Church. Mouse MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SEPTEMBER, 2018

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1 Church Mouse MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SEPTEMBER, 2018 Director of Children s Ministry...Judy Derringer In this new season for Tom and me, the hope is to be able to join in travel with him during the remaining period of his employment in New York. In addition, retirement will allow flexibility to extend support to our grandkids during their formative years and much needed time to visit family members all of which are in other regions of the country. Before August 26, 2002, Judy Derringer was an active volunteer in the church. But on that day, she became the staff person for Christian education. The role included Christian education for children and adults. About seven years ago, her position narrowed to focus only on children. Over 16 years, she has led over 800 Sundays and over 300 Wednesdays of Christian education programs, 16 Vacation Bible schools, 16 Harvest Festivals, 32 Communion preparation classes, and has done a whole lot more. For 16 years, she has shepherded the hearts of children towards a long-term relationship with Jesus. For most of those years, she also equipped adults to grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus. It was with mixed feelings that we received her announcement of her plans to retire on Sunday, November 18, The mixture of feelings is obvious. This is not just a job for her. She deeply loves every child in this church. She genuinely wants them to know the joy of a life in Jesus. She works incredibly hard to run a children s ministry of the highest caliber. If your child has experienced Judy s ministry, you know how good it is. So, it will be hard to say goodbye. (Continued on page 2) 1 Church Events Sept. 3 Labor Day Church Office Closed Sept. 4 SOF First Day of School Sept. 4 Morning Circle Sept. 4 Evening Circle Sept. 6 Thursday Women s Bible Study Sept. 7 Mom s Bible Study; Women s Bible Study Sept. 9 1st Kids Communion Prep Class Sept. 10 Ministry/Division Meetings Sept. 12 Wednesday Night Activities Begin Sept. 15 Young Adult Outing Sept. 24 Session Meeting Sept. 29 Douglasville Recycle Event Sept. 29 Respite Night

2 Judy Derringer... (Continued from page 1) At the same time, we fully understand her desire to retire. She has plans for a new season of priorities in her life. In her notice of retirement, she wrote, In this new season for Tom and me, the hope is to be able to join in travel with him during the remaining period of his employment in New York. In addition, retirement will allow flexibility to extend support to our grandkids during their formative years and much needed time to visit family members all of which are in other regions of the country. Who can argue with a desire to fill your days with those tasks? We have begun the process to fill the position. We have a search team. They will refine the job His Master replied, Well done, my good and faithful servant! (Matthew 25:21) description and post a job opening. Then, it is a matter of collecting resumes. If you know folks who might be interested in this position, encourage them to contact the church office to find out how to apply. Once we collect resumes, we will go through our normal process to secure the candidate. I encourage you to be in prayer for this process and for the new candidate. He or she will have big shoes to fill and will need our prayers and support. Blessings, James Fall Kickoff, from Judy Derringer Classrooms are teeming with children, youth and adults as the new educational year gets off to a great start of cultivating faith foundations for growing in relationship with the Lord. I love the enthusiasm of kick-off day when many set out with anticipation and promise for renewing and rediscovering faith in Christ. Intentions are focused and defined; get into a rhythm of weekly study and worship, open your Bible for quiet time daily, and join with God in prayer often. With intention to carry this renewed passion into every day of the week, we quickly find the business of life invading and undermining the progress that we had hoped to promote. Our tendency is often to give up, skip church this week, or maybe the next two weeks. We might think... surely, I ll not be welcomed back after my absence, or I m so far behind on my study there is no way to keep up with the class. Rather than giving in to this feeling of failure and stopping what we had hoped we would accomplish, I would suggest remaining faithful to what God has called you to do. Set an example for your children. God has given you an opportunity to be revived and thrive in relationship with him. And while we may not be able to adhere to every standard we set for ourselves, we can let God lead us daily in loving relationship with Jesus. As parents I m pretty sure we would all agree that a growing relationship with Christ is what we would want most for our kids. There are certain principles and characteristics that we want them to know and live out. I m reminded of the poem Children Learn What They Live By: Dorothy Law Nolte. Every day we are given the opportunity to model the love of the Lord Jesus to our children through positive interaction and guidance in the way we respond to them and to others. Let me encourage you to continue faithfully to love God, love others and love life. Return to the Lord, and let your children learn what they live by your example. (Continued on page 8.) Children Learn What They Live If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy. If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty. If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence. If children live with tolerance, they learn patience. If children live with praise, they learn appreciation. If children live with acceptance, they learn to love. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal. If children live with sharing, they learn generosity. If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness. If children live with fairness, they learn justice. If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect. If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them. If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live. 2

