valley vine
Valley Presbyterian Church January 2018 Volume sixty-two, Number twelve Dear friends, What do you hope for in 2018? I am praying for dynamic worship that deepens our faith, for a complete ministry team that will know robust health and energy in their work, for clarity and excitement about our campus transformation, and for another year of growth and outreach. The first sermon series in 2018 will be called The Originals. We’ll examine the faith, lives, and service of six key New Testament leaders who were critical in Jesus’ ministry and the launch of his church:
January 7- January 14- January 21- January 28- February 4- February 11-
John Barnabas Andrew Matthew Mark James, brother of Jesus
One of our best resources in the quest to be authentic followers of Jesus is found in the stories of previous people who lived fully and faithfully despite challenges and obstacles. Devotionals will be available the first week of January. Have you seen the new model of the Master Plan? It is mobile but currently sits in our Administration Building, the Erickson Center, on the first floor. The designs have exceeded every one of my expectations and have delighted our Master Plan Committee and Session. We asked Jones Studio to envision a single primary worship space, a new heart for our campus and a greatly improved facility for families, for hospitality, and for outreach. Without building any new structures, they have envisioned a way to reorganize and renew our existing spaces that accomplishes all these goals in a way that is beautiful and powerful. It is a transformational plan – thank you to all the hundreds of members, young and old, who shared ideas and shaped priorities. Now it gets even more exciting as you will get to see the details of the design and the proposed phases. Everyone wants to know how much we will do and when will we start. And so you can pray for Session as we measure costs, congregational passions, and financial capacity during the first months of the new year. Nothing is more critical for VPC than reaching and forming the rising generation of disciples and leaders. The departure of our energetic youth director, Joseph Parisi, to pursue his undergraduate degree at GCU full time in 2018 has provided a chance to rethink the structure of our youth ministry.
As we enhance our connection between our growing work with children and families and our work with youth and young adults, Tina Gilbreath’s job will grow and be retitled from Director of Children’s Ministry to Director of Family Ministry. She will communicate and connect with all the parents we minister to and help with planning and volunteer recruitment across the age range – from 1 to 22. This support will be crucial for the new leader of our youth ministries, whom we are currently seeking. We are looking for a director/pastor with seminary training and strong church experience who can grow and deepen our efforts with middle school, high school, and college youth. Please pray for Elders Susie Huseth and Darrah MacDougall, Elder-to-be Doug Eaton, and Boots Dunlap who will lead our search. Thank you to Chris Woodard for helping organize our program until we find our new leader. We have found our third custodian, Randy Lewis, to complement John Pelton and Will McGaugh! We are grateful to John and Will for their extra efforts during this search, and I am confident that this is the strongest group ever when it comes to skills and energy. Please welcome Randy and congratulate Will on the birth of his daughter, Grace. We are also fine tuning the shared pastoral call of Mike and Kelly Nieto. They moved from one shared position in Discipleship and Spiritual Growth (DSG) to two full-time positions so Mike could lead Encore University. With two small children, this has proven to be quite a challenge, so using the Goldilocks’ Principle, we will be setting out a position that is the equivalent of 1-1/2 time. Kelly will lead DSG, and Mike will assist Dave Turner in pastoral care, with an emphasis on visitation. All the Encore courses and advertising are set for semesters two and three, and Becky Bennett will help Shelby Trimaloff administer that program in the winter and spring. As I look back at 2017, I rejoice that for the first time in over 20 years, VPC grew in membership. In the last three years, we moved from deficit to stability and then to a small surplus in our budget despite the loss of our largest giver. Our Valley Day School has grown 25% and welcomed 50 new families. And the addition of Julia Tucker has enhanced the creativity of our worship. It has been a year of great blessing, but I am praying, and I hope you are too, that 2018 will be even better! Yours faithfully,
6947 E. McDonald Drive, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253-5342 Phone: 480-991-6424 Fax: 480-991-6427 Email: church@vpc.church Website: vpc.church