From Your Pastoral Presbyter. Psalm 42 : 1 ( MSG. ) April 28, John Calvin Presbytery P. O. Box 787, Shell Knob, Missouri 65747

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1 John Calvin Presbytery P. O. Box 787, Shell Knob, Missouri April 28, 2017 Pastoral Presbyter P. 1 Prayer List / Joys P. 2 Presbytery Days P. 2 Contact Info/Announcement P. 2 Meet Pastor John Becker P. 3 Planning Calendars P. 4 Minute Review P. 4 Terms of Call P. 4 Seeking-Gibson Chapel P. 5 Seeking-Southminster P. 5 JCPDA P. 6 JC Living Waters P. 7 Psalm 42 : 1 ( MSG. ) A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I m thirsty for God-alive. From Your Pastoral Presbyter Stewardship is one of those staples of the church. It is also one of those things that is approached differently in every church, but the basics are the same. This important issue will be the focus of our Presbytery Meeting on May 18th in Shell Knob, MO. Our Guest Speaker will be The Reverend Charles Spencer, the Executive Presbyter in Heartland Presbytery. Rev. Spencer has worked in churches of various sizes, has worked with stewardship at the denominational level and facilitated and presented at the recent Stewardship Conference in Kansas City. He will be preaching at the morning worship service and be giving a presentation for our educational time. It promises to be informative and inspiring. Also, for the first time at a Presbytery meeting, we will have our newly purchased portable labyrinth set up for use during the meeting. This will give you the opportunity to have a quiet time of prayer in the midst of our busy day. There will also be a couple of resources on Praying the Labyrinth and Living the Labyrinth by Jill Kimberly Hartwell Geoffrion for use as you walk the labyrinth. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting. Everyone is invited to attend. Pastor Susan PAGE 1

2 Joyful, holy community of Christian believers, diverse yet united. committed to serving Christ in the church and in the world. Prepared by God through the Holy Spirit for mission and ministry. Prayers requested.. The congregations of John Calvin Presbytery For all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit, that they may know the peace that passes all human understanding in Jesus Christ our Lord. Churches that are seeking a new pastor, to understand God's call moving forward. JCPDA Mission Trip JC Living Waters Mission Team. All Pastors of John Calvin Presbytery Upcoming Presbytery Days.. June 15 at First Presbyterian Church Parsons Kansas July 13 at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church Kimberling City Missouri August 17 at First Presbyterian Church Nevada Missouri We will provide the mandatory boundaries training for persons serving churches in pastoral roles, from 10 a.m. until noon with lunch following. If you are staying for lunch please RSVP by Tuesday before Presbytery Day to: pastoralpresbyter@gmail.com. Each participant will be required to read the training manual before attending the training and then participate in case study discussions at the group meeting. The Boundaries Manual is posted on the home page of our web site, jcpresbytery.com. CONTACT. Pastoral Presbyter, Susan Rosenbaum By cell phone: or by pastoralpresbyter@gmail.com Stated Clerk, Melana Scruggs By cel phone: or by melanascruggs@gmail.com By mail: P.O. Box 46, Crane, Missouri John Calvin Presbytery website is jcpresbytery.com Please send your Shared Mission, Per Capita Apportionment and all special offerings to. John Calvin Presbytery, P.O. Box 787, Shell Knob, MO Please all items, joys, and concerns wishing to be at jcpresbytery@jcpresbytery.com by 12 noon on Wednesdays. PAGE 2

