On Monday, Bailey Green became the next Church Administrator at Covenant. She and Mary Kieta have spent the week together, with Mary teaching Bailey about the complex and vital role of Administrator at Covenant. We are doing our best to help Bailey grow into the position.
She's off to a great start. Next time you're at church, please introduce yourself to her, and remember you might have to do so a few times. It's hard to learn the names and faces of this wonderful church!
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Bailey Green is originally from Janesville, where she grew up with her parents, her older brother, and dogs. She received two BAs from UW- Madison in History and Scandinavian Studies in 2016, as well as a MA in Scandinavian Literature and Culture Studies from UW- Madison in 2019. She just finished a PhD program in History from UW- Milwaukee in May.
Prior to working for Covenant, she was employed at several churches and Christian summer camps across the states of Wisconsin and California working primarily with youth programming. Most recently, she was employed as a Youth Director at St. James Lutheran Church in Verona.
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On Bailey's first day, a big storm caused lots of damage in the area. At church, we lost power for several hours and we lost one and a half trees on the Mineral Point Road side for building.
Fortunately no one was hurt and the building wasn't damaged. Thanks to Bob and Nan Schaefer and a team of volunteers, most of the debris is gone, and we're working on removing the large downed tree. On Wednesday, a church family reached out to me, offering to fund the planting of a new tree.
Click on tree photo (from Tuesday) to see more photos of the storm and damage. Note that the Little Free Pantry survived the storm just fine! (And on Tuesday, I saw someone getting food from the LFP.)
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As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Monday was also the first day of Vacation Bible School, which we did in conjunction with Bethany United Methodist Church, due to our boiler project construction. About 20 kids and an awesome team of volunteers gathered at Bethany to learn about the parables of Jesus, several of which deal with seeds that grow and produce a good harvest. |
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Click on the group photo above to see more from VBS, including the improvised use of battery-candles on stormy Monday. You'll hear and see more about VBS on Sunday in worship, and you can read Jo's #MidweekMusings from this week to get an inside look at what their first day without electricity looked like. Big thanks to Jo for coordinating this wonderful week!
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Summer is "Ordinary Time" in the church calendar. At Covenant, we think of it as Growing Time. God plants seeds and we do our best to help them grow and produce a good harvest. This year our emphasis is on Prayer and Scripture, with our "Summer School" initiative. May God bless you and our church with a season of growth!
On the journey together,
Charlie
PS--Saturday is also the first day of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, with Elders and Pastors from all over the country coming together--in person and virtually. The GA will be reflecting on the church vitality, discipleship, the environment, racism, gun violence and more. Learn more with this: General Assembly Preview. Click on the GA logo below to follow along over the next few weeks.
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Charlie Berthoud preaching: "Roots and Fruits" (Luke 8:4-8)
- Weekly Memory Verse
- Music from Melissa Hinz and Doug McNeel
- Children's Time with Jo
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Mission Update on MOVE4BGC (Boys & Girls Club of Dane County)
- Kaleidoscope Kids during worship following Children's Time
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In-Person and Livestream worship at 9:30am (ONE SERVICE)
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Visit our Worship HQ for everything you need to worship with us online!
If you missed a service or would like to watch a service again, all livestreamed services are saved to our YouTube channel. Or you can give the sermons another listen on our sermon podcast!
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“God is present in the smallest of us. The grace of God is present in the toughest of times.”
Did you happen to catch that micro-storm that came through on Monday? Our Vacation Bible School is happening this week. Read this week's musings for an inside look at what their first day looked like without electricity. Spoiler alert: it was pretty great. Click on image above.
Midweek Musings is a weekly Covenant blog with a variety of authors and spiritual topics. Feel free to leave a comment as you are moved. We hope that it blesses you this week and the weeks to come.
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Pentecost Offering - Update
Thank all of you who donated to the PC(USA) Pentecost Special Offering. Between Sunday giving and online giving, we raised $1,418.81. Learn more about these programs at pcusa.org/pentecost. Each congregation designates 40% of funds received, and our designee is extendedhandspantry.org.
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We can all be jerks sometimes, even us Christians, especially with those closest to us. John Pavlovitz challenges us in this book to find a “faith that makes us better humans.” If you are interested, see or contact Pastor Charlie. We will also have home made cookies!
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MOVE4BGC is coming soon! Every year, a group from Covenant - the Presbywheelians - register to bike or run or walk or do yoga for a good cause! For more information on MOVE4BGC (formerly known as BIKE4BGC), click HERE. If you are interested in joining the Presbywheelians, please contact Pastor Charlie or Eric Girard. You'll hear more about this on Sunday!
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