CALENDAR OF CHURCH EVENTS/ACTIVITIES

Saturday, July 26

10:00 am   Food Pantry - 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Sunday, July 27

9:00 am   Sunday School

10:30 am   Worship Service – Sanctuary, Rev. Warren Eshbach preaching

  Monday, July 28

6:15 pm   Education Team – Anna Mow Room

Wednesday, July 30

11:30 am   Lunch Bunch – Isaac's - West York (White St.)

                       

Sunday, August 3

9:00 am   Sunday School

10:30 am   Worship Service – Sanctuary, Youth Lead Worship

Following Worship - Lemonade on the Lawn

The Christmas in July Special event scheduled for this evening,

Fri. 7/25 has been cancelled.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We look forward to celebrating it in July of 2026. You won't want to miss it!

Summer Worship and Fellowship Events at York First COB!

This summer the Worship and the Fellowship and Hospitality Teams are once again “teaming up” to sponsor some fun events to help us stay connected and throughout the summer months and to build relationships as we enjoy each other’s company! Below is what the month of August looks like going forward:

Sunday, August 3 – Youth leading worship: FaithX and National Junior High Conference experiences and Lemonade on the Lawn after worship  

Wednesday, August 6 6-8 p.m. Pizza/Game Night in the Gathering Space – Share a pizza plus extras supper with others! Bring your favorite game(s) and favorite snack (s) to share and join us for a fun evening! Casual atmosphere for all ages – indoor and outdoor activities!

Sunday, August 10 10:15-10:30 a.m. Brief Congregational Forum- to share potential names for church leadership (watch for ENews article to explain more); guest preacher is Ken Gibble

Wednesday, August 13 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Lunch Bunch - location TBA Come join with others from York First COB for an informal time of lunch and fellowship together; no reservation needed, just show up if you want to eat and enjoy each other’s company! Each person is responsible for their own meal payment. Contact your deacon or the church office if you need a ride. Please join us! 

Saturday, August 16 6-8 p.m. Outdoor Hymn Sing and Peach Festival – Back by popular demand! Come join us to sing your favorite hymns in the back courtyard followed by some sweet treats in the Gathering Space – no cost and all are welcome! Contact your deacon or the church office if you need transportation. 

Sunday, August 17 Worship – Guest preacher is Walt Wiltschek; Blessing of the Backpacks and Special Third Sunday Offering: monetary donations and school supplies for our Child Development Center (CDC) and Stony Brook Elementary

Wednesday, August 20 6-8 p.m.–Pizza/Game Night: bring a snack & game to share!

Sunday, August 24 – Welcome Back Sunday and Lemonade on the Lawn following worship: Welcome back from summer vacation and back to school and a very special welcome back to Pastor Joel who will be returning from his sabbatical and back in the pulpit once again!  

Click on this button to view the full calendar

Contacting the Interim Ministries Coordinator

Pastor Joel is observing sabbatical leave from May 24 until August 23 this summer. Our church will continue strongly in ministry during this time!

Kim Witkovsky is serving as the Interim Ministries Coordinator during Joel's absence.

Her hours will be posted in the newsletter and bulletin weekly. Please feel free to contact her at (814) 599-7055 (mobile) with texts or calls or by email at witkovskyks@gmail.com

If you would like a visit from Kim, please contact her directly or call the church office.

Office Hours for next week: Mon 11:30 am – 1:30pm

                                       Tues - Fri 8:30 am – 10:30 am

Additions and updates for prayer list or calendar of events are welcome by contacting the church office.

Special note for all Ministry Teams: Please notify the church office with any upcoming meetings or events for your team so we can add these dates to the calendar.

In addition to this prayer request list contained within each Friday's e-newsletter, we also have a "prayer chain" email list. We occasionally send immediate prayer requests to those who have opted in to receive the prayer chain and are committed to praying for each concern as they come. If you would like to be added to the prayer chain list, please notify the church office by email at secretary@yorkfirst.org or by phone (717) 755-0307. If you have a prayer request and desire it to be sent to this group, feel free to contact the church office anytime. Thank you!

Sunday School News

Children's Sunday School Classes

9:00 AM in Rooms 151, 152, and 153. Children grades PreK (age 4) and up will have class lessons. Children ages 3-4 and younger are welcome to attend nursery care.

Youth Sunday School Classes

9:00 AM in Room 155. Teacher Dave Witkovsky. Youth grades 7-12 are welcome.

Vine & Branches Class

9:00 AM in Room 154. The class is studying the "Wired Word" - a news curriculum that guides us with scripture, prayer and news information and how our faith calls us to respond in the Way of Jesus the Christ.

