Get your Lenten observance off to a good start at Grace's Ash Wednesday services on Wednesday, February 21 at noon or 7:00 pm.

The youth of the Diocese are participating in an Exodus weekend at Grace this weekend. You are invited to dinner and worship with the Exodus Youth on February 17 starting at 6:00 pm.

Immediately following the dinner at 7:00 pm will be a small group discussion with members of the congregation.

After the group discussion, the worship will begin. It will go all the way to 11:00 pm but people may leave at any time. The worship consists of different hands-on stations promoting spiritual thinking and prayer.

All are welcome and we hope to see you there. Please bring a dessert to share at dinner. If there are any questions please contact Zack Cornelissen at zcornelissen@ yahoo.com.

What a difference a year makes! You can read all about it in articles about the Annual Meeting which have been posted online. The Annual Report is both a documentation and a celebration of the events of our past year. The printed version was beautifully made up by Jim Edgy and is available for keeping or mailing to friends or relatives.

Read the Annual Meeting report online here.

Read the meeting minutes here.

Our volunteers are doing a great job under the direction of Carol Lyon but we must still pay for the flowers. If you wish to memorialize or honor a person or event, sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board by the upper Belmont Door.

The Episcopal Church Women at Ascension and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Wyoming invite you to their February 21 luncheon at noon. Their guests, VJ and Russ Schuster, will show their multi-media presentation, The Psalms. Bring a salad to share. Drinks and dessert will be served.

Jim Edgy and Allen Reed attended a conference presented by Andrew D. Weeks on Jan 19th and 20th, held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chillicothe. The conference was sponsored by The East Region of The Diocese of Southern Ohio. One hundred and four people attended the Saturday session.

The conference was titled The Magnetic Church: Practical evangelism to help your own church attract, welcome and retain new members. Mr. Weeks, a gifted lay evangelist and a humorous, inspiring speaker presented many ideas on the "nuts and bolts" of attracting and retaining new members.

Some of the ideas we hope to institute at Grace in the near future are:

• clear labelling of our entrances for visitors,
• a welcome brochure,
• a greeting ministry.

The conference was so successful that the Diocese is considering presenting it in the fall, in Cincinnati. All Grace members are encouraged to attend if this happens.

Article contributed by Allen Reed.