Pastor Terry WHAT IS INSIDE THIS ISSUE? GPC Newsletter - May 2017 From The Pastor s Desk Pastor, what can

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1 Gilbert Presbyterian Church Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) 235 East Guadalupe Road Gilbert, Arizona Tel: Fax: Web: WHAT IS INSIDE THIS ISSUE? From the Pastor s Desk... 1 Church Staff... 2 Clerk of Session Report... 2 Mission Committee... 3 GPC by the Numbers... 4 Voice Studio Recital... 4 Stewardship Committee... 5 Life Line Screenings... 5 Easter - Son-Rise Service... 6 Pastor Jen s Youth Corner... 7 Jesters and More... 8 Evangelism Committee... 9 Christian Education...10 May Activities Calendar...11 May Celebrations...12 GPC Newsletter - May 2017 From The Pastor s Desk Pastor, what can Dear Friends, I do to help this Since we ended the month of April on a humorous note, I d like to share this list I came across to keep you smiling into our warm summer season! 10 Things You Never Hear in Church Hey! It s my turn to sit in the front pew! I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon was 25 minutes over time. Personally, I find sharing my faith much more enjoyable than golf. I ve decided to give our church the $500 I usually send to the televangelist. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher of the Junior High class. Forget the denominational minimum salary. Let s pay our pastor so she can live like we do. I love to sing the hymns I ve never heard before Since we re all here, let s start the service early. Pastor, we d like to send you to a week of retreat and refreshment in the Colorado Rockies. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like our annual stewardship drive. Here are a few more I d like to add to the list Let s take a look at that verse in its larger context, Pastor, so that we don t misunderstand what is being said. Let s give the very best we can to God in appreciation for what God has given to us congregation show the love of God to the whole community? Here s how I ve lived my faith by serving others this week. And finally I get tired of people who claim to have all the answers about God. I just love to get in there and wrestle with challenging questions! Wouldn t that be great? Let s make it happen! In Christ, Pastor Terry GPC Crossroads 1 May 2017

2 CHURCH STAFF Pastor... Rev. Dr. Theron J. Palmer Pastor for Youth & Family Ministries... Rev. Jen Fraser Admin. Assistant... Carole Blake Director - Chancel Choir...Jan Palmer Director - Joyful Ringers...Jennifer Nagy Director - Chapel Orchestra...Jan Palmer Director - Youth Choir...Susan Martinez Pianist/Organist...Susan Martinez Director - Children s Bell Choir... Web Master... Paul Ihms WORSHIP - 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. SUNDAY SCHOOL - 10:00 a.m. Office Hours...9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday CHURCH OFFICERS SESSION Anne Barton, Kevin Bauerle, Ann Bernal, Gaill Blackburn, Mike Gallagher, Wendy Ihms, Denise Jones, Susan Lucas, David Martinez, Dave Peterson, Judy Walmsley, Cheryl Williams. Rochelle Mackey, Clerk of Session BOARD OF DEACONS Dan Bernal, Bret Blackburn, Carole Blake, Stacey Bruno, Joe Carpenter, Linda Gibbons, Betty Gleason, Ginny Goodbar, David Nape, Cheri Peterson, Tom Russell, Angela Stover, Mary Sumner, Betty Walford, Mary Ann Wilkie. GPC Session meets monthly on the 3 rd Tuesday Board of Deacons meets monthly on the 1 st Thursday STANDING COMMITTEES: Building & Grounds, Education, Evangelism, Finance, Mission, Nominating, Personnel, Stewardship and Worship. The Crossroads is published monthly; deadline is the 20 th of the month before publication. News and information to be included may be submitted to the church office in hard copy, or as attachments to: azgpc1@aol.com Readers comments, ideas & suggestions are welcome. Editor: Tanja Bauerle Proof Readers: Gaill Blackburn, Carole Blake & Judy Sullivan; Production & Circulation: Carole Blake; Layout & Design: Tanja Bauerle Clerk of Session Report Good News shared At April session meeting V A wide range of topics were covered by the session at its April stated meeting, following devotions based on Hebrews 4:16: peace is a continual gift from Jesus in the present. V Other good news came in the Finance report account balances are strong, giving good, GPC pledges to presbytery paid and GPC reserves being replenished. V A commitment of $ was approved to support the Montlure Traveling Camp. GPC is one of four churches in the camp session June at University Presbyterian Church. We will also provide breakfast and lunch one day during the program, planned for 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. with care available until 5 p.m. to help working parents. V The Mission Commission asked for and received authorization for a special offering, May 14, to help furnish a room in new accommodations at UMOM. V The Buildings and Grounds Committee plans for a storage shed on the east side of the Christian Education building were approved and funded up to $2,000. V An audit of 2016 financial records will take place on May 1. V Those attending the March 25 presbytery meeting agreed that the worship service was very moving and the sermon good; dismissal of Northminster Presbyterian Church; and last receipt for GPC of a rebate check from the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program, because our mortgage has been paid in full. The next presbytery meeting is August 12. V The next GPC Stated Session Meeting is May 16, 2017, at 7 p.m. in the Christian Education Building. Members who desire time on the docket should contact Moderator Palmer. Rochelle Mackey - Clerk of Session GPC Crossroads 2 May 2017

