CROSS CURRENTS VOLUME 2022 | JUNE-JULY | ISSUE 5
FROM PASTOR PETE Warm greetings to you, St. Andrew’s! Welcome to our summer Issue of Cross Currents! I pray you can find ways to both “beat the heat” and “go with the flow” this summer! Remember that God is good! All the time! Even during the summer in Tucson! During June and July in worship, we will be taking a deeper dive into studying each of the Fruit of the Spirit – which are listed in Galatians 5:22-23. I’m calling our summer series, Free to Be Fruitful! When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the human heart, a transformation happens that opens up a new kingdom perspective of Gospel freedom. Just as a healthy fruit tree rooted deep into nutrient rich soil will produce produce (see what I did there?), our lives lived in step with the Holy Spirit will produce glorious fruit, of God’s design and will! This summer sermon series will challenge us to inspect and cultivate the fruit of our spiritual lives, and to learn how to identify the opposite or counterfeit/ornamental varieties. So, what is the point of an ornamental fruit tree? I’m not an arborist, and I may be way off, but really? I’d be pretty upset if I went to a nursery, picked out a fruit tree, lugged it home, dug a deep hole, then planted, watered, fertilized… only to find out it was ornamental! (I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.) Is there such a thing as an ornamental Christian? What would be the point of an ornamental Christian? The Bible tells us that the fruit produced in the life of a believer who intentionally lives and acts as led by the Holy Spirit of God will be love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol. I’m excited to see how productive this summer will be among the people of St. Andrew’s!
Thank you for your generous stewardship in support of the ministry and mission of St. Andrew’s throughout the year. We believe that the sharing of tithes and offerings, giving of our material wealth, is a critically important act of worship that continues all throughout the year. At its meeting last month, the Session approved the passing of offering plates again in worship, something that has not been done since the start of the pandemic! Our usher teams are preparing to help us do this soon – so be on the lookout for this slight change and revival of an old practice. Whether you give recurringly online, or if you physically bring your offering on Sundays (or if you send via mail or text message) our collection is a worship offering to God, and the tangible practice that maintains our common mission together as covenant partners in Christ’s service. In July, I will reach the one-year anniversary of arriving as the Interim Pastor. Thank you for your encouragement over the past year of transition. I’m glad to report that St. Andrew’s is led by faithful and competent leaders and staff who have been a joy for me to serve alongside. Just as a reminder, the transitional steps usually take about two or three years to complete, and progress can be tracked on the church website. Counting It All Joy, Pastor Pete Interim Pastor / Head of Staff
JUNE & JULY WORSHIP SCHEDULE Free to Be Fruitful: The Fruit of the Spirit
6/5/22 - Love (Pentecost Sunday) 6/12/22 - Joy 6/19/22 - Peace 6/26/22 - Patience/Forbearance 7/3/22 - Goodness 7/10/22 - Faithfulness 7/17/22 - Gentleness 7/24/22 - Self-Control 7/31/22 - Service Worship: Serve Our Schools 2
PASTOR TRANSITION CONGREGATIONAL MISSION STUDY TEAM
The Congregational Mission Study Team (CMST), which convened in April 2022, is making progress towards our search for a new pastor. This team will be creating a Mission Study of SAPC which will be provided to the Pastor Nominating Committee and any applicants to the Head Pastor position. The CMST is currently drafting several surveys which will help them gather information about our church. The team will survey the congregation, the St. Andrew’s staff, the church committees and leadership groups, and our mission partners. Using information gathered directly from these surveys, the team will be able to compile information about who our church body is, what our needs are, and what kind of leadership we seek. Please be on the lookout in the coming months for more information about the surveys. Your opinions are vital to this process!
