NEWS & NOTES. First Presbyterian Church, Bryan Ohio September 2016 LABOR DAY BRIDGE SERVICE

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1 NEWS & NOTES First Presbyterian Church, Bryan Ohio September 2016 The Mission of First Presbyterian Church: To Help People Know God Through Vital Worship Dynamic Growth Faithful Service Deadline for the October Newsletter is Monday, September 19 Deadline for articles or information for News & Notes is to be turned into the office for the following month s publication by the nineteenth of each month. You are invited to bryanpres@firstpresbryan.org or fax as well as submit in written form! LABOR DAY BRIDGE SERVICE We will have ONE worship service on Labor Day weekend Sunday, September 4. It will be at 10:00am preceded by a bring in brunch at 9:00am. Bring in food items to share for the 9am fellowship time. Sunday Morning Worship Schedule 9:30 am Traditional Service 10:30 am Fellowship time 11:00 am Contemporary Service This worship service will be held in the courtyard weather permitting. Remember our church in your will

2 ADULT EDUCATION OPTIONS COMING IN SEPTEMBER 1. The Pastor s Class Sundays at 8:30am The Book of Daniel for Today! We hope to create ten small groups of up to 10 people in each group. Each group will study a booklet entitled: Listening to God. It is our hope that each group will meet weekly for study, prayer, support and care of each other. See Barry if you want to join an IGNITE Small Group. 3. Precepts for Women: The Women s Precepts Bible Study will continue its study of Acts this fall. on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 until 11: Tuesday Morning Bible Study and Prayer Group Tuesday 10am-12 noon starting September 13. Lead by June Webster, Hyla Sharrock, and Judy Sweet. This group meets weekly for prayer and are starting a new study. Afterward the group stays and enjoys a small potluck lunch. 5. Man to Man Men s Group: Wednesday evenings from 6:30-7:30. All men of the church are invited to meet for study, prayer and support. This fall this group will study Finishing Strong God s Way by Ken Doctor. Members of the group share the leadership of the group and the teaching as they are comfortable. BRYAN AREA CHRISTIAN PRAYER BREAKFAST Tuesday, September 27, Wesley United Methodist Church Continental Breakfast 8:30-9:30 a.m. Program 10:00 a.m. Carol & Kristen Kurivial, Program and Special Music $7.00 donation Devoted to prayer is the theme for this year s prayer breakfast. Carol & Kristen Kurivial, a mother-daughter team from Bryan will develop this theme as they provide the program and special music. Those of you who heard them at our Ladies Retreat last fall, I m sure will want to hear them again. Tickets are available from Tami Smith and Jenella Tilton and also at the door. All men and women are encouraged to attend to enjoy the program and to pray for our elected officials, our military personnel, and our nation. I JUST HEARD FROM A LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGING IS THE THING THIS FALL SO GET ON FIRE AND JOIN THE CHOIR YOU LL LOVE IT AND THAT S NOT ALL. Rehearsals resume on Wednesday, September 7 from 7-8:30pm in the sanctuary. Invite your friends (if they can sing). We will sing at the 9:30am worship service and try to have one Sunday a month off. We warm up our voices/ work on anthems/ joke time/ work on anthems/ prayer time. It s a family affair. Come join the FAM!

