First Christian Church Newsletter

Transcription

1 Mission: To create a loving, growing community that honors and worships God; strives for a broader understanding of the nature of God; proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ; challenges its members to live in commitment to that Good News; reaches out to those in need; and promotes Christian unity. First Christian Church Newsletter 520 S. Osage, P. O. Box 1177, Bartlesville, Oklahoma (918) Volume XIV, Number 14 October 28, address: bvillefcc@sbcglobal.net web site: Phone: The First Christian Church Newsletter (USPS ) is published monthly by First Christian Church, 520 S.E. Osage, Bartlesville, OK POSTMASTER: Send address changes to First Christian Church Newsletter, P.O. Box 1177, Bartlesville, OK Sara & Jane Rita & Larry Welcome to our new Church Members! Jane and Sara Thompson joined our fellowship on Sunday, September 28th. They transferred from a sister church. Their address is 1518 East Dr. - phone # Janie is employed at Green Country Village and Sara is employed at Truity Credit. Larry and Rita Barnes joined our fellowship on Sunday, October 12th. They come by transfer from a sister church. Larry and Rita s address is 3200 Price Rd., Unit #24. Rita s phone # and Larry s is November Fellowship Dinner Sunday, November 9 (following the worship service) The meal will be fried chicken. Please bring a Vegetable, Salad or dessert to share. Come and bring a friend and enjoy good fellowship and food. Remember to set your clocks and watches back one hour before you retire this coming Saturday night, (Nov. 1) and get an extra hour of sleep.

2 Kim s E quips to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ ~ Eph. 4:12 Dear First Family Greetings! I am having such fun coming to visit you in your homes! Goodness you have such beautiful homes, full of personality and precious memories. I have graciously been received in 10 such dwellings so far and look forward to more on this delightful getacquainted journey. I also appreciate those of you who have come to my office for our visit as I love welcoming folks into FCC s beautiful pastor s office. (the office, I mean!) We are now in our 4 th week of our 7 week Season of Prayer. As you know, the purpose of this season is to cover ourselves in prayer - specifically seeking God s guidance/insight into His future steps for us, as well as seeking His help in dealing with personal spiritual baggage and aspirations. Each week s prayer focus, complete with relevant scriptures, questions and excerpts from the book Comeback Churches (Stetzer/Dodson) are in the Sunday bulletin for your reflection and prayers during that week. We also have had several folks come to the weekly Wednesday prayer time in the Chapel (12:15-12:45) for a time of personal prayer and reflection on the week s prayer focus. I am eager to hear from you if this prayer focus is making any difference in your own faith walk. Time will tell if it makes any difference in our forward movement together as this body of Christ followers. Here is the overview of our weekly foci in our Season of Prayer (Oct. 5-Nov. 16): 1) your personal Christian faith; 2) seeking and receiving God s shalom (well-being, wholeness, prosperity of spirit); 3) developing a heart for those needing the Lord; 4) ready to move forward.into our new; 5) becoming a missional church; 6) sensing God s direction/witness now for FCC, Bartlesville; and 7) your personal gifts and talents to be shared in our new. We are also in the midst of our 2015 Stewardship Campaign, Embrace the Future, based on Paul s exhortations in Philippians 3: 13b-15 but this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. You have received a letter from our Stewardship Chair, Gay Cooper, with an enclosed pledge card. During worship on November 2 nd, Consecration Sunday, we will take a few moments to receive your pledge cards and dedicate them to the use of our Lord and to the glory of God s Kingdom here on earth. (those cards already mailed in will be included) November 2, All Saints Sunday, will also include a moment of remembrance for our fellow church members and family who have passed on this past year: Barbara Parsons, Jack Young, Michael Shiflet, Paul Hains, LaVerne Hodgkinson, Grace Young, Phyllis Chapman and Wilda Chew. My gratitude to the Worship Co-chairs, Margery Maple and Debbie Lansford, and to the following members for agreeing to serve on a worship service task force: Clyde Detter, Shelley Davidson, Marty Hess, Eleanor Sandusky and myself. I have instigated this effort for the purpose of evaluating our current worship service, e.g., why do we do what we are currently doing in worship and who started it?...is the service meeting the worship needs/preferences of our current congregation?...would our service be meaningful/ inspirational to visitors?, etc. (still, the primary event for first time visitors to a church) Trust me, I am well aware of the pitfalls involved in tinkering with a worship service!! Nevertheless, in this time of transition and as we eventually will be taking a hard look at what we hope to achieve together in this future we are embracing, I am boldly seeking YOUR input and feedback concerning the meaning of our worship service for YOU. I will also present some ideas to our Worship task force, and along with your feedback, we will try out a tweaked version of our current worship service during the season of Advent. We will also solicit your feedback about the tweaked version after Epiphany (Jan. 5) November 9 is the Sunday we will focus on our worship service, complete with a survey in your bulletin and time to fill it out during worship! FYI here are the questions on the worship survey: 1) What do you believe is the purpose/function of a worship service? What do you personally hope to get out of our worship services?; 2) What in our current service helps you to do that?; 3) What parts of our service do you feel strongly need to remain as is and why?; 4) Regarding our order of service, what parts would you like to change or remove why?; 5) What suggestions do you have to make our service more appealing to various age groups? We Press On! Blessings, Pastor Kim

