Happy Anniversary - 20 Years of Valley Peeks!

Valley Peeks, the monthly newsletter of Valley Bible Evangelical Free Church in Haddam, Connecticut is celebrating 20 years of continuous publishing. That does not rival the Hartford Courant but it is good for us.

The church Pastor John pastored in Nebraska published a monthly newsletter. He was asked to begin one here. So soon after he began to pastor at Valley, the first "Peeks" was published. Happy 20th anniversary!

A couple of notes about Valley Peeks may be helpful.

1) The name is "Valley PEEKS" not valley peaks. The latter would not make sense since "valley" means low and "peaks" means high. But "Valley Peeks" makes sense in Pastor John's warped sense of humor sort of way. It is designed to give the body of the church looks, or "peeks" into what is going on at the church both in the past for celebration and in the future for planning. (It would not be surprising to learn that the Hartford newspaper has a similar misunderstanding of its name.)

2) The approach of the newsletter is intended to explain the philosophy of what is going on in the church rather than to merely be a repeat of the bulletin or the church calendar. That is where Peeks fits into the communication tools of the church. The calendar gives dates and events. The bulletin tells a little more about what will happen at those events and the newsletter tells more why we are holding those events and how they fit into the purpose of the church "to be and to make disciples of
Jesus Christ." For example, the calendar may have on February 26, "Annual Business Meeting – 7:00pm." The bulletin will announce under "Future Events," "February 26th at 7:00pm – Annual Church Business Meeting." The newsletter will explain that the meeting is to celebrate what God has done at and through the ministries of Valley Bible Church over the past 12 months. It will also explain the details of the very important votes that evening, to adopt a new set of bylaws for the church and also to approve the church 2010 annual budget. Those are three different approaches to encourage members and friends to join us for that very important evening.

3) Up until last year the newsletter was mailed out not only to those who are a part of the Valley Bible Church family but to other family members and friends across the country and to our missionaries around the world. We have often heard back that they appreciate being kept up to date on what the Lord is doing here in South Central Connecticut on the hill in the valley. Last year we began posting it on the church website, vbefc.org. We hope it draws people to the website and also increases the availability as a tool of communication.

So when you receive the notice that the new version of Valley Peeks is published, we hope you will take the time to look at it. It is not so much about what and who we are but Who God is and what he is doing here at Valley Bible Church and through us to the ends of the earth.