Thank you, Cora!

Cora Jane Partsch recently celebrated her eighth birthday. Instead of presents, she asked her friends to bring donations for VBC's Blessing Box and Food Pantry. Cora and her mom Lyndsey dropped off those donations at the church last Friday. Cora (and friends), thank you for caring about people in our community who are experiencing food insecurity. Your donations are already making a difference. Thanks for being the hands and feet of Jesus!

This Sunday @ VBC

This Sunday, August 25th at our 10:30 AM worship service, Travis will share the message "Apostles Heal"; the scripture is Acts 5:12-16. If you cannot join us for worship in person, livestream is available through our app (search Vinton Baptist Church VA through your app store), at www.vintonbaptistchurch.org, and through our Facebook page. Don't forget Sunday School at 9:15 AM.

At 11:45 AM there will be a Missions Committee Meeting in the library.

At 2:00 PM, the Preteens (3rd - 5th graders) will kickoff another year of fellowship and activities with a Preteen Pool Party at the Greenway home. Please bring bathing suits and towels. Parents are welcome and encouraged to stay. See Jessie Burgess with any questions.

JOY Seniors Schedule

Sign up for our August 27th JOY Senior Luncheon. Lunch will come from Bellacino's and will include an individual 8" pizza (cheese or pepperoni), salad (various dressings), cookie, and water. The cost is $12. Our speaker will present on Bingocize and a Matter of Balance; both have proven to help reduce falls in those who participate. Please register and pay by this Sunday, August 25th.

We will ride the Alleghany Special on the Virginia Scenic Railroad as it ventures westward from historic Staunton through the beautiful farmland of the Shenandoah Valley on Saturday, November 2nd. We will enjoy a catered lunch on the way through the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. The cost of this trip is $130/person. The deadline to sign up and pay is Sunday, September 1st. See more details about this 3-hour train ride at the JOY Senior table.

Plan to join us for a lunch/theater trip to Wohlfahrt Haus for the viewing of "Christmas in the Park" on Saturday, November 9th. The cost of this trip is $70/person and includes dinner, the play, and a tip. The deadline to sign up and pay is Sunday, October 6th. When signing up, please indicate whether you are riding the bus or driving.

Seniors on the Move

Seniors on the Move is a low impact, weekly exercise class for senior adults. It takes place in the church gym at 1:00 PM every Thursday, beginning September 5th. Each class lasts approximately 35 minutes. Please see Ski Shelton with questions.

Walk with Jesus

This fall's Walk with Jesus class will begin September 15th and run through October 20th. It will take place during the Sunday School hour (beginning at 9:15 AM) in the library and is open to all 3rd - 5th graders who are interested in learning more about baptism and what it means to follow Jesus. Please see Jessie Burgess to sign up.

Ice Cream Social & Ministry Matters

Please mark your calendars for September 15th, when we will kick off most of our Sunday afternoon/evening activities (see the list below). We will also have a church-wide Ice Cream Social at 4:15 PM and a Ministry Matters (business meeting) at 5:00 PM.

Fall Start Dates

Please note the following start dates for our regular school year activities and kickoff events:

• September 5th - Seniors on the Move exercise class (1:00 PM Thursdays)
• September 8th - Handbells Rehearsal (5:00 PM Sundays)
• September 10th - Steel Drums Rehearsal (6:00 PM Tuesdays)
• September 11th - Children's Choirs and Youth Missions Group (6:15 PM Wednesdays), Weeknight Worship (6:30 PM Wednesdays), and Chancel Choir Rehearsal (7:30 PM Wednesdays)
• September 12th - Travis' Thursday Morning Small Group (10:00 AM)
• September 15th - Walk with Jesus Class (9:15 AM every Sunday through October 20th), Youth Choir (11:45 AM Sundays), Church-wide Ice Cream Social (4:15 PM), Ministry Matters (5:00 PM), Art from the Heart & Mission Kids (5:00 PM), Parent/Student Youth Kickoff (6:00 PM)

Please call the church office at 540-343-7685 if you have any questions.

Youth Choir Fundraiser

Please plan to have lunch with us in the gym on September 8th and support the 2024-25 Youth Choir Mission Tour in the process. Our menu: hamburgers, baked beans, & macaroni salad. The cost of each meal is $10/person, and we will begin serving immediately following morning worship. Takeout will not be offered. A signup sheet is available at the Welcome Center and in the church office.

Sunday, September 29th: Adult Choir Concert

We will be joining with Melrose Baptist for a combined concert of choral favorites on September 29th at 6:30 PM. The program contains some favorite selections of the conductors, such as “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” “When I Survey,” “Down to the River to Pray,” and "Because He Lives.” Mark the date on your calendar or, better yet, come sing with us. There will be 2 rehearsals dedicated to the program: 1) Thursday evening, September 26th at 7:00 PM and 2) Sunday, September 29th at 4:00 PM.

Jack Lipscomb

c/o VA Veterans Care Center room 239

4550 Shenandoah Avenue

Roanoke VA 24017

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Sunday School: 209

10:30 AM Worship

• 305 in person
• 227 online

Thank you to the Helen Siner Wood Circle for their donation to the Maintenance & Improvement Fund.

