TONIGHT

We'll have all our usual Wednesday night activities tonight at their normal times. See you this evening!

Baptism Sunday: April 28th

A baptism service has been planned for Sunday, April 28th, and we are delighted to have a number of new members scheduled to participate! If you are interested in being baptized, please reach out to a minister between now and this Sunday.

This Sunday @ VBC

This Sunday we will be blessed by the VBC Handbell Choir; they will perform our prelude and offertory. We will also have a Missions Moment with Daphne Sargent, the Unit Director for the Boys & Girls Club located at Vinton Baptist; Boys & Girls Club has also prepared a video for you to enjoy. Travis' sermon series on the fruits of the Spirit continues with "Self Control?" based in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. If you cannot join us in person at 10:30 AM, you can livestream at www.vintonbaptistchurch.org and on our Facebook group page.

Preteens Event

Preteens (3rd - 5th graders) will be heading to Snowflex April 28th, 2:00 - 6:00 PM. Questions? Contact Jessie Burgess.

Fundraisers for Dinwiddie Youth Missions Trip

Time is running out to sign up for our April 28th BBQ Fundraiser Luncheon for this summer's Youth Missions Trip. BBQ is sold by the plate (BBQ sandwich, homemade BBQ sauce, chips, coleslaw, cold drink, & dessert). The cost is $15/plate, with a $40 cap per family. You can pick up your plate(s) in the kitchen and enjoy fellowship, trivia, and games while we eat in the gym, or you can get your plate(s) to go. We need your orders by this Sunday, April 21st. You can place your order at the Welcome Center or online by clicking here. If you choose the family pack option, please notate how many meals you will need.

Group Mission Trips has also set up an online store where you can purchase merchandise (t-shirts, hoodies, water bottles, etc.) that benefits our mission group. Following is the link. $10 from each purchase goes toward our group's expenses. Vinton Baptist Church (checkoutstores.com)

JOY Seniors Activities

Our “Senior Break Out” to The Blue Lady Restaurant on Tuesday, April 30th is full. You are welcome to sign up on a waitlist. Departure from VBC is 10:45 AM.

On Saturday, May 4th we will see the matinee showing of the hysterical Dearly Beloved at the Attic Theater (think Hee Haw meets Gone with the Wind). The bus will leave VBC at 1:15 PM; you may ride it or drive separately. Our meal will be at Bellacino’s after the play. See other details and sign up at the JOY Senior table.

Upcoming trips:

• We are planning a June 29th day trip to see the Rock Churches of Buffalo Mountain. We will see about six churches and be able to go in two of them. We will tour the Hillsville Courthouse and have lunch at Meadows of Dan. See more details at the JOY Senior table.
• Join us September 24th - 26th for an extended trip to see “Daniel” at the Sight & Sound Theatre and enjoy guided tours of both Philadelphia and Baltimore. Details, including lodging costs, are available at the JOY Senior table, or see Barbara Shutt.

Make plans now to attend this exciting event

hosted by Vinton Baptist Church:

Fred & Jean Swisher

422 Chestnut Mountain Drive

Vinton VA 24179

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Weeknight Worship: 27

Sunday, April 14, 2024

Sunday School: 212

10:30 AM Worship:

• 330 in person
• 211 online

Thank you to the Fellowship/Berean Sunday School class for their donation to the Youth Missions Trip.

Thank you to the Open Door Sunday School class for their donations to the Food Pantry and the Youth Missions Trip.

Thank you to the LOA Sunday School class for their donations to Vacation Bible School, the Youth Choir Missions Tour, and the Dinwiddie Youth Mission Trip.

Thank you to the Pete Creasy Sunday School class for their donation to the Dinwiddie Youth Missions Trip.

Please Vote in the

2024 Arbor Day Drawing Competition

The Boys & Girls Club students at the VBC location, along with other children in our area, are participating in the Town of Vinton Arbor Day Drawing Contest for ages 5-12! You can stop by the Vinton Municipal Building to view (and vote on) their artwork. OR you can simply click here to see all the entries and cast your free vote online. Voting closes at 4:00 PM this Friday, April 19th, so place your vote TODAY!

