Chili Cook Off!

We have some wonderful cooks in our midst! Thanks to everyone who participated and brought in some great chili. Thanks also to those who brought in non-chili dishes for us to enjoy.
Here are some pictures from the Chili Cook-off.
Everyone tasted and voted. Here are the folks who tallied the votes.

Don and Nadine Lee have "chili-ed".


We have folks from Community, Normal, and First all coming together for the Chili Cook-off and our Ash Wednesday service.



Which chili gets your vote?

Congratulations to Kathy Schneider who won first place in the unusual category with her Green Chili Chicken Chili
2nd place in the unusual category went to Geri Willis with her vegetarian chili, and Don Lily won third place with his hot dog chili.




Congratulations goes to Heather Patton for having the best tasting HOT chili, and to Andrew for second place in the HOT category.


In the Mild Category,
Our congratulations go to First Place, Teresa Cassity, Second and Third Place were tied with chili from Jean Stein and Teddy Conley. Way to go, ladies!

Youth Movie Night

Garrett's first day

The Daily Independent had a very nice article about Reverend Garrett Bugg in the newspaper today. Read the article HERE.

Teresa Cassity took some great photos of Garrett and Jennifer. Here they are with members of the choir before worship.



This is during the announcements.


The church presented both ministers with U.K. shirts which they wore proudly during the lunch held in Garrett's honor.

christmas play

The Not So Silent Night was based on the premise that the shepherds have been arrested for disturbing the peace. They are brought to trial, and the Christmas story is told through the testimonies of witnesses.

Here are the Baliff and the Assistant Baliff.

Here is the young family: Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus.

Here is the defending attorney questioning one of the shepherds who gave a very compelling testimony.

"In that region there were shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them"

The defending attorney cleverly makes a case for making some noise on the night in question.

The prosecuting attorney questions Dr. Sigmund Fruitcake who diagnosed the shepherds as having "halitosis psychosis" caused from "inhaling sheep breath" and causes "delusion, confusion, and uncontrollable evangelism."

Here Ms. Shirley Busybody and Ms. Sophia Busybody give their testimonies that the soggy sheep smelling shepherds were running around waking everyone up shouting, "The Savior is born!" It created quite a commotion.

In a surprise move, the judge dismisses the charges. The courtroom erupts in a flurry of activity. "Joy to the World" echoes through the air!


We thank you, Lord, for the talent of our young people who brought the good news to us on Sunday afternoon. We also thank you for the blessing of Teresa Cassity in our midst. She does such a great job with our children, and we praise you for that!


Glory to God in the Highest!

Singing at the Pattersons

The Choir met at the Patterson's house to celebrate Larry's birthday.

Halloween Carnival!

Them's Fightin' Words

Many years ago - about 500 actually - a young priest was tortured by his own sinfulness, and even more tortured by the righteousness of God that terrified and condemned him. For years this priest wrestled with this image of God who expected more than what humanity could do. Then one day this man - named Martin Luther - had an epiphany while reading Romans 1:17. Luther realized that God did not expect us to be righteous, but knew that in the salvific event of Jesus' death we were made righteous with God. That epiphany led Luther to question the practice of selling indulgences which the church was doing. Luther knew that if we were made right in Jesus' death, then it wasn't right to sell forgiveness, even if the Pope said it was.

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a letter which came to be known as the 95 Theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. He did this so that people coming in to worship on All Saints Day (November 1) would see the letter and it would engender discussion on the topic. With the letter Luther hoped to invite people to debate about it. But it became much more than a community debate. Word of the letter spread throughout the region, and within a few years Luther had been excommunicated, and the movement gave birth to a movement and a church. The Protestant Church.