“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. — Joshua 1:9

Last month I reported that our Merger Committee met for the last time. On January 25, we held our combined Annual Meetings, and we officially elected our first Board for Faith First Community Church! Your Board consists of: Martha Watters—President; Jan Hannel—Secretary; Doug Cox—Director; Jill Pepper—Director;  and Jim Sullivan—Director. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact any one of these faithful people.

I also reported that our Article of Incorporation papers had been turned into the State of Iowa for review and approval. Unfortunately, today, I received another paper that needed to be signed and sent in. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything! SO, we are still waiting for this to happen.

We continue to move forward with whatever we can, however!

Starting the week of March 3, we will have put together an official Faith First Membership count. It has taken us a while because we still have people we want to send information to, but aren’t members, so that is a different category. We also have those who are members but are not able to participate with activities due to health or distance. Of course we have our homebound. Thank you for your patience as we continue to get all of our ducks in a row!

Before we celebrate our opening of Faith First Community Church, I feel that we need to recognize that First Christian Church turns 185 years young this year, and Faith United Church of Christ turns 60. These are wonderful milestones and I don’t want us to overlook them!

While we don’t have everything planned for that celebration, we are planning a Trivia Night to help fund it! Please join us on April 6 for a night of fun! We will have more details out next week. Please watch for this information.

We are headlong into the season of Lent. Please see the schedule for Wednesday evenings, as well as Sunday mornings on page one!

I am so very grateful for everything each one of you does for this Body of Christ. We are blessed to have you, and have one another, to journey through life with.

Always Peace,  Pastor Heidi