3 Pastor Andrew... For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. (Hebrews 6:10) Our last edition of the Churchmouse went to press before First Presence 2018, so I wanted to share some of the various projects members of FPCD were involved in on that occasion. First Presence this year took place on Saturday, July 28. About 70 members of First Presbyterian gave their time on this day. We served at eight different projects in the community: Singing to residents at Benton House Landscaping the community garden at Youth Villages Inner Harbor Campus Helping people with food and prayer at the Pantry Painting at the Douglas County Shelter Grinding the surface off a concrete floor at the Good Samaritan Center prior to it being resurfaced Reading to toddlers and elementary age kids at Douglasville Library Filling up the food pantry at Eastside Elementary School and Dismantling an old deck and providing new decking at the Pregnancy Resource Center. The group who worked at PRC medical worked until 6 p.m. to make sure all the new deck boards were in place so the workers at PRC could use their deck the following Monday. We also had a great Mentoring Coffee morning on August 8. We heard from Mitzi Teal who is the Director of the Match Mentoring program for the Douglas County School System. We had some members give testimony about their experience of Mentoring. Ms. Tiffany Wright, a school social worker at Burnett Elementary, gave her perspective of how beneficial mentoring is for kids. At the end of the morning several people indicated their interest in becoming mentors and just this last Sunday I heard from two members who have already started! Gwen Davis ((left photo) spoke about her experience as a mentor. She is still an active part of this person s life as an adult after nine years. (Continued on page 8) READING AND CRAFTS AT THE LIBRARY DECK CREW FROM FPC YOUTH VILLAGE WORK GROUP 3

4 Cultivate Your Faith This Year We had a great Kick-off to the new ministry year on August 12. The adults gathered in the Sanctuary at 9:30, and we explored how we can cultivate our faith more deeply this year through worship, study, service and prayer. The verse for our Cultivate theme is Hosea 10:12. In this verse, we receive the challenge to break up our fallow ground. What areas of your spiritual life are laying fallow and stagnant right now? I would encourage you to examine your heart and priorities, and prayerfully consider ways that you can till the soil of your heart so that you can experience fresh growth in your relationship with God. Over the past few weeks, we have had a chalkboard up in the Church Narthex and Jeffords center, to collaborate on ideas for cultivating our faith. Here s a couple Cultivation Tips from members of our Church family: Turn off the music and pray in the car. Call a friend each week and offer to pray with them on the phone. Spend time in God s word and in prayer before looking at social media. Take a prayer walk. Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12) I ll be glad to share ideas for new habits that we can put into practice to help one another cultivate our faith over the course of this year. I am praying that this is a year of deep growth as disciples at FPC! With Love, Sarah Dickinson CULTIVATE OPPORTUNITIES Vine Class Study Wednesday Night Activities Thirstquenchers Joshua Shepherd s Flock John Alpha Hebrews Theophili John Rooted Westminster Confession Women in the Word Discerning the Voice of God Parents Class Parenting Through the Phases Dive Deep into the Word 3 John Begin September 12 First Kids Choir First Kids Activities Co-Ed Adults with Pastor James and Pastor Andrew Men s Study with Dusty Cantrell Students O4G (Started on August 22) Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal Tuesday Morning Circle Evening Circle Ecclesiastes Forgotten God Thursday Women s Bible Study Acts Friday Mom s Bible Study Women s Bible Study 4

