The Witness
Volume 40, Issue 2
January 12, 2022
This Sunday, January 16th:
This Sunday, Travis will be back in the pulpit. His message is "Control is Conditional," and the scripture is Luke 17:22-37. All Sunday evening activities (Adult Handbells, Youth Choir and Extreme, and Pandemonium Steel Drums) are on their regular schedule.
Wednesday Night Activities
Tonight all activities are on, as scheduled: dinner (5:30 PM); Adult Bible Studies (you can pick from Spiritual Disciplines or Parenting with Love & Logic), Thrive Youth, & Children's Choirs (all at 6:15 PM); Praise Team rehearsal (6:30 PM); and Chancel Choir rehearsal (7:30 PM).

Tonight, we will be kicking off our Parenting with Love and Logic series at 6:15pm in the small dining room. We will be exploring the three types of parenting and how to stop arguing with your child. These lessons are great for parents with children of all ages! See Whitney with any questions.

The Spiritual Disciplines in the Narrative of Joseph study is scheduled to continue tonight. Please click here for this week's notes.

Upcoming Wednesday Night Dinner menus:
  • January 19th - Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti, Steamed Broccoli, Garlic Bread, & Dessert.
  • January 26th - Smothered Pork Loin Chops in Gravy, Stuffing, Baby Limas with Corn, Dinner Rolls, & Dessert.
Dinner begins at 5:30 PM. Costs are $6/adult, $5/child (ages 4-12), children 3 and under are free, max per household is $18, first-time guests are free. Please sign up by calling the church office at 540-343-7685 no later than 5 PM Tuesday.
Adult Bible Reading Plan
A 52 Week Bible Reading Plan is available for your use this year. It will take you through the entire Bible in one year, and it's not too late to get started! Please click here for a digital copy or pick up a paper copy at the Welcome Center.
Children and Teen Bible Reading Plan
 Travis challenged us earlier this year to incorporate Bible reading into our weekly habits. It’s important to model this behavior for our children and to help them build these habits as well. Use this Bible reading plan (click here) with your child of any age to cover important biblical stories for our youngest church members. There are also copies available at the Welcome Center. Happy Reading!
Thrive Student Ministry
After a Covid delay, our student ministries are ready to get back on schedule for an exciting year! We hope your student will make plans to join us!

Tonight: Wednesday Night Thrive Ministry- 6:15pm in the Youth Room
Sunday, January 16th: Youth Leadership Team Meeting- 4:00pm in the youth living room; Youth Choir- 5:00pm; Snack Supper- 6:00pm; Extreme- 6:15pm.
Preteens Event
Preteens will go bowling Sunday, January 23rd. Please plan to leave from the church at 4 PM. More details to come soon!
POSTPONED
Wednesday Women: What Does it Mean to Be Chosen?
Wednesday Women was originally scheduled to begin a new study today; however, based on the rise in COVID cases locally, we are opting to postpone this study to begin February 2nd. This study will connect readers to the history of Jesus' life and the stories of the Bible in a new way. It will follow season 1 of the television series The Chosen to discover, “What does it actually mean to be Chosen?” Join Susan Jones on Wednesday mornings from 10-11:30am starting February 2nd! Cost of the book is $16. Please sign up in the church office; books are available now.
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Can you feel it? Recently a new group formed to specifically pray for our church. We have prayed for our church body, our pastors, staff, teachers, and volunteers. We have lifted up the sick, those who are grieving, and those who are hurting. Our country and leaders have not gone unmentioned. And you. We have prayed for you, too.

You are invited to join us. On the 4th Thursday of each month, we meet for one sweet hour of prayer. We meet at 10 AM in the Berean classroom across the lobby from the church office. Your prayers and presence would be very welcomed. Please consider joining us this month on January 27th at 10 AM. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Cathy Abraham at 540-977-2930.
JOY Seniors Activities
The JOY Seniors are collecting non-perishable food items for the Soup for Seniors Drive during the month of January: soups, canned vegetables, canned fruit, crackers, peanut butter, Carnation Instant Breakfast, canned meats, tuna, and oatmeal. Low salt, nutritious items are preferred. Please place donations on the Missions Table near the Welcome Center or in the collection box inside the double doors of the New Ministries Building. If you want to make a monetary donation, one of the JOY Seniors will shop for you. Be sure to make out your check to "VBC Joy Seniors" and indicate "Soup for Seniors" in the memo line of the check or on the envelope with money in it. Thank you in advance for helping our elderly neighbors in need.

