THE GOOD NEWS. Notes from PASTOR ELAINE. SEASIDE UCC NEWSLETTER July 2018

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1 THE GOOD NEWS SEASIDE UCC NEWSLETTER July 2018 Notes from PASTOR ELAINE It s Summer at Seaside UCC! Do you remember the thrill of excitement when the closing bell rang on the last day of school? The whole Summer lay stretched out before you 2 months of swimming and lazy days to spend playing and hanging out with family and friends: barbecues, picnics at the beach, outdoor movies, sleeping in, and the big family vacation trip - Road Trip! Singing in the car and camping out or staying at motels, stories around the campfire or splashing in the pool. Well, while we can t bring it all back especially the sleeping in we can recall the wonders of Summer as we worship and get together to grow our faith and grow our terrific Seaside community.we ll start with Worship July 1 Road Trip!! July 8 Are We Lost? (who has the map)? Followed by a Waffle Bar & picnic to say goodbye and bless the O Sullivan family as they move north to Oregon. (Don t forget to bring soup for Communities Child!) July 15 Empty Tanks, Flat Tires and Broken Bones Followed by a baby shower for Ritchel and Bert Earle, due Aug 3rd (It s a girl Lex Audrielle). July 22 Wherever We Go Here We Are! Don t Forget! it s our Christmas In July special Veterans of the Cross offering for retired ministers and spouses. July 29 Are We There Yet? All month we ll be following Jesus and the Disciples as they journey back and forth across Lake Galilee as we explore what it means to be a church in transition and how we can shape the future of Seaside UCC, and how we can make a difference in this neighborhood. Our Journey with Jesus Continues Pastor Elaine Are you Interested in Seeing Seaside UCC Grow and Flourish? Great! Let s meet up to learn how to make a visible difference in the number of visitors who return by learning and committing to some new ways to meet and follow up with first time visitors. I know! It is challenging for many of us to talk to new folk! But how we interact with and welcome them makes all the difference in whether or not they come back. Don t forget that we have some amazing gifts to share with folk! What about once they do come back? How can we make sure they find their niche at Seaside? We ll talk about that too. Or Call or text me I will gladly come to you! WHEN? How about Wednesday the 25 th at 6 for evening folk OR meet me at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Hawthorne at Skypark? I ll be there each Thursday during the Summer from 10 to 12 to meet with Seaside friends. Summer Art Gathering August 26 th after worship. Heads up! In August I will be leading an Art Fun Day come and learn how to make a masterpiece (or just have a blast) pouring acrylic paints. You don t have to have artistic talent just the desire to create and enjoy the beauty of color! A donation of 10 dollars for supplies will get you some serious summer fun with friends 3 art tiles and several greeting cards to take home. SEASIDECOMMUNITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST Phone: Ocean Ave. SeasideUCC.org Torrance CA Seaside@SeasideUCC.org

