HELLO CHURCH FAMILY!
I, along with my husband, Bryant, am so honored and excited to begin this journey with you as your new pastor. I am passionate about building community, sharing God's Word, and walking alongside each of you in faith and service.
I look forward to getting to know each of you and your families, worshipping together, serving together, and discovering all the ways God is calling us to grow! My door and heart are always open! Pastor Tennille and Bryant Alexander
WORSHIP TIME CHANGE:
Beginning on Sunday, July 6th our Sunday morning service will begin at 9:30am. This coincides with Pastor Tennille Powers’ first Sunday at Rockport.
On the 1st Sunday, July 6th, there will be a welcome breakfast beginning at 9am to meet Pastor Tennille. Immediately after our 9:30am service, Pastor Tennille will need to depart for our cooperative-parish service at North Olmsted United Methodist Church.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on July 6th as we welcome Pastor Tennille to Rockport. Jim Leitch, Chair, SPRC
THE CHURCH OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED
on Thursday, July 3rd and Monday, July 7th for vacation days for Sara, as well as, Friday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day! For any Pastoral emergencies please call the church office, messages will be checked daily.
A NOTE FROM PASTOR DON:
I am grateful for the kind words and affirmations I received on my last Sunday. Blessings, Don Kraps
DINNER & A MOVIE
investigated documented accounts of people who experienced “After Death.” Good people, good food and thought provoking. Join us Aug. 2 at 6:00pm for another great movie experience. Sign-up sheet is posted.
PRAY & BIKE OPPORTUNITIES:
Thursday, July 17 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Meet at the Church Parking Lot (Weather Permitting). Join us for a time of scripture-focused prayer for our community and church, followed by a refreshing bike ride! All are welcome—let’s pray and exercise together!
Bike Route Options: Lake Erie Metroparks
ADULTS: YOUTH MISSION DAY FOR YOU!!!
The youth will be serving you during our July Mission Weekend! PLEASE sign up after worship the next few weeks (or email your needs) for Saturday, July 26th - we will be working between 10:30 am and 6 pm… we will work out our route and let you know a ballpark time we will arrive.
We will be working in 35 min intervals - but if you have a greater need, please let us know! We may be able to make some arrangements at a different time/day.
Rockport supports the youth and children all year round and we like to give back to you!
COMING THIS FALL:
The Chosen Season 5 is coming to Rockport! Be watching for dates and details!
GRADUATES!
If you have a graduate from high school, college, or trade school, please let us know! We will be recognizing all graduates at our Youth Sunday Worship in July.
YOUNG ADULTS!
UMYF ALUMNI! WE WILL be meeting in July, August, & September, and other dates through 2025! Be watching your texts and social media for info! We hope you can join us for FOOD & catching up!
CHAT & CHEW! Lunch & Chat Adult Discussion Group!
Come and join us! Bring your lunch and enjoy your food AND a great discussion! We will explore various topics in the church and Bible. 12 to 2 p.m.! July 21st - We will see you at noon! August 18th - We will see you at noon!
BOOK CLUB:
Please join us July 16th @7:00pm at Lisa Kay’s house (please call office for address) for our next book club. We are going back to the classics and reading "Anne of Greene Gables." “This 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery is written for all ages. Set in the late 19th century, the novel recounts the adventures of an 11-year-old orphan girl Anne Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.” Hope to see everyone on July 16th for food, fun, fellowship, and discussion.
ROCKPORT MUSIC MINISTRY:
This summer please consider signing up to do special music during worship while the choir is off. Sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board. In Service, Susan Shick, Director of Music /Organist cell,440-364-9672.
BOTTLE CAPS!
The Youth Group are collecting bottle caps for a mission project. The plastic kind - for example, 2 liter and 16/20/24 oz bottles.
During these past weeks we have been asking you, the congregation, to collect bottle caps, and we are providing the boxes to collect them with to make it easier. (courtesy of Dave Stephan! THANK YOU!) You can grab one on your way out of the church on the Christian Ed table in the hallway… We have been asking to collect these caps in order to create our own bench, fully from the caps we have collected. This bench will signify how recycling can be seen and the process. This bench will be placed in a chosen location on the church grounds. Along with these recycled caps, we will also accept donations to use towards the processing of the caps to the bench. Through our collective efforts we will eventually have a product that can be enjoyed by everyone.
You can find the acceptable caps and lids list posted on the table with the boxes, and also above. We will be collecting THROUGH MOST OF THE SUMMER! Thank you!
The link for information…
https://www.greentreeplastics.com/abc-program/
COFFEE HOUR:
Please consider hosting coffee hour and sign-up on the bulletin board. Fellowship is so important to the life of the church and why not have a little snack at the same time!
GOOGLE DRIVE REMINDER:
April 2025 Church financials can be found Here
or get a hard copy in the church office.
REMINDER:
Office hours are Monday-Thursday 8:00 - 2:00pm and Fridays from 8:00 - 1:00pm.
