What gifts has God given me? How is God calling me to use those gifts in the church?

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1 February, 2016 We are throwing a party! Please come and join us for this exciting Sunday. We will be ordering pizza and having a big party after church! With our change in leadership structure comes a change in the way each of us is able to participate in ministry in our church. We are no longer asking the question, What does the church need? But instead, we are now asking the question, What does God want me to do? Part of following Jesus means figuring out what gifts He has given you, and how He is calling you to use those gifts. This is an exciting new time in the church, and we are encouraging everyone to continue praying about these questions: What gifts has God given me? How is God calling me to use those gifts in the church? Opportunity Sunday will be a great new party where our current ministry teams will be setting up displays all around Koeffler Hall to let you know what ministries we currently have. As you come downstairs after worship, we encourage you to grab some pizza and a drink and explore the many different ministries our church is currently doing. If you know how God is calling you to use your gifts, this will be a great time to get plugged-in to a current ministry or start a new one. If you re not sure how God is calling you to use your gifts, this may just be what sparks an idea! Everyone is invited to come down for food, fun, fellowship and.food! See you there! PS Did I mention there will be FOOD?! Ministers: The People of the Church Pastor: Kevin Clark FCC associates with sister churches in the Wis. Congregational Association & National Association of Congregational Christian Churches

2 ANNIVERSARIES & BIRTHDAYS Birthdays This Month Carolyn Connelly... 2/4 Bev Webber... 2/6 Ken Cutt... 2/8 Janet Syburg... 2/9 Dorothy Schrader... 2/11 Sebastian Ballard... 2/11 Al Haeger... 2/12 Glenn Kreinus... 2/19 Connie Mitchell... 2/20 Jess Ballard... 2/20 Jean Brocker... 2/23 Tom Rowntree... 2/27 Wedding Anniversaries This Month Jean Brocker & Bernie Fraser... 2/12 Greg & Linda Garasimowicz... 2/14 Warren & Marcia Kufalk... 2/14 Tom & Sue Roberts... 2/14 Robert & Carol Bartholomew... 2/23 March 6 after Worship Church Council / Staff Moderator Janine Coley Moderator Elect Diane Williams Treasurer Jean Brocker Secretary Beth Petersen Budget & Finance Harlan Petersen Property & Grounds Rae-Ellen Preuss Worship Linda Haeger Congregational Care Linda Garasimowicz Missions Sue Roberts Christian Education T.J. Tritz Staff Organist/Choir Director - Marni Wiggins Office Admin. - Judi Weyer Pastor Kevin Clark /24/16 Offering 14, Expenses 8, Over (Short) 5, Attendance Jan Jan Jan Jan Upcoming Events Feb Men s Breakfast Feb Ash Wednesday Feb Women s Felowship Feb Packathon Feb Opportunity Sunday Articles for the March Newsletter are due in the office by 8:00 am on February 25 Notice: Photographs taken at church events are included in the newsletter, on our website and our Facebook page. If you would prefer not to have your photo posted to any of these forums, please contact the church office. CONTACT US First Congregational Church ~ 231 Roberts Drive ~ Mukwonago, WI Church Office Pastor Kevin Clark Prayer Chain Marni Wiggins CARE Ministry (262) (612) prayer@fccweb.net Organist/Choir Dir. care@fccweb.net office@fccweb.net rev.kevinclark@gmail.com marni@fccweb.net

