Thanks for all the "Happy Birthday" wishes.  I'm just glad to still be having 'em.

Hallelujah!  Whoop-de-doo!  Pat’s on the back and a hearty round of applause for all who worked to make Trunk-or-Treat a booming success!  That includes planners, candy and prize donors, cooks, kitchen folks, “trunk” openers, game runners, Gabby the mouse, and on and on and on.  Sorry to all the parents whose kids will be on a sugar high for a month!   The count was 340+!  We’d like to be exact, but have you ever tried counting ants scurrying about an anthill?  There were many people from Bono who I believe were first-timers with us.  I went out early, as soon as the games started, and saw a good crowd.  I asked Beth Tate if she knew most of them and she said she did.  Fifteen minutes later the crowd had doubled in size and when I bumped into Beth again, she said there were a large number she didn’t know.  Let’s remember… our short-term goal is to get them here and let them see that we care about them.  Our long term goal is that they get to know Jesus.  

Our Younger Youth Committee has planned a Sunday night “session” for some in that age group during our Sunday night worship hour beginning Sunday, November 2nd.  The “session” will involve instruction and participation in “service projects.”  Their first project will be to put together full Thanksgiving “dinners” for some of our neighbors who might otherwise not have a decent one.  They will be asking for you assistance.  

The Nursery Ministry will begin immediately having people in the nursery to take care of children who are too young to stay quietly in the auditorium during our services.  We’ll leave it up to parents to make the call about when a child can stay and when they should be in the nursery.  We plan to mark the Nursery area better so it can easily be spotted by visitors or new members.  If you’d like to volunteer for this ministry, see Pam Blalock.      

Notice activity from our Older Youth Group, too.  They have a hayride planned for this Sunday for our kids and their friends at Alan and Honda Keith’s house.  Details can be seen elsewhere in the bulletin.  

Sometime in January, we’ll begin a Divorce Recovery Support Group on Wednesday evenings.  The 10 sessions will be led by Terri Inman, daughter of our Wilson and Peggy Lane.  We plan to do just a little bit of radio advertising so those who need the Recovery Group in the Bono area (or even elsewhere) might join in.  Terri has done several of these already with great results.  She tells me that she already has a group of seven or eight who have signed up with her.  The sessions will start about the time our Wednesday classes start (7:00pm) but will last longer.  If you or anyone you know would like to take part, please call Hope at the church office to let her know.  

Sunday’s sermon will be about politics.  I won’t tell people who or what to vote for but I will gladly tell them from Scripture how to vote (i. e., what principles should guide us).  

Next Sunday morning will be a worship and sermon focused on children.  The Bible is not silent about what parents’ and churches’ responsibilities are to our children.  I fear the church in my lifetime has focused on its adults—a characteristic of “boomers”—and it is time for us to get lots of attention aimed at our kids (and necessarily at their parents, too).  But you can see that we’re already trying to move that direction.       

My humble thanks for many kind remarks about the series on forgiveness.  Someone went so far as to say we appear to be a gentler, kinder church because of them.  If that’s true, God gets glory!  

Our forever job is to make our circle of family, friends, coworkers, or fellow students see a glimpse of Jesus.  Let’s pray and work so we will not fail them and Him.