Thank you to the Pete Creasy Sunday School class for their donation to the Community Assistance Fund.

Thank you to the Esther Sunday School class for their donation to the Maintenance & Improvement Fund.

Thank you to the Fellowship/Berean Sunday School class for their donation to the General Budget.

Wednesday Night Volunteers Needed

Our Children's Choirs will resume on September 11th, and we need some helpers. We meet on Wednesday evenings 6:15-7:15 PM. You do not have to know music to assist with the choirs. Some of the duties are checking the children in, crowd control, craft projects, setting up snacks, encouraging the children to participate, playing games, cleaning up and keeping the evening moving along. We ask volunteers to be here at 6:00 PM and plan to stay until 7:30 PM. Please reach out to Chris Monroe if interested.

Boys & Girls Club

of Southwest Virginia

The Vinton Baptist Boys & Girls Club asks for your prayers as they await grant funding to reopen this location for the 2024-25 school year. Will you be in prayer with us that their funding would be expedited so that they can continue to serve local families with childcare needs?

Bible Reading Plan

We'll dive into Romans in just a few days. As Fee & Stuart point out in How to Read the Bible Book by Book, Romans serves as our introduction to the New Testament epistles as they appear in our Bible. Fee & Stuart explain that the epistles generally emphasize the importance of the Holy Spirit and the fact that we live in the Kingdom of God in the present. That Kingdom life will continue into the future. It is made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and Christ's role in making salvation possible is a main characteristic of the epistles. Also note, "... all the Epistles are written to first-generation converts ... and do not set out to give a full summary of Christian doctrine or ethics. (...) [T]hey are all ad hoc, written to specific situations in the lives of believers, most often in direct response to some false teaching that is circulating among the churches. This means that they tend to highlight those aspects of the gospel that expose and counter the errors they are combating." As was reiterated in my most recent Master's level class, these letters only tell one side of each story; there is always another side that we can often only speculate about.

Please note that the person whom Paul entrusted to deliver this letter to the Romans was Phoebe (see chapter 16). A primary theme of the letter is the relationship of Jews and Gentiles to the gospel and what that means for each. These groups were probably not meeting in the same house churches, and there were questions about whether Gentiles had to observe Jewish laws like circumcision in order to follow Jesus. Also, Fee & Stuart note the following literary device used in Romans: "... the argumentation Paul employs in this letter is patterned after a form of ancient rhetoric known as the diatribe, in which a teacher tried to persuade students of the truth of a given philosophy through imagined dialogue, usually in the form of questions and answers. Very often an imagined debate partner (interlocutor) would raise objections or false conclusions, which, after a vigorous 'By no means!' the teacher would take pains to correct." I hope this information helps you get a grasp on Romans.

-- Kim

Pandemonium Steel Drum Band

There is an opening in our steel drum band this fall. We will meet on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 until 6:45 PM. If you are a music reader and have a bit of rhythm, we need you. Consider being a part of Vinton’s very first steel drum band!

Blessing Box Donations

The following are currently needed for the Blessing Box: Vienna sausage, oatmeal/grits, Pop Tarts, corn bread mix, and boxes of saltine crackers. If you can help, please place your donations in the Blessing Box bin at the Missions Tables. Thanks!

Pink Warrior Breast Cancer Walk

The Town of Vinton is hosting their inaugural Pink Warrior Breast Cancer Walk September 7th at the Vinton Farmer's Market beginning at 5:30 PM. You can register as an individual or as a team. You must register by August 24th to be guaranteed a shirt. All proceeds benefit the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. There will be an after party featuring food trucks, a kids' zone, and live music. Click here to sign up.

Coming Soon: Operation Christmas Child

Our Operation Christmas Child volunteers are gearing up for the 2024 shoebox season! We will begin wrapping shoeboxes Wednesday, September 4th and Friday, September 6th, 10:00 AM - noon in room 109 of the New Ministries Building. Anyone is welcome to drop in and help on these dates; we may adjust our schedule going forward to accommodate the most volunteers. If you have empty shoeboxes to donate please drop them at the Missions Tables at the church, or contact Darlene McCaskill (540-890-6748) so that she can arrange to pick them up. We will begin collecting items to go in the shoeboxes (small toys, combs, washcloths, toothbrushes, school supplies, socks, sunglasses, etc.) as of Sunday, September 1st. Questions? Contact Darlene.

Check Requests

Just a reminder that checks are signed by the church treasurers weekly on Wednesdays. If you need a reimbursement check (or a check having to do with your ministry) more quickly or on a specific date, please put that note on your check request form. I want to make sure you receive your request by the time you need it.

Thank you, Carrie Tolley

Thank you for donating shampoo and body wash for the Roanoke Rescue Mission. We have an entire tote full of donations, which will be delivered to the Rescue Mission within a few days. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our homeless population!

Dear Church Family,

Thank you for your love and encouragement throughout my cancer journey. Your prayers, cards, and calls of concern have helped me and Tom to press on. Praise God for his strength and presence.

-- Susan & Tom Jones

I want to thank all of you for sending me beautiful and encouraging cards. I know that God is always with me. I keep on praying for all of us everyday - that he keeps on blessing all of us! Sending all my love and thanks.

-- Lillie Johnston