3 Backpack Ministry We are about halfway into the school year and our Backpack program is running smoothly. Thanks to everyone for picking up cards each week and bringing the food back on Sunday. Don t forget; the cards are on the Information Table in the Narthex. I d also like to thank those of you that donate monetarily on a regular basis. Please know that we are using your dollars wisely. Quite often we will see sales that are just too good to be true and then we stock up on that food item. We are so fortunate to have shelves in the Backpack Room that we can store the extra food. Easter is March 27 th this year and we will once again be offering our Backpack families an opportunity to receive a whole Easter dinner from our church. Money to pay for the Easter dinner will come out of the Backpack Fund. Thank you so much for supporting this Ministry and helping those families in need. Submitted by Beth Petersen Opportunity Sunday Have you noticed the posters that are hung in the hallway right outside the nursery? These posters are highlighting the new Ministerial Teams that have been formed as of the first of the year. There is a poster for each Team which includes a description of the Ministry and a contact if you are interested in joining. New posters will be hung as new Ministerial Teams are formed on an ongoing basis. Mark your calendars and plan to attend a special event on Sunday, February 28. This will be your OPPORTUNITY to meet all the Ministerial Team leaders and Directors. We will be having this event right after the church service in the Koeffler Hall. Pizza and refreshments will be served. Pastor Kevin is quoted as saying We will not be asking for your money, we will be asking you for your gift of time. How is the Lord asking you to serve? Submitted by Beth Petersen Annual Business Meeting Set for March 6 The Annual Business Meeting to approve annual reports and elect members to the nominating committee and audit committees has been set for March 6 following worship services. Since the last Annual Meeting to receive reports was held in May of 2015, these reports will cover the period from July 1 to December 31 under our previous structure. Boards, Committees, and others who have submitted reports under the previous structure, should submit their reports to the office prior to February 15, so that copies of the report will be available on February 21. If you have an item of business that you would like to be placed on the agenda, please contact the Moderator, Janine Coley, or any member of the Council. Submitted by Diane Williams Home Bible Study Will Focus on the Parables A new Bible Study focusing on the Parables of Jesus will begin in February. We will be meeting in the homes of members. The current plan in to meet every other week throughout the year. We anticipate that each meeting will discuss a different parable, so you will be able to join the study at any time. We will be meeting in the homes of members and hope at some time to include meetings at Linden Ridge. During February we will be meeting in the home of Betty Martens. If you need directions, please call Betty at or Diane at There will not be a book to purchase for the study just bring your Bible. If you have any questions, please contact Diane at Submitted by Diane Williams

4 Missions Moments Simple Hope Food Pack-a-thon at Mukwonago High School Saturday, February 20 th at 10 a.m. We will once again take part in packing food for Tanzania. The $25 donation for packing food will be covered by funds from the Missions Ministry. We would love to have a big group as we did last year, so sign up and join in on the fun time of fellowship and helping our brothers and sisters in Tanzania. There will once again be a shop of items made by the residents in Tanzania, so don t forget your extra cash in case you are interested in that. You can shop before or after our 10 a.m. time slot. See signup sheet in narthex. Gem of an Idea Box We ll put our Gem of an Idea box out this month, and if you have an idea of something you d like to see our church do in the way of a future mission project, please slip your idea into that box. We d love to hear from you! Events coming up: Police Appreciation Sunday Breakfast Sunday, April 24 th at 8:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. The Missions Team is excited about an opportunity to show appreciation for our local police department and all they do in the community. We will be hosting a delicious breakfast, and will take a free will offering to help the department purchase important equipment. Mark your calendars, invite your friends and join us in showing our appreciation. Further details to come. Charles Sagay with Mission School of Hope Sunday, May 29 th Charles will be with us on this Sunday, and we are excited once again to be able to visit with him and learn what is new in the Mission School of Hope community. What a wonderful ongoing ministry we have with them. Mark your calendars for this Sunday as well! Are you interested in hosting Charles the evening and night before? Last year Kevin and Ashley hosted him, and could not say enough about what a wonderful experience it was spending the evening with Charles and getting to know him. Think about it, and if you are so inclined to host Charles, see Kevin or myself with questions. Submitted by Linda Garasimowicz Doris Rolfson celebrated her 90 th Birthday here at FCC on Dec. 27. Thank you to my church family for attending my 90th birthday BASH. It was great to have my family socializing with my church family. It was a day I will always remember. Thanks for the donations for the cancer walk coming up soon. Sincerely, Doris Rolfson