Graduate Info Needed

Graduate Recognition Sunday is May 19th. If you or someone in your family is graduating from high school, college, or grad school this year, please email kim@vintonbaptistchurch.org or call the church office at 540-343-7685 to let us know the following: name of graduate, school, any special honors, type of degree, future plans (example: if/where they will attend college or military service, or what career they are pursuing), and whether they will be able to attend worship May 19th. If your graduate cannot attend May 19th, we would still like to have their information so that we can recognize them in The Witness. Thank you!

Please extend an "official" welcome to the following families who have been worshiping with us for quite some time, and who joined VBC this past Sunday, April 14th.

Welcome to Dorinda Mayhue & Robert Schafer. Their address is 1339 Lakeridge Circle, Troutville VA 24175. Both are transferring membership from Spring Creek Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, OK.

We also welcome Brandon, Jessica, & Madison Reynolds, who are shown here along with baby Avery. Their address is 287 Lakeridge Circle, Troutville VA 24175. All three are joining by profession of faith and are scheduled to be baptized at the end of this month.

Bible Reading Plan

We're getting ready to start the book of Amos, which will take us about a week to read. Amos deals with the earliest time frame of all the minor prophets; his prophecies were given approximately 760 BC, while Jeroboam II was king of Israel and Uzziah was king of Judah. Amos lived at the same time as Hosea. The Assyrians were the enemy of God's people at the time of these prophecies, but they were not powerful at this time; it would still be a number of years before Assyria would actually conquer Israel. Fee & Stuart give the following summary of the book's themes: "in a period of rare economic prosperity and political strength for Israel, Yahweh announces their doom because she has failed to keep covenant with him." The main reasons for God's judgment are the people's failure to 1) remain faithful to God alone, and 2) to treat people in a just manner. The Israelites were prosperous under these kings and thought that nothing bad could happen to them. They claimed to follow God, but mixed their worship of Yahweh with other religions. The rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. These are the circumstances leading to Amos' prophecies. Of those prophecies, Fee & Stuart state, "In all of this there is scarcely a word of comfort and only a few words suggesting that Yahweh might relent (5:5-6, 14-15). But the book itself concludes with an oracle of salvation (9:11-15) that looks beyond the fall of Israel to the fall of Judah as well, promising that 'David's fallen tent' (Jerusalem) will be restored in a future age of abundance." I hope that this preliminary info is helpful to you in reading through Amos.

-- Kim

Duke Divinity School Graduation

Travis officially finished his coursework at Duke Divinity School last fall. He will formally graduate from Duke the second weekend in May. We know that you want to share your congratulations and words of affirmation with him. There is a table set up in the Welcome Center with cards available for you to do so.

Thank you so much for the goodie box. It was much appreciated. It was very thoughtful.

Love, Gordon Welsh

Many thanks for the beautiful plant sent to us in honor of Bill's mom, Janis Hayden. She passed away on March 29th at 93 years old and is now in the arms of Jesus. She was a blessing to all who knew her, and we appreciate the church thinking of us in this special way.

Sincerely, Bill & Leslie Hayden

Spam/Scam Email Warning

Please be aware that the scammers are at it again! I've received two emails in the last week claiming to be from Travis and asking me to handle a request for him. Obviously, they weren't really from him. Here are the easy ways to tell:

• I checked the email address it came from. In one case, it was rev.father2017@gmail.com and in the other case it was rev.father6437@gmail.com. Neither address belongs to Travis. If you receive an email from a VBC staff member, it will be from their VBC email address, which is their first name followed by @vintonbaptistchurch.org (kim@vintonbaptistchurch.org, for example). If they're sending you an email from their personal email address, you would recognize it. If you don't recognize it, you can assume it's a scam.
• If the email appears to come from a legitimate address, ask yourself if the email sounds right. Does it sound like something the staff member would say or ask for? Or does the language sound stilted or unnatural? Is the person asking for gift cards or money or something else that sounds questionable? Our staff will not ask you for gift cards or monetary donations that are not also posted in The Witness or the bulletin.
• Finally, if you're not sure whether the email is legitimate, pick up the phone and call the church office (540-343-7685) or reach out to the staff member on their cell phone. If the email is not legitimate, simply delete it.

If you have any questions, please give me a call. Thanks.

-- Kim