The Van Wert County Courthouse

Tuesday, Mar. 19, 2024

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CONVOY — Everyone is invited to a Holy Week services at the Convoy Methodist Church.

Palm Sunday, March 24: the children and youth will parade in the sanctuary waving palm branches and the choir will be singing The Palms & The King is Coming.

Good Friday, March 29: at 12 p.m. a community worship service will be held at St. Paul’s Church with Pastor Bud Walls bringing the message. The Convoy Methodist Church worship service will be at 7 p.m. that night.

Easter/Resurrection Day, March 31: Easter celebration of the risen Jesus Christ will begin with a sunrise worship service at 7 a.m. Breakfast will follow in the fellowship hall, then Sunday School for all ages at 8:30 a.m. The Easter worship service will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary with the adult choir singing Crown Him Medley.

The Convoy Methodist Church is located at the corner of North Main St. and Sycamore St.

POSTED: 03/17/24 at 6:35 am. FILED UNDER: Church

The public is invited to attend Good Friday services at the Ohio City United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Friday, March 29. Pastor Gary Ginter will be offering a one-man monologue titled “The Centurian’s Song.” Everyone is invited to attend. Photo submitted

POSTED: 03/17/24 at 6:29 am. FILED UNDER: Church

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A local tradition for over 70 years – the Van Wert Area Community-Wide Good Friday Service – will continue this Good Friday, March 29, at Promise Church, 1017 S. Shannon St. in Van Wert.

This community collaboration includes nine pastors representing 10 congregations. Area pastors will be participating in the service with scripture readings, prayers, hymns and the message, “It’s Friday, But Sunday Is Comin’” delivered by Pastor Bill Watson from Van Wert’s Pentecostal Way Church. Pastor Gary Ginter of Ohio City United Methodist Church will be offering a one-man monologue titled, “The Centurion’s Song,” along with singing “The Hammer,” by Ray Boltz.

Annette Hoverman will be at the piano for the prelude and then she will be joining Paul Hoverman, flugelhorn, and Pastor Christian Taylor of the United Methodist Church of Van Wert, vocalist with a beautiful arrangement of “Jesus Paid It All.” The vocal ensemble, “In Spiritu”, will be performing the much loved old hymns, “Near the Cross” and “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” and the Children’s Puppet Ministry from Promise Church will be sharing the Word with all of the young people in the congregation.

POSTED: 03/14/24 at 3:36 am. FILED UNDER: Church, News

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Peter Wright will be the guest speaker at the Liberty Baptist Church, 501 E. Third Street, Van Wert, Sunday morning, March 3.

Peter Wright

According to Pastor Jim Burns, Wright will give an informative presentation to adults and teens at 9:30 a.m. during the Sunday School hour in the church’s Fellowship Hall and show a brief video and preach during the 10:45 a.m. morning worship service.

Peter Wright is the director of Recruitment and Alumni Services at Maranatha Baptist University, Watertown, Wisconsin and conducts the university Chorale. He is also a teacher in Maranatha Baptist Bible Institute. He was an assistant pastor in youth and music for 21 years at Faith Baptist Church in Danville Illinois before coming to Maranatha. He currently leads the youth ministry at Fellowship Baptist church in Watertown. He enjoys ministering in music with his family and also enjoys being a pilot, golf, tennis, and snow skiing.

Peter will give an informative presentation to adults and teens about what Maranatha Baptist University has to offer to students who are seeking a Christian college education.

The public is invited and there is no charge for this event. For more information, visit the church’s Facebook page.

POSTED: 02/27/24 at 12:39 pm. FILED UNDER: Church

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Join us at Salem Presbyterian Church 9:30 a.m. Sunday, March 3, for our St. David’s Day service. We will be honoring our Welsh heritage by singing our favorite Welsh hymns and special music with our youth handbell players and Connie O’Neill on the organ.

Immediately following the service, there will be a spaghetti dinner including salad, garlic bread and desserts. Our chefs for the day will be Mark Zielke, Steve Richards, and Kevin Price. The youth of the church will be assisting. There will be a free will offering for the meal which will go towards paying for Sunday school, Bible school supplies, and confirmation class supplies.

Also, please wear something yellow, as this is the favorite color of Wales. Even if you only have yellow socks – wear them! St. David once suggested to the Welsh soldiers that they wear a leek on their helmets, to help distinguish them from the invading Saxon soldiers who wore similar uniforms. So if you don’t want to wear yellow, just pin a leek on your shoulder.

The Salem Presbyterian Church is at 15240 Main St., Venedocia.

POSTED: 02/26/24 at 10:06 am. FILED UNDER: Church

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On Sunday, February 11, the First Presbyterian Church of Van Wert along with the Jr. Church children participated in the “Souper Bowl of Caring” tackle hunger challenge. The Souper Bowl of Caring is a signature annual event. Each year thousands of individuals and groups from all fifty states participate in Souper Bowl of Caring donation fundraisers for their local food charity of choice.

Lisa Knoll is pictured with Dr. Erica Unverferth and the Salvation Army. Photos submitted

Since 1990, over 300,000 groups have participated to support local food programs in their communities. Inspired by a simple prayer: “Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat,” said Dr. Reverend Brad Smith, founder.

This prayer was delivered to a small youth group at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. The idea is when everyone gets together for the big game, they could collect money in soup pots or canned goods from the people when they gathered. Then they would donate to a local charity of their choice.