Rev. Don's office hours are Tuesday and Thursdays from 11:00 - 1:00pm
DISTRICT NEWS: www.eocumc.com/northernwaters
Giving Thanks is one of the marks of discipleship, a form of prayer, and an encouragement to those who hear the words, “Thank You!” To all the people of the Northern Waters District, I say, thank you! The gratitude goes well beyond the lovely cards and generous gifts you have given me in saying farewell. I have been touched and blessed by the way you have received me and in how we have worked together these past three years. You are lovely and wonderful followers of Jesus.
In saying goodbye to congregations and districts it has been my practice to ask for forgiveness. I apologize to anyone I have harmed by what I have said, done, or not said, or not done. I know there are things and people I have missed.
In a similar manner, please know that I freely forgive any who may have harmed me. We are all followers of Jesus. Forgiveness and gracious mercy are the ways of Jesus and how we live.
You are better people, better congregations, and better disciples of Jesus Christ than what any report can ever reveal. The hope I experience when I see so many faithful followers of Jesus doing extraordinary things in very difficult circumstances is amazing. New life and great faithfulness can be seen all over this district. Continue with the simple direction of Jesus to, Love Your Neighbor, and you will remain on the path of faith.
Peace,
Bruce
CONFERENCE NEWS: https://www.eocumc.com
Rise Up, Beloved
Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
for the Transformation of the World
It was a joy meeting many of you during Annual Conference 2025. I am thankful for each of you and for your faithful ministries. You welcomed me as your bishop and a servant leader among you. I want to give all my thanks and joy to the Lord.
The West Ohio Annual Conference and the East Ohio Annual Conference were sacred gatherings where we prayed for each other and worshipped together. We reported on business and ministry guidelines of the Conferences, approved the budgets for 2026, decided on future vision arrangements, and voted on the items supporting the Constitutional Amendments of the General Conference. Together, we experienced a beautiful communion of business, worship, prayer, social engagement and unity.
In my first year as your bishop, I have asked much from you, and I am deeply grateful for your efforts. While we have some staff serving the one Ohio Episcopal Area, we are still two separate annual conferences – East Ohio and West Ohio – and most of our staff are employees of one Conference or the other. Each Conference has its own unique histories, practices, procedures, systems, and cultures. This is not only all right, but also necessary.
The time for reviewing and designing a new future will come through the work of the Ohio Episcopal Area Task Team, which will soon expand to many teams each focused on specific areas. We claim it as a movement of prayer and innovations. Until then, depending on the work to be done and the events to be hosted, sometimes we will use the platforms and processes of one specific Conference, and sometimes we will use them from both Conferences.
I believe that the Christian community, the annual conference, is best when it creates a culture of unity where everyone cooperates and trusts from the bottom up and communicates fluently east, west, south, and north. I pray that the East Ohio and West Ohio Conferences will continue to learn from each other step-by-step, inviting each other and adding the best faith and friendship to each other, so that we can grow the Church and reverse the decline in number of churches and professing members.
The advice of Moses' father-in-law Jethro in Exodus 18 is the most appropriate spiritual guidance for our reality. It is to expand each other's territory, to divide the expertise of effective organizations and Orders, and to form a vibrant ministry team where more people dedicate themselves to the expansion of God's kin(g)dom. Through that discipleship, joy is reaped, and lives are transformed.
We see this in our local churches, where clergy and laity leaders are dividing responsibility among themselves and doing their best to spread the Gospel of Jesus to the world. In this urgent reality, more church members are committed to the Gospel and laypeople are making disciples as church volunteers and in their professional work setting rather than overburdening pastors.
The Church urgently needs to once again testify to the fundamental discipleship and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we need to learn from each other and gather strength for the responsibility of discipleship. To move us toward that reality, I have asked several directors and staff members in East and West Ohio to do work for both conferences. It will be challenging, but it is important work as we strive to reach new people for Christ.
Fresh Starts & New Beginnings, Discipleship, and Next Generation Ministries are expanding with visionary efforts from both East and West Ohio. Camps & Retreat Ministries will be enhanced, and Laity Ministries will be expanded. Our two Conferences will reaffirm the importance of Sunday School programs, regardless of the size of our local congregations, and will celebrate the positive impact the ministry can have on future generations. We will work together to expand small group ministries through the Word and prayer and raise up leaders.
It is a joy to learn through prayer that the Church’s position is maturing honestly through confession and repentance, and that we can become one in the same Great Commission despite our different theological positions and our thoughts and beliefs on many topics. Let us exclude no one as we live out our mission of The United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In doing so, may we, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously.
In closing, I remind you of these words from my sermon during both Annual Conferences this month:
“Let us now experience again the fervent work of the Holy Spirit, who overcomes the power of darkness that binds us and rises to overcome the pain of separation and dis-unity. Let us proclaim to the world that Jesus is our life, our pride, our salvation, our everything, and call upon Jesus with all our might. Jesus, here!
I thank the Lord every day as I encounter stories of Ohio history, church tradition, and brilliant missions. I invite you to embrace the power and transformation of Jesus working in Ohio. Jesus calls us to rise again. Let us say in the name of Jesus that we are all beloved people. Let us declare that we are a beautiful people of God where no one can be bound, no one can be discriminated against, and no one can be rejected. We rise up with abundance in the face of scarcity; courage in the face of fear; generosity in the face of greed, and peace-living in the face of violence.”
