Church of the Great God

We are grieved to report the death of Cindy (Westover) Bulharowski this morning, March 19, 2025, from breast cancer. She had been diagnosed about eighteen months ago but chose to keep knowledge of her condition within the family. No arrangements for a funeral or memorial have been made at this time. Please keep her husband, John Bulharowski, in your prayers, as he is devastated by her death. Thank you.

Christian and Lacey (Graham) Hunter of Rock Hill, South Carolina, are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter, Hazel Joy Hunter! She was born Friday, March 14, 2025, at 3:17 PM. She weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces, and measured 19 inches long. Mom and baby are healthy, but Dad is exhausted! Hazel is the Hunter's fourth child, joining Rosalie, Shiloh, and Louie. She is the tenth grandchild of Ronny and Alison Graham, and the thirty-second great-grandchild of the late John and Evelyn Ritenbaugh. Congratulations!

Mercifully, Sheila Mottram died Thursday afternoon. Thank you for your prayers and love. Please remember Tom in your prayers; he loved Sheila very much and her death is difficult for him. She is also survived by two sons and a daughter who are in need of prayers for God's comfort. Thank you.

The spring holy days are only a few months away, which means planning for the Night to be Much Observed has begun. We are organizing a potluck-style group dinner on the evening of April 12th in Fort Mill, SC, for any who would like to attend.

You must RSVP to attend; a seat will not be available for you if you show up without letting us know. The RSVP deadline is March 16th.

In order for this dinner to be successful, please contribute in some way. This will be a nice sit down dinner, so we ask that you keep this in mind when preparing your dish! Please aim to bring something as nice as possible. Thank you!

The link below will take you to the RSVP and sign-up form. The form is password protected, please email Samantha Swanson at sswanson@cgg.org for the password or if you have any questions.

More details regarding the dinner will be shared as we get closer.

RSVP and Sign-Up Form

The latest information is that about twenty church of God households have been affected by the fires. Six homes burned down, and the other households were evacuated or displaced.

The relief effort raised over $92,000 to date. Much of that came directly from 4-5 church of God organizations with the remaining coming from individual donations. An additional $30,000 has been pledged by two more church of God organizations. The relief effort has gathered more than expected and the organizers say further contributions are not needed. Thank you for your fast and generous response!

The funds were collected by Church of God Network’s “Within Your Gates” program, which was established for these sorts of situations. The CGN Board is administering distributions through a handful of volunteers and local pastors. So far, they have distributed about $30,000 and have another $30-40,000 of needs identified that they are working on.

A number of victims declined assistance, saying they have what they need from other sources, such as insurance or other church assistance. One of the ongoing issues is that smoke damage and contamination are extending displacements and making cleanup expensive, so some of the needs will drag on. But CGN is pleased to have sufficient funds to offer immediate help and to be equipped to continue helping as situations develop. Any funds that remain after the program wraps up will roll over to other COG assistance needs.

The spirit of collaboration demonstrated by the various churches involved has been very encouraging. Thank you to all who participated!