5 Church News... We are once again hosting a night of games, music, dancing, and pizza for our friends with special needs ages 12 and up...and offering their parents and caregivers some time of respite. Our hope is to show the love of Christ through this event, which hosted 80 guests last time! Would you consider volunteering for the evening to help make this night a success and further our mission to #LoveDouglasCo? You can sign up by ing Andrew Huggins at ahuggins@fpcdouglasville.org....come... Sing with the Choir for Christmas Wednesday Nights 7:00-8:30 p.m. The choir is already underway rehearsing our anthems for the Christmas season. If you love Christmas music and would like to sing with the choir for the Christmas Concert and/or Lessons and Carols service, please contact Glenna James at glenna@fpcdouglasville.org. No Prior experiences needed. All singers middle school and older welcome. Our church family sends are deepest sympathies to Chip & Cari Owen and family on the passing of Joe Owen First Day of School Tuesday, September 4 Let s pray for our preschool children and leaders to have a blessed year of learning about God s love. We can also support SOF through our AmazonSmile and Kroger Community purchases. AmazonSmiles Shop your Amazon purchases through the Amazon Smiles program and SOF will receive.5% of eligible purchases. Smile.amazon.com select First Presbyterian Church Seeds offaith Prechool, Inc (no space between of and Faith ) Kroger Community Rewards** can help SOF earn $$$ on your individual purchases. 1. Go to Krogercommunityrewards.com 2. Register/Sign in for an account. Use SOF # FE568 to link your card to our school. **This will not interfere with earning Kroger gas points. BOOMERS ON THE GO Boomers are off to a great start with their kickoff luncheon in August. Watch for more details in your IINBOX. Ever feel unloved, undeserving maybe even guilty? Stephen Ministers can help. They are trained to listen and care for others. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact: Linnea Osborne or Nancy Williams:

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8 (Continued from page 2, First Kids) First KIDS fall communion preparation session for children and their parents is forming and will meet September 9 and 16, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. During these few hours each Sunday afternoon, instruction is provided for building a foundation of understanding the two sacraments we celebrate in our church: baptism and communion. Hands-on activities and discussion help children begin to develop a knowledge of the important role these observances serve in the life of the church and believer. Please contact Judy to register (judy@fpcdouglasville.org). (Continued from page 3, Pastor Andrew) In September we will start recruiting for our summer 2019 trip to Haiti. There will be Information Stations in the Narthex and Jeffords Center on September 8 th and 16 th where you can find out more information. Please also remember to keep our medical team in your prayers as they head out to Haiti on September 15 for a week. Thanks, grace & peace, Pastor Andrew September, 2018 Tyler Kelly 1 Abby Vaughan 5 Jessica Owen 12 Joan Hicks 19 Robert Karr 25 Natalie Harper 2 Eli Rowell 6 Scott Patman 12 Amber Budwash 21 Faith Guger 26 Christopher Owen 2 Brenda Damerow 7 Jeff Quinn 12 Parker Dobbs 21 Rosemary Hardeman 26 Christi Revelle 2 Everest Huggins 7 Danny Belyeu 13 Alison Huggins 21 Clarence Hobbs 26 Nicholas Wilson 2 Beverly Butler 8 Kerry Harbin 13 Kayla Kozel 21 Melissa Cordle 27 Margaret Griffin 4 Lynn Kaufman 8 Leon Jeffords 14 Lucie Morris 21 Richard Smith 27 Daniel Harbin 4 Allison Simmons 8 Ebbie Simmons 14 Luke Turner 21 Bree Revelle 28 Jonathan Hoel 4 Jack Wittwer 8 David Carpenter 16 Helen Bell 22 Marcia Belyeu 29 Thomas Stavran 4 Ben Fangman 9 Howard Corso 16 Mae Harrell 22 Ted Crews IV 29 Sondra Burroughs 5 Brooks Fraker 9 Tom Davis 16 Lindsay Mercer 22 Blakelee Isbill 29 Edward Heatherton 5 Bruce Hurkmans 10 Christina Hawkins 16 Scott York 22 Virginia Rosebrook 29 Allen Little 5 Geri Armstrong 11 Reba Haynes 17 Judith Lovern 23 Frank Jeffers 30 Garrett McPherson 5 Eloise Cornell 11 Larry Toney 17 Gloria Hobbs 24 Dale Michaelson 30 Patrick Moir 5 Angela Pike 11 Karel Dailey 18 Virginia Baxter 25 Mikki Moxley 30 Lansing Sutton 5 Holly Bradley 12 William Patman 18 Sandra Crumpton 25 8