the press-byte - Community Spice

July 19, 2011
Volume 102, Issue 11
THE PRESS-BYTE
First Presbyterian Church Sand Springs
www.fpcsandsprings.org
OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE
I don’t mind admitting it – the past couple of months have been
strange. Not in a bad
way, necessarily. More
of an ―I have no idea
what is happening‖ sort
of way.
You see, I had
become rather accustomed to things the way
they were. I knew what
to expect – in Sunday
School and in morning
worship.
After all, we
had been doing things
that way for some time
now. And I liked it – it
was very comfortable.
But things have
changed, as they sometimes do. I find myself
doing things I don’t normally do. I have learned
how to cut bread for
communion, lead a discussion group, and even
write this newsletter article.
Definitely strange
and way out of my comfort zone.
Just last week, I
was complaining to God
about how strange and
uncomfortable
these
changes have been when
I realized that Jesus
probably isn’t concerned
about my comfort zone
in the least. Shocking, I
know, right? As a matter of fact, he seemed to
have a habit of making
people
uncomfortable.
No one was excluded
from his piercing questions – not sinners,
Pharisees, or even his
own disciples. What did
I expect?
As our changes
approached this spring,
a friend of mine gave me
a bit of sage advice that I
did not quite understand
at the time.
He suggested that rather than
fight and struggle with
change, I should ―lean
into it.‖ What? I didn’t
care for this advice and
promptly ignored it.
Over
the
last
couple of weeks, however, my ―obligation‖ to
go to church has surprisingly turned to anticipation - if only to see
what would happen next.
The changes have certainly given me a few
uncomfortable moments,
but also created a desire
to pull closer to my
church family. It is sort
of like a team mentality.
After all, we are in this
together. And that is a
good thing.
I
have
been
thinking about Jesus’
penchant for making
people uncomfortable. I
mean, did he really have
to stir people up so often? Couldn’t he have
made his point in a more
pleasing,
comfortable
way?
Apparently not.
That is when I realized it
has taken quite a bit of
stirring to convince me
to do even the small new
things asked of me.
So what happens
next? I have no idea,
but this is what I have so
far. Number one: I am
going to show up. I’m
not necessarily referring
to church attendance,
although that is nice.
I’m referring to the more
strenuous task of making time – daily – to listen. I’m not sure what
form this will take.
Maybe this will be traditional devotions, or perhaps prayer or meditation. But I know I have
to show up for him, just
like the throngs of people
who waited to see what
he would say next.
Number two:
I
will try to stay soft,
just like the ―good soil‖
in which the seed was
planted. I need to be
open to what will happen
next, and willing to make
the necessary changes.
Perhaps I can even –
dare I say it – ―lean into
it.‖
Finally, number
three is I need to Just
Do It. I’ve got to move
out of my comfort zone.
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
Prayer List
2
From our mailbox . . .
2
Emergency Contact #’s
2
Church Directory
Change
2
Sermon on the Amount 2
5th Sunday Offering
2
Sunday School News
3
Mission News
4-8
August Calendar
9
Those Who Serve
10
I need to try new things and
look at old things in a new
way. I have to be willing,
not only to accept change,
but also participate in it.
Perhaps somewhere along
the way, I stopped talking
about the changes in the
church, and instead was
talking about the changes in
me. Perhaps that is what he
intended all along.
I hope you can make
some sense out of my ramblings and confessions. I
hope these changes are easier for you than they have
been for me. But on the offchance that you, too, have
felt uneasy with change, I
invite you to join with me as
I learn to move out of my
comfort zone and lean on
the One – the only One –
who knows what will happen next.
Jayme Landis
FROM OUR MAILBOX . . .
PRAYER LIST
NEW CONCERNS
The family of Brent Hauglund on his death.
The family of Tom Manley (Clark & Vivian Wells’
friend) on his death.
The family of Patricia Taylor (friend of Vivian
Wells’ brother) on her murder and death.
Spencer Bright (John’s dad)—Heart attack
Crissy Cook (Phil & Bobbie’s daughter-in-law)—Difficult
pregnancy
Crystal Hilgendorf & family on the death of her best friend,
Patty High.
Linda Perry’s brother, Jerry—Serious health concerns
The family of Dick Slankard on his death.
