CROSS CURRENTS
From Pastor Pete
Warm greetings to you, St. Andrew’s! Welcome to our June and July Issue of Cross Currents! At SAPC, summertime means both ramping up (especially in our children’s and youth ministries) and chilling out (either traveling to beat the heat or finding a shady spot near a pool)! Whether you find yourself busy or not, I pray that you are unhurried in noticing God’s presence and led by the Holy Spirit into times of worship and sensing the glory and supremacy of Christ.
This summer, on Sundays we will work through the companion New Testament books of Colossians and Philemon in a series I’m calling Jesus + Nothing = Everything The apostle Paul wrote two companion letters from prison that were carried together to the city of Colossae, located in the Lycus Valley of what is today Turkey. Paul sent the letters with two men, Tychicus
and Onesimus, which may seem like an unimportant detail, until we learn more about Onesimus’ relationship with that community If you don’t know the story, I won’t spoil the drama for you. Feel free to study ahead!
In June and July, we will also be welcoming two amazing guest preachers from two of SAPC’s mission partners On June 25, we will welcome Jennifer Tompkins, the Executive Director of Tucson Refugee Ministry to share with us good news of God’s work among the immigrant community of Tucson. On July 16, Dave Drum, the Executive Director of J17 Ministries will be speaking to us about what God is doing to bring unity among churches and Christians in Tucson Both Jennifer and Dave are dynamic speakers, and very good friends and partners of SAPC.
In July, I will have been here as the Interim Pastor for two
JUNE & JULY WORSHIP SCHEDULE
June 4: Jesus + Nothing = Everything 1
June 11: J+N=E 2
June 18: Let Your Light Shine/VBS Takeover at 900 am Service
*Carl Dahlen preaching at 7:30 am & 10:45 am Services
June 25: Guest: Jennifer Tompkins, Tucson Refugee Ministry
July 2: J+N=E 3
July 9: J+N=E 4
July 16: Guest: Dave Drum, J17 Ministries
July 23: J+N=E 5
July 30: Service Worship: Serve Our Schools
*Carl Dahlen preaching at 7:30 am Service
ScripturestoPonder
Capturingthe Crossroads
years. As I’ve shared previously, interim pastorates can sometimes be up to three years, after which congregations are usually very ready to accept and call a new pastor! The single greatest thing you can do as the season of pastoral transition eventually shifts to a season of readiness to welcome a new pastor is: to pray! The Pastor Nominating Committee is hard at work, with each member devoting many hours of careful attention to prayer and the wise discernment of whom God is calling to be the next pastor at St. Andrew’s. Thank you for your continued kindness and support of the leaders and staff of SAPC, who are tireless in their efforts of leading and supporting the ministry and mission of this congregation
Whether it is a season of ramping up, or chilling out… we do it all for the Glory of God!
Counting
it
All Joy,
BACKPACK & SCHOOL SUPPLIES 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, one of the refugee agencies and the Amphi Clothing Bank.
Supplies Needed:
backpacks
colored pencils
highlighters
crayons
college rule paper
If you don’t know what to buy, ask your children or grandchildren or write a check with backpacks in the memo line. Questions? Contact Jan Littlefield at 520-299-6851 or janlittlefield@comcastnet Thanks for your help
CHANGE FOR CHILDREN UDPATE
We would like to say “Thank you” to everyone for your generous donations to our Change for Children campaign this year. With your help, we raised $7,551 that will empower 37 different families through the Alliance for Children Everywhere Graduation Approach in Zambia, Africa For more information on the Graduation Approach, please go to childreneverywhere.org. Thank you again on behalf of Alliance for Children Everywhere!
MISSION & LOCAL OUTREACH
SERVICE WORSHIP: SERVE OUR SCHOOLS
Looking ahead to school, we have a huge list of schools that need help for our annual Serve Our Schools so please save the date for July 30! Watch for our sign up in July!
We have so many schools who have asked for classroom snacks because they have children who come to school without breakfast. According to some of the teachers in Tucson who work at schools in need, the kids living in poverty are simply starving. We will have a sign up later in the summer to help supply these much needed snacks.
Many of the elementary classrooms have also requested books If you are cleaning out your child’s room this summer, please save those books for us! You can place them in the outreach/missions bin in the Gathering Place on the SW campus
Finally, we have about 30 schools who have asked for prayer for the upcoming school year! We will have a list of these for you as well! What a huge blessing to be asked to pray for our schools!!
Thank you so much for your support of Tucson’s children! Questions? Please email RuthAnn, Local Outreach Director, at rsmithrud@sapctucsonorg
“I received new insights into prayer and a renewed sense of connection to others!”
SERVICEWORSHIP:ACONCERTOFPRAYER
Thank you so much for pouring out your love on April 30, Service Worship! We were able to bless Mentoring Tucson’s Kids with Baggins for lunch and a great football game led by the Donovans! We also collected $1,095 in gas cards for Community Renewal so that they can give them to those in need. Survivor Shield Foundation was thrilled with the number of women’s clothing donations Watch for that to pop back up in November with Serve Our City And finally, thank you for all the teacher appreciation items!Youaresogenerous!
Special thanks to everyone who either watched the prayer service online or attended in person! We had an amazing turnout, and those who attended loved the fellowship and praying together. A few of our many positive comments included “I received new insights into prayer and a renewed sense of connection to others!” “Gratitude for a church who demonstrates its concern for and love for our community and who prays for it” “Thankful for God and this morning – time to focus on Him, on our city, on people’s need for a lovingGod.Themusic,Scriptures,andprayerwereallamazing!”
