Thank you, Trinity, for your faithful generosity for the Mattaponi Healing Eagle Clinic. For our June 11, 2016 Clinic Day, we collected 12 boxes of assorted OTC medicines and supplies and $1,435 to help pay for their prescription medicines. They wouldn’t have the resources to continue their Clinic without our help. Know that our donations have made a difference in the lives of Native Americans in Virginia through the Clinic. A special thank you goes to Don Pierce for annually coordinating with the Friends of Barnabas which share some of their OTC medicines and supplies with the Clinic. Trinity is truly a community of faithful believers and disciples of Christ.
Trinity’s support of the Mattaponi Healing Eagle Clinic after a Trinity member Janet Sommerville attended the Mini-Christian Mission Encounter held in Trinity in September of 2008. She said, “I watched a cd about the native Americans in VA produced by the VA Conference. I was so moved by how they were treated here in VA that I said to myself I need to do something about them and the Clinic was a good start. So, we started with 2 Sunday school classes then expanded it to be an annual church wide mission initiative to date.”
If you wan to be a part of this ministry, you can volunteer to prepare lunch items for the Clinic volunteers; donate Over The Counter(OTC) medicines and medical supplies; donate money to help pay for their prescriptions (most native Americans do not have health insurance); volunteer to come with us and help in the delivery of the OTC medicines and medical supplies once a year during the summer.
You can donate anytime but we only deliver the goods once a year during the summer, as is usually the time of the year when they most need the help.
What a great Surf Shack Vacation Bible School!! It was a fantastic week of Bible Stories, sharing God’s love, singing, playing, creating, building and learning!
VBS At A Glance:
# of VBS participants (children): 176
# of VBS volunteers (adults/teens): 105
# of items collected: too many to count! Enormous amounts of:
*composition notebooks and glue sticks for children at Oakgrove/Bellemeade schools
*canned food and nonperishable foods (in good condition, unopened & appropriately dated) for Sherbourne UMC Food Pantry
*eye glasses & cases (used), reading glasses (+1 & +3), sunglasses (men’s/unisex), & flip flops for Honduras
*Milkbones, Nylabones, peanut butter, Kongs, cat treats, cat toys, fleece cat beds/crate liners, for Richmond Animal League
Amount of money raised: over $800 in cash for mission and ministries
It was a fantastic week of ministry, service, and FUN! Our 4th & 5th graders also built and delivered Blue Bird Houses to Oak Grove Elementary.
We’ve put together a video recap because pictures often tell the story better than words:
If you see a VBS participant, be sure to ask him or her about the week. And if you see a VBS volunteer, be sure to thank him or her for a great week!
Thanks to all the children and volunteers who participated! And thanks to Dianne Moore for the photos and this video.
While our Trinity Children’s summer activities are drawing to a close, don’t miss all the great stuff we have planned for this fall! Trinity’s Children’s Ministry is active and awesome! Learn more: trinityrva.net/children
As we begin our 13th year partnering with Oak Grove Bellemeade Elementary School, we want to thank all of you who helped make 2015-16 a great year and who have already contributed to a wonderful start for the 2016-17 school year.
Thank you to the many of you who served as classroom aides and as Literacy Team Mentors for kindergarten and first grade students. Thanks to all of you who donated men’s ties for Ties On Tuesdays and who donated dresses for fifth grade girls for their Moving-On Ceremony. Thanks also for assisting in providing music for the Ceremony and gift bags for all 90+ fifth graders. Thanks for photographing the fifth graders so their parents would have a picture to remember the close of their child’s elementary school years and for creating a display of the portraits for all to see.
Thanks to those of you who walked with students on Walk or Bike to School days. Thanks to those who participated in Field Day and the Celebrate Fathers & Families Festival. Thanks to those who supported our partnership with From the Heart Ministry that targets male youth from 12 to 20 providing breakfast, lessons on what it means to be a man, and fellowship through basketball. Thanks to those who supported our Saturday Scholar Academy that is in its fourth year. This partnership with Collegiate Schools focuses on ESL academics and enrichment and meets every Saturday morning from October through May.
Thanks to all who participated in providing food to our many students and families in need. We were able to provide Thanksgiving baskets, extra food for Spring Break, and snacks for many activities and events. Thanks for all who helped celebrate birthdays for students with cards and small gifts and those who helped with the monthly Celebrate RVA birthday parties led by Julia Warren.
Thanks for the many donated books that went to new teachers needing to build classroom libraries and to the Summer Book Bus. Through your generosity we were able to provide 100+ popular titles for the Book Bus. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the 150 or more students each week who were able to check out Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, Harry Potter, Fancy Nancy Captain and many other favorites. Thanks to all who rode on the bus and provided snacks, prizes, and encouragement for the students.
Thanks for writing birthday cards and notes of encouragement for teachers and staff. Thanks for providing breakfast and lunches for teachers and holidays treats for all staff. Thanks for providing much appreciated gift baskets for monthly staff meetings.
Thanks to those who participated in Career Day and went along on field trips. Thanks to the many who read to students on Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss Day. Thanks especially to Bill Pike and Nell Chesley who read their own wonderful Christmas story and donated copies to all third graders.
