GETTING TO KNOW OUR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

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1 ommunity Always Involved Happy New Year 2018, a year God did not promise us, yet seems to be giving to us. May we make the most of it. Did you know that a year consists of; 31,536,000 seconds or 525,600 minutes or 8,760 hours. A good bit of the time for this year, just like past years will be taken up by getting rest/sleep. The question becomes, what we will do with the rest. How will we invest ourselves in building God s kingdom on earth? At the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2017, we ll begin the journey with this new year. What it exactly holds, nobody really knows. Yes, God knows but God isn t telling. What we can be assured of is that it will come with plenty of challenges, an abundance of blessings and many opportunities to serve God. Here are some things that I m thankful for at the beginning of this new year: God s everlasting love and faithfulness as revealed to us in scripture and shown to us yesterday, this day and will tomorrow. I give thanks that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. It is God who has the past, the present and the future in HIS hands. What God asks of us is to join HIM in this journey of life, this journey of faith, that will be full of many ups and downs. Yet walking with HIM, we ll be able to not only endure the journey but know that the end will be better than the beginning. I give thanks that as we begin this new year, we begin with the session in place and well trained to help guide the church. I give thanks that God is providing us with all the gifts needed to serve and glorify HIM throughout this year; members, friends of the church, the many different talents and the many gifts that will be given. One of the questions that all elders answer is; Will you serve with energy, intelligence, imagination and love? That holds true for each of us as God s people, servants of Christ. Welcome 2018, we greet you with hope and anticipation of all that you hold. Here is A Modern Prayer for the New Year from Lord, You make all things new You bring hope alive in our hearts And cause our Spirits to be born again. Thank you for this new year For all the potential it holds. Come and kindle in us A mighty flame So that in our time, many will see the wonders of God and live forever to praise Your glorious name. Amen. May God pour HIS blessings upon all of us and may we each seek to be a blessing unto God. Pastor Dennis resbyterian Forsyth, MO

2 Stated Session Meeting Community Presbyterian Church Forsyth, Missouri (Session did not meet in December so the session digest will be back next month.) GETTING TO KNOW OUR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Denise would like to be able to do more traveling. Her dream vacation is to go to Alaska. It is a wonderful place and I hope she gets to do that. Not only does she feel that dependable is the word that best describes her, so do the rest of us. Denise is the friendly voice you hear when you visit or call our church during the week. She is one of the big reasons that CPC is known as the friendly church. She is a busy lady but I assure you that a hello will generate a smile and a pleasant reply. If you haven t already done so, I encourage you to stop in and introduce yourself. Thank you, Denise for all you do. Denise Carr, the older of two girls, was born in Allentown, PA, to two loving parents. She learned her great work ethic from her dad who was a mechanic and a mom who worked in retail and banking. Denise graduated from high school in Topton, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Bonnie Schreib, now lives in Forsyth and is one of our valued mentors. Her dad passed away in Denise s work history includes retail management, insurance claim processing, doctor s office insurance billing, and administrative assistant. She has served in the latter capacity here at Community Presbyterian since She met her husband Kenny online, thanks to his brother; she moved to Forsyth to be closer to him in They have been happily married since Denise enjoys vegetable gardening, reading, cooking, and bee keeping. Kenny is now retired and the bee keeping is something they enjoy doing together. Denise was trained as a Master Gardener by Penn State in 1996 and was a very active volunteer in that organization before moving here. Before leaving PA in 2000, she received an award for 500 volunteer hours. For relaxation, I hear that she and Kenny like an occasional day on the lake to bring home some dinner. I also hear that sometimes they go hungry! 2 Calling all unloved K-Cups! We have a new coffee brewer in the Hospitality Room that uses the single serving coffee K-cup type pods. The coffee pot was donated by a church member in an effort to not waste coffee when hardly anyone drinks from a full pot on Sunday mornings. If you have any K-cup type coffee pods that you don't use and would like to donate them, we would be happy to accept them! Just bring them by the church at any time. Or if you like a certain kind of coffee and want to bring your own pod with you, that would work too.

