July 14, 2024

 

ENCOURAGING AND EQUIPPING WOMEN

It’s time for another, “Encouraging and Equipping Women” breakfast group! And this time it’s a garden party! Breakfast and activities in the garden.
It is an opportunity for the women of RVCC to meet together, enjoy breakfast, and connect with one another in a significant way outside of a Sunday morning. Through enriching discussion, encouragement, and personal testimony, the goal is to walk out Titus 2:3-5 with older women teaching what is good, and training younger women in a variety of roles. Our focus is encouragement for the current challenges we face, and open discussion and sharing.
ALL women are encouraged to attend; singles, young married women, young mothers, seasoned mothers, empty nesters, and older women are all welcome! We need the full spectrum, or we’ll forfeit the Titus 2 purpose. This is a “Mom’s Only” event, but nursing babies are always welcome.
This group will meet at Renae J’s home north of Stillwater. Breakfast will be served promptly at 9:30am. Contact the church office for address/directions, or more information.

 

CHARIS DAY

Charis Day is an exclusive event where you will get to connect with our local Charis Extension Campus. Charis-MPLS meets in Maple Grove at 9655 Grove Circle North. The Charis Day event will be Saturday, July 20 from 10:30a-1p. CLICK HERE for more details.
Contact the church office with questions.

 

RACE SEASON IS UNDERWAY

For several years our church has helped with these events, and there is another one coming up, the St. Croix Crossing Half Marathon, on July 27!
We position volunteers at each turn and intersection of the race route to guide the runners thru the course, and help out with traffic control in certain areas. The really busy intersections usually have police directing the traffic to give the racers safe right-of-way. We’re cheerleaders, encouragers, and many of the runners make it a point to thank everyone for being there.
It is also a fundraising opportunity! The church gets paid a certain amount per volunteer, so we pass that along to anyone who participates. We can’t give you the cash, but we set the funds aside in your name in the church accounts, and you can use those funds for upcoming youth and children’s events, summer camps, or pretty much any activity we do that requires you to pay a registration fee. The funds earned can also be applied to missions, building fund, donated on to RVFM, or any ministry we are affiliated with.
It’s really easy, and just requires a bit of time on a Saturday. There should be a sign-up sheet on the Info Table by the front doors for this next race, or talk to Pastor Peter.
Contact the church office with questions.

 

WASHINGTON COUNTY FAIR

We know…it’s CRAZY to think about, but the Washington County Fair is coming up the end of this month! We’re planning our Hospitality Tent outreach again during the fair’s run. We’ll have sign-up sheets for shifts out in the next couple of weeks. Be praying ahead of time for lives to be touched!

 

ONGOING DIAPER DONATIONS

We recently got a nice note from the folks at Options for Women-St. Croix Valley appreciating our support. We are always accepting diaper and wipes donations. As a church we support them with a monthly monetary donation, but diapers are one item they always need to help support the mothers relying on Options services. Unopened packages can be dropped off with Pastor Greg. Larger size diapers are a continuing specific need for the organization, and wipes are always appreciated, too.

 

ELDERS MINISTRY

If you would like to connect with one of our Elders for any reason during the week, contact the church office and we’ll get you in touch!

 

SOCIAL CALENDAR

If you are doing something, or going somewhere, and would like to offer an open invitation for RVCC family to join you, send details to the church no later than noon Thursdays, and PG will get it listed here. It won't be "official" church functions, but a fun way to get info out to others at RVCC that there is something fun going to that they could join. So…what are YOU getting ready to do that would be fun to have others there, too? Let us know.

 
Memorial Service

It’s not really social, but it is… Mary B’s son passed away last month in Orlando, where he had been living for many years. There will be a memorial service for him Tuesday, July 16 at 1pm here at RVCC, with a lunch following. Contact the church office with questions.

 
Righteous Riders Event In August

Our local Righteous Riders chapter of Circuit Riders Motorcycle Ministry are having a celebration of their 20th anniversary this fall! They’re planning a big event in August, but they’re advertising it now so the word gets out and bikers can plan on being there. Pastor Greg has fliers in his office you can post on community boards if you’re willing to take a few to help advertise at places you frequent. They’re also looking for door prizes and raffle item donations. If you know of a business that would be interested in providing something, by all means let one of the Circuit Riders know!
You can also help promote the event by liking and sharing their Facebook Event to your friends and contacts there!

 

TAKE US WITH YOU

Podcast listeners can listen to audio from our Sunday morning services on several platforms. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Audible. Search for, "River Valley Christian Church Lake Elmo MN" on your preferred podcast app, then subscribe and listen anywhere, any time, however you like to listen!

We also have a RVFM Podcast gathering messages from our affiliated churches in one spot. Find it on your favorite podcast app by searching for "Light Up The Valley." If you have trouble with any of these contact Pastor Greg in the church office and he'll try to help you sort it out.

 

2024 DAILY BIBLE READING PROGRAM!

One of our top goals is always to help you keep up on (or get into) a daily Bible reading habit.

As a church body on January 1, 2024 we started another 1-year reading plan: "The One Year Bible". Each day will have sections from the Old and New Testaments, and Psalms and Proverbs. Connect with us and access the plan in the YouVersion Bible App to get notifications for the day's reading directly from the app. It's pretty easy and slick. Yes, you’ll be behind, but with some effort you can catch up. OR, jump in where we are and let’s go!

