Kids & Cookies
Daycare program
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What a fun weekend we had at Church of the Heartland! Saturday several ladies went to our South Bend campus at Ugly Mugs Coffee and Culture for a cookie exchange. I have never seen such a sea of cookies! Everyone was toting plates of cookies back home.
We had our daycare kids sing and show off their Christmas artwork at our Sunday evening service last night. Lots of visiting daycare families came – topping us over the 100 marker once again. Yea!
Next Sunday is our Christmas BIG Sunday. Be sure to invite a friend, coworker, neighbor, and family member. We will have special things in store. Our kids will be having a Christmas birthday party for Jesus. And to go along with our “Savior: Your rescue has arrive theme”, we will have an ambulance on site for the kids to explore. As usual we will be serving a meal after service for all to stay and enjoy one another! See you next Sunday!
Christmas Services….. Begin!
Ok Heartlanders,
Here’s the challenge…. Our campus goal is to be over 100 people on Christmas BIG Sunday! We can sooo do this! Invite your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, strangers, anyone…. We will have invites available on the tables again Sunday to make it easy for you to hand out to people.
This Sunday is our first of our Christmas series. It is also our “Daycare Sunday”. Let’s be extra friendly and outgoing to the daycare families visiting our service for the first time. The little ones will be entertaining us with a few songs.
Check out the Market next Wednesday for our church christmas service ad! Point it out to everyone you see 
I love doing church with all of you. Our church has some great momentum going right now, let’s keep going!
Pressure
Who has not felt the pressures of life fall straight on your shoulders? I know I have many times. Work, kids, school, marriage, finances and on and on. Jesus knew what pressure felt like. Read the story of the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36-46.
Jesus was experiencing immense pressure as he felt the sins of humanity bear down on him that night. He even asked his Father in heaven if something else could be done, a plan B and anything. The reality of the cross wasn’t not appealing. But what did Jesus do when pressure came? He went straight to God and prayed! When pressures come our directions, we need to go straight to God and pray!
Christmas Sermon Series
December 13 “Daycare Sunday” Kids will be singing special songs
December 20 Christmas BIG Sunday
December 27 Final Christmas message
Some Things Going On Around COTH
December 3rd Thursday 6:00pm Come with creative ideas for our Christmas services. We will be having a good ‘ol brainstorn session before we move on to our prayer service.
December 10th Thursday 5:00 – 7:00pm Decorate our church for Christmas! Will provide some sort of supper!
December 12th Saturday 1:30-3:30pm Cookie Exchange @ Ugly Mugs Coffee House in South Bend. Bring a platter of 5-6 dozen cookies. Plates will be provided for you to fill. If you would like to carpool, meet at our church at 12:00noon.
December 13th Sunday 5:00pm “Daycare Sunday” Our little daycare kids will be entertaining us with some Christmas songs.
December 20th Sunday 5:00pm Christmas BIG Sunday!!! This will be our official Christmas service with extra special surprises in store! A great time to invite friends and family to church!
Thanksgiving Leftover Potluck!
Still have an appetite? This Sunday we are celebrating Thanksgiving together with a “Leftover Potluck”. Bring a side dish or dessert! Immediately following Sunday evening’s service. See you there!
Thursday Night Service
Just a reminder of our Thursday night service at 6:00pm led by Pastor Shawn. We have been focusing on prayer lately and have had an awesome time togehter. Prayer will be key to our personal success and the success of our mission in Starke County! Come on out!
Also, Sunday evening we will continue our sermon series on “RISK: courage, faith and the guts to go for it” with Pastor Heath. Invite someone to church this week. And remember 5:oopm!!! A meal will follow the service – this week being prepared by Joe and Tammy Hoy – yummo! We are anticipating another mind-blowing service – you will want to be there.
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm” – Winston Churchill
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” Robert F. Kennedy
Sunday Evening a Smashing Success
Room full of peeps
WOW! What a night at Church of the Heartland-Starke County! Last night was the first service at 5:00pm. A little risky, yes. A little gutsy, you bet! I’m sure glad we took that leap of faith! I’m thinking we might have something going on here having the traditional “Sunday service” in the evening. At last count we piled over 100 people into the sanctuary. It was awesome to be reconnected with old friends and making some new ones.
Loved hearing the stories of individuals who work during the day but now can come back to church or the exhausted young families who now can relaxed in the morning and come to service in the evening plus not having to cook with the meal provided after service.
I’m so proud to be a part of the COTH team! I love you guys! This is what makes our church successful. Our worship team rocked it out with the live band behind them. Our team came together and made the night perfect. From the greeters, nursery, children’s ministries, to the meal and clean-up afterwards. The team rocks!
Can’t wait to do this again next week. We will make an impact in Starke County. Our voice of freedom in Christ will be heard. Invite someone to church the Sunday and see what all the hipe is about!
Transition Meeting
Tonight (Thursday) at 6:00pm we will be meeting to discuss any questions, concerns, comments you may have about our Sunday service transition. Please come! Pastor Heath and Misti will be joining us for the evening.
Sunday Service Changes!
Beginning Sunday, November 15th we will be making some changes to our Sunday service. We will no longer meet at 10:00am. Our new service time will be 5:00pm Sunday evenings.
Ok, so let’s answer the, why? Over the past 3 years as your pastor, I have not seen the results I would have liked. As a church we have gone through significant changes that have been hard to withstand (ie loss of key families and leaders, move to the new sanctuary, me getting a secular job) We realize that in order to be successful in this county, we need a team to surround us.
In order to bring in the team that is needed, we have to move to a Sunday evening service. What our church will gain is a live worship band led by Larry Redlin and teaching pastor Heath Hiatt. We will remain leading the church in the day-to-day activities, outreaches, and needs of the people.
Sunday evening services will be the same format but with the upgrades. Plus a meal after service to encourage fellowship and connectivity. We are excited about this transition. Our church will be a voice of spiritual freedom to Starke County. We love this church and the people it represents.
The next sermon series is Risk: Courage, Faith, & the Guts to go for it. It’s very appropriate for what we are about to do. Will you stand with us during this time of “Risk”?
Schedule for the next five weeks:
November 15
5:00-6:00pm Pastor Heath Hiatt, Risk: courage, faith, and the guts to go for it
6:00pm Meal
November 22
5:00-6:00pm Pastor Heath Hiatt, Risk: courage, faith, and the guts to go for it
6:00pm Meal
November 29
5:00-6:00pm Pastor Heath Hiatt, Risk: courage, faith, and the guts to go for it
6:00pm Thanksgiving leftover meal
December 6
5:00-6:00pm Pastor Heath Hiatt, Risk: courage, faith, and the guts to go for it
6:00pm Meal
December 13
5:00-6:00pm Pastor Heath Hiatt, Savior – Your rescue has arrived
“Daycare Sunday”
6:00pm Meal
These services will be the familiar relaxed atmosphere we embrace. Let this be an opportunity to invite a friend who may not attend a “traditional Sunday morning” service. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to talk about this transition.
Pastor Shawn & Lyndee Duhnovsky
574-249-0734 or 574-806-3304
pastorsmd@yahoo.com or lyndeelou26@hotmail.com
