Encounter Church, located at 601 South Patton Road in Great Bend, hosted a Chamber Coffee Hour on Thursday at its Life Coffee Shop.
Pastor Jake Newman invited the public to several upcoming events, including the final Sunday worship service led by longtime Pastor Dwight Dozier, at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 12.
Newman has been at Encounter Church for nearly three years. On Nov. 1, 2020, he started as the youth pastor. That position is being taken over by Andrea Mckiearnan.
This Friday, Sept. 15, is Nerf and Nachos Night, from 6-8 p.m. in the gym. Kids in grades 1-6 and their parents should bring their own safety glasses. They can also bring their favorite Nerf gun and prepare for battle. Darts will be provided and the church will also have some Nerf guns available.
This Sunday, Sept. 17, is Friends & Family Sunday. Church starts at 10:30 a.m. as usual and there will be free root beer floats following the service.
The following Sunday, Sept. 24, Food Truck Sunday gets underway at 12:15 p.m.
There will be several food trucks: TK’s BBQ Wagon, Flatlanders Pizza, Lana’s Catering and MC’s Lemonade Stand, as well as the Encounter Youth & Kids Dessert Food Truck and homemade Mexican food from the Assembly of God Hispanic church. There will be inflatables and yard games, too.
“So even if you go to church somewhere else, you’re welcome as soon as church is out, just come over here,” Newman said. “We’re going to have a great time. We love doing things like that – just getting together for fellowship. Our vision for the future is to do more things for the community to keep reaching out and help Great Bend in any way that we can. We’re not just here to be a meeting place or a just a place for people to come sit and hang out. We’re not a social club; we are a church and we need to help people that are down, we want to help people that are hurting.”
Coffee with a purpose
The church served Seven Weeks Coffee. It is available in the coffee shop on Sunday mornings by the cup or in packages.
“It’s called Seven Weeks because that’s when a fetus has a heartbeat that can be heard and they’re the size of a coffee bean,” Newman said. Seven Weeks Coffee is a self-described “pro-life coffee movement.” Ten percent of the purchase price supports the Moment of Grace Pregnancy Medical Clinic at the Dream Center in Great Bend.
Remodeling project
The church’s coffee shop opened in April as part of an ongoing updating of the facilities.
“We’ve been under construction literally since I got here Day One and walked in,” Newman said. Pastor Dozier told him, “‘There’s a sledge hammer in the back; go get it and start tearing out your office.’ We started on that end and we’ve been working our way this way. The sanctuary is now carpeted; we’ve got new chairs that replaced our pews ... Everything looks great; the concourse all around has been carpeted and remodeled. We’re really pumped about what God’s doing here at Encounter Church. If you don’t have a church home, I would love for you to consider making Encounter Church your church.”
Sunday services start at 10:30 a.m., Sunday school is at 9:30 a.m. On Wednesday, there is a free meal at 5:30 p.m., with Wednesday night discipleship programs and Bible studies, teen services and services for kids all starting at 6:30 p.m.
