Dearest Faith Community Near and Far- I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. For us, it felt like a Saturday in the middle of the week. It was great. Also, enjoy the weekend. Please stay hydrated if you are going to be outside.  First, we want to make sure we are all ready for hurricane season…Here is a great website to check out to be as prepared as possible: https://www.noaa.gov/hurricane-prep.Second, everything is feeling closer and closer to being ready to fully move indoors…WE WILL GATHER FOR WORSHIP IN THE SANCTUARY BEGINNING JULY 9, 2023!  Again, not everything is completed and it is a bit messy right now, but it’s just too hot to be outside. We will still need to do some set up and breakdown each week, but hopefully in the next couple weeks, we won’t have any more to do!  Third, our goal for worship tomorrow is to laugh together. So bring some jokes to share!  Fourth, here are some details on updates this past week and the things to come. 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:A new exterior door was installed in the kitchen. This will give us easier access to the dumpsters. But with cutting into the cinder block, it caused a huge amount of dust to do everywhere. More shelves were built this past week and more to come. The supply closet by the offices were cleaned out and will be put back together in a week. The epoxy flooring will be installed in the kitchen the week of July 10th. Shelves for the kitchen pantry are arriving as well.Our new ice machine was delivered this week and we are fine-tuning the details with the plumber for the kitchen. And getting ready to finalize the order for all kitchen stuff. Once the shelves are done, I think baseboards are next. We are still expecting the carpet to be shipped this upcoming week and install the week fo the 17th…meaning, we will fully be in the sanctuary on July 23rd and won’t have to do anything except set up breakfast for church!Fourth, I will be heading to Cedarkirk this week with Nate and Cecilia.  We are all excited about our week at camp. I’ll be the worship leader for the camp and the kids will have the best time ever! I’ll be available via phone, text, and email as well. Fifth, worship will be from my phone. The acoustics are horrible. Without carpet in the sanctuary, it is hard to hear one another in the building and online. We apologize for this, but it is only during the transition timeframe. Everything should be up and ready for worship on July 23.  Praying everyone had blessed weekend! The many moving parts continue, but everything is coming together. Which is truly an answered prayer!  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, July 9, 2023
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Breakfast Church & Worship @ 9:30am
with going Live on Facebook around 10 am
IN THE SANCTUARY 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, July 9, 2023, at 9:30 amHoly Communion The Great Church Chill Out: Laugh Out Loud Proverbs 17:22 and Psalm 126 Join us IN THE SANCTUARY 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 July 11 Wintergarden Wordies on Zoom at 1pmJuly 18 Homeless Coalition meal at 4:30pm July 27 CNS Care N Share (Every fourth Thurs.) July 28 Family Fun Night (Last Friday of every month)

With Pastor Devon’s sabbatical just around the corner, we thought we would take a moment and introduce you to Pastor Syl and his wife Betania. Syl is the new pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Port Charlotte. Since he is part-time, we have been able to work it out for Syl to lead us during Devon’s sabbatical. Syl’s first Sunday will us will be August 27th. Prior to Syl joining us, Rev. Melana Scruggs will preach and Rev. Karen Wismer. Hopefully Syl can come join us on a Sunday before Devon leaves so everyone can meet him. We are excited and blessed that Syl will be with us during this time. Below is a bit more about Pastor Syl.  The Reverend Silvio Esteves or just Pastor Syl (like the first part of Silver) is a native of Brazil, although, he holds two citizenships. One from Brazil and another one from Spain, since his family came to Brazil from that country. Because of that, he can speak fluently Portuguese and Spanish.Pastor Syl began his studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Georgia, passing through the prestigious McGill University (considered to be the Harvard of Canada), and graduating with a Master of Divinity from the Presbyterian College in Montreal. He also holds a Master of Theology from Tyndale University in Toronto Syl was then ordained by the Presbyterian Church in Canada.He is married to Betania. Add an “a” to the end of “Bethany” and that is how you can say her name. Betania is also from Brazil and they have two sons, Gabriel (25) and Pedro (21). Syl and his family lived for almost six years on Canada’s French-speaking side. Nonetheless, they are not strangers to the US, having lived here for many years, more specifically in Atlanta, the towns of Crested Butte in Colorado, and Sun Valley, Idaho.Syl and Betania love to take long walks and meet new people. They are both delighted they can be part of Wintergarden during Pastor Devon’s sabbatical and are looking forward to meeting the people in our church.You can see more of Pastor Syl at Facebook.com/SylEstevez or Instagram.com/SylEstevez/.

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,  July 10, 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: Psalm 62:1-8 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)