3 Statement does not all of the receipts or expenses through the end of December. Benevolence Fund Report: During December we helped 11 people/ families: 6 with rent, 2 with utilities, 2 with family needs and 1 with transportation. We were blessed to receive a generous donation from the Slusher Foundation this month! In addition, many of you gave generously for a family in our own congregation that is having hard times right now and I know they were blessed to receive the help. We also received a donation from the Diabetes Focus Group this month! Thanks to all for your for your wonderful gifts! If you would like to make a donation to the Benevolent Fund, please do so by marking your check special gift - benevolent fund. You can also donate to the fund through our website s PayPal button. It s toward the bottom on the first page. Please mark your gift for the Benevolent Fund. Those who receive our assistance greatly appreciate your gifts! 3 Diabetic Focus Group The regular monthly meeting of the Diabetes Focus Group will be on Monday, January 8, at 10:00 a.m., (the second Monday due to the New Year holiday.) Come and tell us how you did through the holiday eating season! Come and join us and bring a friend or a neighbor!

4 Happy New Year! I have heard that saying many times in my life. The new year seems to bring to mind so many possibilities and many people are ready for a fresh start. I find it interesting that a new year will spark something in us that speaks of new beginnings and yet, many times during the rest of the year, we have those same opportunities and they go unnoticed. I guess it seems more logical to begin anew on January 1. As church members, what new beginnings do you see as possibilities in 2018? What new ministries are needed in your communities? I would like to remind you that JCP has the Creative Ministry Grant available for new ministries and while they are awarded in August, the beginning of the year is a good time to start thinking about how to make those ministries a reality. I am hoping to see lots of applications for In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful, faith filled Pastor Susan The Bookies The next meeting of the Bookie Club is scheduled for Thursday, January 4, 2018, at 10:30 AM in the hospitality room. Our book this month is Lion by Saroo Brierley and Larry Buttrose Biography Man recounts ending up as a five-year-old on the streets of Calcutta, where he was taken in by an orphanage and adopted by an Australian couple. Describes his search for home and his two families. Originally published as The Long Way Home and basis for 2016 Oscar-nominated movie, Lion Looking toward February, our book is: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. Family Yale law professor--a daughter of Chinese immigrants--describes the traditional Chinese parenting style she has used to raise her and her Jewish husband's two daughters. Not allowed to hang out with friends, the girls must get perfect grades and excel at violin or piano. Relates the successes and conflicts. God s Little helping Buddies Looking forward to the second course of my breakfast, I lifted the small jar of refrigerated, cooked black beans off the counter and SHREIK! it slipped from my hand and did a ceremoniously, resplendent crash on the kitchen s concrete floor (the floor had formerly been a back patio). How to clean it up?! Beans, high in protein, would stink like a dead fish if put in the garbage and I always carefully wrapped all broken glass. What to do? An idea came to me, and, after returning from town the following day, I peered down at the mess on the floor and found what I d hoped to find God s cleanup crew ants. In a matter of days, the ants had trotted away with what they could use, leaving me with a simple pile of bean dust and broken glass to sweep up, wrap and discard. My mother in heaven is cheering, I m sure. Way ahead of her time, she believed in gardens everywhere, composting, recycling, re-using, improvisation with and in the arms of nature. It was quite accident that s stainless steel pan, discarded at my job because its interior seemed impossibly stained, was cleaned to a shine by weather and microbes after I thought to re-purpose it by using in my veggie garden. With modern medicine using leeches to control bleeding in surgery and maggots to clean difficult tissue infections in complex wounds, who knows what our great-grandchildren will witness as another of God s blessings from nature? Rose Franceschini Please join us and bring a friend! 4

