November 29, 2025
Hello Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,
Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to you all!
I hope you have been having some great times of connection with people you love around delicious food as our nation pauses to thank the Lord for another year of abundant provision and blessing.
Thank You For Serving at The Meal in the Park
A bunch of you came out to join Convicted for Christ on Friday as we together provided a delicious Thanksgiving Feast and generous portions of love to our unsheltered neighbors at Fireside Park. I saw today that they produced a short highlight reel that you can watch by clicking on this picture:
or just click here: https://youtu.be/yTLj_T9yDcE?si=IA3AvHhUVfsKCCzw
(I did have a little trouble with publishing this video, so if it doesn’t work, check back soon, cuz I’ll probably be told about it and come back and fix it!)
THANK YOU to all who prepared delicious Thanksgiving food and to all who came out and served our neighbors. It was a beautiful day.
Cultivating the Blessings of Advent
Advent begins this Sunday. Many of you will know that Christians all over the planet celebrate the season of Advent by focusing on 4 special themes each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day. Those themes are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. You see in the picture here 5 candles which are also part of the tradition. Each candle is a particular color and represents one of the four themes. The 5th candle is the white one, and it represents Jesus Christ.
Well, it occurred to me that Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love are the very blessings that make up an Abundant Life. My plan is to open up the Bible for the next four Sundays and learn how we can cultivate each of these blessings, not just for the Advent season, but for a lifetime of abundant living. I hope you’ll all be able to join us each week. If you can’t be with us in person for worship tomorrow morning you can join us online on Zoom with this link Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814 and you can also find our livestream on Facebook Live at facebook.com/gracevcf.
Advent Meditations from Practicing The Way
Here’s a resource for each of us for the Advent Season. It’s a booklet with meditions for each of the 4 themes of Advent. Check it out by clicking here: Advent+Meditations+2025. I’ll also have a printout of these available for you in the lobby on Sunday morning.
Last Week’s Sermon With Snake Was Awesome
Last Sunday, Snake finished off our series on Return from Exile, asking the question, “Where’s Your Egypt”. This one is definitely worth hearing again, so here it is on our Gracetalks.org podcast and our YouTube channel:
Here’s some of the happenings coming up that you’ll want to know about:
Help Us Decorate Grace Vineyard for Christmas
We’ll need help (from men and women) decorating the church for Christmas on Sunday, November 30th after church. Please let Kim Ohst know if you can help 760.519.4558. Several folks came out on Saturday to get about half the decorating done, but we need a bunch more to help us on Sunday afternoon after church. Good news: we’re planning on buying you all pizza.
Women’s Christmas Luncheon Saturday, December 13
Saturday, December 13th we’ll have our Women’s Christmas Luncheon at the church from 11am-2pm. We’ll enjoy lunch together, have carols and worship and a message. Shannon Frye will be speaking on “Expect the Unexpected”. Cost is $20. We’ll need help setting up on Friday, December 12th. We’ll also need people to bring soups and desserts and to host tables. We are asking people to donate toiletries like Deodorant, razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair brushes, hair ties, lotion, chapstick for the FRC ladies. Please call Kim Ohst for more details or sign up at the table in the lobby beginning November 22nd.
Coat, Sweater and Shoe Collection for Mom 2 Mom kids and moms
Christmas Party Potluck on December 21st
Please mark your calendars for Sunday, December 21, at 5pm. Our church seems to LOVE potlucks, and we do them really well. We are planning on having a Christmas Party Potluck at 5pm on Sunday, December 21. We’ll have sign-ups soon, but for now, just plan on being here, and start thinking about what deliciouis dish you’ll be bringing. Some Christmas baking would be nice in addition to the main and side dishes!
Open Call for Grace Vineyard’s 2025 Christmas Eve Production
Check out this important message from Ammee Huzil for a brand new Christmas Eve Production:
WHAT:
“A New Star” is a traditional telling of the nativity story through the “not-so-traditional” eyes of two stars. It’s a play (interspersed with music) and I am looking for actors and actresses (all ages) and support for set design, stage hands, costume, and sound and light production. If this makes you excited, and you would like to be involved — contact Ammee for all the details (keep reading for her email address).
TIME COMMITMENT:
We’ll have an open reading with those who are interested, and there will be rehearsing once a week up until Christmas Eve, you must be available for at least 60% of readings and rehearsals. I will also need stagehands, creative people, and sound support.
Please EMAIL Amy Huzil, Worship Director at: ammeepearl@gmail.com for information and audition/reading information.
I cannot wait to see how we can make this season special and create something beautiful together!
Vineyard USA Day of Giving, December 2
The Day of Giving is a fundraising event during which Vineyard USA invites supporters to celebrate what God has done through our family of Vineyard Churches and to invest in what God will do through us in the future. This day is dedicated to supporting our community’s efforts that help our churches partner with the Holy Spirit in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus in culturally relevant ways to the world around us. This year, the Day of Giving is Giving Tuesday, December 2, 2025. Proceeds from the Day of Giving will support Vineyard USA’s continued efforts to steward this family of churches for the next generation. This year, the funds will go toward operations with an emphasis on fortifying existing kids/youth programming and establishing new multi-year youth initiatives.
Here’s our national director, Jay Pathak, with a short video about the Day of Giving:
You can donate cash gifts (either online or via physical check), stocks and securities, and non-cash assets. Our partner National Christian Foundation (NCF) handles all cash gifts for Day of Giving. Our partner FreeWill handles gifts of stocks, securities, IRAs, DAFs, or cryptocurrency. Please note that while all proceeds go to Vineyard USA, your tax receipt will come from NCF or FreeWill.
Non-cash assets can be donated by contacting Vineyard USA Chief Development Officer Jason George at jason.george@vineyardusa.org.
Checks should be made payable to “National Christian Foundation” with Memo: Vineyard USA Fund #5051723 and mailed to:
National Christian Foundation Ohio
4182 Worth Ave., Space # L-115
That’s everything for this week’s Update. See you all Sunday morning for the first Sunday of Advent!
with blessings and love,
Ron Ohst
Tithes and Offerings Online
THANKS for taking ownership in the life and ministry of Grace Vineyard! And thanks to all of you who are stepping into a lifestyle of generosity with your tithes and offerings. It really does take all of us doing our part with the income God has entrusted to us for His church. If you’d like to give your tithe or offering online, click the donate button below. If you’re giving to a specific fund (like benevolence or missions), just be sure to say that when you are given an option to add a note with your donation.