Dear Asbury & Wesley Oak Family,
I am sooooooo sorry that we have not been able to produce the worship service through Live Streaming the last two Sundays. We thought we had remedied the problem after the first Sunday we had issues, but we obviously hadn’t. I’m thankful we have the ability to record the services, so you can at least experience them later on Sunday or during the week.
This past Thursday some techies came over to the church and worked on the system. We believe everything has been remedied. However, if something goes wrong on a Sunday morning, we will get the word out to you as fast as possible. We obviously cannot let you know about any problems through chats before the service because the system would be down. But we will send out an email right away AND post it on Facebook. So if you have any problems connecting to the worship service tomorrow or any Sunday, please check your email and Facebook.
To help make sure we get the word out as fast as possible, my wife, Cheri, will be online at the church tomorrow facilitating the chats before the service. That way, if there is not a connection, she will know firsthand and can send the message out through email and Facebook. She will also be there to welcome those of you who will be chatting online before the service. So if you have the ability to chat online, please join Cheri online from 11:00-11:15 a.m. before the start of the service.
When we had our recorded virtual services, we had built up a great community of chatters that checked in with each other before the service. Since many of our members still cannot attend the services due to health or distance reasons, it would be wonderful if we could continue to develop our “Chatter Community.” So if you are not able to worship with us in person, please join Cheri in the Sunday morning chats!
We’re going to have another wonderful service tomorrow. Our ensemble/choir will be singing, Rev. Bob Chvatal will be leading us in prayer, Carol Klein will be telling us about the Congregational Care Ministry, and Rev. Carole Warfield will be reading scripture for us.
Carole is a relatively new face at Asbury. Last year, she and her husband, Ross, moved from New Jersey to Richmond Hill to be closer to their daughter (Kristin), son-in-law (Jay), granddaughter, (CiCi), and grandson (Luke). Carole was born and raised in Minnesota as a Presbyterian, and has a life-long love of both music and the church. She was music major in college, piano/oboe teacher, oboe/English horn performer, and music director of a children’s theatre group.
Carole received her M. Div. at my old school, Princeton Theological Seminary. She served 5 years as a Director of Christian Education and 29 years as chaplain of older adults at Springpoint Senior Living in New Jersey. She retired in July of 2020 and moved to Georgia the following month to do some grandparenting!
It was great to finally meet Carole in person. We first came to know her from the virtual chats that I mentioned earlier. We are so very blessed to have her as part of our faith community.
Tomorrow, I’ll be preaching from the Book of Esther. It’s not a very long book (only 10 chapters). If you get a chance, read it before tomorrow’s service. You will not be bored. It reads like a Sunday Night Movie or the world’s biggest soap opera. You may also notice that God is never mentioned. Esther is the only book in the Bible that never mentions God. How and why did it ever get into the Bible?
We’ll find out tomorrow!
Love & Blessings,
Billy