5 Car Decals Now Available! ommunity resbyterian Always Involved Forsyth, MO If you would like a decal, there is a suggested donation of $3.00 for each one. They are available at the office. If you would like help removing your old sign and replacing with the new one, please let us know, we ll be glad to help! (The graphic above is a sample, but the decals have all white lettering except the flames and the words Always Involved are red.) New Small Group Study Small group study beginning January 10, 2018 at 5 pm. This first week meeting will be informational if you think you might like to join, but aren t sure, come to the first meeting for more information. This would be a BYF (bring your own food) study group. We ll be using the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (It s impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature). This will be a ten week study that takes us from January 10 through most of Lent This will be an excellent study to kick off the new year and help us prepare for Easter Here is a list of books that can be purchased for this study: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (updated edition) by Peter Scazzero is available via Amazon for $10.59 new, Kindle $9.99. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Course Workbook (updated edition) Discipleship that Deeply Changes Your Relationship with God - via Amazon for $7.70 new, Kindle $5.99. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day: A 40-Day Journey with the Daily Office Kindle $9.99 or paperback $8.47. Each could be purchased new/used for a lessor fee but shipping would be added. All three can be purchased via for $ Please let us know your interest in this study and desire to purchase at least the book and workbook. The Day by Day could be purchased at a later date and would be ideal for Lent. (BTW Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, February 14 (Valentine s Day). Let us know via the Ritual of Friendship sheet, pastordennis@mchsi.com or by calling the church office (417) Donations will be accepted for Forsyth Community Food/ Numana Project In the event of inclement weather, the fish fry will be held the following Saturday.

6 BIRTHDAYS:. 2 Linda Worster 6 Shirley Earll 12 Betty Forrest 15 Linda Stillings 20 Billie Utesch 26 Glad Haltom 28 Len Clifford 29 Wayne Graham ANNIVERSARIES 2 Terry & Shirley Earll, 21 years 5 Roy & Dixie Green, 63 years Quote of the month: I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. --Jimmy Dean Food Pantry Sundays During 2017, the first Sunday of the month was known as CAM Food Pantry Sunday. Although food can be donated for this effort, CAM can turn each $1 into $10 to purchase food for the pantry. A total of $1,471 in donations were sent to CAM this year so they could purchase $14,710 worth of food! CAM Food Pantry Sunday will continue on the first Sunday of each month in Per Capita Rate Per capita is an amount of money per member that our congregation pays to our larger Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This annual amount is shared between our local presbytery, regional synod and General Assembly. For 2018, our per capita rate is again $35.00 per member. Any contributions toward this amount would be appreciated. Please note your contribution as Per Capita to be sure it s credited correctly. Thank you! Annual Committee Reports are due! This is a notice to all committee chairpersons that your annual reports are due! Please have your report to the office by Monday, January 15. Your report can be dropped off at the office or you can it to compresby@centurytel.net. Sunday, February 11, 2018 Following worship (Date is weather permitting - will move to the following week, if necessary) 6 From the staff of Community Presbyterian Church, we would like to say Thanks for the generous Christmas giftswe appreciate it very much! We look forward to serving you in 2018! Dennis W. Denise Arliss Linda Gala Dennis S.

7 Ushers/Greeters Clayton & Margaret Cooper Liz Rogers Pat Seals Liturgist Sue Wright Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Every Sunday: Sunday School 9:00 am Worship* 10:30 7 CAM Food Pantry Sunday Chili Cookoff 11:30 am Diabetic Focus Group 10:00 am Women s Circle 10:30 am All Committee Reports due! 29 9 Chamber Lunch 11:30 am Choir the Stillings 7:00 pm 10 Calico Cutups 10:00 am Small Group Study 5:00 pm Choir 7:00 pm 17 Small Group Study 5:00 pm Choir 7:00 pm 24 Small Group Study 5:00 pm Choir 7:00 pm 31 4 Yoga 9:00 am The Bookies 10:30 am Bar Assoc Lunch 11:30 am 11 Yoga 9:00 am 18 Yoga 9:00 am CPC Session 4:00 pm 25 Yoga 9:00 am 5 Care Center Birthday Party 2:30 pm Fish Fry 4:30 pm Forsyth Sr. Ctr. Breakfast 7 10 Small Group Study 5:00 pm Choir 7:00 pm *If you would like a copy of Sunday s service, a CD can be made available to you. Please contact the church office for more information. 7

8 COMMUNITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH P.O. Box 486 Forsyth, MO Community Presbyterian Church C O M M U N I T Y P R E S B Y T E R I A N C H U R C H PO Box Main Street Forsyth, Missouri (417) Dennis Winzenried, Pastor Website: compresby@centurytel.net Staff Members Pastor...Dennis D. Winzenried Secretary...Denise Carr Choir Director.Arliss Stillings Organist.Linda Stillings Custodian....Gala Vrionis Sunday School Sunday Worship Service 9:00 am 10:30 am 8