A Way You Can Help

Sarah Ogletree Ritter, former youth intern at FBC Sylva who now works for Creation Care Alliance of WNC, has been in contact with Gaye Buchanan, WMU director. Sarah lives and works in Mitchell County, which is one of the hardest hit counties in WNC from Helene.

Immediate needs at this time: 

• small propane tanks (grill size)

• mailboxes

• work gloves

• towels

• wash cloths

• to-go food containers

• chicken feed

• Visa gift cards

• queen & king sheet sets

• paper towels & toilet paper are still a need, but not as much right now.

Also, if anyone has a camper or RV to donate, three brothers are in need of one for housing, which would probably be their home from now on.

Please bring your donations to the Mission and Fellowship Center, and WMU members will deliver them to her parents. Thank you!

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If you would like to help directly with hurricane relief in the Asheville area...

To volunteer for food, water, and supply distribution, you can go to BelovedAsheville, located at 32 Old Charlotte Highway, in Asheville.  The website is www.belovedasheville.com/donate.

Sunday School Moment

Strider Drum and Dr. Judy Seago were captured looking over their version of Noah's ark on Sunday.  This week they studied about how Noah obeyed God by building the big boat and gathering two of every animal.  Preschool Sunday School meets at 9:30 a.m. in the church nursery.

Hands on Jackson

Hands on Jackson will be on Thursday, October 17 (Please note the rescheduled date from the 10th). We had very good participation last year and are hoping to do as well—or even better—this year! Please contact Team Leader Harold Messer at 828-506-2344 and leave a message if you are willing to volunteer your time to do some landscaping or general clean-up for neighbors in our community. You may also call the church office at 828-586-2095, and Janice can take your information. Thank you!

Send Us Your Prayer List Updates

fbcsylvapray@gmail.com 

Add this email address to your contacts list on your devices so that our staff and Pastoral Care Team can learn of your prayer requests as quickly as possible. And yes, you may still contact the church office directly at 828-586-2095 to share your prayer concerns, as well.

1st Explorers After-School Ministry Update

1st Explorers focused on “peace in the storm” last week, a very appropriate topic.  Assistant Director Kayla Hartman shared from Isaiah 26 how God keeps us in perfect peace when our minds are stayed on him.  Curtis Collins came from the Health Department and taught some calming and centering techniques to go with our theme and shared Philippians 4:8.  Cheryl Beck came on Tuesday for Chapel and shared the importance of obeying God.  

Staff member Claudia led the children in making homemade rice crispy treats and they were a huge hit!  They also decorated for fall/Halloween and finished off the week with play practice.

Sunday School and Childcare is Available!

Wednesday Night Bible Study

TONIGHT, Wednesday, October 16

Join us for our Wednesday evening Bible study
TONIGHT, October 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the
Gathering Place Room. There will be no meal. Join us!

Help Needed in the Nursery During Sunday School!

We often have small ones who come to Sunday School but we do not have a permanent teacher or rotating list of parents who have volunteered to take this responsibility on.  If you would be willing to check in each week to see if we have children in the nursery during Sunday School or you would be willing to be part of a group of people who rotate this responsibility, please let Cheryl Beck know.

Women’s Fall Bible Study

Begins Monday, October 21 at 10:00 a.m.

Women’s Fall Bible Study will begin Monday, October 21 at 10:00 a.m. in the Gathering Place Room.  We will be studying “Jesus In Me” by Anne Graham Lotz.  Books are available in the church office.

Joe's Window 10.16.24

By Dr. Joe Yelton 
Interim Pastor

I had such a wonderful lunch a few days ago with David and Vanessa McDonald. Talk about good and kind people, they are amazing. They shared a story that bears repeating in this space. I didn’t get their permission to share it in this edition of Chimes, so ... this’ll be our little secret. :-)

It turns out, they were so pleased to share that they attended Sunday School earlier that morning. For three years they’ve been active in worship services, but this was their first encounter with Sunday School in our church. I had to know what prompted them to attend Sunday School that morning, and their answer was instant ... John Dills. It turns out that for a good, long while, John has invited David and Vanessa to Sunday School. However, in recent days, John turned up the heat. His invitations came more often and more directly. They relented, they attended, they thoroughly enjoyed it and yes, they shall return. 

And that, my friends, is precisely how most people find a church-home and, that’s how most who are already involved, find a deeper level of commitment. Not through flowery campaigns. Not through expensive mailouts. People discover a church home or greater commitment to a church by way of personal invitations from people they respect. Clearly, David and Vanessa deeply respect John. Even more clearly, John deeply cares for them and could not let it go when it came to inviting them to discover what he had discovered. 

Again, this is how growing the church is most meaningfully done. Go ye and do likewise. 

(Well done, John, and ... well done, David and Vanessa). Who in your life is waiting to discover First Sylva? 

– Joe