Tom St. Amand (Pam Smithey’s brother)—Broken right hand
and right foot
Marcia Bates—Knee surgery & heart attack
Betty Cotner—Home from hospital
ONGOING CONCERNS
Jon & Kelly Rice
Wanda Hankins
Leola Hall
Roberta Nye
Michael Dickerson
Chuck Cook
Jennifer Ciriack
Lou Gilman
Marti McGuinnes
Nancy Collins
Deployed Service Personnel
Harold Hilgendorf Willy Carnahan
Debbie Thomas
Sarah Brigham
Jerry Smithey
Robin Mayhugh
Virginia Furr
Eddie Moore
Florence Harkin
Haley Legg’s cousin, Amy
Sandi Bauer
Bruce Phillips
Wes Matthews
Mace Maben
Margaret Hammond Dale Hamilton
Dotty Drymon
Jan Powell
Rocky Sparks
Margaret Lewis
HOMEBOUND MEMBERS
Ines Anderson
Melvene Perry
Anita Ward
Thelma Peterson
Teddy White
PRAYER LIST REVIEW
It has been quite some time since we reviewed the
Ongoing Concerns portion of the Prayer List. Our desire
is to maintain people on the list as long as they are in
need of our prayers. If we have taken someone’s name off
the list that still needs to be on it, please contact the
church office. Also, if you know of someone who’s on the
list that is no longer in need of our prayer, be sure to let
us know that as well. Thanks for your help in maintaining a current list.
EMERGENCY CONTACT NUMBERS
In case of emergency, please do not hesitate to seek help
from the church. We can be reached at any time, day or night,
by using one of the following contact numbers:
1.
The church office: 245-1748
2.
Clerk of Session Dave Kvach: 630-5870 (cell).
3.
Chair of Personnel Bill Stuckert: 742-2325 (home) or
625-2956 (cell).
If you cannot make contact through any of these numbers,
we have made arrangements with First Presbyterian Church,
Tulsa , and their pastors are willing to be on call for us. Call
584-4701 and you will be directed as to how you can reach
their on-call pastor.
Volume 102, Issue 11
July 8, 2011
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your donation to the Haiti Education
Foundation. Children throughout the mountains of
southern Haiti are blessed by your generosity.
The 2010-2011 school year will conclude at the end
of this month. In the last year, 10,177 students were
enrolled in our 40 schools and 10 high schools. Six
hundred twenty monthly teaching and support staff
salaries were met, providing a living for families all over
southern Haiti. The Guest Quarters is nearing completion and will soon be ready to welcome traveling teams.
In October, HEF will host our third HUG Conference in
Little Rock, Arkansas. This conference will provide information about our ministry in Haiti and the needs of
the students. Our priests will also be in attendance to
bring current information about the schools in Haiti.
Please plan to attend! Registration information will be
available on our web site: www.haitifoundation.org.
As you can see, the arms of HEF are far reaching.
This is not accomplished by a single entity, but all of us
working together under God’s guidance to benefit His
children in Haiti. Again, we thank you for your support.
Blessings,
Vicki Lambert
Financial Secretary
CHURCH DIRECTORY CHANGE
Please make note of the following changes:
Pam Smithey’s granddaughter, Sonora Smith, name
changed to Sonora Reagh. Congratulations to the
Reagh family on this adoption!
Carroll Lee moving to
24 Indian Hills Rd.
Redding, CT 06896
Good luck, Carroll!
Cell: 918-381-2386
We’ll miss you!
SPECIAL 5TH SUNDAY OFFERING
The Deacons’ would like to announce that their 5th
Sunday offering in July will be split 50/50 with Sand
Springs Community Services to aid them in their
Back-To-School project. Make plans now to contribute to this worthwhile community effort.
SERMON ON THE AMOUNT
Gen. Offering
Needed in July
Rec'd in July
Difference
Gen. Offering
$16,385.42
Budget YTD
$109,656.25
12,758.37
Giving YTD
99,566.78
$ 3,627.05
Difference
($ 10,089.47)
Page 2
BUZZ
WHAT’S THE
AT
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH?
August 21:
9:30 a.m. Back to School Breakfast & Program
August 28:
10:00 a.m. Parents & Kids Introduction to “Buzz”
materials & kids get their “Gizmo” for the fun home activities
that they will receive each week in Sunday School
September 4: 9: 45 a.m. First Day of Fall Children’s Sunday School
It’s EXCITING! It’s “BUZZ” SUNDAY SCHOOL!
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL BEGINS A WHOLE NEW YEAR
WITH “BUZZ” SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS.
Buzz is designed for how today's kids learn best.
Buzz makes Sunday school fun for kids because they experience Bible truths in ways they enjoy and
understand. Buzz is more than a written lesson—it's an interactive experience! Kids will learn in whatever way fits their style—whether that's reading, acting, drawing, listening, singing, playing a game, and
more. And kids can't wait to get started because they make choices throughout the lesson.
Buzz teaches kids about God in ways they'll remember.
As kids dig into the Bible with creative activities, they'll soak up life-changing lessons that'll really stick.
Plus, they'll build relationships with one another, watch for God with God Sightings, apply Bible truths to
their daily lives, and even pray for each other!
AND THERE’S MORE! “BUZZ FAITH AT HOME”!
