Listen to Pastor Brian's Sermons
When available, Pastor Brian's sermons are posted on our website by Thursday each week. Sermons are available on The Pastor's Page™.
You may also view our 10:30 AM Facebook Live Service each week – click here.
Daylight Saving Time - Sunday, March 14 - 2:00 AM
Spring Forward! Set your clocks ahead 1 hour before retiring Saturday evening. This is also a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.
Easter Sunday Service - April 4 - 10:30 AM
Because of the construction project and the pandemic, we have had to change our Lenten and Easter practices at the church. We will not be having a Maundy Thursday service this year and we will be having only one service on Easter Sunday. It was decided by the consistory that the best thing to do was not to have the Easter service indoors. This is for several reasons. Instead, we will be doing something similar to what we did for Christmas Eve. We will have a drive-in service at 10:30am. The service will be broadcast over the radio in the parking lot, so people can stay in their cars to listen. The service will also be simultaneously broadcast over Facebook Live, so that people can watch at home live, or later if they wish. In the case of rain, the drive-in service will be canceled and we will have the Facebook Live service only.
Crazy Faith: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives - February 25 thru March 11 - 7:00 PM - Zoom
We will have a new book study that will be three weeks in length on Thursday evenings, starting on Thursday February 25th, and ending on Thursday March 11th. We will meet all nights at 7PM over Zoom, and the information for the Zoom meeting will be sent out via the all church email list each Thursday. The book we are reading is Crazy Faith: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives by Susan K. Williams Smith. It is not as well-known of a book but there should be new paperback copies available on Amazon after February 9th if you order now, and there are several cheap used copies for sale there currently. It is also available on Amazon Kindle; the ISBN number is (978- 0817015312).
"It hasn't been extraordinary people who have changed the world; rather, it's been people who have been willing to act and live on faith," observes pastor and author Susan Smith. Drawing on biblical, historical, and contemporary stories of what she calls "crazy faith," this inspirational volume challenges readers to dare to step out and make a difference in the world. Faith is "vision fueled by action," Smith declares. Follow in the footsteps of those who have earned a place in the Hall of Faith, including Moses, Harriet Tubman, David, Nelson Mandela, Sarah and Abraham, Mother Teresa, Noah, and Mary McLeod Bethune.
February 25th – Introduction, Chapters 1-4
March 4th – Chapters 5-8
March 11th – Chapters 9-12, Conclusion
Plaque Dedication Honoring Gifts Given In Honor Or Memory
Last year the church was facing a monumental task of having to pay for a needed repair to the sanctuary that was going to cost over $250,000. Fortunately, we were able to make an insurance claim to pay for a portion of the project, and we have been given many generous donations by church members and others totaling over $101,000. We are now at the point where we have raised all needed funds for the project. Any future gifts given for the project will be used to replenish the church’s maintenance fund, which was depleted to help pay for the project. Many of the donations we received were given in honor or memory of another person or couple. The consistory has decided to make a special dedication in the form of a plaque with the names listed of those honored and memorialized. If you would like to add a person or a couple to this list for your donation, please contact either Pastor Brian or Melissa Baumbarger with this information. Any donation of any amount or even donations of work qualify you to have someone added to this list. If you haven’t yet made a donation, but plan to and want to have a person listed, you can still do so, as we will be collecting these names for some time yet. We will eventually publish a list of the names in advance to make sure we have everyone listed before we have the plaque made.
Capital Campaign for the Truss Project
Many of you know that we are currently working on a major project to replace damaged trusses above the sanctuary, replacing the roof and ceiling as well in the process. The project will likely cost around $300,000 in total. We have had good news, in that insurance will be paying for part of the project; however; we will likely still have to pay between $100,000 and $200,000 ourselves. This will be paid for by a combination of donations from a capital campaign, draw down of the endowment, and possible loans depending on the total cost to the church. Below are several ways we are asking people to consider donating towards this project.
