Wednesday, July 30th, 2025

Church News

Our Communion Offering this Sunday will support a matching gift campaign for Friends Empowering Haiti, benefiting our brothers and sisters at OFCB Ministries in Bayonnais, Haiti. This offering will support the OFCB school, medical clinic, and agronomy programs. Please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers.

Missions

A Heartfelt Thank You!

The Sew Much Fun! Camp wrapped up its second week on July 24. A heartfelt thank you to all the amazing volunteers who helped make this camp such a success: Wendy Corbin, Debbie Alexander, Meg Aktas, Barbara Cogdell, Kelly Cail, Kim Kraft, Joy Gainer, and Teri Akin.



Campers worked on meaningful projects, including hygiene kits for the homeless, animal crate quilts for the Humane Society, and snap purses to be included in Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes sent around the world.

Sassy Sowers will resume their weekly groups beginning August 14th at 10:00 AM in Room 18.

The Saturday Sewing Group will resume monthly gatherings on September 13th at 10:00 AM in Room 18. This group meets on the second Saturday of each month.

LOVE Mentors Appreciation

As the first day of the 2025–2026 school year approaches, we offer heartfelt thanks to those who served as LOVE Mentors at Isle of Hope K–8 School during the winter and spring of 2025: Teri Akin, Jan Davenport, Mimi Diamond, Gary Thompson, and Joy Thompson. We are also grateful to Betsy Bratz and Judy Fogarty from the Isle of Hope community for their service.

Special thanks to Betsy Hines for her leadership as the Isle of Hope K–8 LOVE Mentors Coordinator.

Once teachers and students are settled into their new classrooms and routines, we look forward to another wonderful year of partnering with the children.

HUGS Tours & More!

During our final Jammin’ July session, Andrea Epting, founder and CEO of HUGS, gave an informative and inspiring presentation on the work being done to make mental health care accessible to all. We are grateful for her vision, her commitment, and the many volunteer therapists who generously share their time to ensure care remains affordable.

If you would like to tour HUGS, please contact Julie Vann at jvann@iohumc.com. Tour are available on August 26, 2025, at 11:00 AM and September 10, 2025, at 8:00 AM.

Children's Ministry

Promotion Sunday - August 10th

Our children have been working hard preparing this musical to be performed during worship on Promotion Sunday, August 10th! It is based on the story in Luke 5:17 of the paralyzed man and his friends. With themes of friendship and faith, kids will discover the power of working together and trusting Jesus, no matter what obstacles stand in the way. We can't wait to share this journey of faith and friendship with you!

Bible Presentations - If you are a rising 2nd grader this year, your Church has a gift for you during worship! If you have a rising 2nd grader and have not been contacted by Beth Parr about receiving a Bible, contact her at 912-663-7466 or bparr@iohumc.com.

BRING YOUR BACKPACKS! We will be blessing our children's backpacks during this service and giving them a new tag to add to their backpack, too!

There will be no Children's Church or Children's Sermon on Promotion Sunday.

Spending Time with IOH Children is Great!

We are so grateful for our wonderful Children’s Sunday School teachers who prepare and share their time with our children each week. As our Children’s Ministry continues to grow, we’re excited to add a new class for Kindergarten and First Grade this year. To support this, we’re looking for 3–4 new teachers to join one of our experienced leaders and form a flexible teaching team.

If you enjoy working with our youngest children, you might consider joining our 3–4-year-old class, where two veteran teachers are ready to welcome a new teammate.

Prefer to help during worship? We also need volunteers for Children’s Church, which begins after the Children’s Sermon. With our new schedule starting September 14, we’ll need two Children’s Church teams each Sunday. Volunteers are asked to serve once a month, and all lessons and materials are provided. If you ever need to miss a Sunday, it’s easy to swap with another leader.

And if working with our oldest elementary students is more your style, consider helping with God Squad, our 5th-grade group that meets on Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 6:30 PM for dinner, games, and a program.

To learn more or to volunteer, contact Beth Parr at bparr@iohumc.com or 912-663-7466. We’d love to have you join the fun!

Music Ministry

Karaoke & Dance Night

THIS Friday, August 1st, Arts from the Island will host a karaoke and dance night called "The Last Song of Summer!" This will be a night of our favorite summer beach tunes with DJ Barri Marshall. Here's the best part: EVERYONE IS INVITED! So, tell your neighbors, friends, and family to come hang out!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Student Ministry

Farewell To Our Summer Staff

Please join us in thanking Noelle Treece and Grant Baxter, joined by Kourtney Funderburk, for their tireless efforts in supporting our students this summer. They will definitely be missed, and we wish them each God's blessings this coming year!

Color Ball

Our students will be with our amazing summer staff for one final event - Cross Training today at 5:30 PM, and they saved the best for last!

COLOR BALL combines two favorites—Color Wars and Kickball—for one epic event! Join us TONIGHT for a kickball tournament with a colorful twist, featuring paint-filled fun. Youth will compete, and members of the SALT class may join in, too.

We’ll meet from 5:30 to 7:00 PM on the Cornus Cottage Lawn. Don’t miss it!

Other Church News

Welcome New Members

We are so glad that Tucker Lawson and Catie Moye joined our church on Sunday!

May you feel at home here and find community, faith, and friendship as part of our church family.

Let's give them a warm Isle of Hope welcome!

Playground Updates

Take a look at our progress! While the completion timeline has shifted slightly, we're hopeful the project will wrap up by the end of this week. Once it's finished, we’ll be sure to share a final photo.

Next on the list: installing the new sail for the playground. Stay tuned, it’s all a work in progress!