august27, 7, 2012 march 2012
the newsletter of first christian church (disciples of christ)
THE volume xxv | no. 86
Choir Returns in August
youth group starting in the fall
The choir will be back in full swing the month of August, however we are asking for your help. We would like you to join the choir. The only requirement is that you can match pitch. We can teach you how to read parts, and choir members will be happy to guide you along. You’ll have a good time too. We are especially in need of male tenor and bass voices, but men and women alike are welcome. EVERYONE ages 13 to mature adults who would like to help be an enhancement to the worship experience is encouraged to participate!
Starting this fall, we will be having regular youth meetings on Wednesday evenings. We will meet at 6:00 and go until 7:30. Rev. Ryan will lead our time together, and we’ll be engaging in a variety of activities, from hanging out to service activities to prayer and worship. These times are open to all youth from grade 6 through grade 12. Middle school students and high school students will meet together at first, but as soon as each group has 10 or more students, they will meet separately.
The choir rehearses every Wednesday evening from 7:00-8:00pm and performs 3 Sundays a month. September 5th we will begin working on our Christmas Program “Caroling, Caroling” arranged by a native Kansas City composer, Mark Hayes, with Flute, Oboe, Piano and Percussion. As much as we love having you in the congregation, we would love your help in the choir loft! You can call or email with questions to Mark Holcomb, Director of Music Ministries. Mark W. Holcomb Cell: 816-807-2297 Email: mholcomb@concorde.edu
food pantry report proverbs 23:4&5—This was the intended scripture for the last report. Thank you to United Methodist of Paradise for gobs of paper towels & some toilet paper. Thank you to Grace Community Church for a huge donation of all kinds of food that made the pantry look great. Perfect timing too—we had a very busy day on 7/31/12. Thanks to Alice Richards, Alice Spengler, & Stacy French. Volunteers are just like jello. God’s involvement in our lives should assure us of His love. numbers 6:22-27. Love, Rick
Ryan will need some adult youth sponsors to help him with this time as well. In order to be a sponsor, you need to be at least eight years out of high school. If you enjoy being with our youth and want to encourage their growth in faith, please let Ryan know. Meanwhile, we will need plenty of people praying for our youth and supporting them in various ways. Begin praying now! Stay tuned for opportunities to support them as they become available.
Attention—All Current & Want-to-Be Candlelighters! CANDLELIGHTER TRAINING AUGUST 19 The Candlelighter (Acolyte) has the most important role in our worship services, as they are charged with bringing in the light of Christ each and every Sunday. As such, we need to help these folks by training them! On August 19 at 9:30 AM (before worship), we’ll have training for all current and want-to-be candlelighters. This training is mandatory; you will not be scheduled to be a candlelighter if you are not in attendance at this meeting. Acolytes must be no younger than entering second grade and no older than entering fifth grade. Very, very responsible First Graders are also welcome, based upon their parent’s consent and how their parents believe they will handle fire.
current culture A Word from Ryan Monday night was a great time of fellowship and there was a spirit of celebration as we joined together for our first “State of the Church” dinner. For those who weren’t able to join us, I want to give you a brief picture of our time together a recap of the ideas that we discussed. This will take two articles, so here goes: First and foremost, we called our time together in order to have conversation about the life of our church. While we get together on Sunday mornings for worship, we do not find time to talk about our church’s life and its vision for the future. This dinner allowed us the space to have fellowship together, to celebrate the victories of the life of our church, to inform ourselves about what is going on in the church, and to have conversations about the vision we have for the church’s future. Our congregation is moving, growing, and excited today. If you were to try to cast that onto a “State of the Church” scale, I’d say that the State of our Church is “Vibrant,” with the scale moving like this, “Dead-Dying-Struggling-Surviving-Maintaining-Excited-VibrantGrowing-Overflowing.” Now, I’ll be the first to admit—this is my own devised scale. So, as always, feel free to disagree with me as to where I’ve placed us. I’ve placed us at “Vibrant” for the following reasons: On Sunday mornings, our pews are filled with people excited to be in church. Our choir sings with joy and our lay