SPIRITUAL B-12
FROM YOUR FAITH COMMUNITY NURSES
Just as we may take vitamins for physical nourishment, we should be taking vitamins for spiritual nourishment. Here are 12 spiritual vitamins for the child of God. 1. Be in the Word “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth” - 2 Timothy 2:15 2. Be Forgiving and Forgiven “Bear with one another, and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the LORD has forgiven you” Colossians 3:13 3. Be Thankful “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 4. Be Positive “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11 5. Be a Listener “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them and they follow Me” - John 10:27 6. Be a Blessing “Do not repay evil with evil, or insult with insult. On the contrary repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” - 1 Peter 3:9 7. Be Healed “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” - 1 Peter 3:9 8. Be Obedient and Willing “The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient to everything” - 1 Peter 3:9 9. Be Yielded and Open “Submit yourselves, then to God” - James 4:7a 10. Be Accountable and Connected “Submit then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” - Romans 14:12 11. Be Growing and Learning “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ” - 2 Peter 3:18a 12. Be Filled With the Holy Spirit to Be a Light to the World “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” - Matthew 5:14, 16 Reference: Sharing - A Journal of Christian Healing March/April 2022
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MISSION UPDATES JIM TOOLE 1K
Thank you for your generous donations for the new Amphi Middle School food pantry! We filled every single space of the assistant principal’s truck and had already made one delivery before the event! In addition, we raised $585 which will go into the Amphi Middle School food pantry account at the school. Thank you again for celebrating Pastor Jim’s love of our community!
UKRAINE UPDATE
Thank you for the very special Easter offering for Ukraine! We raised $14,110 to help the efforts in Ukraine. Thank you so much for your generosity! We continue to be a light for those in need of hope!
SERVE OUR SCHOOLS- JULY 31
PRESCHOOL NOW HIRING Join our amazing team of caring educators and staff! In addition to working alongside the best colleagues, our staff also receive a 33% discount on enrollment and free childcare for children in their household on the days they work!
Save the Date for our next Service Worship, Serve Our Schools! We feel God’s opening of doors for the schools and have some exciting things happening! A small group of faith leaders, business leaders, and representatives from Flowing Wells School District and Marana Unified School District met with Tracey Beal from School Connect in Phoenix. We had great a discussion and next steps include a prayer event at the end of July which will be held at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Watch for more information this summer! Schools are at the center point of healthy neighborhoods, and we can’t wait to see what God does this next year in our schools!
Hiring for: -Associate Teachers -Flexible Support Team Member -Childcare Team Member Apply at sapcschool.org/job-postings Please share with your friends and family!
BACKPACK DRIVE We will collect BACKPACKS and SCHOOL SUPPLIES in July for the children at Gospel Rescue Mission, the Karenni children tutored by St. Andrew’s members, Fost/Adopt (a new mission partner), and one of the refugee agencies. Needed: colored pencils, highlighters, crayons, college rule paper, etc. If you don’t know what to buy ask your children/grandchildren or write a check with backpacks in the memo line. Questions? Contact Jan Littlefield at jan.littlefield@comcast.net or 299-6851. Thanks for your help.
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DIG DEEP UPDATE
Our 2020 Christmas Offering for the Navajo Nation St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church raised $32,000 for the nonprofit, Dig Deep, during our 2020 Christmas offering. With the numerous donations that Dig Deep has had during the pandemic, they now have enough to purchase additional cisterns and appliances all the way out to 2024. However, that is just for the direct cost and not necessarily the true cost of actually getting everything installed. Those costs include labor, machinery such as backhoes and other construction related items, vehicles to transport both the laborers and the equipment to and from each site, and water tankers to haul the water. Overall, the accurate cost for getting everything completed and functioning is approximately $14,000 versus the direct costs of the materials at $4,500.
