Greetings! The following are the Announcements for Sunday July 18, 2021 

1. Dates:

a.     Communion is scheduled for Saturday, September 25. Elder Bro Bob Dotterer from Sardis, OH will be with us. Communion Exhortation will be Sunday August 22.

b.     Our Fall Collection will be held early this year and will be throughout the month of August. Funds from this collection will go to National and Local Harvest Call, Gateway Woods, and possible some others. Later this year will be our collection for the Fellowship Hall project.

c.      The Trustees have developed a proposal to add solar panels to the church. This has the potential to significantly reduce our ongoing costs, without requiring any upfront cash outlay. We are working through the appropriate approval process and will share more details in the coming weeks. 

d.     The Fellowship Center committee is in the final stages of completing their proposed design and would like us to set aside Thursday evening, August 26 for an information session. As you may remember, this work had slowed down during 2020, but the committee and sub-committees (which includes ~50 of us) have been working diligently during 2021, to finalize the fellowship hall design. We will confirm this date on August 1, along with the overall timeline for approval.

e.     Thankful to have Sis Janelle Gottier and Bro Jason Widmer with us for church today. Their wedding is scheduled to be here in Rockville on Sunday, September 19.

2. As you may remember, before the pandemic brethren and friends from the Rockville congregation would visit the Croghan-Naumburg congregation on the third Sunday of each month from February through November for fellowship and to serve the Sunday lunch. This effort has proved to be a real blessing for both the brethren and friends in upstate New York as well as to all from our congregation who have participated. Brother Duane Farney has indicated they are ready for us to begin our visits again. If you have interest or would like additional information, please consult the church website or contact Brother John Virkler for more information.

3.     Update on Serving Lunch: 

a.     Thank you for the feedback. We heard widespread support for the buffet-style serving approach, and there were also some who preferred the prior method. 

b.     Our kitchen committee has recommended that we continue the buffet-style serving method with the serving list with an additional trial. Key factors included more efficiency, less food waste, better health practices, kids able to help serve, easier on families with small children, and different but equally valuable fellowship opportunities.

c.     Based on the kitchen committee’s recommendation, we plan to continue the buffet-style with the serving list for the next six months, and to re-visit the question at our annual meeting.

d.     Based on the feedback, there will be a few refinements to our procedures both now and in the coming weeks, including:
 
1.     To avoid people with full plates waiting to find a place to sit, servers will count out the initial number of plates and then pause the line until spaces open up.
2.   Ushers will be available to guide you to a seat; however, you are welcome to sit where you would like.
3.     You do not need to rush; of course do still be cognizant of the need for others to eat.
4.     After the initial dismissal into the food line, those still waiting for the line to shorten are welcome to fellowship in assembly or exit through side aisles to fellowship in the foyer, until the line has shortened.

4. The password for our church website has been changed. Instead of no capitals, each word is capitalized. No spaces, just like before.