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From the earliest time, God has encouraged His people
to build and maintain structures and facilities for His purposes. God even took pains to tell Noah how the Ark should
be built and God did the same for Moses and the Tabernacle of Worship and Solomon and the great Temple in Jerusalem.
So important were holy facilities to God's work that the Lord even set apart special people to care for them. Exodus
tells us that only the Levites could build and maintain the Tabernacle and only their priestly descendants could maintain
the Temple. As those spiritual ancestors were specially equipped by God to service His facilities, so the ministry Property
welcomes all who are spiritually gifted in craftmanship, maintainence abilities and other gifts helpful to the care of God's
facility.
We like receiving your ideas about how to better
serve God with our facility, welcome your questions about our building and grounds and the possibilty of serving
in this ministry.
Partnership with the Boy Scouts Boy Scout Troop #288, which we sponsor, has donated and planted the landscaping in the front of the
church and helps maintain it throughout the year. Each January, in celebration of Scouting, the Scouts conduct
the worship service here at Annandale. The young men participate in the service and readings. We have enjoyed
them year after year and look forward to Scout Sunday. We are blessed with a relationship between our church and
these wonderful young men, who will be the leaders of our communities in the future. To learn more about the Boy Scout
Troop, visit their site http://www.bsa-troop288.com/
ARTIST PAINTS CHURCH
Our worship on February 20 started
out with something curious undercover on a stand near the altar. Pastor
Lobb removed the cloth during the service. There displayed was a beautiful oil painting of Annandale Reformed
Church. The painting is the work of artist Ray Locke of Bridgewater.
He is a friend and colleague of Pastor Lobb's father, William. Ray
attended a service in December. He said afterward, "I like the way this church looks and feels. I'd
like to paint it if you don't mind." He took
a photo of the church a few weeks later. By January he produced a bright, dignified 20" by 24" painting. "At first I thought I'd hang it in the pastor's office,"
Pastor Lobb said. "Then I saw how beautiful it looked, I immediately donated it to the church and want it hung
in the narthex permanently. That painting is exactly what we need for the space when you come inside." Ray, who is 91 years old and going strong, attended the unveiling.
He said he was "touched" by the applause. He gave
away no secrets when he was asked during fellowship hour how he captured the essence of the church so precisely. "I just set the photo next to my easel at home and went to work
-- that's how," he said. "It's a marvelous rendition of our
church," member Peg Weightman said. "I'm glad I was here to meet him and see it unveiled."
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Property
Committee Has Been Busy Bees These Past Years!
Once we installed a ramp which allows more
people to experience Christ by providing barrier-free access to the church for all programs, not just worship, and shows the
community that we are a vibrant congregation wishing to invite all to join us and provided a "suitcase ramp", which is a small portable ramp that can be placed on the two steps that lead from the
outside into Fellowship Hall when needed., we moved on to the following upgrades.
We have just
installed air conditioning in the sanctuary which will provide comfort during the hot summer months. We replaced some
worn out stair treads on the steps leading into Fellowship Hall from the back door as well as some non-skid treads on the
steps leading into the kitchen. We replaced the deteriorating wrought iron hand rail leading to the street on Beaver
Avenue with a new vinyl coated one. We had some repairs made to the belfry roof and the roof over the Beaver Avenue
entrance into Fellowship Hall. We have replaced the ceiling in the vestibule of the Beaver Avenue entrance.
We painted Fellowship Hall, the kitchen and the bathrooms and have had new carpeting installed in the sanctuary.
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Stepping further into the 21st Century
We have installed wireless,
password protected, cable internet and phone service at the church. This is just another step into the 21st Century.
We have also created a Yahoo group email so that we can get information out to the congregation quickly. For those who
do not have email (which is a very, very small percent of the congregation) we will personally see that they also receive
the same information. We are excited about the moves that we are taking to make this a place of worship that will attract
the "new" generation. Th Music Department also moved into the 21st Century by replacing
the "antique" synthesizer with one that will allow so much more options for the Music Minister to enhance our worship
services.
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