KIDS GET A COOL GAME PIECE AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH UNIT, AND
WEEKLY DISCUSSION STARTERS TO GET THEIR FAMILY TALKING ABOUT FAITH.
Sunday School Teachers are NEEDED NOW for Fall & Spring
1st – 3rd grade
4th – 5th grade
6th – 8th grade
9th – 12th grade
2-4 teachers are needed for each age group and teachers will alternate Sundays. Elementary materials REQUIRE NO PREP OR PRIOR TEACHING EXPERIENCE. Please call
the church office to volunteer 918-245-1748.
Volume 102, Issue 11
Page 3
Malawi News Update * From Debbie at the College of Theology * June 2011
Dear Friends,
Warm greetings in the power and hope of the Spirit of Pentecost!
That gift of the Holy Spirit makes us one - one community of faith - one family of God - throughout the world
in all the glory of our diversity. The Spirit enables us to be more together then we can be apart from one another. But sometimes all that diversity can be quite challenging as we strive to serve together as the one body
of Christ, as partners in Christ’s service. A colleague spoke of this sharing of our lives amidst cultural diversity
as a dance, ―the dance of partnership‖.
What a glorious dance it is – this dance of partnership: inspiring and perplexing us – challenging us - stretching us – calling us to grow to be more then who we are at this time – transformed by the Spirit and one another. As we join together in this dance of partnership with our sisters and brothers in Malawi – sometimes we
dance to their music and sometimes we dance to the music of our culture. In so doing we are called to learn
each others dances and it is not always easy. Indeed, sometimes as we’re learning each others dances we end
up stepping on each others toes! Ouch! Nonetheless, the joy and blessing of the dance makes it all worthwhile.
We are grateful for partners who have danced with the University of Livingstonia , College of Theology over
these past seven years and who continue to be our partners in Christ’s service. Thanks to your faithfulness in
partnership the college has greatly progressed over these past seven years. We began in borrowed facilities
training candidates for the ministry to be licensed pastors. Today we have our own campus and facilities and
our candidates for the ministry earn a diploma or bachelor degree in theology. We have grown from two to six
full time members of faculty and from one to four classes of students. Our library holdings reflect a broad
spectrum of theological perspectives with many recent scholarly publications. Many of the goals of our initial
five-year strategic plan have been achieved and now it is time to dance to the new music of a new ten-year
strategic plan formulated earlier this year.
College of Theology goals for the next ten years:
Open our programs to laity and ministerial candidates of other denominations.
Diversify course offerings through establishing dual degree programs
Add a master of theology degree program
Have annual continuing education events for ministers in the field
Provide for faculty and support staff professional development
Increase full time faculty to fourteen and the student body to one hundred and twenty students
Build new facilities: kitchen, dining hall, faculty houses, administration block, four additional
classrooms, three additional dormitories, a chapel and a recreation center.
This strategic plan will entail learning a new dance to achieve and sustain this new vision for the University of
Livingstonia , College of Theology . We have already embarked upon building a new kitchen, which we hope
will be completed and ready for use by the end of this month. See pictures below of the old and new kitchens.
Our cooks still cook over a wood fire in both buildings because having an electric stove is costly and electricity is not dependable.
Volume 102, Issue 11
Page 4
Old Kitchen
New Kitchen
Our dance at the College of Theology became one mourning the end of this past semester with the death of the
twelve year old daughter of the president of the Students’ Union, Mr. Wisdom Mwale. His daughter Vestina
was a happy, healthy girl, a good student and one who loved the Lord. She died suddenly of cerebral malaria.
Since we are like a family at the college we all gathered round the family to comfort and uphold them in their
time of great sorrow - the family of God dancing the dance of love. Since we were in the midst of study days
in preparation for final exams the college in solidarity with the bereaved extended the time of study and delayed the closing of the semester
Students are performing well for the most part. However, we notice that while each new class enters with
higher secondary school marks the level of performance, nonetheless, seems lower with each new class. This is
a challenge for the students and for us as faculty, and we are often stepping on each others toes as we dance the
academic dance of preparation for ministry. This decline in academic performance seems to be worldwide and
is often spoken of as dumbing down or no child left behind. The causes here in Malawi are economic as well.
As a result of extreme poverty teachers are often minimally trained and poorly paid, often working two full
time jobs, doing neither well. In addition, the government is unable to monitor and regulate the performance of
academic institutions which strive to survive in any way they can. The answers are not easy. But I’m sure the
answers are to be found as we learn to dance together as partners, sharing our lives as the one family of God.
At the College of Theology we have one new full time member of faculty, Rev. Dr. Joel Manda, and we hope
to have an additional two faculty members as we begin the 2010-2011 Academic year on 27th June 2011. This
past semester we were pleased to receive from Langham Trust in U.K. a variety of books for ministry for our
students (see picture below), but we are still greatly in need of textbooks, which are costly and are not available in Africa. Thus, the cost doubles for each textbook when transport to Africa is included. Another challenging dance for us!
