Operation Reach Out is Back!

Operation Reach Out is ON for 2024!! We will gather the morning of October 19th from 9 AM until noon to minister to our community through a number of projects. Please click here for the registration form, which includes a list of our projects. We will offer both breakfast (8:30 AM) and lunch (12:30 PM). And you have the option of purchasing a t-shirt. Please note that children as young as 3 years old are invited to participate. Please print and complete the registration form (copies are also be available at the church) and return it to Whitney as soon as possible (no later than September 25th). Questions? Contact Whitney.

This Sunday @ VBC

We hope you'll join us for Sunday School at 9:15 AM. We have classes for newborns and up! Click here for our current Sunday School brochure.

Morning worship begins at 10:30 AM. Chris Monroe will bring this week's message while the Russells are on vacation. If you can't join us in person, livestream is available through our app, at www.vintonbaptistchurch.org, and through our Facebook page.

If you haven't yet signed up for this Sunday's Youth Choir Luncheon Fundraiser (hamburgers, baked beans, and macaroni salad @ $10/person), please call the church office NOW at 540-343-7685. Today is the last day to sign up! Lunch will be served immediately after worship service. You are welcome to eat and fellowship in the gym. Takeout is now an option, as well. But we still need you to sign up so we'll know how much food to prepare.

Sunday evening will round out with Handbells rehearsal at 5:00 PM and Weeknight Worship rehearsal at 6:00 PM.

Seniors on the Move

Seniors on the Move is a low impact, weekly exercise class for senior adults. It takes place in the church gym at 1:00 PM every Thursday beginning tomorrow, September 5th. Each class lasts approximately 35 minutes. Please see Ski Shelton with questions.

Pandemonium Steel Drum Band

There is an opening in our steel drum band this fall. We will meet on Tuesday evenings, starting September 10th, from 6:00 until 6:45 PM. If you are a music reader and have a bit of rhythm, we need you. Consider being a part of Vinton’s very first steel drum band!

Walk with Jesus

This fall's Walk with Jesus class will begin September 15th and run through October 20th. It will take place during the Sunday School hour (beginning at 9:15 AM) in the library and is open to all 3rd - 5th graders who are interested in learning more about baptism and what it means to follow Jesus. Please see Jessie Burgess or Whitney Russell to sign up as soon as possible.

Ice Cream Social & Ministry Matters

Mark your calendars for September 15th, when we will kick off most of our Sunday afternoon/evening activities (see the list below). We will also have a church-wide Ice Cream Social at 4:15 PM and a Ministry Matters (business) meeting at 5:00 PM.

Art from the Heart & Mission Kids

Mark your calendars for September 15th, 5:00 - 6:30 PM in the small dining room for the 2024-25 return of Art from the Heart & Mission Kids! All K - 5th graders are welcome.

Fall Start Dates

Please note the following start dates for our regular school year activities and kickoff events:

• September 5th - Seniors on the Move exercise class (1:00 PM Thursdays)
• September 8th - Handbells Rehearsal (5:00 PM Sundays)
• September 10th - Steel Drums Rehearsal (6:00 PM Tuesdays)
• September 11th - Children's Choirs and Youth Missions Group (6:15 PM Wednesdays), Weeknight Worship (6:30 PM Wednesdays), and Chancel Choir Rehearsal (7:30 PM Wednesdays).
• September 12th - Travis' Thursday Morning Small Group (10:00 AM). All adults are welcome for discussion; no topic is off limits.
• September 15th - Walk with Jesus Class (9:15 AM every Sunday through October 20th), Youth Choir (11:45 AM Sundays), Church-wide Ice Cream Social (4:15 PM), Ministry Matters (5:00 PM), Art from the Heart & Mission Kids (5:00 PM), Parent/Student Youth Kickoff (6:00 PM)

Please call the church office at 540-343-7685 if you have any questions.

Weeknight Worship

We’d love to have you attend Weeknight Worship at 6:30 PM on Wednesdays from September 11th through November 20th. Our Wednesday study will be different from our Sunday sermon series. We will dive deep into the Old Testament, exploring a key Bible verse each week from some of the most important Old Testament stories that set the stage for the life and ministry of Jesus as revealed in the New Testament. Through this series, we’ll return to the beginning, building a stronger understanding, faith, and trust in God’s grand story of redemption that culminates in Jesus. We’re looking forward to getting started next week!

September Preteens Event

The Preteens will have Dinner & Devo Sunday, September 22nd in the preteen room, 4:00 - 6:00 PM. All 3rd - 5th graders are welcome!

