Missions Report
    We are so thankful for the members of our church family who gave of their time and talents to support two of our missions this summer. 
       Jim Peach, George Fewkes, Audrey Spray, Jason & Parker Biggs, and Nolan Owings worked hard at Shiloh and also interacted with the children.  They were a blessing and also were blessed.
Pinehaven has taken a whole new approach with a “Gap” program.  We were very interested for the report from this group-the Robb family-Mark, Cora, Alice, & Katie, Kelli & Alexa Prather, and Whitney & Cadyn Owings.  Their report was positive and feel Pinehaven needs our continued support. 
I should also mention Oil Belt and the support we have given them.  West Village has paid the tuition for many of our youth to attend.  We have helped cook and some have taken supervisory positions.
If you are interested in being personally involved with any of our supported missions, contact anyone on the missions committee.
Kathy Lane, Chairperson 

      One of my favorite phrases is ‘historical snobbery.’ It is the idea that we would never make the same mistakes that those people in the past made because we are far too wise to fall for those same tricks. And that is easy to say, but the reality seems to be very different. We would never fall for a misunderstanding, or a hoax. We wouldn’t be like those people that get swindled out of their money by scammers on the internet. We wouldn’t be like the nearly 30 million Americans that think chocolate milk comes from brown cows. We certainly wouldn’t have been like the millions of people that tuned in on Oct. 30th, 1938, to a special radio broadcast from Orson Welles who convinced the nation that there was currently an alien invasion going on. We would like to say we wouldn’t be those people, and some of you might call into the naturally skeptical group that might not, but the truth is we are all sufferers of the human condition. And what is true for us, was true for those that first encountered Jesus too.
Throughout the Gospel of John there is a theme of misunderstanding. Jesus would teach something, say something, do something, and the people would completely miss what he was trying to say. Like us, they would hear what they thought or interpret Jesus the way they wanted to. So, when Nicodemus heard Jesus say he would have to be born again, his first thought was that it is impossible to return to the womb, rather than understand that Jesus was talking about a new start.  We might think we are better, but we just fall victim to historical snobbery. The answer to historical snobbery is humility. It is much easier to listen and to hear what Jesus has to say to us when we have the humility to listen to His words for us.