The next JOY Seniors Luncheon is scheduled for January 25th at noon in the gym. The cost is $10/person, and the deadline to register is January 21st. Sign up at the JOY Seniors table in the Welcome Center for beans, cornbread, baked potato, dessert, drink & fun!
Richard & Rose Belcher
905 Cottage Avenue
Vinton VA 24179-2719
January 9, 2022:
8:45 AM -
In person 72
Online 251
11:00 AM -
In person 108
Online 136
Sunday School - 133
Thanks to the Mary Martha Class for their donation to the Food Pantry.
Yearly Tax Statements
Yearly tax statements are being printed now and should be ready for pickup in the church office by Sunday morning.
Communications Updates & Services
For many years, our church has used an outside service to deliver mass phone calls, texts, and voicemail messages to our congregation, especially when we have little time to communicate or we need to reach large numbers of people in an efficient manner (for example, when we have to cancel a service due to weather or illness). We currently have nearly 600 phone numbers in that database. Over the past several years, we have been able to add other means of communication for our church family, such as mass emails and instantaneous notifications through our new VBC app. We also post important notices on our Facebook page. In order to be good stewards and minimize our communications costs, we would like to reduce the total of phone numbers in our phone database because so many in our church family prefer email and app notifications. If you currently receive your communications from VBC primarily through email, VBC app notifications, or Facebook and are willing to allow us to remove your number from this phone/text communications database, could you please email Kim Yonce or call the church office at 540-343-7685? (This action would not remove your phone number from our Realm database - only from mass phone informational calls.) If you want to continue to receive important VBC notification through phone call/text, there's nothing that you need to do. Thank you!
Christian sympathy is extended to Jason & Nicole Short Wright and family in the death of his father, John D. Wright, on December 31st; and to the friends and family of Jeff Bush.
Missions Moment
This January, our Adopt-A-School team is collecting items to fill the clothes closets at our local schools. Counselors and teachers use these spaces for accidents, when children need warm, clean clothing that cannot be provided at home, or when graduating students need nicer clothes to participate in ceremonies. Please drop off your used or nearly new, clean donations all month in the box on the Missions Table! Local schools' clothes closet needs:
  • Socks for boys and girls (all sizes)
  • Boys' sweatpants (sizes 4-12)
  • Girls' underwear (sizes 8-10)
  • Boys' underwear (sizes 8-10)
  • Men's khaki pants (high school sizes)
  • Men's dress shirts (high school sizes)
  • Girls' dresses (high school sizes)
  • Boys' & girls' dress shoes (adult sizes)
Casserole Ministry
The Casserole Ministry is made up of people who love to minister through sharing meals in times of need and celebration. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, please contact Donna Jackson through email or by calling 540-589-0190. We'd love for you to join us!
Children's Worship
We need volunteers for Children's Worship for each Sunday morning service. Please consider serving in this important ministry. Please click here to sign up (dates available through January). Thanks for serving!
Realm & VBC App Updates
Realm invitations are continuing to go out for all church members and regular attenders who have an email address on file with us. If you have not yet seen an invitation in your inbox, please check your spam/junk folder. Please continue to look for your invitation if your last name begins with a letter near the end of the alphabet.

When we send your Realm invitation we are also, by default, opting you into our “online directory,” which means that your name, address, phone number(s), email address, and date of birth (month & day only) are accessible to other people within our church family who have also been invited to Realm. Your info is NOT posted on the general internet. (Essentially, this works very much like a printed directory, where your contact info is available to anyone in our church who has a copy of the directory.) If you choose to set up a Realm login, you have full control over the privacy settings on your information - you can opt out of the online directory, hide portions of your info, or mark your privacy settings so that only church staff members can access your info. Should you choose not to set up a Realm login, you can call the church office and we can update your privacy settings at any time from our end.
 
Great News! The Chosen series is now available to watch through your VBC app. Go to your app and scroll down to the bottom banner; then just click and watch!
Thanks to my church family for the Thanksgiving and Christmas goodie bags, for visits, cards, prayers, and being remembered. I love you all and appreciate everything you do for me.
Fred Swisher