5 Remodeling at the Church Perhaps you ve noticed a few changes at the church? Well, just to update everybody, here s what s happened. The five bathrooms have been painted; this includes the handicapped bathroom by the office. But in four of them, the ladies and men s rooms upstairs, as well as the ladies and men s rooms downstairs, new flooring has been installed. But there s more! The toilets have been upgraded to ADA (handicapped) toilets. These fixtures are about two inches higher. The toilets only use 1.6 gallons of water, too. The upstairs ladies room has three stalls two of them with ADA toilets. These are in the middle stall and the stall closest to the exit door. The smaller fixture is for children; that is in the stall closest to the sink. The men s room has two stalls one ADA, close to the exit door and one smaller fixture for children, closest to the sinks. The two bathrooms downstairs are ADA equipped only. These downstairs bathrooms have also been changed to accommodate single use. So now, each bathroom has a door that locks and no partitions. It will be much easier for those who use walkers to negotiate these rooms. But there is one more BIG item! All five bathrooms have motion sensor light switches. They automatically go on as someone enters and go off 15 minutes after someone leaves. No need to try to find a light switch! All these changes should help conserve energy and water usage. A big thank you to Harlan Petersen, Larry Litwin and David Beilfuss. These men worked very hard to make this a reality.and all in one week! Submitted by Rae-Ellen Preuss I would like to express my sincere thanks to Pastor Kevin for the beautiful tribute he did for Randy at his funeral. I would also like to thank all my church family for your cards, prayers and support during that time. And thank you for the wonderful luncheon afterwards. I treasure each and every hug. ~Mickey Thank you so much for throwing the baby shower for me. That has helped me out so much with Skyler s items I need with my stress level. I truly appreciate what you guys have done. ~ Haley Webster On behalf of our clients, staff and board of directors, Thank You for your generous donation. Your contribution ensures that we will continue to meet the growing needs in our community for food and services. Please know how very happy and blessed our families feel because of your concern and help. ~Mukwonago Food Pantry Backpack Program We have received two thank you s from the Backpack families. Thank you for all that you ve done to help our family this year. God Bless! Backpack No. 10 Thank you for the backpack program and the gift card. Our family is truly blessed. Backpack No. 12

6 From the Kitchen of: Diane Williams (Confession time: When I made these for coffee hour, they were supposed to be bars, but there really wasn t enough base or maybe the apples were extra juicy, so when the bars were cut, I couldn t get them out of the pan in one piece. Solution: I served them with a spoon and put Cool Whip on top) 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups quick cooking oats 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1-1/4 cups butter, melted 2 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced (or chopped) ½ cup walnuts (optional) 1-1/2 cups caramel ice cream topping ½ c all-purpose flour Apple Caramel Bars or Crisp Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15 X10 in jellyroll pan. Mix the flour, oats, brown sugar and baking soda. Stir in the melted butter. Mix until crumbly. Press ½ of this mixture into the pan. Bake for 8 minutes in preheated oven. In a small pan, over medium heat combine the ice cream topping and the ½ cup flour. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. This is the caramel filling. Spread apple slices evenly over the baked crust. Sprinkle on the nuts, then pour the caramel filling over the apple layer. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the top of everything. Bake again for minutes or until golden brown. Cool before cutting into bars. Note: craisins or raisins could also be added to the apple layer. Being good stewards of our earth Because of cold weather and several members having other commitments, our January Fellowship meeting was cancelled. Bring a sandwich of your choice, and join us on Tuesday, Feb. 16 th at 12:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. Beverage and dessert will be provided. We will be planning meetings for the remainder of the year. Valentines will be sent to all church shut-ins. We are still selling brooms for $9.00 as an ongoing fundraiser. Remember to turn in your blessing bags as they fill up. Submitted by Bonnie Geiser The former Council approved trying something new in coffee hour. So, we d like to implement this in February. It was noticed that we use a lot of foam cups that just end up in the landfill. We d like to try serving our coffee in the church s china cups and juice in a permanent plastic cup. When finished with treats, we would have a spot to place your used cups. Then, they could be sent through the dishwasher as needed. We anticipate every second or third week when there is a full load to wash, we d run the dishwasher. Let s try it out and see if we want to keep it up. Submitted by Rae Ellen Preuss Date Refresh. Ushers Nursery Liturgist Sunday School Feb. 7 Group 3 Sally Z Beth P Feb. 14 Group 1 Beth P Feb. 21 Group 2 Linda G Feb. 28 Opportunity Sunday Group 3 Jess & Cory Linda G You will find it is necessary to let things go, simply for the reason that they are too heavy. Corrie Ten Boom

7 White Elephant Gift Exchange January 10 (More photos on our Facebook Page!)

8 231 ROBERTS DRIVE MUKWONAGO, WISCONSIN «Final_Merge Mailing_Labels» «Address» «City», «State» «Zip» «Newsletter_Delivery_Preference» February 2016 The lounge will be used for Christian Counseling: Sundays 2pm 10pm, Mondays 6pm 10pm and Thursdays 6:30 pm 10pm