3 Growing OUR Church September 2016 I believe churches grow in two ways: 1) Numerically and 2) Spiritually. Both are important. I also believe churches grow when we focus on growing our people spiritually, centered in the Word of God. When people are growing spiritually numbers usually follow. 1) We need to commit ourselves to be in some kind of spiritual growth group. God does NOT want us to stay stagnant but He wants us to be moving forward and taking the next step spiritually. God expects we will grow in our faith and put ourselves in a place to grow. We do not grow automatically but by intention. Every single one of us needs to be in a small group (we have new ones!) a Bible study, a reunion group (if you ve been through a Great Banquet) or some other Biblically oriented study group. If we are not centered in God s Word, we will falter and not have a strong foundation upon which to grow and go deeper with God. 2) We need to be inviting new people to come to worship with us. Fewer and fewer people have a home church these days and without looking too far we can probably identify a few people we know or who live near us who do not go to church! We don t want to steal people from another church! Studies show that people will try a church if asked to attend by a friend or neighbor! Most churches grow when the members themselves invite someone to come with them, and when members are excited about what God is doing in their church! Who do you know that doesn t go to church anymore? Who do you know that shows a hunger spiritually? Again, studies show that churches grow most when the members of the church invite someone to come, they pick them up, and bring them and sit with them the first few times. From Me to You Who have you asked to come to church/worship with you lately? Who have you been missing at church lately? Give them a call and invite them back! How are you intentionally growing in your faith? What is the next step God want you to take spiritually this fall? What study group can you join to keep spiritually fresh and to grow you faith? Dynamic Growth is one of the parts of our Vision/Purpose statement as a church. What are you doing to grow yourself and to grow your church? You play a large role in inviting new people to join us! See you in church and bring a friend! Barry CHURCH STAFF SCHEDULES This is a reminder regarding times our staff will be in the church and available to you: Barry Sweet, Pastor: usually available most mornings in the office. Friday is his day off. Contact via phone, or Facebook. (barry506@firstpresbryan.org) Chris Combs, Childr en, Youth and Family Ministr ies Coor dinator: Office Hour s: Monday 9:30-4:00, Wednesdays 1:00-5:00. Chris is in and out of the office on Thursdays also. (familycc@firstpresbryan.org).. Joanne Israel, Administrative Assistant: Monday through Friday 9:30-5:00 (bryanpres@firstpresbryan.org) Tish Wityk, Financial Secretary: available on Monday and Thursday 8:00-2:00 or you can contact her via (finsec@firstpresbryan.org) or leave a phone message in the church office. Robert Smith, Tyson Horton, June Webster and Hyla Sharrock, Music Department No set office hours, contact via phone

4 The Sound of Silence One service 10am with Brunch Carry-In at 9am September 18: September 25: See you in Worship! We have started working on a Church Directory for members and non-members but it will not be a pictorial directory. We will be collecting updated contact information as many of you have gone to only cell phone use (some have both land and cell phones), changed addresses plus we can insert information also. Joanne has a form that is included in this mailing and will also be available in the church office to fill out. If you are not comfortable publishing some/any of this information just indicate on the form what you wouldn't like published but please fill out the information for our files. She is updating her records and thought this would be the best time to make an updated directory that many people have been asking for. GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP Sanctuary 11:00am Contemporary Worship in the On Sunday, September 25 the locations will change and the 9:30 worship service returns to the sanctuary and the 11:00 worship service will move to the chapel. Both services will be in the sanctuary September 11 and 18. Our sympathy and prayers go to Art Spletzer and his family at the death of his wife Ann, on August 17. A memorial service was held on Tuesday, August 23 here at the church. Ann was on staff here at First Pres for 18 years as financial secretary.