HELP BUILD A HOME FOR A FAMILY
Home represents so much to us – a place for family, security, meals, sleep and relaxation. If you didn’t have a home, how much would be missing from your life? Many people living in Rocky Point, Mexico don’t have secure homes 1Mission is a non-profit that works to strengthen communities in need and one big part of this is providing safe, secure homes for deserving families October 7-10, St. Andrew's will be sending a team to help build homes in Rocky Point with our friends from Pantano Christian Church If you are interested in helping a deserving family who is working to strengthen their community, please consider joining us. There are opportunities to work on the house, work in the kitchen cooking meals for everyone, or help with a vacation bible school type activity No prior experience is required, just a willing heart This is a great family trip If you have any questions, please contact Kevin Oxnam at 520-471-3811 or kevinoxnam@gmail.com. We hope that you can join us.
ST. ANDREW'S PRESCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN
Thank you for all your prayers and support during our 2022-23 school year! It was a year of growth and positivity on campus, and we are so thankful to all those who commit their time, energy, and finances to help our students learn through play in a faith-based environment.
Are you looking for a way to get involved with our Preschool and Kindergarten?
You don’t have to wait until school starts to help support this important ministry! If you are able and feel called to give, we are always in need of replacing toys that have been well-loved and updating new equipment for our Preschool and Kindergarten. To view, please click on our link https://a.co/j62xJqo or scan the QR code below We thank you for your support and for making a difference in the young lives and families that we serve!
AMPHI CLOTHING BANK
Amphi Clothing Bank needs your gently used clothing. As you are going through your kids' closets this summer and getting them ready for school in August, please donate your outgrown, gently used clothing to the Amphi Clothing Bank The Amphi Clothing Bank provides gently used clothing to any child in need in the Amphi School District from preschool to highschool. It is easy: you can bring the clothing to the box in the Gathering place any Sunday or contact Sandy Kreamer at sandrakreamer@gmailcom to arrange for a pick up Thank you in advance for helping all kids feel ready to go back to school.
SUMMER CHOIR
Do you love to sing? Come join the Summer Choir! Here is how it works: Each Sunday the choir is scheduled to sing, we will meet in the Choir Room at 10:00 am prior to the Traditional Service and prepare a simple anthem and introit for worship that day. That’s it! EVERYONE is welcome and encouraged to participate, including children, families, and friends. No choral experience is required This is an excellent opportunity for those not currently participating in the Chancel Choir to “try out” the choir experience There is no commitment to continue in the fall. Join us! July 2, 9, 16, 23 and August 6, 13, 20.
CHECK THIS OUT
News from SAPC Library Team
Are your church activities, Bible study classes, and even social gatherings tapering off for the summer? Will you be on vacation and have spare time to read, listen, or view some stimulating Christian media?
We invite you to explore your library and let God lead you to a perfect book
The library is open every Sunday
We have Bible studies, inspirational books, biographies, fiction, and DVDs for all agestiny tots to super seniors.
Our Youth and Young Readers section offers teens and tweens fiction classics like Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Heidi, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, the Narnia series, Pollyanna, and Charlotte’s Web, as well an extensive biography selection.
Rediscover reading to fight the summertime blues!
SAPC IS GOING TO EGYPT AND ISRAEL!
You are invited to join your friends from SAPC on tours of Egypt and Israel in March of 2024. While Israel is the primary trip and will have the most people (we have 80 spaces available), there is also an optional trip to Egypt prior to the Israel trip with about 30 spaces available Egypt is planned for March 3-11 and Israel is planned for March 11-21 Both trips include virtually all costs except for lunches At the time this article was submitted, prices had not yet been finalized and registration was not open. We expect that the Israel tour will cost about $5000 and adding the Egypt tour will be an additional $3500 (approximately). Both estimates assume double occupancy. Registration is expected to be open in June. Both of these tours promise to be amazing trips. If you are interested, or want more information, please contact Kevin Oxnam at kevinoxnam@gmailcom or 520-471-3811
SAPC SECURITY TEAM
The St. Andrew’s Security Team continues to look for more volunteers to join our team. The Security Team stands watch during special times for our Preschool & Kindergarten, Vacation Bible Study and the three worship services on Sundays Our current team works very well together and looks forward to new volunteers to join the team to help fill out our schedules Team members volunteer for dates and times they can serve to fit in with their personal plans and schedules. We will continue to balance security while still being a welcoming and inviting church. We appreciate everyone's positive responses and encouragement for the Security Team. If you have any questions or would like to join the team, please contact Don Spiece at dspiece@gmail.com.
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
Did you know that St Andrew's has a new resource for prayer? You can not only submit a prayer request, but you can view the prayer requests of others and pray for them If you'd like to share a public prayer request or if you are led to pray for others, go to the Prayer & Care page under Ministries for more information. Submit your prayer request at sapctucson.org/prayer. You can choose to make your request public, or you can also make it private so it only goes to our team and your request is kept confidential. For questions, contact our team at care@sapctucsonorg
FAITH UNCORKED
Women of all ages are invited to our monthly women’s fellowship on June 2 This will be our summer send off! Being together will encourage each of us, help us with all of our life stuff, and we’ll have FUN! Bring your favorite appetizer and beverage. We’ll meet from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Cherie MillerGray’s home at 55 E Naranja Dr, Tucson, AZ 85737 RSVP to Connie at crandall@sapctucsonorg