We were inspired to participate in this program. On the Sunday before the Super Bowl game the children of the First Presbyterian Church got up in front of the congregation and explained what this program is and how it all works. Everyone was ready to participate and have some fun. We made up soup bowls with the team’s name and the children collected the money on February 11 for the “Souper Bowl of Caring”. The charity we chose to donate to this year is The Salvation Army’s Free Feeding Program. We collected $290.50 on that Sunday. Then Dr. Erica Unverferth, a local dentist who purchased Dr. John Eversman’s dental practice after his passing in December 2023, reached out to us and wanted to do something in his honor. We were blessed with her matching donation of $290. Together we were able to give $580.50 to the Salvation Army’s Free Feeding Program.

Thank you to all that participated in this program of giving. We are blessed to have such a wonderful community of caring and giving people. If you would like to learn more about tackling hunger you can go to http://tacklehunger.org. Blessings to all.

POSTED: 02/19/24 at 8:31 pm. FILED UNDER: Church

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TOLEDO — On Wednesday, February 14, the Catholic Church enters into the season of Lent. Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It’s a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection at Easter.

During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from excesses during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ’s will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.

Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. The giving of alms is one way to share God’s gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents.

Mass, with the imposition of ashes, will be celebrated in Catholic Churches throughout the Diocese of Toledo on Ash Wednesday (February 14) as well as at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo.

The Diocese of Toledo, established April 15, 1910, encompasses 8,222 square miles in a mixture of urban and rural areas and spans 19 counties across Northwest Ohio, serving approximately 320,000 Catholics in 122 parishes. The Diocese includes Allen, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot counties

POSTED: 02/12/24 at 9:53 am. FILED UNDER: Church

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CONVOY — The Convoy Methodist Church Valentine’s Day dinner will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday February 11, in the church fellowship hall.

The menu includes choice of baked steak or turkey, potato, salads, homemade desserts and drink. A freewill offering will be accepted. Please come and eat with us, no offering is too small or too large. Proceeds will go to support near by mission projects sharing the love of Jesus with others.

The church is located at the corner of North Main and Sycamore Streets in Convoy.

POSTED: 02/05/24 at 4:39 am. FILED UNDER: Church

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Join us for Van Wert community’s very first Handel’s “Messiah” Sing-Along to be held on from 7-8:30 p.m. Sunday, December 17, in First Presbyterian Church of Van Wert’s beautifully decorated sanctuary. The doors will open to the public at 6:15 p.m. Come to sing with us or come just to listen. There will be Messiah scores to borrow for anyone who would like to sing in the choir. If you would like to bring your own score, we are singing from the Schirmer/Spicker edition.

A “Messiah” Sing-Along, also known as a Scratch “Messiah” or The People’s “Messiah” is an informal performance in which the audience serves as the unrehearsed chorus, supported by a prepared core group. It is a come-as-you-are, casual evening of spiritual, historical and truly meaningful music.

The chorus will be seated in the front pews in their respective vocal groups while listeners may sit anywhere in the pews behind the chorus. Mr. Joel Trisel, Celina native and Bowling Green State University alumnus will be the director for our “Messiah” Sing-Along. Joel holds a master of music in vocal performance, a bachelor of music in music education and for the last eight years, has been the choral director for Celina City High School.

Familiar choruses such as, “For Unto Us a Child Is Born”, “Glory to God in the Highest”, and others will be sung throughout the evening with several featured soloists and ensembles that you won’t want to miss. In addition, organist Carol Zimmerman and pianist David VanTilburg will open the sing-along by performing the bombastic Messiah “Overture” and in the middle of the program will play the beautifully tranquil, “Pifa”- The Pastoral Symphony. We will end the sing-along with the famous, “Hallelujah Chorus”.

Featured soloists for the evening are: Shay Bolton, Sheila Chilcote-Collins, Mary Ann Falk, Kirsten Fuelling, Dee Hartsock-Fisher, Hannah Jones-Dresher, Mia Keirns, Anna Reichert, Joel Trisel, and the 16-member “In Spiritu” Women’s Ensemble.

FYI – There will be no stopping and/or re-starting choruses as it will be a “hold on to your hats and sing with wild abandon” night of glorious music. All are welcome. This is a wonderful way to celebrate and remember the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of our Lord, Christ’s passion and His promise of eternal life.

POSTED: 12/07/23 at 2:46 pm. FILED UNDER: Church

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Paul and Annette Hoverman will be ministering Christmas music with their musical talents and instruments at the Liberty Baptist Church, 501 E. Third Street, Van Wert, at the 10:45 a.m. worship service on Sunday, December 10.

Paul and Annette Hoverman

Paul and Annette have blessed hundreds of people in Ohio and other parts of our country with over 30 years of Paul’s church choir directing and trumpet performances along with Annette’s piano solos, accompanying choirs and singers. Paul has been actively involved in years of music education and Annette has operated a piano studio and instructed 100’s of students in piano for over 39 years.

The Liberty Baptist Church is located five blocks east of the Van Wert County Museum in the former Horace Mann School building. The public is invited to this event and it is free.

The church’s Senior Pastor, Jim Burns will share a brief Christmas message during the service.

For more information visit the church’s Facebook page.

POSTED: 12/07/23 at 2:37 pm. FILED UNDER: Church