Get into the daily habit now, even if it's not this particular program! We want you to get the WORD in YOU! Contact Pastor Greg in the church office if you have questions.

 

 

Here is a summary of groups and classes we have going on currently during the week. Most of these are included on the Church Calendar.

 

MONDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY

Linda B is teaching a study on the Gospel of John. The group meets Mondays at 6pm. If you have questions please contact the church office.
 

CREW YOUNG ADULT GROUP

C.R.E.W young adult nights are on first and third Mondays at the Molnar's at 6:30pm. Contact the church office or talk to Pastor Peter for more information.
 

COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM

In order to promote active Biblical citizenship RVCC is hosting a Restore Minnesota Community Action Team (CAT) to help answer questions like, “What is going on and what can we do?”. The group is not meeting for the next couple of months during the summer, but typically meets 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month.

More information on the CAT can be found if you CLICK HERE, or contact the church office with questions.
 

FREEDOM GROUP

Our Freedom Group meets on Monday evenings at 7pm. It is a Bible-based chemical dependency group coordinated by Wayne & Patrice B. Click Here, or contact the church office for more information.
 

 

WOMEN'S GROUP/CLASS

Healing Hearts meets first and third Tuesdays at 6pm at Cathy D's home office in River Falls, WI. It is a confidential group for ladies 18+ who have been betrayed in a relationship. You are welcome at any time to jump in and join. Know it’s the enemy who would want to keep you isolated. This group is here to listen, love, pray, and stand with you. If you have questions about the group please contact the church office, or Cathy directly!
 

 

WEDNESDAY MORNING PRAYER

If you've got time during the week you can always join us for prayer! We have a group that prays Wednesday mornings starting at 10am in room W2. It goes for about an hour. We also have a group that meets in W1 before service on Sunday mornings. Everyone is welcome to come in and pray!
 

WEDNESDAY NIGHT CLASSES

Our regular Wednesday night classes are on hiatus for the summer, but we do have something special we’re doing over the summer months.

MINISTRY TRAINING CENTER SUMMER SAMPLER

While the interns are here we’re holding a shortened, compact version of our MTC for them, and we figured why not open it to anyone interested. It isn’t the full MTC curriculum, but will hit on a ton of different areas and aspects of ministry and church basics. It starts at 6:30pm Wednesday nights. Contact the church office with questions.
 

 

MAHTOMEDI/WHITE BEAR LAKE AREA SMALL GROUP

Our White Bear Lake/Mahtomedi area small group meets on Thursday evenings from 6:30-8pm. Please contact the church office to get connected for more information!
 

 

SPIRITUAL WEAPONS AND TACTICS

Mighty Warriors For Such A Time As This! We will begin to unfold our Generational lines, to be that legal representative of our bloodlines to take back what the enemy stole! This group meets at 6:30 pm on the 3rd Fridays of the month at Dennis & Cathy D's home. Contact them or the church office for directions and details.
 

 

OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

All sorts of ministries around the church are looking for volunteers. Our Hospitality Ministry, which includes the Greeter, Usher, Info Table, and Cookie Ministries is looking to include more volunteers. If you are interested, talk to Pastor Peter, or contact the church office.

Go Joe Specialty Coffees is in need of some baristas before service. You'll get all the training you need, and can be involved and get to know people at the same time.

DURING service our Children's Ministry is looking for some volunteers, too. What an incredible opportunity to advance the Kingdom by helping bring them up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord." Talk to Shiloh G or contact the church office about this, too! A background check is required to work with our Children's Ministry.

We talk about it in what we call the "Next Thing", but we don't really have official "membership" here at RVCC. Our view is if you're family jump in and help out around the "house!" Here's some opportunities to do just that. Most of our other ministries could use some more volunteers, too. That's the price of growing, planting churches, and wanting to do things well to represent Him with excellence. If you're interested in a particular area please contact the office and we'll get you connected with whoever is over that ministry.

Speaking of the Next Thing, we have information available on a thumb drive about the history of RVCC and how you fit into all this. It's a couple of classes we used to do in person, but getting everyone into a room together at the same time was always a scheduling issue, so we compiled it all into a simple little take-home USB drive.

It contains videos of Pastor Jon presenting the information, audio files of the classes if you prefer to just listen, and a .pdf of the booklet that contains some of that same info. If you are fairly new and would like to know more about how RVCC got started, where we are going as a church and as River Valley Fellowship of Ministries, and how you fit into that vision ask an usher, elder, any of the staff -or a random congregation member- and we'll fix you up with one of these drives. If you happen to accidently ask another newbie…keep asking and we'll set you BOTH up!

 

If you would like to donate to RVCC and it's ministries, etc. mail or drop off a check at the church office, or use online giving with your bank debit card at www.rvcc.info/donate.

 

RVCC guests who are hard of hearing can now amplify our service audio through their personal Assistive Listening Device (ALD), or tune in to 87.9FM.

 

THE FAST TALK AT THE END OF THE COMMERCIAL:

OBLIGATORY LEGAL NOTICE OF RELEASE OF RVCC, ITS SUCCESSORS, ASSIGNS AND LICENSEES FROM ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER OF ANY NATURE! We live-stream and record our service, so your presence here constitutes your consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded, and for RVCC to use the recording without compensation in any and all media for as long as it exists. No, we’re not anticipating making a boatload of money off of an image of the back of your head, or you worshipping with your hands in the air…but we figured it would be a good idea to let you know you could end up on our livestream, social media, etc.