A monthly publication of St. John’s Baptist Church

Kristen Duncan

Student Minister

duncan.stjbc@verizon.net

Mary Easter

Music Director

Elgia Easter

Sunday School Director

Bob Thomas

Deacon Chairman

Rebecca Thomas

Baptist Women

Dan Terry

Baptist Men

757-427-5309

stjbcholland@verizon.net

www.stjohnsbaptistvb.org

Everything

for God’s

Kingdom

The Deacons are so thankful to St. John’s members for the positive feedback

we have received on the pulpit supply/interim pastor candidates who have provided

church service sermons during the past few weeks. Selecting an interim pastor candi-

date and forming a Pastor Search Committee continue to remain top priorities for the

St. John’s Deacons. Based on your feedback, some are being asked to preach a sec-

ond time so that we can get to know them better and help guide any decision for inter-

im pastor selection through the Lord’s guidance. We hope to present a recommended

candidate to you before the end of June for your vote on Interim Pastor selection. As

we have repeatedly said, our goal is to keep our church family involved, because you

are a critical element of this joint process. We strongly encourage our church family

members to stay in touch with their assigned Deacon for all matters they feel are im-

portant to share together in the days ahead.

The Deacons feel our church is coming together and uniting as a body of

Christ during this difficult time of transition searching for a new pastor. Our church

attendance and the smile on your faces certainly support this sense of unity. But we

still request your prayers, and we ask you to continue to pray for our Church Staff,

leaders of all organizations, Sunday School, Children and Youth programs, Music

Ministry, and worship services each Sunday. Seeking God’s guidance in everything

we do is the only way ahead for St. John’s.

We are also over half way through this church year, and the Deacons will be

asking soon for your nominations for Deacons to serve in the church year beginning

in October. Please start thinking of church members who you feel are qualified to

serve in this responsible position and be ready to offer their names when requested.

As I said last month, “In the morning, O Lord, you can hear my voice; in the

morning I lay my request before you and wait in expectation.” (Psalms 5: 3)

Robert Thomas

Deacon Chairman

The Media library continues to enjoy the children coming into the library for Storytime. We

average about 5 per Sunday. The children enjoy Linda Wise reading to them. She has a way of

making the story exciting for them.

The Book Group continues to meet second and fourth Fridays at 10:30 in the library.

We continue our discussion of "The Aviator’s Wife" June 9th. The next book we will be

discussing will be "The Light Between Oceans" by Anthony Doerr. Not only is this a

good time to discuss books, but we can build friendships with one another also.

"And a good time was had by all!" All 78 ladies who came to the Mother’s Day Tea

on Saturday, May 13th. What a delight for all--a feast for the eyes and tummy. From

the entrance into the Fellowship Hall amid the lovely strains of beautiful harp music by

Diane Wieting to the end when all the children came up and led us with the reassuring words of "Jesus Loves

Me". Of course in between was the scripture reminder that Christianity is more caught than taught. Sheree

Muller definitely had our rapt attention with her Patsy Cline and Sandi Patty songs. Our speaker Mrs. Nancy

Emory from Kempsville Baptist Church told of her life's journey from Seoul, Korea to the United States where

her mother-in-law introduced her to Jesus Christ. Her theme was being saved by grace and God having a plan

for her life. She ended her testimony by playing "Amazing Grace" on her harmonica. To complete the after-

noon, we gave away a few gifts and took a collection for our mission project of putting together 50 shoeboxes

for girls 10-14. It was a lovely afternoon and we were happy that we had another successful tea this year.

I certainly want to thank all who helped to make the afternoon a success. These were responsible for

the food--Shirley Duncan, Sue Norris, Eleanor Knight, Linda Gazaway, Gerri Miller, Pearl Moyers-Dean,

Phyllis Sawyer, Sandi Huggins and Becki Thomas. Our hostesses were Sandi Huggins, Cheryl Huggins,

Joyce Wassum, Sue Norris, Lucille Purefoy, Becki Thomas, Mary Norman, Phyllis Sawyer, Bonnie Gurney,

Jean Gibbs, Tiffani Mello and Shirley Duncan. Of course, we appreciate Diane Wieting, Sheree Muller and

Nancy Emory.

Our mission emphasis for June will be the last Sunday when brochures and envelopes will be shared

with the congregation and everyone will be encouraged to send money to Mission Dignity where all will be

used to help faithful servants who served as pastors of small churches with no retirement fund. Hence they are

left at the end of their life with only Social Security to provide for their needs. After an evaluation process,

recipients are awarded an amount of money according to their need. I encourage you to be generous when you

receive these envelopes. Our WMU is friends with one of these recipients--Mrs. Leona Morris who lives on

the Eastern Shore. Some of our members go over each year at her birthday and take her to lunch. It is always

such a blessing!

Again we invite all ladies to join us on the first Tuesday of the month at 10:00 am to plan, pray and

learn about missionaries throughout the world. We also may spend time working on a mission project. Right

now we're working on a sewing project for girls 10-14 years of age in conjunction with the Shoebox Ministry.

We'd love to have you come.

Boldly we share,

Becki Thomas

WMU Director

Bob Thomas

JUNE 26-30th 5:45-8:15PM

Imagine a world where curious kids become hands-on inventors who discover

they're lovingly crafted by God. Join us for Maker Fun Factory Vacation Bible

School! Register your kids today or sign up to volunteer as a leader or helper.