3 May 14 is Mothers day, and at Gilbert Presbyterian Church it is also UMOM Sunday. What is this all about? Well, we have been serving dinner at the UMOM Watkins Emergency Shelter on the fifth Sunday of every month for quite awhile. Many of you have participated. UMOM is an organization that has been serving individuals and families here in Phoenix since Watkins Emergency Shelter, where we serve, opened in Time moves on, and so do the needs people and the capability of facilities to meet those needs. A new women s facility designed specifically for homeless women, adjacent to the current UMOM New Day Centers family shelter campus, where UMOM can provide comprehensive services and leverage many of the existing UMOM programs and resources has been built. The additional support for the women will reduce the length of time each individual experiences homelessness, and, ultimately decreasing the need for emergency shelter beds in our community and permanently housing more women to end their homelessness. The building is finished, and just the interiors are being completed now. The only thing missing is the furnishings. In order to furnish the facility, UMOM is reaching out to area churches for help. This presents an opportunity for us. They are asking for money donations rather than the furnishings themselves. The reason is that Sunday they want to make all the rooms match. They do not want to have to deal with the issue of I like green better than blue., or I want flowers, like the room down the hall.. The other opportunity is that as we reach various levels, our Sunday School students have the opportunity to make a welcome banner for the women moving in. So, Sunday, 14 May, we will have an opportunity to donate, over and above, our regular offering, to furnishing the new UMOM center which will provide safety, comfort, and services to homeless women. I will have more details and, hopefully, some pictures to present on Sunday, 7 May at both services. Peace, Mike Gallagher Mission Committee GPC Crossroads 3 May 2017

4 GPC by the Numbers APRIL ATTENDANCE REPORT Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Average Average Total Total TREASURER S REPORT Treasurer s Report as of March 31, 2017: Account Balances: Associate Operating: Cap One Savings: Pastor Fund: Mar 31, 2017 $6,318 $10,654 $4,166 Total Income received in March: $25,781 Total Expenses* for March: $31,401 *Includes loans, utilities, payroll, Presbytery pledges, etc. Breakdown of Giving in March: Amount Unrestricted Giving Sunday Offering... $21,589 Facility Use...$1,775 Restricted Giving Cash Reserve...$559 Mission...$281 Per Capita...$170 Worship & Music...$1,014 Deacons... $23 Flowers... $80 Evangelism...$290 As the warm weather begins and folks head for cooler climes, please remember your pledge to the church. The bills continue in the summer too. Thank you VOICE STUDIO RECITAL Jennifer Nagy invites you to attend her students' Voice Studio Recital on: SATURDAY MAY 20, 2017 AT 2:00PM in the GPC Sanctuary! Further information about church finances may be obtained through the Finance Committee, Kevin Bauerle - chair. GPC Crossroads 4 May 2017 Have you remembered your church in your will, trust or IRA?