3 I was baptized as an infant in the Lutheran church. When I was seven my parents got divorced, the church at that time did not want to deal with the issue. Because of the lack of support from the church my mother left the church, and of course my sister and I went with her. I continued at times to participate in activities with friends at church, and attended religious education that was offered at the time it was permissible to get out of school. During high school I was very active with an organization called Young Life, a nondenominational organization aimed at high school students. During this time I felt a call into the ministry, but without truly having a church home I did not know how to follow this call. At that time I was also not interested is further education. Viet Nam was going on, and because of vision issues during grade school I was still in high school when I turned 18. Having a low draft number I choose where I was going to serve and so I enlisted in the Air Force before graduation. Throughout my 22 year military career every time I thought of doing something different the call I had in high school would come back. Prior to my retirement I was searching for direction. I was reading my Bible and praying for God to show me what was next in my life. One day I received a phone call about a new church development in my area. I went to see what it was like. They sang the same songs we did in Young Life, it felt as if I was home. My wife and I became regular attenders and I became very involved in the life of the church. Again the calling I experienced back in high school came back. Now I had a church home to guide me, and be a support me in this endeavor. God had provided me with all that I would need to succeed in this. I was financially secure. I had my GI Bill to take care of my undergraduate tuition. I had matured and had overcome most of the obstacles I had back in my school days. The seminary which I attended granted my tuition, so when I was finished with both of my degrees I had no debt. God has been gracious to me, providing for me, and my family. This has allowed me to serve in small churches without financial worries of burdens. After graduating from seminary I served a church in northern Pennsylvania as a intern pastor as I finished my Ordination Examines. I was ordained in October of 2003, and serviced as pastor in central Pennsylvania church. For the past ten years I have been as the pastor in La Plata, Missouri. The Reverend John Becker On Sunday, February 12, 2017 Reverend Becker was installed as pastor at Willard-Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church Willard Missouri

4 Please get your calendar orders in by We are taking orders for the new Presbyterian Planning Calendars. The cost will be determined by the number of orders received. Please keep in mind that any calendars you order will need to be picked up at the May 18 Meeting of Presbytery in Shell Knob. Order your calendars from Gail at Or order by text or phone call (Gail cell number) The Annual Minute Review and Clerk Training will be offered in two places in the presbytery this year. May 13 at 10am at Woodland Heights Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Missouri June 3 at 10am at Pittsburg Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, Kansas If you are unable to attend either event, please contact Melana Scruggs at melanascruggs@gmail.com to make arrangements to have your books reviewed. Please be sure that you have sent your pastor terms of call to Melana. You may send them by to melanascruggs@gmail.com or mail them to Melana Scruggs, P.O. Box 46, Crane, Missouri Presbytery will be approving terms of call at the May 18, 2017 Stated Meeting at Shell Knob. PAGE 3

5 Gibson Chapel Presbyterian Church is looking for a Minister of Music. Salary is negotiable. Hours are one hour on Sundays and one hour Thursday evening 3-4 for Choir practice. Other infrequent special services or religious holidays. Must play keyboard instrument. Can either read music or play by ear. Contact: Gibson Chapel Presbyterian Church 536 East Tampa Street Springfield Missouri phone: Southminster Presbyterian Church Springfield Missouri is seeking Pipe Organist/Piano Player/Choir Director who is team builder/player with desire to lead 8 to 13 person choir. The hours will be Wednesdays, 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM and Sundays 9:30 AM to 12 noon plus a yearly choir fest program, funerals and weddings as needed. Details on pipe organ available upon request. Call or clawrence923@icloud.com PAGE 4

6 John Calvin Presbytery Disaster Assistance (JCPDA) work group completed a successful mission/work trip to Baton Rouge, LA. The city was effected by flooding in August, Many houses were damaged and still have not been repaired. Our group worked on five different houses...painting, installing inside doors, installing floor molding and quarter round, repairing thresholds, re-installing french doors, and helping where we could. We worked with Rebuild Together Baton Rouge and Americorps. The weather was great throughout the week, the hospitality of University Presbyterian Church was wonderful and we enjoyed having three YAVs from Camp Ferncliff near Little Rock with us for the week. There is still much to be done in Baton Rouge. If your church would like to form a mission/work team to go there and help out, contact Kathy Morriss, toddandkathy.morriss@gmail.com. JCPDA is tentatively planning on returning to Baton Rouge in the fall, probably late October or early November. Thank you for your prayers and support for JCPDA. PAGE 5

7 JC Living Waters Lenten Challenge Did you take the Lenten Challenge? How was it? Was it easy, difficult? Did giving up something so you could give make a difference? Tell us about your Lenten Challenge experience, we ll reprint excerpts in future JCP Notices. your Lenten Challenge reports to: Sharon Marsh smarsh43@icloud.com Send your Lenten Challenge donations to: JCLWM 4116 E. Latoka Street, Springfield, MO Beneficiaries of Lenten Challenge Donations PAGE 6