5 KREW Our Wednesday night program is starting back up Wednesday, September 14, 2016 and we are in need of some team members to make it happen. Another team or two is needed for the Wednesday night meal as we feed kids food that they don t normally get at night in their own homes. Not only does it bless the kids but it also help the team members so they don t have to rush around at home getting ready for the night and getting a decent meal in. We have introduced Small Group Leaders last year and we are needing to fill those spots due to new jobs and health issues that have taken some of our team out. KREW is set up to have a large group lesson with 1 st 5 th grade together and then they split off to small groups with 1 st - 3 rd grade and 4 th 5 th grade. Preschool and Kindergarten have their class set up in a different room. The Small Group Leaders will have the opportunity to build close relationships with the kids as they do activities or games that help solidify what was taught in the Large Group lesson. Sometimes you will go deep with the kids and other days you will talk about silly things but the main goal every Wednesday will be to show the love of Jesus to these kids who may not see it in any other relationships they have in their lives. Our Wednesday Night KREW is largely made up of non-churched kids. They call our Wednesday night program their church. This means we may be the only time they will hear of Jesus. Please consider being a part of this ministry and keep praying for this ministry as we start this season. Thank you for all your support. IMPACT Youth Group The Youth Group is kicking off this School year with about 10 students returning which is double what we started with last year. God really was at work in IMPACT as we started with 4 students and ended with 15 students and 5 of them were baptized at the end of the school year. It is exciting to start another school year and another chance to help students own their faith. This ministry has grown to a point where we need another male leader to step up and be a presence for these young men who don t have very many good father figures in their lives. We split off into groups after the lesson into girls and guys so that they can discuss the topic of the night and go deeper. The guys need a man who knows Jesus and is willing to walk with this young men as they explore their faith and how it applies to everyday life. If you have a heart for Youth but can t help us on Wednesday, consider being a prayer partner or talk to Chris Combs about what other needs these ministries have. Thank you for all your support. Thank You: We would like to thank the following people for help around the church lately: Rhonda Shrider, Steve Bird, Angie Schreder, Donna Sprow, Fran Hall for training themselves to be small group leaders. All those how have provided help and hard work and food for our five funeral luncheons. Tami Smith for playing for Hyla while she was away. Also thanks to JB Orendorff and Chris Staup for preaching while Barry was away. Tom Tilton who helped with a lot of the cleaning of the church while Robert Smith has been off on surgery leave.

6 SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS 3 Tami Roushia 4 Erin Benedict 4 Zoë Benedict 4 Robin Campbell 5 Matthew Rowan 6 Connie Tipton 8 Christina Dwyer 10 Jordan Robinson 11 Misti Killgallon 11 Susan Clappe 14 Yvette Zedaker 15 Madison Elston 15 Barbara Hamilton 15 Don Krzycki 17 Dan Schaper 18 Gene Andres 18 Kathy Calvin 19 Amy Azzarello 20 Charity Meuleman 21 Lane Azzarello 21 Kim Smith 22 Deanne Beerbower 25 Wayva Harris 25 Tom Herman 25 June Webster 25 Susan Killgallon 26 Randy Jewell 27 Steve Bird 28 Joy Ames 29 Todd Moskowitz 30 Judy Sweet 30 Don Butler SEPTEMBER ANNIVERSARIES 1 Joel and Christina Dwyer 4 Denny and Polly Winzeler 9 David & Charity Meuleman 11 John & Barbara Hamilton 12 Dick and Dee Brickel 16 Dan and Sara Schaper 19 Mike and Dina Culler 19 Michael and Patty Davis Congratulations to grandparents again Carol and Stan Rowan, Casey and Chris (Rowan) Spitnale welcomed a baby boy, Wesley Donald Spitnale, on Sunday, July 24. He weighed in at 8lb. 15 oz and 22 inches. Congratulations to Ryan and Jenna Buell at the birth of their second son, Miller Joseph who was born on Monday, August 15 (10lbs 6oz, 21 inches). He joins his brother Lleyton. Miller and Lleyton are the grandchildren of Craig and Marjorie Buell. Please put these events on your calendar so you can plan to attend! October World Communion Sunday October No committee meetings November Girls Awakening November Boys Awakening November Community Thanksgiving Service November Hanging of the Greens December Christmas Program and Dinner December Christmas Eve Worship December Christmas Day Worship (Sunday) NEWS & NOTES is published 11 times a year by the First Presbyterian Church, 506 Oxford Drive, Bryan, OH Tele.# Fax # bryanpres@firstpresbryan.org, Web site: Staff: Rev. Barry Sweet, Pastor (barry506@firstpresbryan.org); Chris Combs, Children, Youth and Family Ministries Coordinator (familycc@firstpresbryan.org); June Webster, Director of Music and Arts; Hyla Sharrock, Organist; Joanne Israel, Office Administrator; Tish Wityk, Financial Secretary (finsec@firstpresbryan.org); Robert Smith, Custodian.

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