5 One Small Stone Three Differnt Stories I walked up to the front of the sanctuary and on the communion table was a container of water filled with pretty little stones. Our facilitator, Rev. Deanne Hodgson, told us to choose a stone, look it over, feel it, and think about what it is telling us. I along with other women at Gilbert Presbyterian Church was on a retreat one Saturday morning in March. I quickly looked over the stones in the water and was instantly drawn to a very pretty, smooth, and creamy white oblong stone. It was a little over an inch long, a half inch wide, and a quarter inch thick. The stone reminded me of Jesus pure, white, and without a blemish. But the reverse side was not perfect. It had streaks, dots, and squiggles of brown and orange. The reverse side is not Jesus, but us with all our blemishes, problems, challenges, and sins. Last week I was having the inside of my home repainted and encountered some unexpected problems. The painters found the wall behind my washer damp, not from the washer, but from tiny leaks in the water pipes within the wall. I held my little stone and looked at the side with all the streaks and squiggles. Yes, that certainly was my day with lots of problems and concerns. Then I turned over my stone, and that side represented Jesus. I literally had turned over my problems along with all my stress to Jesus. My small stone reminds me of all the happy times my husband and I had hiking in the mountains of Eastern Arizona. We were out in God s creation the hills, valleys, desert plants, trees, and flowers, and rocks. We collected rocks small enough that we could carry and admire. We found many beautiful agates of different colors, the copper rocks azurite and malachite, smooth sharp obsidian, and black rocks with a wrinkly surface. When we shone a light through those small black rocks, the inside took on an amber color. They were translucent. And if we were lucky, we found geodes that when broken open revealed beautiful quartz crystals. The rocks we collected are now in my rock garden in my backyard. My grandkids love to look at them. Then I thought back to my childhood going with my family on a Sunday afternoon drive to a large parkway not far from where we lived. My dad would park the car. We got out and walked along a path through the woods to a river appropriately named Rocky River. We would carefully choose some flat stones to skip across the water. My dad was good at skipping rocks. His rocks skimmed the surface making concentric circles all the way across the river. But many of my rocks immediately went splash and sunk. Thinking back now to rock skipping reminds me of Pentecost and the way the early Christians spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. They made ripples traveling from one town to another just as a stone skips across a river. My small stone has taken on three meanings. It reminds me to turn over my problems, concerns, and stress to Jesus. My pretty little stone reminds me that it is just one small part of God s wonderful creation. And finally it reminds me of the way the gospel of Jesus Christ has spread throughout the world from person to person and town to town. Eloise Annis, Stewardship Committee Register for a Wellness Package which includes: 4 vascular tests 1 osteoporosis screening from $149 ($139 with our member discount) All five screenings take minutes to complete. Life Line Screening, a leading provider of community-based preventive health screenings, will offer their affordable, non-invasive and painless health screenings at Gilbert Presbyterian Church on 5/3/2017. Five screenings will be offered that scan for potential health problems related to: blocked arteries which is a leading cause of stroke abdominal aortic aneurysms which can lead to a ruptured aorta hardening of the arteries in the legs which is a strong predictor of heart disease atrial fibrillation or irregular heart beat which is closely tied to stroke risk a bone density screening, for men and women, used to assess the risk of osteoporosis. In order to register for this event and to receive a $10 discount off any package priced above $129, please call: or visit or text the word circle to GPC Crossroads 5 May 2017

