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CALLING ALL
GRADUATES
If you have someone graduating from high school,
trade school, college or getting a graduate degree,
please let the church office know. We will recognize
them and their accomplishments during worship on May 16th.
Please let the church office know by May 1st.
Office number: 296-3199, or,
secretary@daytonpres.org
Staying in the
Word
Together
Click here to
follow along with Scripture for the year
Join Christians
throughout North America as they read together – each Sunday – the
scriptures for the week. Known as the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL),
the collections of readings is organized so that after a three year
cycle, members of churches will have read through the majority of the
Bible. In our church, our Sunday school curriculum follows the RCL.
As a church and
denomination, we use the RCL and provide these to the pastors for
direction on the order of worship and for guidance in Christian
Education. A guest pastor may choose not to use the scriptures, but we
are providing them to the congregation as a means of Staying in the Word
Together. Traditionally, there will be an Old Testament, Psalm New
Testament and Gospel reading.
Yet even
now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with
weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your
God.
Joel 2:12-13
Lenten Bible Study Series
Feb.
21st through Mar. 21st
Join us on five Sunday evenings during the season of Lent
as we explore the historical context of the scriptures through a tour of
the Holy Land with
Ray Vander Laan.
We have utilized his video series for the past two years during the
Lenten season. This year we are going to explore the
Faith Lessons on the Promised Land.
Leaders for this program
are:
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Rick Ryan
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Jane Coleman
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Kathy Deckard
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Matthew Campbell
-
Rob Wagner
Lenten
Schedule
-
Feb.
7th 7pm Ash Wednesday Service
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Feb.
21st
7pm Lenten Study
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Feb.
28th
7pm Lenten Study
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Mar.
7th 7pm Lenten Study
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Mar.
14th
7pm Lenten Study
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Mar.
21st
7pm Lenten Study
I have set before you
life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and
your descendants may live,
loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him.
Deuteronomy 30: 19-20
Brown Bag Bible Study .JPG)
Bring
your lunch
In
the church boardroom
Bible
in hand
Learn
the Gospels
Enjoy
fellowship
Join Ron
Kelley @
12:30 on Wednesdays
as we concluding our study of the Gospel according to Matthew.
After some discussion, the class decided that we would continue our
studies with the Gospel of John. Hope you can join us.
VBS 2009 Crocodile Dock "Where Fearless
Kids Shine God's Light"
Thank you volunteers!
Click here
to see the list.
Click here for a list of
our 4 H participants and their results
A place for you
How much
do you know about the Bible? Or Christian history? Or different
ways of praying? Or Christian stewardship? Or Christian
theology? Do you even know why most — but not all — Christians
worship on Sundays?
The point is, no matter what your age, there is much to learn
from classes offered at the church. If you are interested in
learning about a certain religious topic, speak to the pastor.
Look for the smile which breaks forth on the pastor’s face. Why?
Because an educated congregation thrills pastors. Learning is
part of loving God with one’s mind. Christian education helps us
understand what living as Christians is all about. So go ahead,
ask about a class that might interest you.
“It is not enough to have a good mind,” said the French
philosopher, René Descartes. “The main thing is to use it well.”
Learning about Christian beliefs and practices is using one’s
mind quite well. Your church is a place for you to learn. It has
a class for you.
Sowers Class
“What Are We Doing Down There?”
 For some time, I have led the adult Sunday
School class that meets in the basement kitchen area on Sunday
mornings. I learned a while ago that our class has a name -- we’re the
“Sowers” class. That makes sense in light of our congregation’s motto
“Sowing the Seeds of Love”. I like that motto. I’ve always liked that
motto. And I dare to say I think God likes it, too. I think it speaks
volumes about how we see ourselves as individuals and as a congregation.
Well, I’m supposed to share with you a
little bit about what we do when we’re together on Sunday mornings. But,
first, I have to say that whenever I am not able to be there, or I’m
gone for some reason, we are so blessed to have people like Mike Grimes,
Rev. Ron Kelley and Lois Campbell who will step in to lead the class.
This is one of the things I truly love about serving God in this place.
God has given us people with hearts and voices who will say, “Yes,” when
a need arises.
Okay, back to what we’re doing on Sunday
mornings. Have you ever wondered what we’re doing down there in the
kitchen? Well, over time we’ve done Bible studies, video based lessons,
and lesson series on various topics. For the last several months we’ve
been working with a curriculum called “The Wired Word.” Every Thursday
I receive an e-mail that includes a lesson taken right out of the
current week’s headlines. Each installment includes biblical commentary
and discussion questions related to a topic in the news that week.
We’ve had lessons about older children being
abandoned under Nebraska’s “Safe Haven” law, medical advances making
life and death boundaries less certain, the death of comedian George
Carlin, ministers breaking federal tax laws which prohibit a minister
from endorsing a particular candidate from the pulpit, an autistic teen
being barred from attending church, a church that declined a $600,000
tithe from a lotto winner, and most recently how Barack Obama’s election
is seen as a milestone in our nation’s history.