During the pandemic, Dig Deep purchased, distributed, and filled 275-gallon emergency above-ground water tanks at homes without service. To date, Dig Deep has installed over 1,000 of these water tanks, reaching approximately 3,800 people on the Navajo Nation. St. Andrew’s first half of our gift supported 22 of these tanks and approximately 83 people! St. Andrew’s support also made it possible to carry out the following activities to meet the need for water in Navajo households. Based on the information that Dig Deep has provided regarding adequate funding for the near future for the direct costs of purchasing the materials for each installation, St Andrew’s will provide the remaining balance of $16,000 to help fund the actual costs for getting the cisterns installed which can be done now that the pandemic has waned. We are excited that we now have the opportunity to provide the additional costs needed to complete Dig Deep’s costs so that many families can have access to clean water. Praise Jesus for your contributions! Mark Stratton
Missions Liaison for Water Projects
Sandy Kreamer Missions Chair
RuthAnn Smithrud
Local Outreach Director
SERVICE WORSHIP DESIGN TEAM Are You an Outreach Servant? Hello Friends, I am looking for a few of Christ’s servants to help me discern and plan our Service Worships and outreach to the community. I want to make sure that we are doing all that we can to pour out Jesus’ love inside and outside of our church walls. I promise we won’t have too many meetings! Can you commit to one hour once a month or every other month? I will provide snacks! I would love to have your fellowship and ideas because WE are the Body of Christ. Please let me know at rsmithrud@sapctucson.org. Thank you! - RuthAnn Smithrud Local Outreach Director
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PRAYER GROUPS
Did You Know? There are multiple prayer groups active at St. Andrew’s and in the last few months, a new one has started. A group now meets one Saturday morning each month to lift up people who are facing an unplanned pregnancy and to discern how we might be called to offer the grace and love so freely extended by Christ to each of us. Unplanned pregnancy can elicit so many feelings including fear, shame, or a sense of being overwhelmed. We have learned much about a ministry in Tucson called Hands of Hope, a local crisis pregnancy center. It offers free ultrasounds, counseling, resources for mom/baby, and other kinds of support for as long as it is needed. This group also comes alongside folks who may be grieving previous decisions that they regret. Our prayer is that each person in our congregation will ask if God is calling them to pray for people who may be overwhelmed with the thought of a new child. Contact Jan Olafson at janolafson615@gmail.com for more information. To learn more about groups at St. Andrew’s please contact Connie Randall, Director of Adult Discipleship Ministry, at crandall@sapctucson.org.
INVITATION FOR RENEWAL! JOHN 17 WEEKENDS – ST. ANDREW’S WILL BE HOSTING Imagine heaven, more specifically heaven on earth. What will that look like? What will that sound like? What emotions might we experience as the entire Body of Christ joins together to worship the Father? While we can read in Scripture of such things yet to come, we believe each gathering at a John 17 Weekend offers a tangible insight into that heavenly commune. Consider this your invitation to participate! Intentionally inter-denominational and multi-cultural, the Tucson John 17 Weekends complement the work being done around our city of unifying and mobilizing the Church. The Weekends are 72hour, same-gender Christian discipleship retreats that emphasize the essentials of the Christian life and walk by endeavoring to bring Christians to a closer, more personal walk with their Lord Jesus Christ and encouraging them to Christian leadership and action wherever they currently live, work, worship, and serve. This year, the John 17 Weekends will be held in mid-summer. Each Weekend runs from approximately 6:00 pm on Thursday until 5:00 pm on Sunday. The men’s Weekend takes place June 30 - July 3, while the women’s Weekend is July 7-10. Contact Connie at crandall@sapctucson.org for more information and application or stop by the Connect Table on Sundays.
NEW MEMBERS WANTED
PHYSICAL AND TECHNICAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE (P&TRC) The P&TRC is looking for three to four new members. There are no specific qualifications, but it helps if you are somewhat fit, have construction and/ or handyman experience, or computer and audio visual experience. This is a working committee and meets the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm. It is responsible for overseeing the maintenance and updating of the building and grounds, computers, and audio visual equipment. These valuable resources support the mission of St. Andrew’s, its congregation, and the community. Our committee members enjoy both the comradery and the sense of contributing to the outreach and ministry of our church. Please contact Steve Olafson at 520-237-3959 or steveolafson95@gmail.com if you are interested in serving St. Andrew’s in this capacity. 6
CHILDREN’S MINISTRY UPDATES PENTECOST
Wear red this Sunday, June 5 in celebration of Pentecost! Pentecost is when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church.
