Countryside Free Methodist Church

For Father's Day many from our church brought out their combines, classic cars, cool motorcycles and this year we added hunting displays! Along with coffee and donuts, each father picked out a couple of gifts from the gift table.

It was a beautiful day outside for looking at the displays!

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Vacation Bible School

Our 2007 Vacation Bible School was held June 18-22

from 9-11:30 A.M. each day. The theme for this year was Sonforce Kids / Special Agents. All the children were "special agents" for God - like the movie Mission Impossible! The children were each provided a dark pair of sunglasses to wear as a part of the fun activities. They learned new songs, memorized Bible verses and learned about Jesus.

There were 31 children during the week that

asked Jesus into their hearts! Praise the Lord!

Each day the kids made crafts, had refreshment time, played outdoor activities and had their dhapel and story time.

It was a GREAT week with eternal rewards!

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Easter Sunday 2007

Sunday, April 8th was a very special Sunday as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord! Our day started at 8:00 A.M., with our early service put on by the youth. At 8:30 A.M., the Family Center was full of hungry people for our annual Easter breakfast. Then we enjoyed a special musical presentation put on by our choir. The musical was entitled Crucified With Christ directed by Linda Rose.

Everyone was dressed in their pretty Easter best,

including our little ones!

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Children's Ministry Department Hallway Mural Painted

Talented Joe Allen has been busy for the past couple of months painting a beautiful mural in our children's ministry department. The mural is 5 feet high by 30 feet wide. As of this write-up, it is still a work in progress. The theme is Noah's Ark. It's great to have our own in-house Michael Angelo! Below is a sneak preview of Joe's amazing work......(4-07)

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Christian Life Club (CLC) Sunday

On Sunday, March 25th, 2007, we held our annual CLC Sunday. This is a special time to say thank you to the CLC parents for their support of the program. The children sang their CLC theme song and our director Priscilla Foote shared about the vision and mission of CLC. Following the service, the parents were given an appreciation gift. Also that same week we had our CLC outreach night. This was on Wednesday, March 28th. This was a special time for CLC kids to invite their friends who do not attend CLC. Some of the highlights of this night were Sally Zambron and her Countryside puppet program, Kristy Marlene and the big chair, Richard Riha and his puppets and the youth band.

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Homecoming Sunday

Our annual Homecoming Sunday was on Sunday, December 3rd. Homecoming Sunday is a special day to invite family and friends and past attenders to "Come Home for the Holidays."

This year we recognized all those who have been attending Countryside for 25 years or more. Without them and their faithfulness, Countryside would not be here. We praise the Lord for these faithful servants of the Lord. All of these 25 year or more attenders came up on the platform and sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" together.

Following the service each family took home a loaf of homemade bread. What a wonderful day to kick-off the Christmas season!

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Twenty Couples

Renew Wedding Vows

During the month of November, 2006, Pastor Paul preached a Marriage Enrichment Series. The series ended on November 19 with a renewal of wedding vows ceremony for any couple that desired to participate.

Twenty couples chose to renew their vows.

Following the service was Countryside's annual Thanksgiving dinner. For those who renewed their vows, a special "wedding table" was set up for the couples to sit together.

There was even a wedding cake! It was a wonderful time for marriages to be encouraged and strengthened!

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ELVIS!

Benefit Concert for

Sandusky High School Band

Raises $2,300.00!

On Friday and Saturday, October 13 and 14, 2006, Countryside hosted a benefit Elvis concert for the Sandusky High School Marching Band. In March, 2007, the band will be traveling to Disney World in Florida. This will be a great time for band members to sharpen their skills at special instrumental clinics they will be attending. In addition, the band will march in various parades around Disney World. The cost is approximately $800.00 for each student to attend. To help with the fundraising efforts, Pastor Paul performed two Elvis concerts at Countryside. The concerts raised $2,300.00.

The marching band personally greated each person attending the concert and also played a few songs during intermission. It was a fun time for all!

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2006 Fall Outreach!

Every Fall at Countryside is our community outreach! This is a special time for fun and exciting activities with the purpose of reaching out to our friends and family with God's love. This year the theme was "One More Soul."

October 1st was our kick-off Sunday and "Friend Day." Special music was provided by Pastor Paul's entire family. All of his brothers and sisters were here and helped to make this a very special day! Of course, Friend Day wouldn't be complete without coffee, donuts and refreshments. Dick and Debbie Blank organized our refreshment time for us.

October 8th was "Daves of our Lives." Since we have so many "Daves" at Countryside, we had fun with this as an outreach theme. Everyone was encouraged to invite a Dave to church with them. Every Dave received a "Dave" coffee mug and we had a drawing, giving away gift certificates for "Famous Daves" restaurant.

October 15th was "Youth Sunday." The Sonshine singers (a part of the Teens For Christ) were with us for a special concert and following the service we had a pizza party and games for the teens.

October 22nd was "Children's Day." This day was filled with fun and learning about Jesus! Of course the entire purpose was to encourage our families to invite a child to church to learn about Jesus. The day included gifts for the children, a puppet show, the children's handbell choir played and we had a surprise guest - Elmo! What a fun day the children had!

October 29th was a day of praise and celebration to conclude our days of outreach. On this day, we had a baptism and five persons were baptized into Jesus!

Each Sunday, Kristy Castle played "Kristy Marlene" - a six year old child who shared a lesson for us each week and added fun and humor to our Outreach Campaign.

~ Praise the Lord for a successful outreach!! ~

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Classrooms Brightened Up!!

Over the past month or so (October/November, 2006), Don and Ruth Hood have been overseeing the painting of our Christian Education classrooms and hallways.

They were getting dirty and dingy, but are now looking bright and cheery! The teachers are picking their own colors, so we now have rooms of blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, peach and ivory! They are looking great!!!

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This section archived in June, 2006

~~Sanctuary Remodeled!~~

In May and June of 2006, Countryside's Sanctuary was remodeled! We are so thankful to all who worked hard and gave generously for the remodeling to become a reality! We worshipped together in the Family Center for three Sundays, June 4th, 11th and 18th, and returned to the Sanctuary on Sunday, June 25th. Our first Sunday back was a glorious time worshipping the Lord, thanking those who made the remodeling possible, hearing highlights of Vacation Bible School and we even used our new baptismal for the first time baptizing 7 people!

The remodeling included redoing the rear of the Sanctuary by removing the old sound room and storage area and building a new sound booth, building a larger and higher platform, new carpet, a wheelchair elevator, and installing a baptismal! Dan Surbrook, head trustee, oversaw the project and many, many people gave sacrificially of their time to get the job done.

~~New Landscaping!~~

Susan Wallace took on the project of redoing the landscaping in front of the sanctuary while the remodeling was going on. Old, overgrown and dead shrubs were removed and an entirely new layout was developed.

Roger Williamson helped tremendously, Grant Stone removed the old shrubs and many others helped out.

It looks beautiful!!!

~~Vacation Bible School~~

This year's VBS was a great success! VBS was June 19-23. Priscilla Foote oversaw VBS and the theme was "SonTreasure Island!" The children did crafts, had refreshments, chapel, recreation, Bible stories, learned music, and Bible verses. 33 children prayed to receive Jesus as their savior!!! Overall, 175 children and workers were included over the week. 129 children were enrolled and there were 46 workers. Highest attendance of children was Thursday with 95 children present!

What a spiritually fruitful week

that will last for an eternity!

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