If you drop in to join us, you don’t have
to worry about being “behind” the rest of the class, because, every
Sunday it’s something new! And every Sunday the discussion is lively!
I really hope you will join us. Oh, by the way, you can bring your
donut and coffee downstairs with you. Most of us do.
Lois Campbell, Mike Grimes and Mike Grimes
Pre-school - 1st
.JPG) A major
theme of many of our lessons this past school year in the Pre-K to 1st
grade class has been the power of prayer. During one of our lessons, we
made a prayer board. The kids drew pictures of who or what they wanted
to pray for on little hearts and placed them in paper packets shaped
like praying hands. We ended up having many more than one heart
available for each child – the kids didn’t need coaxing to draw many
prayers and tuck them into the hands! Since then, they have offered
each week something to pray for at the end of class. I feel blessed to
witness how many of the prayers offered up are so genuinely from the
heart of these little people. They have lovingly covered moms, dads,
siblings, grandparents, and our church family in prayer consistently.
As many of you know, we are in a trial stage of having all kids from
Pre-K to 5th grade learn a memory verse each month with the
hopes that they can “tuck away” in their hearts something that will help
them to live a life for Christ as well as to shine His light into the
lives of others. We are not expecting perfection in memory; we are just
hoping – and praying – that the meaning of each verse will ‘stick’ with
them. If you can encourage any of these children along with their
verses, we would love your help! If you have any favorite verses in
mind that you think would be good for the kids to know, we would love to
hear from you! Lastly, and most importantly, we would appreciate
your prayers for our “Music, Mission, & Memory” program, as well as all
the youth of our congregation—all are works-in-progress for Christ!
In Him,
Betsy Wagner
2nd - 3rd
.JPG) This fall the 2nd & 3rd
grade Sunday School class is studying people from the Old Testament.
We’ve studied Moses and Deborah and we will finish with Hannah, Samuel,
Elijah, Elisha, and Isaiah. We use costumes, artwork and word puzzles
to learn the material. We have lots of fun and invite all 2nd & 3rd
graders to join us in the room at the top of the stairs.
Kathy Shaw
4th- 5th
.JPG) Happy
Fall Everyone!
I am very happy to be teaching the older elementary kids
again this year! The new curriculum is awesome and has us writing and
thinking each class. We have finished one unit already and it was
entitled Call to Freedom and Obedience. We study stories about Moses
out of the book Exodus. We developed a timeline of the highlights of
Moses life. Discussed the Commandments and how they are the rules that
God gave us to live our lives by. More importantly, we talked about how
the Commandments are timeless guidelines and apply just as much today as
they did in Moses time. We just started our second unit – Call to
Hope. We learned about Deborah, a prophetess who was a judge in
Israel. We have such great kids in our church and it is a pleasure to
be with them each week and learn from one another by sharing our ideas
and thoughts.
Becki Sprague
Jr.
High Class
.JPG) Keepers of the Covenant
The word Bible comes
from the Greek word “biblo” which means book. The word holy means “set
apart” or “special.” Thus: “A SPECIAL BOOK”
So we opened that “special book” and started with “In the beginning.”
The main character is God. The books tell how God worked in history to
create and later redeem his people. We have been studying the Torah
(the first five books of the Bible). We’ve discussed that Genesis;
chapters 1 through 11 are called primeval stories because the stories
were passed by word of mouth. The Bible has stories of God’s
“faithfulness.” We looked for that faithfulness in the stories of Adam
& Eve, Noah, Abraham & Sarah, Isaac, Jacob & Esau, Joseph and Moses.
Faithful God, keeper of promises, is with all of us always.
Jon Grimes & the Junior High Class
Sr. High Class
.JPG) The Senior High Sunday School Class is currently working very hard
on the Sunrise Service. The kids are learning their lines and coming up
with costumes and props for the Easter skit. All of us are very excited
about this year’s program and hope everyone can come and celebrate
Easter with us!
When we are not working on the Sunrise Service, we are studying the book
“What’s So Great About Christianity” by Dinesh D’Souza. It is a book
about apologetics. I have to admit it is a tough read but our high
school kids are getting through it remarkably well. We have had some
great discussions and together we are learning more about what it means
to be a Christian.
We also read and discuss devotionals out of a book called, “Download
Devotions to Start Your Day.” This book is geared for teenagers. All
of the devotions target teens and their problems and struggles. We have
shared many stories and had some great discussions because of the topics
covered in this little devotional.
We continue to work on our prayer wall. It is becoming quite a thing to
see. Our kids pray over the people and things on the wall every week.
We invite you to come check it out, put a prayer on the wall or come and
pray over the things on the wall.
I never run out of great things to say about the kids in the senior high
class! They are an amazing group of kids! They are a hard working and
dedicated group of young people. They are inspirational and fun to be
around! Please come and join us and see for yourself all the fun we are
having in the senior high room!
Hillary Basden
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