Volunteers needed ... If you can help, click HERE

Candy Needed !

Lots of candy will be handed out throughout Harvest Fest—during Trunk or Treat, games and other activities.

You can help by donating bags of individually wrapped candy. Please drop off candy at the church office or inside Children's Entrance between now and Sunday morning, October 18.

Every bag helps. Thanks for helping the church get ready to welcome families from our community to our campus.

'Bake Sale' To Benefit Riverbend Missions

Everyone is encouraged to support our missions efforts by donating your favorite baked items to be sold at Harvest Fest. All proceeds will go to Riverbend's Above & Beyond Missions Fund.


Plan to bring cakes, cupcakes, fudge, cookies, breads & other goodies.

Please notify your planned participation to Carole Edwards (click here) or Natalie Kennedy (click here).

These Riverbenders are handling the logistics for the collection and distribution of the food baskets for the church's Thanksgiving outreach called Basket Blessings (providing baskets of food to folks who can use a helping hand). From left: Sandy Mosher, Milt Mosher, Gabriel Martinez, Davina Underwood (sponsor for Riverbend Academy's National Honor Society students) and Rick Anderson.

Food Collection: November 1-18

Place items—non-perishable, unopened—on tables in Bible hallway

CANNED ITEMS — Sweet potatoes, corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, soups, gravy, meats, tuna, chili, stew.

BOXED / PACKAGED ITEMS — Stuffing mix, turkey seasoning, mac & cheese, cornbread / biscuit mix, instant mashed potatoes, rice, pasta & pasta sauce, powdered milk, crispy fried onions, cereal / oatmeal, fruit cups, crackers, breakfast bars, popcorn.

DESSERTS — Brownies, snack cakes, nuts, marshmallows, pudding mix, jello.

NOTES ...

• Turkeys already provided (in memory of late Riverbender Samir Boulos ... given by his son David)
• Grocery cards acceptable (please leave in the church office)
• Cash may be given in lieu of food items (used to purchase limited donation items)
• Please submit to church office names of people (members or non-members) who could use a basket
• Please sign up in the church office to make a basket delivery during November 18-21

Riverbend's Sunday (10:30 a.m.) and Wednesday (6:15 p.m.) worship services are live-streamed through the church website (click here) and YouTube (click here).

 '70-Year Celebration' Potluck Lunch

Sunday, November 1, After Morning Worship

Sign up to bring your favorite Thanksgiving-style dish ... click HERE

Tidbits From the Past

(Dates 1956-96 refer to old church sites; 1997-now: current site)

• Photo is the house where Riverbend was born in 1956: 73 West Granada
• Sunday School classes became Bible Fellowship Groups in 1999
• Three Sunday morning worship services in at least four periods over the years
• Voted in 2018 to become a church governed by a plurality of Elders
• Accepted as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1959
• 84 different Riverbend members went on mission trips during 2002
• Bought a house in 1964 to serve as a parsonage; sold it in 1971
• Riverbend Academy began in 2000 with 24 students (16 in kindergarten, 8 first-graders)
• Sent 556 shoe boxes of gifts through Samaritan's Purse to foreign children in 2004
• Corrie ten Boom, survivor of a German concentration camp, spoke at the church in 1971
• First church-owned property was donated to the church by Mrs. Wiley Edgar in 1957
• Congratulated by Florida Baptist Convention for baptizing 153 new believers in 1998
• Bus ministry, with 6 buses and a van, helped transport 250 children on Sundays during 1970s
• Soup, Salad, Scripture (Wednesday lunches) operated in Fellowship Hall for many years
• Only remaining members of current site Building Committee in 1990s: Craig & Pam Cameron
• Care Ministry (free medical care in community) operated during the 1980's
• Tymber Creek ministry in 1980s (Bible studies in homes & rented space at Faith Lutheran)
• Gubernatorial candidate Jeb Bush spoke at church's God & Government Day in 1998
• Firestorms of 1998 caused damage to 20 of the church's 45 acres (but not to building)
• Youth delivered singing valentines in 1988 to raise money for summer camp
• Women of Grace (in 2000s) labeled "a model women's ministry for other churches"
• Charter membership of church included 120 people transferring from Daytona First Baptist
• Ormond Passion Play, The Promise, started in 1990 and ran annually for 25 years
• Evangelism Explosion outreach ministry used from 1994 to 2001
• Grounds on old Ridgewood property contained graves of five people (with headstones)
• Current Above & Beyond missions ministry began in 2000
• More Tidbits next week

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• 400 gallons of inside paint
• 35,000 concrete blocks
• 115 miles of electrical wire
• 24,000 roofing shingles
• 6,000 gallons of stucco
• 144,000 shingle nails
• 165 tons of air conditioning (80 tons in Worship Center)
• 512 cubic feet refrigeration capacity
• 1600 amps of electricity

• 1100 maximum Worship Center seating capacity
• 110-seat capacity in choir loft
• 8 speakers in Worship Center
• 5200 watts of sound power
• 2 miles of electrical conduit
• 356 cubic feet freezer space

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Missions Involvement Over 70 Years

Either visited or provided direct support

COUNTRIES (40) — Austria ... Bahamas ... Belize ... Belarus ... Brazil ... Central Asia ... China ... Colombia ... Costa Rica ... Czech Republic ... Democratic Republic of Congo ... Egypt ... England ... Germany ... Guatemala ... Haiti ... Honduras ... India ... Inner Mongolia ... Ireland ... Israel ... Italy ... Japan ... Latvia ... Liberia ... Lithuania ... Mexico ... Morocco ... Mozambique ... Nepal ... Nigeria ... Philippines ... Romania ... Russia ... Scotland ... South Africa ... South Asia ... Spain ... Thailand ... USA ... Zululand.

