. Cub Camp (Ages 6-9) is JUN 9-16; Junior Camp (Ages 9-12) is JUN 16-23; Horse Camp 1 (Ages 8-12) is JUN 23-30; Tween Camp (Ages 12-15) is JUN 30 - JUL 7; Horse Camp 2 (Ages 13-17) is JUN 30-JUL 7; and Teen Camp (Ages 15-17) is JUL 7-14. Questions? Contact (937) 853-8456; youth@ohioadventist.org
  • CAMPANAS CRISTALIS Our bell choir, Campanas Cristalis, is raising money to purchase an additional large silver bell. To give, please mark your tithe envelope accordingly and place in the offering plate
  • SPANISH ADVENTIST GROUP OF TOLEDO meets each Sabbath in the Fellowship Room from 9:00am - 12:15pm. Please keep hallway and kitchen noise to a minimum
  • WOMEN'S PRAYER GROUP meets after worship in the church office
  • OPEN TABLE CONTINUES Mondays. Please pray for our volunteer's ministry to Lorie as she re-acclimates to life after being rescued from human traffickers
  • SUNDAY BIBLE STUDY GROUP 10am-12noon for Bible Study with Regina Davis—at church and continues Sundays same time. Everyone is invited
  • "SOUP" (sometimes its subs or pizza or tacos...) FOR YOU RESUMES APR 3 (and concludes 5/22/19). We will be discussing Helmut Haubeil's book Steps to Personal Revival: Being Filled With The Holy Spirit" at 6:30pm. Books are available in the church office for a donation of $5 while supplies last. 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
  • RE-CHARGE HIGH SCHOOL GATHERING APR 6 ReCharge The Ohio Conference invites high school aged youth to a high school gathering scheduled April 6 at 10:30am, Worthington SDA Church, Worthington, Ohio. Join us for food, worship, and games! For more information contact Edward Marton: 567.274.7087 or emarton@ohioadventist.org
  • DOCUMENTARY SHOWING: "GETTING TO 1" APR 6 Every Christian in NW Ohio should be equipped to share the readily available resources to combat the rising infant mortality rate among black babies. This documentary helps do that. Please make plans to invite other Christian friends to join us @ 7:30pm. Stay tuned for specific room location but showing will be at church
  • SCRAPBOOKING APR 7 is from 10am - 8pm. Join the group! A great ordinary outreach
  • JOIN YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH FAMILY FOR I REMEMBER WHEN ON APR 14  Please sign up to let us know you’re coming to the “I Remember When” Party on Sunday, April 14, 5pm. If you can bring something, please check the “food and drink donations” and let us know what you’ll bring. We’d love to have you join the fun—reminisce, chuckle, sing, and play a game or two. It’ll be fun for all!
  • BAPTISM APR 20 Easter is a great time to be baptized. Romans 6:3-4 says, "3 Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives."
  • IMMERSION YOUNG ADULT RETREAT APR 19-21 Ohio Conference invites you to a high school gathering scheduled APR 6 at 10:30am, at Worthington SDA Church. Enjoy food, worship, and games! Q’s? contact Edward Marton: 567.274.7087 or emarton@ohioadventist.org
  • STOP THE BLEEDING APR 23 If someone were to be stabbed or even shot in front of you, would you know what to do to help them? A free class is being offered by ProMedica to teach people what to do in a trauma situation. Join our church security team members in the Fellowship Hall for this important one hour class @ 7pm
  • ABBREVIATED CHURCH BUSINESS MEETING APR 23 There will be an abbreviated church business meeting in the Youth Room (off east hallway) on TUE APR 23 @ 6:30pm prior to the Stop the Bleeding class in the Fellowship Hall @ 7pm
  • YOUTH SPRING CAMPOUT at Camp Miakonda either May 3, or 17 (the first nice weekend of those two dates.) So save the date(s) and start collecting water guns and asking your parents if they will come help us play Bible Smuggler again! Contact Jen Landeros for more info
  • SECURITY TRAINING MAY 7 Please mark your calendars and join us from 6-8pm for annual training including de-escalation techniques and active shooter response training
  • MOTHER'S DAY TEA MAY 11 coming soon. Stay tuned for more info
  • MEN'S RETREAT AT CAMP MOHAVEN MAY 17-19 All men ages 16 and older are invited to be part of the annual Ohio Conference Men’s Retreat at Camp Mohaven May 17-19. Ask at the church office for a brochure or visit www.ohioadventist.org for details
  • JESUS MADE INVITATIONS SO WILL WE Save the dates NOV 13-20 for our fall "If it's important to God..." evangelistic series preached by me where I hope all our small groups will gather
  • LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE is a half hour television talk show focused on living a full, healthy and balanced life. It features panel discussions, interview and demonstration segments focused on whole life health, including fitness, nutrition, relationships. outlook and more. You can find the programs each week on Sky Angel Faith and Family TV, Uplift TV, DirecTV channel 368 or 378, Hope Channel, NRB Network, faithfortoday.tv, lifestyle.org, Roku, AppleTV, and AmazonFire TV. Please check these networks’ websites for air times or call Faith for Today at 805.955.7681
  • LEADERSHIP TRAINING ARCHIVE is avail online. So if you missed it 12/1, you can now watch and send me your TF Takeaways 
  • JESUS MOVIES What's your fave? Faith, Hope & Love, 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. 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
    • MAR 23 - As You Wish (Pastor Mike preaching from Luke 23:1-25)
    • MAR 30 - Fifth Service Sabbath (church is open for Sabbath School and as an organization / car pool location but no organized worship service)
    • APR 6 - Remember Me (Pastor Mike preaching from Luke 23:26-43)
    • APR 13 - Deep Sorrow (Pastor Mike preaching from Luke 23:44-49)
  • 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)!