Spring Grants '24

A number of churches were awarded ABCOPAD Grants during the Spring Cycle.

Pastor Jonathan Yohannan and Exton Community Baptist Church received a grant check from ABCOPAD to support their Vacation Bible School outreach to the growing Asian community around them. Two years ago, Pastor Jonathan arrived to respond to God’s call to lead ECBC in their visionary efforts to reach their new Asian neighbors.

Pastor Jeff Evans and New Hope Baptist Church received a grant to assist with the purchase of much needed technical assistance for their music ministry. New Hope is one of two churches that recently joined the Central Union Association. They recently built a new gymnasium to better serve their community.

Pastor Randall Harris and Youth Pastor Nicole Skinner received a grant on behalf of the region to assist the great work that Siloam Baptist Church of Norristown is doing with their young people. Pastor Harris came several years ago to serve as Siloam Baptist’s transitional pastor and the place has caught fire spiritually!

An ABCOPAD Grant was delivered to the congregation at Royersford Baptist Church. While Pastor Sarah was on vacation, Office Manager, Jillian Dietrich received the check. This grant will help them upgrade their live-streaming efforts for worship and special events.

Minister Stephen Blum, as the Campus Outreach Coordinator of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, was grateful for funding to aid in reaching out to its surrounding college student population. Many events are being planned. But I am most excited to attend their taste fest, which will include foods from many countries.

Pastor Howard Irwin and the Woodlawn American Baptist Church utilized the grant funds to purchase a professional keyboard with many bells and whistles to accompany their worship services. They also added new monitors so that the praise band could better hear each other.

Rev. Dr. David Hardin accepted two grant checks for the ministries of the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem. The congregation is moving forward in building their afterschool ministry and clubs in their local schools. They also oversee Camp Icthyus - and are building a new shooting range at the camp. We pray that God will use both of these ministries to lead students to Jesus.

Pastor Eric Kraihanziel accepted a grant from ABCOPAD. Pastor Eric does a lot of work for ABCOPAD and the ACTS program with AV technology, and this grant will help upgrade equipment to keep up with changing technology. Thanks for all you do Eric!

Rev. Dr. Kevin Walden, interim at Thrive Community Church, accepted an ABCOPAD grant. The church will use the money to purchase a new video camera and other equipment to greatly enhance their livestream. They've discovered that many would-be visitors to churches begin 'visiting' online before they ever walk in the doors and want to use every opportunity God gives them to share the Gospel.

Thanks, Pastor Bob

On June 30th Pastor Bob Mooney retired from Pursley Baptist Church after more than 20 years of service. Pastor Bob and his wife Helen were honored during the worship service. Also during the service, a young family had their daughter dedicated. The church offered Pastor Bob and Helen special gifts crafted from stained glass harvested during recent repairs to the church windows. It was a great day of celebration and rejoicing as the church family recognized the many years of service to Jesus and the Pursley Community.

Blest Be The Tie

Pastor Ken Webster at Lower Providence Baptist Church reports:

The Audubon Christian Fellowship (a Chinese congregation) is sharing some of our space at Lower Providence. Yesterday we had a combined worship service. For communion, Pastor Wha-Chi Wang and I presented the elements, me in English, and he in Chinese. To say that it was an awesome morning of worship and fellowship would be an understatement. After communion, we joined hands around the sanctuary and sang the first verse of Blessed Be the Tie That Binds with the lyrics projected in Chinese. To hear it with the combined voices and languages was super powerful. We’ve done this a couple of times in the past, but with the inclusion of communion, it was truly special.”

Kennywood '24

Picnic Time

It was one hot Sunday afternoon when the Ten Mile Association had their summer picnic. Around 75 people braved the heat for a catered lunch. There were 6 churches represented from the association. All enjoyed the water games, bounce house, sidewalk chalk. It was a great time to spend time just hanging out, catching up with one another and laughing together.