3 Ken & Sharon Armstrong & Family Dr. George Buchal (Faye Marlowe) Ralph Farris-broken hip (Margery Maple) Dr. Scott Fooshee (Debbie Lansford) Kat Fuzzell Val Hadden (Emily Hays) Gary Hagan Franklin Johnson (Eleanor Sandusky) Linda Jarrett (cancer)joann s daughter Gwen King (Eleanor Sandusky) Leslie Family (Gay Cooper) Quincy Montgomery Greg Mueggenborg (Margery Maple) Jim Murray (Phyllis Sturm) F.C. (Jr.) O Gara Alonzo Porter (Chester s brother) Chester & Charlote Spencer Scott Taylor (cancer) Martha Ferguson George Thurman (Rita s brotherrecent loss of his wife) Michelle (Johnson) Uhlig The global efforst to undermine the attacks of ISIS and the Ebola disease Adams Parc Bill Hines Rm.#108 New Updates Pastor Kim will be out of the office on Nov. 6 and 7 for minor gum surgery and recoup time. She will be in the office on Tuesday of that week, instead of her regular day off and will be here that Sunday (11/9.) We lift up Lou and Gary Brown as Gary has knee replacement surgery (here) on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Lou may be in the office later in the day we ll see. Steve Seger requests prayers for Retta s parents, Walter & Naomi Aday: Walter has medical tests and for their adjustment in the nursing home. Thank you, Church, for giving $353 for our special Disciples Mission Fund Reconciliation Offering! Our CWF group met on Thursday morning, October 9th with 10 present. We had our usual discussion of Cares and Concerns with prayer. Our mission check went to the local Boy s and Girl s Club this month. We will be meeting again on Thursday, November 13 at 10:30 am. We hope to see many, many more of you at this meeting and beyond. Come, enjoy the goodies and fellowship with us. Church Women United s World Community Day will be held on November 7th at 10:00am at First Church. World Community Day is organized by Church Women United, an ecumenical organization of Christian women who are working to strengthen families. World Community Day focuses on justice and peace around the world. We want to thank you for the cards, prayers, and concern for Bill s recovery from hip replacement surgery. FCC is a caring and loving church. Thank you, thank you! Bill & Beverly Hines Thank you so much for all the phone calls, cards, and visits but most of all for your prayers. I have been so blessed to have been a part of this church family. Love, Jo Ann Brouse Thank you to all those that gave money to purchase Butter for the Thanksgiving Baskets at CONCERN. We reached our goal! Please bring your left-over Halloween Candy to the church office to be used for the Christmas Goody Bags for the Salvation Army.

4 FYI: Today I wanted to tell all of you about an important service that we are bringing here on 11/19/2014. As many of you may not know, stroke is a leading cause of death today, affecting over 750,000 people each year. Every 45 seconds in America, someone suffers a stroke and every 3 minutes, someone dies from one. This means that during the next 45 minutes, approximately 15 people in the United States will have died due to a stroke. Stroke can change your life, but it can also take your life. Please consider taking part in these life-saving screenings. By signing up for this health event, not only will you be able to take your health into your own hands, but you will also receive $10 off any package of $129 or more. The Stroke, Vascular & Heart Rhythm Package includes four screenings: carotid artery, abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease and atrial fibrillation. To schedule your appointment and to receive this special offer, please sign up only by either calling our members-only phone number, which is or by visiting Join in the fight against vascular disease! 7 Laura Hines 8 Niki Cowan 11 Edna Earl Painter 11 Ken Armstrong 25 Barbara O Gara 25 Suzanne Eder 29 John Bundren 29 Larry Glass Item for CONCERN for the month of November Bars of Soap Please place in the basket by alley door. We will deliver items to the center. Office Manager office hours Monday through Thursday-8:30am - 4:30pm (gone for lunch 12 noon - 1:20pm, approximately) The deadline for articles for the next newsletter will be November 19th by 9:00am Best wishes to Ashley (Cooper) and Michael Massara on their marriage on October 4th. And congrats to Steve and Retta Seger on the arrival of their twin granddaughters on October 13th in Norman. Jeff and C. J. Seger are the proud parents of Avery Taylor and Lilian Kate. And I m sure big brother Thomas is proud of them as well. Our sympathy to Jane Thompson and family on the recent death of her brother-in-law. Also to Wilda Chew s family and friends. Wilda passed away on September 25th at 105 years old. A brief Time of Celebration will be held right after the worship service on November 2nd in Tyler Chapel. To Ken and Sharon Armstrong on the tragic death of their grandson, Taylor in Pittsburg, Kansas. For those that might remember Jan Burton, word has been received that she passed away recently in Norman. Sunday Schedule: Sunday School: 9:30 am Worship: 10:30 am Staff: Interim Pastor: Rev. Kim C. Hames Choir Director/Organist: Margery Maple Office Manager: Lou Brown Custodian: Chester Spencer Church Phone #:

5 The Reverend Pamela Holt Accepts the Call as Oklahoma s New Regional Pastor! The called Regional Assembly, gathered on October 18 at FCC, OKC, voted to extend the call to the Rev. Pamela Holt to be our next Regional Pastor. Pastor Pam will begin her ministry with us on January 5, 2015, as she concludes her current ministry at FCC, Mineral Wells, TX. Pastor Kim will be attending the Regional Board meeting at FCC, Norman on Nov. 1 - one item of business will most likely address plans for an acting Regional Pastor until Pam s arrival. Hear Our Prayer, O Lord Our weekly intercessory prayer group meets on Mondays, 12:15-1:15pm, in the Library. We look forward to being additional advocates of the faith gift of prayer on behalf of others. We have placed yellow prayer request slips in the pew racks. You are invited to fill them out as needed and place them on the prayer station either before service or as you come up to light a candle. These slips will be given to the group as well as brought before the congregation unless you indicate otherwise on the slip. Here I Come a Visiting! My plan now for the HOT PINK SHEET (you sign up for a pastoral visit) is to have it available each month at the Fellowship dinner. Feel free, of course, to give me a call tell me in person me with a request for your visit anytime. My procedure remains = work my way down in order of notification. Thank you! ~ Pastor Kim Reminder: Please sign-up to help with the Coffee Hour on Sunday mornings by helping to set up and providing some refreshments. Contact Emily Hays for more information at The Community Thanksgiving Service will be held at 1st Presbyterian Church on November 23rd at 6:00pm THANKSGIVING OFFERING TO BE RECEIVED NOVEMBER 16th & 23rd. Support our students so they can Come Home to a Disciples of Christ Institution! Your gift to the Thanksgiving Offering helps underwrite the education of students attending our 14 member undergraduate institutions and our 7 seminaries or divinity houses. Coming home to a Disciples College or Theological School is possible through the scholarships and grants that are made available by generous individuals, the Disciples Mission Fund and your gifts to the Thanksgiving Offering. Together, we can make coming home to Disciples educational institutions more affordable. The Thanksgiving Offering helps continue this tradition.

6 Joseph and Our Amazing Musicians Everyone is invited to attend Amazing benefit concert on Nov. 16 Local mid-high, high school and adult choirs are combining voices under the direction of nationally-renowned composer and pianist Joseph Martin in a benefit concert for CONCERN. Beautiful, powerful and uplifting, Martin s compositions, which range from secular to sacred, are so moving you won t want the music to end. The Joseph and Our Amazing Musicians benefit concert will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16 in the Bartlesville High School Fine Arts Center Auditorium. A biannual event, Faye Marlowe has been coordinating the concert with the support of CONCERN and Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC since The last concert in 2012 raised approximately $40,000. Marlowe, a former music teacher of Martin s, has been thrilled with the success of each event. Tickets are general admission $25 for adults and $10 for students and can be purchased at the Truity Credit Union, from any participating adult singer or community church, or by calling Betsy Geibel ( ). Churches United for Community CONCERN of Bartlesville is a local outreach mission governed by directors from area churches and organizations. CONCERN provides food, financial assistance and quality childcare for low income families. Proceeds from this year s concert will benefit the CONCERN Foundation to support the Child Learning Center and Urgent Support program, which provides food and financial assistance. This year s benefit fundraising goal is $50,000. To help restock CONCERN s emergency pantry, concert attendees are encouraged to bring a donation of non-perishable food items to the event. You won t want to miss our worship service on Nov. 16 as Joseph and Sue Martin will do a Sermon in Song.

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