NEW STEPHEN MINISTERS Six months ago, twelve men and women began their journey of training to become a Stephen Minister. They met weekly, read, studied, and prayed throughout the 20 weeks. Trained by Cheryl Smith and members of the Stephen Ministry Leadership Team, they are now ready to begin their journey of providing care and sharing Christ’s love with you-our congregation! Please lift them up in prayer and congratulate them as you see them. For more information visit sapctucson.org/care or call the Church Office, 520-297-7201, or Cheryl Smith at 520-297-7201 Ron Allen Richard Andrues Tim Christian Karri Anzini Crabbe Becky D’Angelo Vee Harrington
Clark Lantz George Magrey Diane Olsen Vickie Palmer Connie Randall Susan Whorley
PAINTING PARTY WITH LUCKY CAT SOCIAL ART
Join us for a paint party with our CDM families on June 5. Sign up soon so you don’t miss out! Learn more at sapctucson.org.
BOXES NEEDED
For VBS we need empty cereal boxes. Or other food boxes that are the same cardboard as cereal boxes. Drop them off at the Sunday School or main Church Office by June 10.
DECORATING PARTY
Our annual VBS decorating party is June 9 from 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Come and help make and hang decorations. Let Shelly know if you’re coming because she’s ordering pizza!
NO SUNDAY SCHOOL JUNE 12 Dona Leigh Davis April 24, 2022 Mary Quick May 13, 2022
There will be NO SUNDAY SCHOOL on June 12. Shelly and Heather are making final preparations for VBS! Childcare will be available for kids six and younger and children with special needs. Learn more about SAPC Kids events at sapctucson.org or contact Shelly at sakins@sapctucson.org or Heather at hbrannock@sapctucson.org. 7
YOUTH MINISTRY SUMMER KICK OFFS!
HIGH SCHOOL KICK OFF BOWLING | MAY 31 MIDDLE SCHOOL POOL PARTY | JUNE 1 We will be starting our summer Youth Groups with some fun events! Come Bowl on Tuesday or Swim on Wednesday while celebrating the start of summer! The High School Kick Off will be on May 31, from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at Fiesta Lanes on River and Oracle. The Middle School Pool Party will be on June 1, from 6:15 pm - 8:15 pm, at 800 W Samalayuca Dr. We hope to see you there!
FOREST HOME
JULY 3-8 | COST $495.00 Forest Home is coming just around the corner! We are beyond excited about this incredible week in the San Bernardino Mountains with students entering 6th grade through graduating seniors! It is an amazing adventure filled with games, worship, teaching, zip lining, hiking, blobbing, competitions, friendship, and more! We don’t have any spots left for camp, but we are able to put you on a waitlist, final payments are due June 16!!
MIDDLE SCHOOL MISSION DAYS
JUNE 13-16 Since so many Middle School students (incoming 6th -8th graders) and their friends are involved in VBS, we will be adding the opportunity to make the most out of your week! Mission work is not just something we go and do, it is a part of our life. During the Middle School Mission Days, we will get a chance to serve in our own community and perform acts of Christ’s love. We will be doing two mission adventures following VBS Monday and Thursday. Students may do one or both of the days. You can register online at sapcyouth.com!
WATER BASEBALL
High School—June 14 Middle School—June 15 Some of you have experienced the amazingness that is WATER BASEBALL! This is your chance this summer to slip-n-slide to home plate! Join us for this combo of baseball, slip-n-slides, and water shenanigans! Learn more about Youth events at sapcyouth.com or contact Tim at tchristian@sapctucson.org or Logan at lschmidt@sapctucson.org.
SAPC FINANCIAL UPDATE
April total revenue $115,726 Year to date revenue $640,691 Monthly revenue required 173,315 YTD revenue required 729,978 Difference ($57,589) Difference ($89,287) During the months from May through September our income regularly falls far below the expenses for the same period. This is a good illustration of the need for more regular pledged giving, so revenues continue to meet expenses during the times that many of us are away from Tucson.