Dear Editor:
VOLUNTEERS WITH A SERVANT’S HEART
In the last few weeks we have been celebrating the generous and hardworking volunteers that contribute so much to our community. Like so many of these people the following workers have acted with a servant’s heart to a higher power and purpose.
On April 11 the Centre Wellington Branch of the Canadian Bible Society (CWBCBS) had another very successful annual fund-raising dinner at the Alma Bible Church with 185 guests attending.
Planning started a year in advance by deciding on & confirming speaker, praise team, & location. These and other details for the evening were refined by the diligent work of the executive of the CWBCBS at their monthly meetings throughout the year. Then they work feverishly in the weeks prior selling tickets, purchasing table decorations, picking up table cloths, preparing displays, programs and place mats. On the day of the dinner many hours were spent setting up and preparing the tables & chairs, decorations and displays. The executive then rolled right into greeting, hosting and leading an evening of praise and worship. After the guests left, these hard working people continued late into the evening putting everything away and cleaning up the church. Some worked well into the night washing table cloths which had to be used the following day at another gathering.
Other servants that worked hard for this evening are the men and women of the Alma Bible church catering group who worked all day preparing and serving a delicious meal (roast beef and mashed potatoes, mm-mmm good) not to mention purchasing all the supplies in the weeks prior. The Hilltop Singers, a chorus of 35-40 men from the community, practiced for three months in preparation and then delighted all with their worship and praise renditions which were sung A cappella. The speaker, Rev. Don Miller, Director of Canadian Ministries for the CBS, who travelled all the way from Ottawa, demonstrated his love of God and the holy bible though his passionate stories and reports on the CBS works across Canada and around the world.
Thanks to: the volunteer work of these servants, the generous contributions from the guests, as well as the generous support from 18 business in our community; well in excess of $5,000 was raised to help provide 1000 new testaments and 10,000 gospels of John (in the four official languages) for the Pan Am games in Toronto this summer. All of those mentioned above share in this mission of the hope to bring others to the lifesaving Word of God.
Those that humbly volunteer with a servant’s heart as mentioned above, join the ranks of similar workers that have also followed the example Christ gave us so many years ago.
John Agar, Chair CWBCBS
John Agar