Milestones

Saturday we passed a significant milestone in the life of the church. It was the 50th wedding anniversary for Garry and Barbara Ott. I say life of the church because the New Testament speaks of the church as a body where each member relates to one another (Ephesians 4:15-16). I view the church like a piece of carefully woven fabric: the strength of the cloth is a function of the strength of each thread. So whenever a couple endures well, we need to celebrate that as a sign of God’s favor on them and, we hope, a sign that he’s granting favor to the overall strength of the church. What I loved most about their vow renewal ceremony was Garry’s willingness to speak openly about how in the early years of their marriage he was not a Christian. But he came to know Christ and it changed everything. In fact the very man overseeing the renewal service, Dave Walker, was the man who baptized Garry 36 years ago. Praise God for stories like this. I’m thankful to be in a church where we have examples of people who have endured well. That encourages me and strengthens me to run the race, to endure all the more. They are spurring one another on towards love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:25) 

Speaking of milestones. We had another significant event occur in the life of the church this week. One of our staff members, Carol Burden, has been working diligently behind the scenes for the last year building a new website for Valley View. We thought it would launch later in the week, but the hosting service we use launched it early, which is exciting but also presents challenges. So please check out our new website at vvchurch.org (same location but completely updated). We’re very excited about it, and yet we still have many tweaks and pages to build and improve because of the early launch. 

I’m so grateful for Carol’s hard work. She put extra effort into making our sermons easier to sort, search, and view. We’ll be sharing much more about this in the coming months in terms of the role you can play to help make our site easier to find on Google and YouTube. Thank you Carol!

I also wanted to make sure you were aware of something so you’re not surprised by it when you show up at church. Ford is going to be parking some of their vehicles on our west lot, the one that is gated off and that we’re not actively using. We were able to rent the lot to them which will provide the church some additional income and also on-site security. No, Oprah hasn’t shown up with free cars for everyone. We are just allowing Ford to use the space on a limited basis and taking it a month at a time. Thank you Charles Carter, our newest Elder, for all his hard work arranging this!

Tonight is another night of D-groups. In a few weeks we’ll be able to gather for a meal before D-groups on September 14th. Don’t forget to reserve your spot and save up those pennies or nickels (or Franklins) to help fund the Fellowship Hall refurbishing. Be praying that God would give us wisdom for how we can best reach our community and how to best serve Valley Station, PRP, and Southwest Louisville.