October 5th we will celebrate with a Love Feast service in Fellowship Hall following Worship. This will include feetwashing, a light fellowship meal, and bread and cup Communion. All are welcome to participate in these elements, as they are able and feel comfortable (childcare provided).
You may have noticed a few Oakton folks with extra muscular scooping arms. Lou and Bev Levesque, and Davin, and Miller Kines helped me serve hundreds of ice cream cones at the Shepherd’s Spring’s Celebrate Summer Festival on August 16. We were assisted by some friendly folks from the Manassas Church of the Brethren.
The day also included wagon-ride tours of the camp and the Heifer Global Village, live entertainment, swimming, delicious food, and a closing worship service. I was even able to purchase a bag of camper-grown potatoes. Those in attendance not only included Brethren folk, but also local residents from the Hagerstown area and guests that wanted another chance to be at Shepherd’s Spring after attending a Global Village Event, Road Scholar Program, or retreat. The Levesques enjoyed seeing Shepherd’s Spring for the first time and Miller and Davin were happy to re-connect with their fun counselors from summer camp.
Ask me about Shepherd’s Spring Outdoor Ministries Center anytime.
Jerry Anne Kines
The transition team is supporting a congregational building activity at Shepherd’s Spring Global Village called Global Gateway October 17-18. It is a 24 hour program for 6th grade & older participants explore their cultural identity and discuss similarities within the global community while examining issues of population, resource distribution, quality of life and standard of living.
Global Gateway-
Group size- 12 to 60
Chaperones needed- one adult for every 8 youth.
We would like this to be an intergenerational event for people 6th grade through adults of all ages. Please contact Missy Burket if you are interested in participating (571)438-8696.
A phone prayer chain is being created for those of you who do not have email or easy access to the Internet. You will be notified of prayer requests that come into the church office during the week that are presently shared immediately by email. You will also receive calls on any activities that have been updated or changed, e.g. coffee time cancellation, church meeting change due to bad weather, etc. It does NOT include the prayers during the Joys and Concerns mentioned on Sunday mornings and sent out via email on Wednesdays. If you are interested in having your name added to the phone prayer chain, contact Kim Ferrari at 703-266-0120.
Those of you with email will continue to receive the Wednesday ePrayers, special request prayers, or special announcements that you are presently receiving.
The Transition Team has worked over the past several months to identify and call the members of the Pastoral Search Committee. The Team then presented the committee names to the Board, who unanimously confirmed the group. The next step in this process will be a meeting with the Search Committee and Gene Hagenberger, the Mid-Atlantic District Executive. They will discuss the search process and he will help the committee identify their goals and responsibilities.
The Transition Team very intentionally worked to form a group that provided broad representation across our congregation in the areas of age, gender, family situation, and longevity with our church. We are very pleased that every person we called responded affirmatively. The members of the committee are as follows:
Jane Meadows
Danny Legge
Joel Comer
Leslie Connolly
Jan Fisher Bachman
Matt Landes
Peter Zience
Michael Biddle
Carolyn Strong