God’s Choice Church – Canfield

Several churches continue to support the God’s Choice Church a ministry for people with special needs. Pastor Shirley Elosh is the founder. This vision for ministry grew out of her own special needs son, Jonathan. There are now 14 churches operating in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan and one in Africa. The ministry continues to grow with 2 or more potential locations.

We are also blessed to have volunteers from several churches, including Canfield Presbyterian, Common Ground, and Midway Mennonite. Attendance is 50 – 60 including volunteers, caregivers and the clients. I know all of us can say we are truly blessed knowing this group of people. Each week we see people growing in love for God, each other, their caregivers and their God’s Choice Church family. Each week we see people standing in line to offer their prayers and expressions of love. We see one or two new people coming each month. Some return and some do not. Unfortunately, there is limited transportation available from their facility, so that can affect attendance. Others have moved into different locations and can no longer attend.

One of the highlights of the year was in December, Scout troop #116 visited God’s Choice. There were approximately 44 scouts, boys and girls, plus many of the parents. The troop provided us with cake for dessert and handed out Christmas gifts to the people. Dan Kloos is the scout leader and he reported the scouts had a wonderful time. We also enjoyed having mission groups from three Presbyterian churches visit this summer. The youth from the mission groups really got involved in the service and were alway willing to help with the singing. We loved having them with us.

This ministry is a wonderful non-traditional outreach. What a  privilege it is for us to serve God in this ministry. We present Jesus in a unique way that special needs people can understand. The highlight again this year was our Galilean Service at the home of Ralph and Doris Witmer. We gather around their lake for our worship service. The Galilean Service finished with the baptism of two people. I had the honor of baptizing, Richard and Paul. A couple of weeks later, God’s Choice returned to the lake and we baptized another man, Reynaldo. He was unable to attend the day of the Galilean service.

I want to thank the Canfield Presbyterian Church for all their love and support. Your church is just perfect for our services and we so much want to thank you for all you do for God’s Choice. Special thanks to David Goddard for setting up the tables and piano every week. Thank you to Sherri Goddard for playing the piano two times each month.

We continue to look for volunteers to help with meal preparation, clean up, and other jobs. Volunteers do not need to be present each week, just help when you are available. In conclusion, I say, “Come and be blessed.”

Sincerely submitted,

Rich Snyder

PS: If you would like to have your church’s End of year report published here, Just send it to ronaldwehr@sbcglobal.com  and I post it on the web site.

Ron Wehr