$50,000 Direct Donation Goal for 2020: We have set a goal of raising $50,000 in donations before the end of 2020. This goal has already been started off by a very generous matching grant of $25,000 put forth by several families in the church. Between now and the end of the year, if we raise $25,000 in donations, then the families behind the grant will match those donations with an additional $25,000 donation for a total of $50,000. The grant has been given in memory of both Sharon Parkison and Anna Mary Sullivan, and in honor of Martha Stevens. Please consider giving towards this goal and having your gift generously doubled.
Multi-year Gifts: There are often cases where people wish to donate towards a project, but wish to do so over several years. Even though we will need funds to pay for the project within the next 6 months, any gifts given later on would also be very helpful. We will need to draw down the endowment or possibly take out a loan to pay for the project and any gifts given over the next several years can help offset this. If you wish to give a gift like this, please tell our treasurer Melissa Baumbarger (email) or Pastor Brian (email) if you prefer. Knowing about such gifts will also help the consistory and the church make decisions about funding.
Legacy Gifts: Several church members over the years have chosen to donate to the church from their estates. This is a generous way to remember the church and ensure that it continues for future generations. For those considering giving such gifts we have an excellent resource in the church, Gloria Hurwitz (ghurwitz@uchinc.org), who can help with questions and planning. Gloria works as the Vice President of Advancement for United Church Homes and has a great deal of experience in setting up legacy gifts of different types.
Tuesday Evening Social Hour via Zoom - Tuesdays - 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
We will continue to have our weekly virtual social hour every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00pm. We connect via Zoom, a popular app that works on laptops, smartphones, iPads, computers with a camera and microphone, or you can even call in on a regular phone. It is free to download a client and more information can be found at the www.zoom.us website. The information for the meeting will be sent out via the all-church email list every Tuesday. If you are not on the all-church email list, send your email to Pastor Brian and he can add you. We will continue the social hour every Tuesday at 7:00pm until things return to normal circumstances more or less.
Visits From Pastor Brian
Due to an increase in the infection rates of COVID-19 for our area, and an abundance of caution, Pastor Brian will not be doing regular visits to people in their homes. This is a continuation of his current policy on visits. Pastor Brian, will however, do visits in emergency cases such as hospital visits. If that is required please contact Pastor Brian to let him know.
Joys And Concerns
We will be continuing our joys and concerns during our online service at 10:30 AM and our 9:00 AM drive-in service. To be included each week, please email your joys and concerns to Pastor Brian before each Sunday. There is also the ability to make comments during the service and we will use that as well for joys and concerns.
Offering Envelopes
The new offering envelopes are here for 2021. If you would like to get your envelopes, they will be available at the drive-in services, or you can also contact me, Pastor Brian, at 937-469-1383 to arrange a time to pick them up from the church. Also, if that doesn't work, I can mail them to you, just call me and let me know and I will verify that I have the right address for you.
Giving To Beaver Church During The Pandemic
All of us have been impacted in so many ways by the Coronavirus pandemic. Many have been struggling financially, and for those of you who have, please contact Pastor Brian and we can assist you from our benevolence fund. For those that are able to continue to give your offerings to the church and wish to, you can either send checks to the church at “1960 Dayton-Xenia Rd. Beavercreek, OH 45434”, or if you wish, you can go to our website www.beaverucc.org and use the yellow donate button in the upper right hand corner of the webpage to donate online via credit or debit card. We also have a box for your offerings available at the 9:00am drive-in service. If you wish to give in person and cannot make it to the 9:00am drive-in service, please contact Pastor Brian to arrange a time to meet. We are very grateful for continued offerings during this period, as we are still paying staff and taking care of other bills and obligations.
Items For The Kids
Jeannette, our fabulous children’s moment leader, will be putting some things together for the kids which will be sent in the mail for Easter. If you wish to have your children receive something from Jeannette, or any other care package items we send to the kids, please email Pastor Brian with your address and the number of kids who would like to receive things at that address.