Thanks to those who provided transportation to Westview and Collegiate summer camps. Thanks to those who participated in All God’s Children Camp. Thanks to all who provided meals and support to the programs at Central United Methodist Church that serves much of the Oak Grove community. Thanks to the Dream Team leaders who provide support for athletics for Hillside Court children. These children make up about 150 of our 650-student population.
Thanks to those who provided food and hospitality for last year’s and this year’s Back to School Luncheon for teachers and staff. These Luncheons provide a great opportunity for staff to get together with volunteers and receive our prayers and offers of support for the coming school year.
Thanks to the many, many of you who donated Apple Angel Tree school supplies both last year and this year to get all the teachers off to a good start. Special thanks to Vacation Bible School students who both last year and this year contributed lots of pencils, notebooks, composition books, and glue sticks. Our 4th & 5th grade VBS students created 20 Bluebird Houses and delivered them during a van trip to the school in July. Make sure to check out the bulletin board outside Judy’s office to see the faces of some of the recipients of your generosity.
We have been serving at Oak Grove long enough to see our graduates move through middle and high school and were able to celebrate high school graduations and college acceptances this year. What a thrill to see the fine young adults these students have become. Comparing these confident young people to the scared young immigrant or the troubled first or second grader we first met is a testament to the effectiveness of your continued support of our Oak Grove ministry.
We look forward to working with you this year and hope to highlight for you each month one of our programs or partnerships. There are many exciting things happening. Please join us!
All can agree that Trinity is beautiful at Christmas, but if you have not seen Trinity during S.W.A.G., the Summer Week of Awesome Games, then you have missed it at its finest. If you look closely at this photo, you will see why.
What is SWAG, anyway? It is four nights of faith, fun and fellowship run by youth for youth. The inspiration for this week of games came after recognizing that Trinity’s youth feed from more than twenty local schools. That is correct, more than twenty! SWAG came about to give these teens from all over Richmond four days of togetherness to foster friendships and connections in a way that an hour a week in Sunday School or youth group couldn’t.
What makes SWAG awesome? First of all it is free and there is no registration process. All are invited. Friends are invited. Teens may come one night or all four. There is no pressure. SWAG is about free will.
Secondly, there are only three rules and they are based on Matthew 22:37-39. SWAG rules state we will Love God, Love Each Other, and Respect the Property. When youth do these three things there is no need for more rules.
Third, SWAG invites teens to do what they are not allowed to do at home! Activities over the years have included food fights, a human sundae obstacle course, a giant slip ‘n slide, a Guinness world record attempt, Tag played with finger paint, cooking, graffiti, and the annual favorite….driving lessons for middle school-aged students.
And lastly, SWAG is awesome because our loving Father is at the center of it. Good clean messy Christian fellowship is what makes it a week of awesome games.
Yes, Christmas wreaths and lights on our church are beautiful indeed. But when the grounds of Trinity are filled with young people running, screaming and growing together spiritually, that’s when Trinity is the most beautiful.
Holy Week was filled with significant meaningful events which carried our congregation from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.
From the shouts of “Hosanna!” and the waving of palms on Palm Sunday, we traveled to Maundy Thursday where eighty-four persons came to remember the Last Supper with Jesus and His disciples. A meaningful part of the service was when foot washing was offered to those who attended. On Good Friday the altar was stripped bare as seven scripture passages depicting Jesus’ arrest, trial and death were read. As the sanctuary got darker and darker, one hundred and seventy four people remembered the death of Jesus. One lone candle was brought back to the altar at the conclusion of the service symbolizing the hope of resurrection. The congregation departed in silence.
The joy of Easter morning was ushered in at the 6:30 a.m. sunrise service on Trinity’s front steps. Eighty people attended that service, enjoying the sensory smells of grilled fish – just like the first disciples did on that first Easter morning.
Glorious worship continued at 8:00, 9:30 and 11 with 1187 (!) people in attendance. Tympani and brass accompanied the music at 8:00 at 11 while the praise team led us in beautiful praise music at 9:30 a.m. Trinity’s altar was brilliant white adorned with lilies, lilies provided by our members in memory or in honor of loved ones.
The cross out front, covered in purple during Lent and in black on Good Friday, was transformed into a glorious Easter symbol as persons decorated it with fresh flowers on Easter morning.
The Easter Egg Hunt held after the 11:00 a.m. service was a great success, with Trinity’s front lawn covered in expert hunters of all ages. Following the egg hunt the Easter cross became a popular spot for family photos.
One church member has shared, “This past Lenten season and Easter Sunday were remarkably meaningful. The events leading the congregation along the journey to the Cross this year were profound.”
Continue to share the good news – Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”57″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”240″ thumbnail_height=”160″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”40″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”1″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show slideshow]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]Thank you to Dianne Moore for her amazing photos of our Holy Week!
Paul greeted us as we came into his house. He was chained to a guard, but was so glad to see us. Each day he shared more and more about Jesus and God’s love, so much so that by the end of the week Brutus, the Roman soldier guarding Paul, had decided to become a Christian. Each day we left Paul and went down to the cave, called “the Underground Church” where the 1st Century Christians met hiding from the Roman officials. We could go on and on, but the picture can tell the rest of the story.
Thanks so much to everyone who helped and supported VBS.
All can agree that Trinity is beautiful at Christmas, but if you have not seen Trinity during S.W.A.G., the Summer Week of Awesome Games, then you have missed it at its finest. If you look closely at this photo, you will see why.
