Hello OOTBWC,
This past Sunday God placed some things on my heart that I felt I needed to share with you in a letter. Sometimes it is really hard to communicate everything to you that needs to be communicated on a Sunday morning in an hour service.
We are in the midst of something very special and quite rare. We are seeing numerous lives changed through the ministries of 1st Hillsville and OOTBWC, people are being baptized, joining the church, and getting involved in service to others. I wish you could all see and hear the stories that I get to hear from the folks who are so thankful we are here and listening to what God wants for the people of Carroll County and for the world.
The fact is, many of these stories are too personal to share, and others we are beginning to hear about publicly as people work through what God would have them share with us, that we might be stronger and that others might know they are not alone in their struggles. People are finding freedom to talk about and share their past and present hurts and they are finding healing in the openness.
We have well over 300 people who now call Out Of The Box Worship Center their church home, that is amazing and something that is hard to sometimes grasp as we had not planned to grow so fast. Funny how the greatest blessings in life are seldom if ever planned. People have stepped up to serve and our services have been great. We recently added new children’s ministries and those have started with great numbers. Check out “God’s Loft” and see what the children and leaders are so excited about.
I believe that we have only just scratched the surface of where God is taking us.
With that said, there is room for you to serve at OOTBWC. We have opportunities for you to serve in the new children’s ministry. Let me give you fair warning, there is paperwork that you will have to do in order to work with our children. We are determined to keep the children safe at First Hillsville UMC – OOTBWC and in order to do that, every person who works with children has to go through a background check. It is not a problem and there is no cost to you but you will have to fill out the paperwork and spend some time working through our “Safe Sanctuaries” videos and materials to understand the measures we have committed to in order to keep the children safe.
We have opportunities in our van ministry that is now making 2 trips on Sunday mornings to pick up the people who want to come to church. There are opportunities to drive and for assistants to work with the drivers.
There are so many opportunities and serving in ministry is what drives our mission to Make Disciples. Let me or one of the leaders know today where it is that you would like to serve. You don’t have to be a member to serve.
I love you guys a lot,
Pastor Ronnie