Wednesday Women Bible Study

We are so happy to report that Susan Jones and Wednesday Women are back!! Ladies, mark your calendars for 10 AM - noon each Wednesday from September 25th through November 13th. We will meet in the Disciple Center to study The Chosen 3: The Way of the Chosen. A sign-up sheet is available in the church office. Study guides can be purchased on Amazon or Christianbook. If you cannot purchase one yourself, the church will place an order on September 18th. Call Susan at 540-580-8559 with questions.

Sunday, September 29th: Adult Choir Concert

We will be joining with Melrose Baptist for a combined concert of choral favorites on September 29th at 6:30 PM. The program contains some favorite selections of the conductors, such as “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” “When I Survey,” “Down to the River to Pray,” and "Because He Lives.” Please mark the date on your calendar and plan to attend.

If you're interested in singing with us, plan to attend Chancel Choir rehearsals, which begin September 11th (7:30 PM). There will also be 2 rehearsals dedicated to this specific program: 1) Thursday evening, September 26th at 7:00 PM and 2) Sunday, September 29th at 4:00 PM.

JOY Seniors Schedule

Join us for a lunch/theater trip to Wohlfahrt Haus for the viewing of "Christmas in the Park" on Saturday, November 9th. The cost of this trip is $70/person and includes dinner, the play, and a tip. The deadline to sign up and pay is Sunday, October 6th. When signing up, please indicate whether you are riding the bus or driving.

Lois Smith

3927 Blandfield Drive

Vinton VA 24179

Christian sympathy is extended to Betty & Gene White and family in the passing of her cousin Marilyn McKinley (Violet Lawhorn's daughter) August 30th.

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Sunday School: 191

10:30 AM Worship

• in person 306
• online totals are not available

Thank you to the LOA Sunday School Class and the Fellowship/Berean Sunday School Class for their donations to the Maintenance & Improvements Fund.

Proposed Budget

Click here to view the proposed budget for our next fiscal year. It will be officially presented and discussed at our September 15th Ministry Matters meeting.

College Care Packages

It's that time of year again! We are collecting the following for college care packages for our undergraduate students: Slim Jims, small packs of jerky, gummies, hard candy, gum, hot chocolate packets, Fruit Rollups/Gushers, small packs of Pringles and popcorn, individual packs of Cheez-Its, and sharpies/pens. NO peanut products, please. You can drop items in the appropriate bin at the Missions Tables by Sunday, September 15th. Monetary donations can assist with the cost of mailing care packages; please mark your gift to VBC with the memo "college care packages."

Note to parents of undergrad students: please call Patsy in the church office (540-343-7685) or email Joanna Harman with your student's name and current address. We want to make sure that we include everyone, and we want to fully update our list of students.

Operation Christmas Child

Our Operation Christmas Child volunteers are gearing up for the 2024 shoebox season! We are wrapping shoeboxes Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:00 AM - noon in room 109 of the New Ministries Building beginning today. Anyone is welcome to drop in and help; we may adjust our schedule going forward to accommodate the most volunteers. If you have empty shoeboxes to donate please drop them at the Missions Tables at the church, or contact Darlene McCaskill (540-890-6748) so that she can arrange to pick them up. We are also collecting items to go in the shoeboxes (small toys, combs, washcloths, toothbrushes, school supplies, socks, sunglasses, etc.) at the Missions Tables. Questions? Contact Darlene.

Bible Reading Plan

This Saturday, September 7th we're scheduled to begin the epistle of 1 Corinthians. According to Fee & Stuart (How to Read the Bible Book by Book), Paul wrote 1 Corinthians while he was at Ephesus (as evidenced by 16:8) around the mid-fifties A.D. This letter is a culmination of communication that has previously taken place. Paul has formerly written to the church in Corinth (5:9), and the Corinthian church has previously written to him (7:1). Paul also notes information that he has heard about what's going on in the church at Corinth (1:11, 5:1). The tone of the letter is reformative; Paul is not happy about the behavior of the Corinthian Christians, and he is admonishing their practices. In fact, Fee & Stuart state, "First Corinthians is the most difficult of the New Testament letters to summarize, because Paul deals in turn with no less than eleven different issues, sometimes in a length similar to some of his shorter letters (2 Thessalonians, Titus)."

Fee & Stuart also maintain that understanding the history and culture of Corinth is important. The ancient city of Corinth had been "... refounded by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. as a Roman colony" and "... had become the largest city in Roman Greece." Located on an important trade route, it had become a melting pot of various peoples and the religions of their own cultures. Immorality abounded. "So those who had become believers were from among this diverse population, both slave and free, Gentile and Jew (12:13), who brought a lot of their prior baggage with them to the Christian faith." Fee & Stuart state that one of the main themes involves "... what it means to be a person of the Spirit." These Christians' misunderstanding of what it means to live as Christians was creating behavioral problems that Paul had to deal with. That's the essential theme of 1 Corinthians. We'll learn more as we jump into this book.

-- Kim