USA (15) — Asheville area, N.C. ... Belpre, Ohio ... Green Cove Springs, Fla. ... Ironton, Ohio ... Jacksonville, Fla. ... Jonesboro, Ark. ... Mars Hill, Pa. ... Miami, Fla. ... New York, N.Y. ... Ormond-by-the-Sea, Fla. ... Palm Coast, Fla. ... Paragould, Ark. ... Pascagoula, Miss. ... Sarver, Pa. ... Willoughby, Ohio.

A special video invitation from

 Guest Speaker Keith Foskey ... click HERE

Election: Tuesday, Nov. 3

[Early voting: Oct. 19-31]

Don't forget to voice your support for Christian principles by casting a vote in the national election. As believers, we should consider it a great honor and privilege to have a say in determining who should be our leaders and what policies should be carried out.

How should a Christian vote? Simply put, vote the Bible; it is God's Word on how we should live. We should support the candidates and principles that best support living God's prescribed way.

For election details, click here for Volusia County ... and here for Flagler County

Copies of the Florida Family Voice voter guide are free & on the table

in the Main Lobby ... Links to other voting guides are listed here:

Caleb Glenfield

Thru Nov. 1

Please pick up an Affirmation Form in the Main Lobby (near the office), complete it (with any comments about any of the candidates), sign it and leave it in the designated box.

If you have unanswered questions about any of the candidates, all of whom have been carefully vetted by the Elders, please contact the candidate directly. Or you may call an Elder in the church office (386-672-1821).

Glenn Harris

Michael McCracken

Anthony Otero

Anand Ramsaran

For written comments from the candidates' questionnaires,

grab a packet in the Welcome Center Lobby at the church

'Celebration of Life' —

• For Riverbender Nancy Rice: This Saturday, October 17, Worship Center, 1 p.m. ... Church-wide reception follows in Fellowship Hall ... Sign up to get on the MealTrain by clicking HERE.

Sarah's Circle —

• Meets tomorrow, October 13, at 5:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. It is a brown-bag-and-drink gathering. Riverbend's Chris Hoffman is the speaker. Please RSVP to Carole Edwards (call 386-453-5990 or click here).

Preaching (while Pastor Josh Brown is on vacation) —

• Wednesday, October 14 — Riverbender Rick Shanklin
• Sunday, October 18 — Pastor Aaron Johnsen

Riverbend's Christmas Choir will sing at least twice, celebrating the birth of our Savior:

• Christmas Family Night on Friday, December 4
• Christmas Eve Worship on Thursday, December 24

For middle school-and-up .... No experience necessary ... Just click HERE to enroll.

There will be four 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night rehearsals: Oct. 28, Nov. 4, 11, 18.

FOR MANY FOLKS, Columbus Day (the second Monday in October) is not so important—just another day when the banks are closed and the mail doesn't run. But to Christians, it should be a special day, as Christopher Columbus actually made his voyage to find the "new world" because of a promise he made to his dying grandfather.

The grandfather, who was a missionary, did not believe the earth was flat because it went against all known "common sense."

Before he died, the grandfather encouraged young Christopher to go to "the new world" and tell people there about Jesus. The grandson promised to do so. But it wasn't easy, as such a trip would be quite expensive, and most governments in those days weren't interested in funding such a "foolish expedition."

But Columbus, an Italian navigator, convinced the king and queen of Spain to back him. They did so, but with hopes of him instead discovering a new trade route to India.

On October 12, 1492, Columbus and his three-ship contingent landed on a small island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador (meaning "The Savior"). His exploits (he made at least three trips back-and-forth to the new world) enabled Europe to connect with the Americas.

It wasn't until 300 years later—on October 12, 1792—that Discovery Day (as it was first called) was first celebrated by the Society of St. Tammany of New York. On the 400th anniversary—in 1892—Congress authorized funds to celebrate "Columbus Day" during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

At the same time, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation, declaring Columbus Day a holiday and urging U.S. citizens to express gratitude to God for using Columbus (on a mission trip 534 years ago) to discover the North American continent.

You Are Invited!

A co-ed, potluck baby shower for Jacob & Rachel Giaquinto, with children welcome.

Please sign up to bring a dish for this event in Riverbend's Fellowship Hall ... click here.

Jacob & Rachel are gift-registered on Amazon (click here).



Other Regular Weekly Activities

Sundays

Praise Team warm-up, Stage, 8 am

Men's Prayer Time, Fellowship Hall, 8:30 am

Nursery (age 4-under), Children's Wing, 8:45 am

Mondays 

Men's Basketball, Worship Center, 6:30 pm

Wednesdays

Scripture Memory Team (Middle & High School Girls), Room 706B, 5 pm

Student Bible Study, Youth Center, 5:30 pm

Nursery opens (birth to pre-K), Children's Wing, 6 pm

Songs & Seeds (Kids), Children's Wing, 6:15 pm

Praise Team Rehearsal, Stage, 7:30 pm

Thursdays

Morning Worship at Avanté Skilled Nursing Center, 10 am

OCTOBER

OFFICE

Regular church office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.

PHONES

Church Office: (386) 672-1821

Riverbend Academy (PreK-12): (386) 615-0986