Vacation Bible School is right around the corner and there are still some needs

that need to be filled. All of the rotations are covered with a main leader, but

several could use assistants. We also are in need of a few more crew leaders.

Crews will consist of no more than 10 children and crew leaders will be respon-

sible for rotating the children from one station to the next. While crew leaders do not have any teaching re-

sponsibilities this year, they will be asked to fully participate in the programming each night and assist where

necessary.

This year we will also add security to the list of volunteers. We will need at least one person doing se-

curity inside each night and one person outside. This will help to ensure that all children are safe throughout

the week. All volunteers will need to fill out a background check form as everyone’s background checks need

to be renewed this year per our manual for working with children and youth.

Clipboards with specific instructions on them for decorating needs are in the VBS storage room in the

old building. If you are available to help with decorating, check out the clipboards and pick a project. If you

have any questions regarding decorating, see Tiffani Mello, Joanna Robinson, or

Kristy Jefferson.

Mark your calendars for June 4th as we will have a VBS meeting with all

volunteers immediately following worship. Lunch will be provided. Be on the look-

out for a sign-up sheet for that meal coming soon. During this meeting, we will go

over all details for the week of VBS and will answer all questions you may have.

Our VBS website is also up and running and can be found here: https://vbspro.events/p/events/stjbcvb Participants can register online at that web address. I

hope you all are as excited as the planning committee about what a great week this will be! Begin praying for God to show up in a mighty way in the life of each of our leaders and participants!

Graduation Sunday is coming June 11th. If you or someone in your family is graduating and you would like them to be recognized that day, please get the following information to Kristen as soon as possible and no later than May 28th:

Name of the school

Degree they are graduating with (if applicable)

Pictures of the graduate from different times in their life (either electronically or otherwise)

List of people within the church that have been influential in the life of the graduate

Short Bio for the Bulletin insert

The Widows Group had 15 for lunch at the Buffet City, four met with us for the first

time. All seemed to not only enjoy the food but also the fellowship. In June we will

be going to "Ihop" at Landstown Commons, right off of Princess Anne road. All

widows are invited to come. We really enjoy getting to know each other.

Our second fundraiser dinner will be on June 3rd 6-8pm. The cost will be the same

and will go to sending the children and youth to camp. We will have a baked po-

tato bar, salad, and cookies. On that night, we will also have a silent auction. If

you know of a business that may be willing to donate gift cards, services, etc. to-

ward the silent auction, please contact them and then let Kristen know. You may

also purchase items that you are willing to donate to the silent auction or get together with your Sunday

School class or other groups and create a basket to be auctioned off. Once you have items to be auctioned off,

please bring them to the church office or turn them into Kristen.

We had to change our annual Messy Games Day for all children and youth to June 10th 3-5pm due to

weather concerns. We will have some familiar games and some new ones, but I can guarantee this… You

WILL get MESSY! You will want to bring a change of clothes and towel with you that day so that your par-

ents will let you get in their car and please wear old clothes that you do not mind getting messed up.

On June 11th immediately following worship, we will have a meeting for youth, children, and parents

who will be going to camp. Parents must be in attendance so all paperwork can be filled out and sent in in a

timely fashion. All details regarding camp will be discussed at this meeting and you must bring ID and insur-

ance cards with you.

On June 19th, the youth will be going to Busch Gardens for the day. Most of the youth have fun cards,

but anyone needing to purchase tickets can do so on their own ahead of time or can buy tickets at the gate the

day off. Youth will need money for food and drinks as well as any souvenirs they may want.

On June 22nd, we will be attending King’s Fest at Kings Dominion. There is a sign-up sheet on the first

20 table in the welcome center. The cost for the ticket which includes your admission to King’s Dominion and

to the King’s Fest concert is now $57. You will also need money for food and drinks while you are in the park

and any souvenirs you want to buy.

Parents, just so you are aware: when we go to amusement parks, students are allowed to break off into groups of 3 or more and may not always be with an adult but there are certain check-in times throughout the day and I periodically call

them if needed. If you do not think your child is mature enough for this responsi-bility, there are a couple of options. The first option would be to keep them home. The second option would be to go with us and stay with your child all day. I just

want to be very clear of the responsibilities and expectations. Also, if we are stay-ing at a park all day, I will collect $10 from each youth at the beginning of the day to ensure that they have enough money for dinner when the time comes. If you

have any questions, please see Kristen.

I would like to begin by thanking everyone who donated to assist the community

close by that was impacted by the tornado on March 31. The funds collected were

converted to gift cards and personally delivered to the residences. The people were

very appreciative and as I’ve said before this was a very humbling experience to say

the least. We are heading to the end of May and many of these people are still without needed repairs and nec-

essary items such as A/C. We need to continue to keep those impacted in our prayers.

Now, moving forward summer is fast approaching. Graduations are in a couple of weeks, Vacation Bible

School which around the corner and is expected to be even bigger this year. Church picnic coming up 2nd

weekend in July. Lots of exciting things happening at St. John’s make sure you are a part of sharing in these

blessings.

Our next Baptist Men’s monthly breakfast will be on June 17, Hope to see you there

Issue 6 June 2017