Mennonite Weekly Review

We honored 10 high school graduates on June 6. Turning the tassel were Allison Beitler, Ashton Cressman, Matthew Fox, Alex Habegger, Chelly Neuenschwander, Megan Page, Cora Sprunger, Kyle Sprunger, Tim Steffen and Tyler Taing.

Our music department has recorded a CD. The chancel choir, praise band and handbell choir traveled to Goshen College on June 12 for an all-day recording session at Sauder Concert Hall. The chancel choir ended its season a week later with a sacred concert at the Swiss Village retirement community.

Another successful week of vacation Bible school was held June 21-25. More than 100 children from preschool through grade six went through the program with a “Deep Sea Adventure” theme. Volunteers worked countless hours transforming our patio and fellowship hall into a giant aquarium. Donations were collected with the aim of sending 100 children to vacation Bible school in South Africa.

Our church played an active role in the community’s annual Swiss Days celebration at the end of July. We served an “authentic Swiss” meal on July 31 featuring wienerschnitzel. Only 250 plates were prepared, and it was a complete sellout, with all funds going toward our building project of a recreation center on the church’s east side. The citywide Sunday night Swiss Days service that closed the festival was held in our sanctuary and featured Don Piper, author of the best-selling book 90 Minutes in Heaven. Piper recounted his experience of being pronounced dead at the scene of an automobile accident but being resuscitated 90 minutes later. The attendance, listed at 1,819, was the largest to witness a church service in Berne in recent memory. Our sanctuary, which seats about 1,500, was filled to capacity 30 minutes prior to the start of the service. People were seated in the choir loft, then in our chapel and fellowship hall with a big-screen TV hookups.