IMAGES FROM RED, WHITE, AND BOOM 2022
Our pastor is a hobbyist photographer who has a special interest in capturing images of fireworks shows. "Red, White, and Boom" is one of the largest fireworks displays in the Quad Cities, making its annual appearance on July 3. Here are some of the images Bill Coley captured of the 2022 display, which took place over the Mississippi River.
Images from the total lunar eclipse on may 15, 2022, captured by pastor bill coley
The total lunar eclipse that took place in the last hours of May 15 was a sight to behold. For nearly 90 minutes the earth's shadow blunted the full moon's glow, producing a sphere bathed in a dusty shade of red that was much more pronounced if viewed through binoculars or a telescope. Better still is the view of the eclipse provided by the images below, captured by Bill Coley with his camera attached to his telescope, the scope serving as the camera's lens. The images are in chronological order, from the moon's appearance just before the eclipse began to the early moments of the earth's shadow's departure from the lunar scene just before midnight. Enjoy!
"The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known."
Psalm 19.1-2 (NLT)
The 2021 Operation Christmas Child ministry at fccem
Here's a collection of images captured during the 2021 version of Operation Christmas Child, which took place in November of last year. As the images automatically scroll from one to the next, they tell the story, both of our own shoe box collection and our service as an OCC drop-off location for the fourth consecutive year.
THE I-74 BRIDGE AT CHRISTMAS 2021
The community leaders who decide when to illuminate the new I-74 bridge with special lighting chose to bathe the Iowa-bound span of the bridge in red and green on Christmas weekend. Our pastor, Bill Coley, captured some wonderful images of the bridge's festive glow, a look aided by a very calm river beneath the bridge, which allowed for a much clearer reflection than usual. In the gallery below, we offer nine of the scores of images Bill captured on Christmas Eve and Christmas night. The gallery will automatically and continuously cycle through the images.
LEARN ABOUT CHRISTIAN CARE, A SHELTER MINISTRY IN ROCK ISLAND
Listen to an informative and inspiring summary of the ministry of Christian Care, the Rock Island-based ministry to homeless men (and soon women). Rob Tevis from the Christian Care staff made the presentation during our Sunday worship on October 3. We invite you to listen to the presentation's audio AND simultaneously scroll through the images Pastor Tevis used during his presentation using the gallery box below the audio. Instructions are in the audio box below.
CHRISTIAN CARE PRESENTATION: tHE aUDIO
To get the full effect, click the play button on the box just below this description to launch the audio, then scroll down to the gallery of images immediately below that window, which is pre-loaded with the presentation's first slide. When in the audio you hear Pastor Tevis ask for the "next slide" use the arrow on the right side of the current image to advance to the next one. If you go too far, use the arrow on the left side of the image to return to the previous slide.
into the mountains: images from bill coley's trip to the rockies
In August 2019, our pastor Bill Coley accompanied two fellow pastors - a friend of many decades and one of that friend's daughters - to Colorado for eight days of exploration and, for Bill, photography. These are the images Bill has selected from among the 2,900 he captured to represent the visuals of his journey. Enjoy! (NOTE: The Milky Way photos in this collection were shot on the first night of the group's trip, at a camp site outside a town called Buena Vista, Colorado.)
Red, White, & Boom 2019
Our pastor is a photography enthusiast, meaning that colorful displays such as Independence Day fireworks draw his attention annually. Below is this year's selection of images.
Persistent flooding necessitated the move of this year's display up the Mississippi River a bit. Sadly for the images Bill captured from a new location, they moved the display farther up river than he expected, which resulted in a restricted line of sight from his new location, and his missing what he's sure would have been lots of great lower altitude shots. But these images cast a new vision on the fireworks, and we hope, will prove worth your time.