leaders serve with purpose. Our current Adult Christian education opportunities are doing well, some even “bursting at the seams” on days of full attendance. We’re benefitting from the presence and perspective of children between the ages of zero to fifth grade in worship. We have seen several families, young and old, commit their lives and families in covenant to our congregation in the last year. We’ve benefitted from some great opportunities for engagement in the last year, from the “Ask A Mormon” series to our Advent Devotional books. I find myself excited to serve the church everyday because I never quite know what is coming next! There is so much to do! Now, an important part of our congregation’s life is not seeing this scale as something that tells us what to do. Instead, it’s just a measure of our life together. Every church’s life has cycles, and ours is in a place of strength and growth. To try to say, “Oh, we need to do this to grow” would be a mistake. Church growth for the sake of church growth only ends up hurting us, not helping us. Instead, we’re growing into and as the Body of Christ, which means our growth may not always be visible in numbers, but it will be palpable in spirit. In order to go anywhere, we have to think about how our church is doing in the present day. Currently, our financial picture is strong. Our net balance right now is in the red, but this is only because our con-
tributions are behind by about $8,000; this is typical of this time of year, as contributions go down during the summer. Beyond this, we have about $49,000 in unencumbered cash, a number that gives us a great deal of flexibility in trying new things in ministry. Other numbers verify that we’re in a healthy place: we’re averaging 153 people in worship each week, with the majority of those people being younger than 40 years old. We’re averaging about ten visitors a worship service, three of whom are children. All of these things have led to some increased projects in our church. We’re in the process of refurbishing our children’s spaces, training new teachers for Children’s Worship and Wonder, and setting in place new activities for our children and families. This fall, I’ll be hosting Wednesday night Youth Groups, and will be working on making plans for our youth to flourish in the church. Our website will be updated soon, as will our church directory, and our office is working on a number of other improvements to our church. In the process, we have become the “De Facto Smithville Community Center,” as I call it. All of the groups that meet in our church make us this way. We host the Smithville Historical Society, the Smithville Garden Club, the Town and Country Quilter’s Guild, the Basket Cases Basket Group, the Smithville Seniors’ Center, four Girl Scout troops, Boy Scout Troop 412, weddings and funerals, private weddings/baby showers, and the largest food pantry in Smithville. So what does all this mean for our congregation? Next week, I’ll share more about that. With anticipation and excitement,
Ryan
a look ahead
Children’s Church Schedule school-age AUG. 12TH Linda Neer and Ken Lippincott AUG. 19TH Kathy Hamilton AUG. 26TH Brenda Dion
preschool AUG. 12TH Traci Easton AUG. 19TH Ruth Anne Porter
this sunday, august 12
next sunday, august 19
GREETERS, EAST DOOR: Ed & Val Blosser GREETERS, WEST DOOR: John & Joyce Summers LAY READER: Kathy Atkins CHILDREN’S SERMON: Bill Drake CANDLE LIGHTERS: Charley & Kayla Lincoln ELDERS: Matt Dion & Darsi Hartman DIACONATE: Jessica Roberts, Cara Massie, Sue Lake, Cindy Mayberry, Linda McComas, Cassidy French
GREETERS, EAST DOOR: Mac & Judy Clough GREETERS, WEST DOOR: David & Jacinda Manka LAY READER: Mike Gordon
PREPARE COMMUNION: Sue Lake CLEAN UP COMMUNION: Cindy Mayberry PICK UP SANCTUARY: Jessica Roberts
PREPARE COMMUNION: Rachel Drake CLEAN UP COMMUNION: Pam Maedel PICK UP SANCTUARY: Billy Drake
CHILDREN’S SERMON: Ken Lippincott CANDLE LIGHTERS: Jack & Carter Massie ELDERS: Bill Drake & Jonica Lincoln DIACONATE: Traci Burns, Rachel Drake, Josh Milne, Natalie Milne, Pam Maedel, Billy Drake
AUGUST 7: Keston Wimberly AUGUST 8: Marjorie Rule AUGUST 9: Barbara Arnold, Nicholas Hayes AUGUST 10: Patrick Burns, Shea Anthony Cissell, James Mitchell, Renee Winkler AUGUST 11: Sue McMahon AUGUST 12: Ed Blosser AUGUST 15: Jeromy Darr, Jonica Lincoln, Erin Miller AUGUST 17: Tom Massie AUGUST 18: Brenda Burchett, Neely Simon, Heidi Triplett AUGUST 19: Linda McComas
august birthdays
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
201 North Bridge Street Smithville, MO 64089-8266 phone: 816.532.0773 www.smithvillefcc.org office@smithvillefcc.org Ryan Motter, pastor cell: 913.707.2870 email: ryan@smithvillefcc.org
Mark Holcomb, music minister Velva Fausett, organist Janet George, pianist Greg Atkins, treasurer Jennifer Schultz, office manager Abby Carr, communications designer