Dearest Faith Community Near and Far-

It is June! School is out! Summer is here! And it is hot…and then there are those tropical storms coming and it’s hurricane season again. BUT the rumor mill on the weather front is it will be a “light” hurricane season. We all pray so! But friends, do make sure you are prepared for Hurricane Season. Here is a great website to check out to be as prepared as possible: https://www.noaa.gov/hurricane-prep. For our summer sermon series, in June we will be looking at prayer and in July exploring rest. 

First, the past few weeks I have felt like a broken record about the building. But this past week so amazing! So if you haven’t been following the updates and improvements on Facebook, come check them out Sunday morning. Please follow us on Facebook for all the pictures.  Here are a few updates on construction highlights, updates, and property work. In addition, pictures are being posted on our Facebook page:

• The drywall, mud, texture, and paint are completed in the sanctuary! I seriously just wanted to watch the guys texture and paint the sanctuary this past week! It might have even brought tears to my eyes a few times. 
• The kitchen drywall, mud, texture, and paint are scheduled to be done June 3. Then drains and flooring and oven/stove and more!
• And the rest of the building will be completed after that. The team is still hoping to be completed by June 6. 
• On Sunday, we are creating our makeshift kitchen. We have a laundry sink in the kitchen, are putting the stove on the back wall, and adding in tables and shelving for our mission teams. Over the next couple of weeks, different components of the kitchen will be going in.
• This next week the flooring process will begin. Sanding the floor, installing the carpet in the closets, Kymmie’s office, and the media room. Then HVAC…then AV…then carpet…ARE YOU EXCITED???
• We are hitting that point where every week, we will be closer to getting back into the sanctuary. So I hope you will stop in and check to see the progress during the week and on the weekend. 

Second, mission teams begin arriving this week. On Sunday, we will have a team from Tampa working at the church in the garden on Sunday and volunteering in the pantry on Thursday. In addition, our mission team from Faith Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee will arrive on Sunday evening and working on homes in the community. 

Third, the directory went out in the PRAYER EMAIL. You will receive the PDF in this weeks prayer email. (Since those weren’t sent out, it will arrived last week again!) If you wanted a printed version, please email Devon at pastor@wintergardenpres.org. 

Fourth, with everything moving in a positive direction with the building, it has been agreed to that I will begin my sabbatical on July 31, 2023. The session is meeting on Sunday to work on the final stages of inviting our guest pastor for those 14 weeks. Please be praying for the right person to be with us during that time and for the session as we prepare for everything that lies ahead. 

Praying everyone had blessed weekend! Many moving parts continue, but everything is coming together. It is such an answered prayer! If you didn’t get a chance to write out your prayer, favorite scripture, or hope for our faith community, please do so on the stage this week. It will be your last chance to do so!  If you have any questions or wonderings or concerns, please let me know. Call, text, or email. Blessings to you all!

Much love, 
Pastor Devon
pastor@wintergardenpres.org 
(Also, I am still doing my best to observe Saturday as a Sabbath. I appreciate your help in doing this!)

Worship with Wintergarden
Sunday, June 4, 2023
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Breakfast Church & Worship @ 9:30am
with going Live on Facebook around 10am
Under the Tent and on Facebook Live
*Please bring a dish to share.
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How to access the bulletin:
Bulletin HERE
How to Access Services Online:
Join us on Facebook for Worship Services
https://www.facebook.com/wintergardenpres
Remember, you don’t need a Facebook Account
to join us for worship. 

You can also click HEREfor the Facebook link.

SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE

Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 9:30 am
Breakfast Church

Four Prayers that Don’t Work:
The Prayer for Enough Faith to Have No Need for Faith
Luke 17:5-10

Join us under the tent at 9:30 am for a time of Food, Fellowship, and Worship. Please bring a dish to share this Sunday. Also, if folks can come around 9:00 am to help set up for Breakfast Church it would be greatly appreciated!

Every Monday Lectio Divina Every Wednesday Food delivery Every Thursday Food Pantry 12-4pm June 6th Wintergarden Wordies on zoom at 1pm  June 20th Homeless Coalition meal at 4:30pm June 22nd CNS Care N Share (Every 4th Thurs.) June 29th Family Fun Night (Last Friday of every month)

Interested in reading with the Wordies? Contact Sue Healy by clicking HERE.  This group of readers meets every month on the first Tuesday at 1pm via zoom. The books that are read are wonderful, insightful, fun, poignant, and chosen by the group together. Its a time of conversation, laughs, and support. If interested, please reach out to Sue.

Facebook for Wintergarden Presbyterian ChurchFacebook for the Garden of Eatin’ at Wintergarden Presbyterian Church

Do you have a facebook account? If you do, I want to encourage you to like “Wintergarden Presbyterian Church” and “Garden of Eatin’.” Click on the blue circle with the “f” in it to access our two facebook pages. 

Why check out Wintergarden on Facebook? Well, a few months ago, Wendy started doing our Facebook marketing for social media. She spends a great deal of time creating posts, sharing our story, taking pictures, and telling folks about the exciting things happening at Wintergarden. For this, Pastor Devon is incredibly grateful!

One of the things we would love is YOUR help. Every day, Wendy puts up a new post. Then she shares it to her page and the Garden of Eatin facebook page. We would love to grow our audience even more, but it will take YOUR help. When something is posted on facebook, we would love for you to share it with your friends and family. This helps build our online presence and broadens our outreach to share about the amazing ministries and mission at Wintergarden. Oh, and you can share our worship services with others if you would like too. 

Truly, we need your help to connect with the wider community to build more and more excitement about “feeding people physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally in our community.”

FOOD PANTRY VOLUNTEERS NEEDEDPlease contact the church office at 941-743-5335 or email at foodpantry@wintergardenpres.orgIt is starting to warm up, which means we need to be able to rotate volunteers more frequently while outdoors. If you can come and give an hour or more, please talk with Kymmie and come join us.

Interested in joining our Garden? Garden of Eatin’ – Food Forest For more information click HERE.

At Wintergarden Presbyterian Church we’re eager to pray with you!   Please let us know how we can pray by submitting a Prayer Request online (link below). The prayer requests are emailed to Pastor Devon once submitted.

Prayer Request

Lectio Divina for Monday,  June 5, 2023All are welcome to join us as we continue to engage in the spiritual practice of Lectio Divina together as a community.  This Week’s Scripture: Luke 17:11-19 We will gather via Zoom for an intentional time of listening, reflecting, responding, and resting in the Word of God. We will meet on Mondays from 8-9 am.  Here are some details about Lectio Divina.  Lectio Divina, literally meaning “divine reading,” is an ancient practice of praying the Scriptures. During Lectio Divina, the person listens to the text of the Bible with the “ear of the heart,” as if he or she is in conversation with God, and God is suggesting the topics for discussion. There are four movements for Lectio Divina:  1. Lectio: (Listening to the Word of God or Reading God’s Word) 2. Meditation: (Reflecting on the Word of God) 3. Oratio: (Responding to the Word of God) 4. Contemplatio: (Resting in the Word of God) Here is the Zoom Link:  Join Zoom Meeting: Click HERE https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87832080869?pwd=TUxCRThUcEdRbTNTWmJ6emZRamUyZz09  Meeting ID: 878 3208 0869 Passcode: 396015 +16465588656,,87832080869#,,,,*396015# US (New York)