Students receive books from Langham Trust
Volume 102, Issue 11
International Partnership Conference
Page 5
The Synod of Livingstonia of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian danced the dance of partnership with overseas
and national partners who gathered together at Ekwendeni , Malawi , 9-10 May for an International Partnership Conference. The theme of the conference was ―Forging Partnership for Sustainable Growth‖. The dance of partnership was not
easy at this conference, each partner with their own agenda, each with their own cultural-faith perspective, trying to find
a way to sustainable growth for the people of Malawi .
For us in the Western world where we dance to the tune of the dollar, the pound and the euro and terrorist threats it is not
easy for us to understand that designated funds for a building project would be used to feed the hungry, to care for the
sick and to pay secondary school fees for a child in a country like Malawi where secondary education is not free. Neither
is it easy for us in the Western world to understand that here in Malawi poorly performing employees are not easily fired
because relationships are more important than successfully completing the task. It is a challenge for us as partners to
dance together with love and respect for one another. It is also a challenge to find a dance that we can dance together: a
dance that is not ours or theirs - but a new dance of genuine, mutual, equitable and healthy partnership that take us into a
peaceable kingdom of abundant life for all.
Prayers for Malawi
HIV/AIDS still takes it toll
Resources and Jobs are scarce
Freedom of Speech is threatened
Academic Freedom is squelched and the University of Malawi ’s doors have been closed by the
government
Local elections have once again failed to take place
Foreign economic aid has been greatly cut off f because of the deportation of the British Ambassador
Unending fuel shortages are leading to skyrocketing prices
The government has just instituted a new 16.5 % tax on basic commodities (meat, salt, bread, water, milk)
Corruption abounds
Unity is lacking within the Church
Prayers also for the political upheaval throughout the world and division within our own PC(USA).
Dancing together with justice and love in a world with a great variety of cultures and faiths as well as great inequities,
indeed, is not easy. The Sufi Muslim mystics say that ―when the power of love overcomes the love of power there will
be peace.‖ Let us dance the dance of love together, for as Jesus said ―by this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.‖
Grace and Peace,
Debbie
Rev. Deborah A. Chase, Presbyterian Church ( U.S.A. ) Mission Co-Worker
[email protected] http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/chased.htm
Volume 102, Issue 11
Page 6
22
29
21 9:30 a.m.—
Back-to-school
breakfast
12:00 p.m.—
Finance &
Stewardship Mtg.
28
10:00 a.m.—
Sunday School
Kick-off
Mon
6:30 p.m.—
Session Meeting
15
8
1
14
7
Sun
30
23
16
7:00 p.m.—
Deacons’ Meeting
9
2
Tue
31
7:00 p.m.—Adult
Choir Practice
24
17
10
7:00 p.m.—
Missions Meeting
3
Wed
25
18
11
4
Thu
26
19
12
5
Fri
First Presbyterian Church, Sand Springs
AUGUST, 2011
27
20
13
6
Sat
Skyler Short
26
Bennett Mikles
Tom Belcher
23
30
T. J. Fahland
22
Teressia Kehr
Hunter Carlisle
22
30
Allen Bates
22
Steve Snider
Luellen Tremble
21
29
Pam Walker
19
Donnie Robbins
Bella Beissel
19
28
Shane Maloney
18
John Grewe
Brian Legg
16
27
Terry Shelton
14
Dakota Reagh
13
Artie Palk
12
Ben Hunt
Jessica Landis
12
13
Sandy Hoge
10
Peggy Wallace
Chantel Hunt
9
12
Kristin Davenport
Tyler Bellmyer
8
6
THE PRESS-BYTE
PERIODICALS
IS PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY BY
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
POSTAGE PAID AT
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to:
SAND SPRINGS, OK 74063-7932
PERMIT NO. 004-104
First Presbyterian Church
222 N. Adams Rd.
Sand Springs, OK 74063
918-245-1748
FAX: 918-245-1754
www.fpcsandsprings.org
Sunday Worship
9:30 a.m. Fellowship
10:00 a.m. Sunday School
11:00 a.m. Worship Service
SERVING IN JULY
SERVING IN AUGUST
Greeter—Charlotte Griffis
Greeter—Crystal Hilgendorf
Ushers—John Bright, Captain; Spencer Bright
Ushers—Hilgendorf family; 2 Junior Highs,
Cody Shelton
Cody Shelton
Liturgist—Mark Griffis
Liturgist—Craig Hilgendorf
Trustee Lock-Up—Pam Walker
Trustee Lock-Up—Amy McAllister
NEXT NEWSLETTER DEADLINE
9:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 17, 2011
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Wednesdays @ 9:00 a.m.