Lamplighters Class

9:00 AM in Room 145. We will begin a 5 week session from Max Lucado,

“Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World.”

Session 4: July 27 – The Peace of God Will Guard Your Heart

Homebuilders Class

Mondays - 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM by conference call. To join, contact Mike Martin at

717-840-4184 or Caretaker@TwinBrookFarm.com and leave a phone number. The class studies lessons from the "Guide for Biblical Studies" curriculum.  

LOST AND FOUND! Just a friendly reminder that we do have a Lost and Found box in the church office with all kinds of treasures in it that might be yours! Please stop in during the week, say hello to Karen and check the "Treasure Chest" to see if anything of yours is in the box. Or you can check in on Sunday mornings as well! Thank you!

ATTENTION VBS VOLUNTEERS! If you did not receive your VBS thank you gift, it is still waiting for you to pick up! We want you to feel the love and gratitude for all your time, energy and TLC you shared with the children during VBS. You can pick up your gift in the Multipurpose Room behind the sanctuary. The following folks have a gift bag waiting for them: Bri Herbst, Katie McEvoy, Connie Wingard, and Alicia and Sam Weyant. Thanks so much!   

Upcoming Events

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:

Wednesday, July 30 - Lunch Bunch - Isaac's West York (White St.) 11:30 AM

Wednesday, August 6 Pizza/Game Night in the Gathering Space 6:00 PM

Wednesday, August 13 Lunch Bunch - location TBA 11:30 AM

Saturday, August 16 Outdoor Hymn Sing and Peach Festival 6:00 PM

Wednesday, August 20 Pizza/Game Night in the Gathering Space 6:00 PM

OUR DAILY BREAD/SOUP KITCHEN - Friday, August 8, 2025

Sign up by calling Sandi Bowser at 717-825-7203 to make a casserole for

Our Daily Bread/Soup Kitchen on Friday, August 8, 2025 (10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.)

PLEASE contact Sandi to add your name and number of casseroles, so we can let

Our Daily Bread/Soup Kitchen know how many casseroles to expect.

The pans are located in the church lounge. Thank you! 

Come one, Come All to the

Annual Car Show and Chicken BBQ

Saturday, August 9, 2025

10:30 - 1:00 pm

(Forms also available on the bulletin board)

Much work has gone into preparing this fun event for all of us so be sure to come by

and enjoy the music, food trucks, and conversation with friends and guests alike!

Special thanks to Larry and Cindy and their teams!!

Cindy Goodling 717-887-3432 and Larry Rohrbach 717-880-3058

Last chance to preorder your Chicken dinner is July 29th. You don’t want to miss out on this delicious treat. For $13 you will receive half a chicken, baked potato, applesauce and a roll.. Your meal can be picked up outside of Nicarry between 10:30 AM and 1:00 PM. If you are unable to pick it up it can be delivered. Just note that on your order form. Use this link to order online or to access the forms:

https://www.crosskeysvillage.org/chicken/

While picking up your chicken, make sure to come by the Classic Car Show going on in the parking lot. Drop by and stroll through the rows of beautifully appointed classic and antique cars. You will have a wonderful time trading stories with the car owners. Then, before you leave, MAKE SURE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE CAR! Some lucky car owner will receive a prize for the

Villager Pick!!

Church of the Brethren News

Southern PA District/Denomination

Denominational news and information is always available by visiting brethren.org

Read news updates by clicking the link below

Please subscribe to receive COB Newsline via email if you wish

2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE - WRAP UP DVD

The Wrap Up DVD is available in the church office. The DVD can be checked out to view and return. Please contact the church office to make sure it is available when you want to sign it out.

SOPA DISTRICT PICNIC

July 27, 2025

Please join your brothers and sisters of our

District to share and worship together!

Little Buffalo State Park -

Pavilion #2 - (near the pool and playground)

Potluck Picnic at 4:30 - Please bring a side dish or dessert to share

Vesper Service lead by Chris Elliott at 5:30

Music by Cody and Ali Toms

RSVP: SOPA District Office 717-778-2264 or sopadistrict@brethren.org

Online Giving is safe, easy, and convenient. Sign up by going to our church website at: www.yorkfirst.org and click on the Online Giving Link or go directly to the Online Giving website at: http://www.osvhub.com/york-first/funds.

For assistance setting up your account,

call Donor Support at:  800-348-2886 – Option 2 – Online Giving Questions? Contact Sheryl Leaman - Thank you for your support!

