Hello Folks,
This past week has been very busy as usual. Ruth and I took our 2 granddaughters to meet their father in Florence, Ky on Monday . They had stayed with us for about 3 weeks and we had a great time with them. I am thankful that they got to be with us. The oldest, Bailey, went to Wednesday night youth two times and enjoyed it greatly. She told us that she wished that she had a "church" like this to attend where she lived. Breanne enjoyed the children's church, Sunday p.m. and Wednesday night ministries for her age. I asked her and in her brief way she said that she liked it. I want to thank the congregation here for giving so much of themselves to make people like Bailey and Breanne to feel at home. It is that kind of atmosphere that attracts folks here.
Most of you probably know by now that we have had to make major changes in Noah's Ark. Due to the state of Tennessee providing pre-k at tax payer expenses and the ecomony our census had gone from about 75 this time last year to 46. We had to implement cost cutting measures to keep it alive. The congregation could not supplement their needs without endangering the rest of our ministries. As a cost cutting measure we released our Director, Sandy Gammon and 3 teachers. We also had to increase cost to parents by $5 a week per child and a couple other painful steps where employees are concerned. I regret that this took place but if we were to keep Noah's Ark we had to do those very things. We had no other options that we thought would be successful for us. I ask you to pray for the teachers and interim director, Barbara Ziliox, as we work to make Noah's Ark a ministry that is sustainable in our community.
Tonight we will be having our Annual Business meeting and attempting to give all the information I can about the state of the congregation. If you would like to read some of the reports they will be on our website and I hope they will be helpful to you. If you have any questions just let me know and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Yours In Christ,

Pastor H. G. Rudd