6 EASTER SON-RISE SERVICE LED BY GPC YOUTH GPC Crossroads 6 May 2017

7 The Busy Month PASTOR JEN S YOUTH AND FAMILY MINISTRIES In families with school-aged kids, May is known as the perfect storm. As school and extracurricular activities begin to wrap up for the year, the month ushers in final concerts and performances, award ceremonies, end of year parties, and playoffs. For families, May is spent running from one event to another. For families who get to experience the normal course of things, whose kids are active participants in life, May is the transition month from busyness to vacation and we tend to like to finish our busyness with a bang. For this reason, I ve always both loved May and dreaded May. I love the whirl of activities, I love the chance to celebrate my kids accomplishments, and I love connecting with fellow parents, most of whom I haven t seen since school orientation in August. But I also dread facing the end of yet another year of being a parent. Nothing has rubbed me the wrong way more than having some school administrator announce that my 1st grader was now officially a 2nd grader, or that my middle school child was now in high school. In the midst of the busyness of parenthood, the end of the year always catches me off guard I m never ready for it to be over; and maybe that is why I am always so busy in the first place, so I don t have to face the fact that time marches on. Time marches on in church as well. This year, two beloved GPC members are launching out from childhood into adulthood. Grace Nagy and Emily Nasiff, whom many of you watched grow up, will be leaving for college. For them, the exciting adventure begins; for many of us, the job of providing spiritual nurture ends (or at least the first stage of that calling ends). It s easy to be proud of them these are two remarkably thoughtful and talented young women. And it has been made clear by the sermons that they have delivered that their faith is strong and sure. Nevertheless, in these final weeks, as we prepare to say goodbye to them, it is a good time to reflect on the time gone by. How do you feel about the job GPC has done in raising them up as disciples? Did we spend time in prayer for them? Did we model faithfulness and obedience to God? Did we share the gospel with them in a life affirming way? Did we reach out and ask them how school/friends/life was going? Did we let them know that we cared about them with words and actions? In hindsight, what are our successes as a community of faith in caring for our youth and what are our challenges? No matter how we would answer those questions, we can all rest assured that Grace and Emily have a firm foundation in God. But our work continues. There are a lot of children at GPC who need a community of faith. Let us make the most of the time we have with them. We can start by praying for them, saying hello to them on Sunday, asking them how their week was. Reach out and gather them in. Our time with them is fleeting, but the effects of that time are eternal. Blessings, Pastor Jen GPC Crossroads 7 May 2017

8 JESTERS AND MORE GPC CHUCKLES GPC Crossroads 8 May 2017

9 GPC Crossroads May

10 TRUTHSEEKERS WORKSHOPS: May Theme: Paul s Journeys - Spreading the Good News of Jesus PreK through 6 th Grade - 10 A.M. Sunday program Bible References: Paul s letters & book of Acts (Acts chapters 9, 13-15, 27 Bible Memory Verse: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13 (PreK/K easy version: Jesus said, Because I live, you will live also. ) Children will learn: During this month s rotations, children will learn about: how Paul met the Risen Jesus along the road to Damascus how Paul became a Christian and turned from doing evil to doing work for Jesus Christ the Earthquake in a Jail cell! how Paul traveled and wrote letters to spread the good news of Jesus Jr. & Sr. High Presbyterian Youth Connection (7th-12th Grades PYC): Meet at 10 AM for Sunday Youth Connection to focus on our Faith & Mission, led by Rev. Jen Fraser! Two Bible studies available for Adults: 1. DVD based Bible Study and Discussion Group led by Susan Lucas 2. Bible Study class PLUS: Young Adult Gatherings (approx. ages 18-24): Contact Rev. Jen Fraser for upcoming events! GPC Crossroads 10 May 2017

11 May Monthly Planner NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER: MAY 4 TH, 2017 GPC Crossroads 11 May 2017

12 Gilbert Presbyterian Church Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) 235 East Guadalupe Road Gilbert, Arizona Tel: Fax: Web: ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED / DATED MATERIAL Remember It is never too late to send in your PLEDGE. Please help support the work of the larger church through Per Capita giving - $34 per member. Thank you! May Celebrations Birthdays: 1 Dorothy Smith 3 Adeline Smith 4 Alicia Epping 6 Evan Punches 7 C C Bales 9 Ken Hassen 9 Cheyann Quayle 12 Izzi Bauerle 12 Jason Heinkel 12 Nancy Schapiro 16 Phyllis Henderson 16 Jennifer Nagy 17 Christine Cox 17 Ian Peterson 20 Mary Burger 20 Mike Epping 20 Ginger Martin 20 David Nape 21 Eloise Annis 21 Evan Coe 24 Scott Martinez 24 Dave Ray 25 Colleen Sullivan 28 Rick Dickens Anniversaries: 10 Ray & Barbara Zubler 14 Bob Finkbeiner & Sherry Gamble 14 Steve & Tori Searles 21 Joe & Hamsini Carpenter 23 Terry & Jan Palmer 25 Bret & Gaill Blackburn 27 Dale & Bert Seacat 29 Tom & Mary Moranville 31 Vic & Barb Carpenter GPC Crossroads 12 May 2017