Recent Sabbaths

Sister Lourdes Cancel Adult Sabbath School Lesson



Interested students, Krassimira and Elinor


Eve Harper Gilkeson sharing her mission experiences in China

December was Wonderful at Athol

Happy New Year! Here are some shots of what has been happening of late at Athol Church... Enjoy!

My daughter never wants to miss Primary Sabbath School!


Victor Pohle of the Keene, New Hampshire Adventist Church spoke on December 12.


The Pohle sisters provided lovely music.


Gordon Lethbridge lead out in the Hymn Sing that evening.


December 19 was Christmas Sabbath and featured The Athol Adventist Singers. They were wonderful! Devon accompanied on the guitar that day.


Violet and Brenda with some Christmas fanfare!


"'Twas the Birthday of a King" The Rare Treat of a Classic First Tenor, The Seasoned Voice of Gordon Lethbridge.


"Silent Night" (Watch Mom kiss her boy at the end)



I was away on December 26 and January 2 when Victor Reyes-Prieto and Pastor Ruf preached respectively. On the 26th, I was the new "in" church for the GC brass, Spencerville SDA Church in Maryland. Here is a little of what happened there...

SS Teacher Russ Leach, Anne Willsey, and Pastor Steve Willsey talk about a mission project for Africa in Kindergarten SS class.


Spencerville Adventist Cathedral and Former AUC College Church Senior Pastor, Pastor Patrick Morrison gives the best Christmas sermon I have ever heard about how the spiritual elite missed the Lord's first coming and stand to make the same mistake regarding his second coming. We need to be watching continually!


Closing Hymn


All in all, I like Athol a whole lot better than a massive suburban church...

HAPPY 2010!!!

Thanksgiving for Our Church

At the start of Thanksgiving week, I want to thank God for our church family at Athol. We have been attending for just about 2 years, and we became members just last month.

We are excited about the future of our church as we look toward the soon return of our Lord. May God bless all our members, their friends, families, and community.

Thank you for welcoming us into the family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Assignment in D.C. and Athol Sermon Review

I recently decided to transfer my membership to Athol Church from the church I was raised and baptized in, Capital Memorial Church, on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. While I have attended a few churches over the years since I left Washington, I had never changed my membership because of my strong attachment. After all, my father was buried at this church, and there are It was kind of a childhood memory thing, so it took a while to make the decision.

On September 12, we spent the day at CMC visiting my old church family and emotionally preparing for the upcoming membership change. I spoke with many people about it, and they assured me that CMC would always be my home. But I am very happy to be at Athol!

The following is a chronicle of recent sermons at Athol (sorry, no more uploaded audio yet!) as well as a photo journal of a day in the nation's capital.

Let's see...

Yesterday, October 3, Pastor Ruf gave a very nice powerpoint presentation about the Bible and its reliability. I really enjoyed it.

Last week, September 26, we had a very interesting sermon by Ralph Diller, a local attorney, who spoke about how liberty and the true gospel go hand in hand.

On September 19th, Wellington Aguiar spoke about The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan within the realm of creation and science. He has recently written a book entitled, The Plot, which discusses the origin and demise of dinosaurs. You can email me if you would like a copy. (edward.a.rivera@gmail.com)

I missed September 12 when Johnny Johnson from Gardner SDA preached. We were in Washington, D.C. that Sabbath. Here are photos from our day in the nation's capital.

The Sanctuary at Capital Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church



The Dunners, also visiting, are European friends who used to work at the Swiss Embassy in Washington.


The National Zoo


The National Cathedral


Georgetown (Wisconsin Avenue)


Where the White House used to be until the mid-90s(behind the new trees and barriers to the right)


The Old Executive Office Building


Lincoln Memorial


Jefferson Memorial (my favorite)


Washington Monument


Smithsonian Institution


The United States Capitol


Although it is an impressive place, I couldn't live there anymore... Too many people! I am at home in the country now... Praise God!

Recently...

As the weeks continue to speed by, I thought I had better get some more pictures up before I get so overloaded I just throw in the towel on this blog...

Over the past few weeks, we have had some good sermons. We had Brother Fines Baez, a theology student from Atlantic Union College one week.

The following week we had a very dynamic preacher from Brazil. Pastor Nelson Rossi, Jr. brought his family, music, a great powerpoint presentation and message from the Lord. He talked about how the Adventist church began in Brazil. I did the translating (He spoke mostly in Portuguese, but he had our attention). Some folks couldn't hear the interpretation unfortunately, so that was bad.

Just this past weekend, Pastor Ruf spoke on the vineyard and harvest of the Lord. He told us that we should have a Christ-like view of the richness of the harvest even though our human view might try to convince us there is none. It was interesting.

I hope to get some more sermons up soon, but I have been terribly busy with school, etc. Meanwhile, here are some photos!

Back when it was hot...



After a lot of powerwashing...



Church Potluck at the Alner's



Lifestyle Matters Outreach



UPCOMING SPEAKERS AT ATHOL SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
9/12 Johnny Johnson
9/19 Wellington Aguiar
9/26 Ralph Diller
10/3 Pastor Ruf

Please come and join us!

Last Sabbath Together

The most precious thing a church has... Young people! These fellows spent their last Sabbath together for a while.

They have been together Sabbath after Sabbath for sometime. Just last year, Kelvin Bidwell, on the far right, went off to college. In just 4 days, young Andrew MacLean, on the far left, will be off to college himself. Peter and Kendall are still in high school, but their day is coming.



I thought you might want to take a look at these fine strong young men. I told Andrew he already looks like a professor! May their lives be in God's hands in the days ahead.

Here is Ernie's Sabbath School class.



Yours truly preached this Sabbath. I preached on the Sanctuary. Perhaps the sermon will be up one day!

Adding Sermons

One of the things that we have been wanting to do for a little while has been to get some of our church sermons on the internet. While it has taken some time, we are now beginning to get some of them up. It does take some time, but it will be worth it when it is done. Kind of like our church paint job!

Actually, there should be some more photos of the church paint job project coming soon. Ernest, Deane, and some others have been repairing some of the clapboard, and there has been some powerwashing going on as well.

Back to the sermons... This next batch of sermons (not sure how many) will actually contain the entire worship service. It is actually nice to listen to the entire service when you have time. It really gives you a better feeling for the personality of the church. We may go to just sermons in the future, though.

In any case, enjoy!