NOTE: Online giving can be used for regular weekly or monthly offerings, special offerings, and capital campaign contributions, as well as many other specific outreach ministries that we sponsor.

The Facility Care Team would like to extend their deep gratitude for all who turned out this past Saturday, 7/19, for the all church work day. About a dozen men and women from York First congregation and a few from Christs Disciples church participated in a variety of tasks inside the church building and outside on the grounds. We accomplished many projects and spread lots and lots of mulch, compliments of the CDC! Thanks again for all your hard work and warm fellowship. We hope to schedule another workday in the coming months with many more projects for all ages! Watch the Enews! 

I want to thank EVERYONE for helping me celebrate my 39th birthday (this is now the 51st time I celebrated my 39th birthday). All the "cards", the "wishes", the "smiles", coming to the "drop-in" at my house and everything you all did, was greatly appreciated and enjoyed. God has been real good to me for which I'm forever thankful. I'm also very thankful for all of you being my friends. Jay Crist 

LOOK WHO'S

CELEBRATING

THIS MONTH

04  Sarah (Kovacs) Hamill

06  Violet Chronister

08  Margaret Eck

09  Bev Raney

10  Linda Wisner

11  Kyleigh Ferro

15  Pastor Joel Gibbel

18  Julie Poland

19  Jessica Jasitt

19  Robert Sharp

If your birthday is in AUGUST and is not on the list below or is listed incorrectly, please contact the church office.

21  Bob Bingaman

21  Betty Bortner

22  Dennis Wisner

25  Judy Deitch

25  Abby Dierdorf

26  Allison Poland

26  Sandra Dell

27  Stephanie Stoolmaker+

28  Betty Crowe

28  Tom McCracken

Directory Change:

P. 15 - Alex Leair - Add phone number (717) 542-0640

York First Church

of the Brethren

Gathering Space Bulletin Board Ministry

Did you know that there are actually people behind the beautiful bulletin board in the Gathering Space? I don’t mean literally but that the special messages and amazing artwork doesn’t just magically appear each month? That is what I found out when I started to inquire about who creates the bulletin boards and how this ministry began. 

First, I went to the church directory and started searching for Bulletin Boards and discovered them listed under the Education Ministry Team with the Coordinator being Kathy Kovacs! Then I went to the source and had a wonderful conversation with Kathy about her understanding of the history and growth of this special ministry. I spoke with a few other folks that Kathy put me in touch with (including Loretta Bachman and Jayne Baldwin) and, voila, I had a story to tell!

I understand, before the church renovations and the growth of the CDC, there were several other bulletin boards that were designed and cared for by this team but now the one in the Gathering Space is the main focus. There is quite a team of creative persons who come together to adorn our “narthex” every month with their amazing artwork of images, scriptures and songs! 

This ministry has been in existence for many decades – no one knows exactly when it started but we do know that Peg Crist was one of the founding participants many years ago and that is how Kathy came to be involved. Some of the other “artists” currently involved are Jayne Baldwin (who used to be the Coordinator), Sarah Markey, Jeanette Brickner (who is Kathy’s eager assistant) and our resident artist, Loretta Bachman. The picture enclosed with this article is the current bulletin board (for the past 3 months) and the beautiful work of Loretta Bachman. Did you notice that she has added new elements regularly so it is constantly growing and changing! Jayne is up next for August through October; Sarah Markey has November and Kathy and Jeanette have December and then a new rotation is created for the following year. 



We would like to offer our deepest gratitude for the many hours of time, energy and creativity they all contribute. We so appreciate their care and concern for this space and their willingness to share the good news of Jesus Christ and God’s love through beautiful images and powerful words. Just another group of unsung heroes that we want to recognize and thank. Please share your appreciation with them and consider joining their team if you love art and the Lord! Just let Kathy know – she would be glad to hear from you and to add you to the team! Blessings to all in your BB ministry!   Kim Witkovsky

Patricia Carey is the Witness Team appointment for the Cash for Causes program. Please see Patricia before or after worship to purchase your Giant or Weis gift cards. Patricia will be at the table under the bulletin board in the Gathering Space.

You may purchase the cards in amounts of $100, $50, $25, or $10. The cards make great gifts, especially at holidays. Consider donating cards to the Food Pantry or using them yourself any time you shop at Giant or Weis.

Since 2011, through the Cash for Causes program, the church has received 5% of sales to support various COB and local ministries. In 2024 the gift card sales supported The Lehman Center, New Community Project and the Carlisle Truck Stop Ministry with each receiving $233.08. For 2025, the Witness Team will review past giving and determine which agencies we will support this year. 

LAST WEEK IN WORSHIP