Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MVBC's Japan mission team decided that it would not travel to Japan this December. Instead, we will now be participating in a "virtual" mission trip! Please join us on Sunday, December 5th from 7:00pm - 8:30pm for a ministry update and Q&A with the IMB Japan team, and Thursday, December 9th from 7:00pm - 8:30pm for a training on international missions and evangelism with the IMB Japan team. Both events will take place in the youth room and are open to anyone. If you have any questions, please contact Nathan Cross at nathan.s.cross98@gmail.com

If you are unable to join us in person, we welcome you to attend both events over Zoom. Please use the following information to connect virtually:

Meeting ID: 469 856 7895 or use this link.

Passcode: 5siMQD

When Pastor Darrell Carnley felt called to leave Mountain View in May, a pastor search team was created in accordance with our bylaws. After much prayer, discussion, surveys of the church, and more prayer, the team feels that God is calling our pastor of youth and evangelism - Charles Cutrera - to lead Mountain View as senior pastor.

On October 2nd, Charles accepted this decision, and signed the covenant, along with representatives of the trustees, deacons, and personnel stating that if the vote is successful, he will accept the call as Senior Pastor of Mountain View.

The church will hold a special-called business meeting on October 10th at 6:30 pm to vote on calling Charles as senior pastor.

Mountain View will start AWANA on September 1st! AWANA is a ministry focused on providing Bible-based evangelism and discipleship solutions for children.

AWANA meets Wednesday nights from 6:15 until 8:00. To register, click here. The AWANA calendar and fees can be viewed/downloaded below:

​Hi Fellow Parents!
As we prepare to resume in-person worship this Sunday, you may be slightly freaked out at the thought of having your kids sit through an entire worship service.  Rest assured. Your kids will not be the only ones acting like kids. For an example of this, please go back and watch last week’s live stream, where you can see my son pick his nose and wipe it on my shirt and later disappear underneath the pew chairs until I attempt to pull him out.
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Although I have clearly not mastered the art of eliciting perfect behavior from preschoolers (or elementary students), I would like to offer a few ideas for helping your kids genuinely participate in worship. After all, their spiritual growth and participation in church life is as vital as yours.

For those of you who do not plan to return to in-person worship services yet, most of these ideas will also be helpful for making the most of a livestream.

1. 1. Encourage your kids to join in singing. I’ve found it is easier to sing if you know the songs. To that end, we are planning to list the worship songs for each week in the e-newsletter that goes out on Wednesdays. I like to make a playlist of the songs as soon as I get them and then try to play them in the background once a day between Wednesday and Sunday (When I say “try,” I actually mean “forget about it until Saturday, and then play them four times to make up for it.” But playing them once a day would be great for you more organized people.) We also pick one of the songs as a family and sing it together for several days during our family worship time, so that our kids will have at least one song they are familiar with in the service.
   
2. 2. Encourage your kids to take notes during the sermon. Notes are more fun if they are in a special notebook, with a special pen (or markers!), or if they look like a comic strip. Drawing pictures is a wonderful form of notetaking. We plan to resume note-taking packets for the service soon, although you will probably need to print them at home. We are looking at making them available as a download from our website and sending the link out in our church announcements. We also hope to add a packet for younger children.
   
3. 3. Have your kids bring their Bibles. Consider bookmarking the passage ahead of time (this week is 1 Samuel 13-14). Those who can read will be able to follow along. Those who can’t will still feel like they’re following along. I let my kids use a highlighter to highlight the sentence or verse that stands out the most to them in the sermon. Then, we talk about what we highlighted and why (yes, I do it, too!). This means that my youngest has highlighted the entire chapters of 1 Samuel 11-13, line by line. It makes him feel like a “big kid;” it keeps him quiet; it develops his fine motor muscles; it makes his Bible special; and he usually wants me to read to him what he highlighted. I’d say that’s a win.
   
4. 4. Pick a quiet activity your kids can do when they’re not doing any of the above things, and make that activity “Sunday only.” I personally really like sticker-by-number books (also called paint-by-sticker). My kids are allowed to do one picture each week (so they don’t use up the whole book too fast). Melissa and Doug make some of these as well as other sticker activities that would be great for worship services. My rule for activities during the worship service is that my kids ears still have to be listening even if their hands are busy (so I stray away from reading books and playing on screens, other than letting my youngest push numbers on my phone’s calculator).
   
5. 5. Give your kids a snack and have them use the bathroom right before you leave home. Being physically comfortable makes it a lot easier to sit still!
   
6. 6. Relax. This is a difficult time for everyone, including kids. I think most of us recognize that. No one should think badly of you as a parent because your kids don’t know how to behave during a global pandemic when they’re asked to go back to a church service they haven’t been to in three months. But if someone is critical, try to give that person grace, too. Stress tends to bring out the sin in sinners. God is giving you an opportunity. An opportunity to be compassionate. An opportunity to listen. An opportunity to forgive. An opportunity to please God rather than man. An opportunity to love your neighbor…and your kids. Let’s not expect perfection from anyone but Jesus.
   

Times of transition are difficult. But God uses transitions to get us where He wants us to be. How will He use this transition to help your family grow closer to Him? How will He use this to make discipling your children a priority for you?
We’re in this together.
 
Melissa Cutrera

Although we have sent out email reminders, we wanted a more visual way to let you know how we are going to safely phase back into worshiping in person.

The below PDF shows our current plan. As always, let us know if you have any questions.

The PMC Steps for Life will still be May 16th, but will be a bit different. The video below from Tammy Leake will explain.