June 22nd, 2016

Giving Thanks and Looking Ahead

This past weekend, Virginia United Methodists met in Roanoke for our Annual Conference - our yearly gathering of clergy and laity who worship, study, and work together to celebrate the past year and ministry and prepare for the year to come. While some years are filled with busy-ness and - yes - contentious issues, this year's conference had a more relaxed, spiritual focus. One of the highlights of the conference was the honoring of Bishop Cho who will be retiring this year. Bishop Cho has spent his four years of leadership promoting spiritual renewal of our churches, especially in the devotion to prayer, and we are thankful for his reminder of what is at the heart of what we do - not the meetings and even programs we develop but first and foremost a love of God and desire to serve in the name of Jesus.

As Bishop Cho prepares for his retirement, our elected delegates from Virginia and across the Southeast are preparing for next month's Jurisdictional Conference. At this conference, new bishops will be elected to replace those who are retiring and bishops will be assigned to the conferences they will serve for the next four years. Please keep our delegation and this election and assignment in your prayers over the next month that God will send us the leader we need to carry on the good work of the bishops who have faithfully served us thus far. Also, keep Bishop Cho and his family in your prayers as he continues to lead us in his final days and to prepare the way for our next leader.

Blessings on the journey, Jim

Summer Book Club: Zerubbabel's New Job

Summer is officially here, so here at Port Church we are going to jump into one of the great joys of summer - the Summer Book Club. For each of the next four weeks in worship, we are going to look at one of the (shorter) books of the Bible to see what it has to say to us today. We encourage you to take time to read each book during the week before coming to worship. If you do so, you will have read four books of the Bible by this time next month!

This Sunday, we begin by looking at the book of Haggai, one of the lesser known prophets of Israel who lived in a sad time when the God's Temple lay in ruins. Join us this Sunday to find out what Haggai did about this sad state of affairs in "Zerubbabel's New Job" and learn about the job God has for us today!

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Living in Community

Thanks to our RENEW Youth Mission Team - Julia, Hannah, Rachel, Leslie, Jordan, April, Heather, Camden, and Dinah for leading a powerful service of worship to the glory of God this past Sunday!

Thanks to Tracey, Laura, and Dinah for leading our RENEW Mission Team throughout the week!

Thanks to Ralph for preaching and leading worship in Pastor Jim's absence two Sundays ago!

Thanks also to Ralph for representing our congregation at Annual Conference this year!

Please remember in your prayers all the kids who will participate in VBS next week and all our many volunteers who will make it possible.​

This Week at Port Church

​Wednesday, June 22
9:30 am - 2:00 pm - Office Hours

​Thursday, June 23
9:30 am - 12 noon - Office Hours

Saturday, June 25
7 pm - VBS Kickoff Party at Grand Caverns Pool

Sunday, June 26
9:30 am - Worship: "Zerubbabel's New Job" 
11:00 am - Sunday School
RENEW Team leaves

Looking Ahead

Vacation Bible School - June 27-July 1
100th Anniversary Celebration of Sanctuary - July 24