Local Announcements: 

Sabbath Services for August 14th, 2021: Tomorrow's Sabbath service will be held at the Morton Freedom Hall (349 W Birchwood St, Morton, IL 61550) @ 1:30pm. The service will also be webcast on our local congregational website​ the (link for local webcast) as well as offered via audio only for those who would like to call in (701.791.9819). These connections typically go live about 15-minutes prior to the start of services.
          Song Leader: Mr. Jack Radebaugh
          Sermonette: Mr. Bill Conway
          Sermon: Mr. Nathan Ekama

Different Sabbath Service Location: The following Sabbath services will NOT be at our normal meeting location of the Morton Freedom Hall (349 W Birchwood St, Morton, IL 61550). 
          Sept 16th Meeting Location: Comfort Inn (201 E Ashland St, Morton, IL 61550) @ 1:30pm
          Oct 23rd Meeting Location: Comfort Inn (201 E Ashland St, Morton, IL 61550) @ 1:30pm

Upcoming Holy Days: 
          Trumpets: Freedom Hall on September 7th @ 10:30am & 2:30pm
          Atonement: Comfort Inn on September 16th @ 1:30pm

Sabbath School: Our next Sabbath School is scheduled for tomorrow, August 14th. It will take place about ten minutes after services in the conference room.

Excused Absence Forms: If you are in need of any excused absence forms for the Fall Holy Days, please see me after services for a physical copy. If you'd prefer a digital copy, please send me an email and I'll get one sent off.

Hall Set-up Meeting: There will be a short meeting after services next Sabbath for those who signed up to help with the hall set-up and tear down.

Acts of the Apostles Bible Study: We will have our next webcast Bible Study on the evening of August 27th. The study will begin at 7:00pm CDT and last about one hour. There are a few ways that you can join our Bible Study:
          - Here is the link to access our Bible Study via our local webcast.
          - Here is the phone number to call in for an audio-only connection: 701.791.9819

Bible Study Topics & Questions: After we finish up our current Bible Study series on the Book of Acts this month, we’ll take the month of September off and restart in October. If you have a series (IE: Epistles of Paul, Minor Prophets, The Gospels, etc…) that you’d like to have covered or you have some Bible topics that you would like to submit to have covered, there will be a box on the information table for input. If there are other Bible questions that you have that you'd like to submit, we are hoping to have a Q&A Panel discussion for the Bible Study in October.

Festival Assistance: If you have been faithfully saving your festival tithe, but anticipate that you will not have enough funds to attend the Feast this year, we will be happy to help where we can. If you think that you will need additional funds, please contact one of our Festival Advisors (Patrick Kurtas or Don Hummel) or the pastor.

Feast Donations: As we are making our various plans for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles this Fall, please do consider those who may not be able to travel for the Feast or who may benefit from some financial assistance. If you would like to set aside a portion of your Festival Tithe to assist in making the Autumn Feast days special for others, please consider the following areas for which we have collected funds in the past: East Africa, West Africa, incarcerated members, and gift baskets members who are homebound.
If you would like to share your tithe in any of these ways, please send your funds to one of our two congregational treasurers. If you send a check, please make sure that it is made out to “UCG - Central Illinois”.

Feast CDs/MP3s: The sermon CDs for the Feast should have arrived in your mailbox. If you did not receive one and you would like to have a copy, please see me.

Springfield Bible Study: Beginning in October on the third Sabbath of each month at 10:00am there will be a Bible Study in the Springfield area (6220 Moffet Street, Curran, IL 62670). Services in Morton on these Sabbaths will remain as is currently scheduled.

Health & Safety Protocols: In conversation with both the Morton Freedom Hall and the Park Inn, neither venue will be requiring us to wear face coverings when we use their facilities. However, if you are more comfortable wearing a face covering when congregating, please do not hesitate to do so. We ask that any who exhibit symptoms of illness practice the biblical concept of quarantine.

 

Home Office Announcements:

[HO] Winter Family Weekend is back! Save the Date!: Planning is well under way for Winter Family Weekend 2021 in the Cincinnati area. It will begin the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 22, through Sunday, Dec. 26. Sports will be held once again at Courts4Sports and Wall2Wall as in past years. Save the date now and watch for registration details and hotel information coming in the near future.

[HO] Beyond Today: Beyond Today airs locally in Illinois (Springfield/Decatur/Champaign) on WRSP 55 FOX, Sundays at 10:00 a.m..
          **BT content is also available via our YouTube channel and via Roku and other smart devices.**

[HO] Support UCG with your Amazon Purchases: If you buy anything via Amazon, there is an opportunity to have a portion of your purchase donated to a recognized non-profit organization if you begin using “https://smile.amazons.com”. If you list the United Church of God as your preferred organization to support, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the United Church of God whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ch/95-4529758 to set up your account.

Online UCG Radio from Australia for the whole world: The online radio station for United Church of God is now streaming 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. You can listen to booklet and magazine readings, Bible readings, Bible Q&As, sermons, Bible class lectures, podcasts, the BT Daily series, music and more! A radio schedule in PDF can be downloaded which will show you upcoming programs. You can reach it easily on your computer at https://www.ucg.org.au/radio or from the UCG Streaming Radio app that allows you to listen on your mobile device. Simply search your app store for "UCG Radio" to install the free app.