2 WORDS FROM OUR MODERATOR, LYNN VAN ZANDT Let Us Begin By the time you read this you will have elected a new set of Leadership Council members. I m really looking forward to these next two years [I m assuming you elected me Moderator but since there s no one running against me I would think (hope) it would be very hard to lose:)]. The Council has so many plans, starting with our long-delayed Church remodel, but more about that in a minute. I m hearing from some of you that you are worried that the Church might close and I want to assure everyone most emphatically that it WILL NOT!!! The only way this Church will close is if no one shows up and I, for one, plan on showing up, so there! We are in great shape financially; we own all of our land and buildings with no mortgages or encumbrances. The La Primera preschool, thanks to the wonderful stewardship of Scott Bannon, signed a twenty-year lease five years ago and pays us a nice monthly rent of $7,500 and that s due to increase in September. So far this year our offerings continue to exceed what we planned for and our expenses are less than we anticipated. We have $17,000 in our General Fund (our checkbook), $146,000 in our Church Fund (our savings), $34,000 in our Major Maintenance Fund (for repairs), and $10,000 in our Sanctuary Fund (our remodeling seed money). Yes, we have lost some families but that wasn t due to anything that was in our control. The California economy is such that it is hard for young families to get ahead and so they move elsewhere to better their lives. Rather than lament their loss, let s wish them God s Blessings and look forward to welcoming the next families that join our Church. And let s not forget that Eric and Christie just had Baby Luke, and Ritchel is due in August so that s something to which we can look forward! I can t wait to meet the little ones! [Apparently, I m on an exclamation point frenzy today, but it s all just SO exciting!] So back to the Leadership Council s plans. You know how sometimes you gain a few pounds and you don t notice it until one day you get on the scale and all of a sudden, AHHHH! Or how about those wrinkles that suddenly appear? Again, you don t notice them until one day you see a picture of yourself and wonder what the heck happened??? Well, that s because you see yourself every day and you don t notice the subtle changes until they slap you up the side of the head. Well, that s sort of how it is with our Church building. Over the years, unnoticed by most of us, our Church building has become dated and tired and worn looking. It s time to shed the weight of those years. We are a vibrant congregation and our Church building should also be vibrant to reflect the vitality, and warmth, and love of our congregation. When visitors and new people come to this Church we want them to see us at our best and right now our building is not at its best. So, as I said, we want to get started on our long-delayed remodel. We ve got a team, Mila Linke [a real, bona fide decorator!], Marsha Bannon, Lisa Hansen and myself; and we ve got the money [see above]. Step one is to remodel the very tired, very outdated and very unattractive entryway and bathrooms. We ve already met with a contractor and have started the search for an architect because we have to deal with ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] rules. [Does anyone know any architects that they can recommend?]. This is where you all come in, we absolutely need your support. We know this will be uncomfortable for some and goodness knows not everyone is going to like everything that we do [just remember, NONE of our forefathers was happy with the Constitution but it s been pretty workable for a good number of years], but we need everyone to be on board when it comes time to vote. Blessings, Lynn Van Zandt Moderator

3 OUTREACH ACTIVITIES COMMUNITY S CHILD OFFERING Seaside is supporting the local charity Community s Child summer program Feed The Children. We are donating Soup! (Progresso and Healthy choice please) Please bring your donations to worship service by Sunday, July 8, 2018 You may also bring your donations to the church office during office hours. CHRISTMAS IN JULY FUND FOR VETERANS OF THE CROSS At Seaside Community UCC, we will collect a special offering on Sunday, July 22, 2018 You have the opportunity to be a part of this ministry that cares for the active and retired clergy and lay employees of the United Church of Christ through your participation in this year's Christmas Fund Offering. Thank you for your past generosity and continued support!

4 OUTREACH ACTIVITIES SAVE THE DATE SCHOOL SUPPLY DONATION FOR LOVE INC Sunday, August 12, 2018 School Donations will be outside in front of the. Feel free to bring guests! Seaside Community Church Presents The Richard Sherman Trio 34th Annual Benefit Concert Contemporary jazz piano featuring original songs and jazz interpretations of popular music with a mix of humor and satire! Tickets NOW Available Contact the church office or Lynn Van Zandt to purchase. As we start planning for the Annual Richard Sherman Concert, we will be having an Opportunity Drawing again. This is a chance for you to buy tickets and hopefully win a basket of gift certificates to some great restaurants in the area! Each basket has been worth over $300, and we usually have 3-4 baskets, so your chances of winning are good! And, this Opportunity Drawing raises about $1000 for programs at Seaside. This is tax deductible for the restaurants, as well as advertising for them, since in addition to having people try their restaurant, they will also have their card and a Thank You in the Concert program. Please help us out by asking the owners/managers at the restaurants you are eating at to donate gift certificates! The Church office will have letters explaining the tax donation and our Tax ID #. Contact Lynn Van Zandt at if you have any questions.

5 MINISTRY NEWS SISTERS IN SPIRIT WOMEN S GROUP Friday, July 27, 2018 in the June s gathering included wonderful food (meat balls, mac and cheese, salads - Yum!), a thought provoking topic and great conversation. Thanks to all who came and participated. We talked about how to find joy (different from happiness) in the tangible things we see in our surroundings. We learned how we might look at things a bit differently and recognize where we might find and experience joy. An intriguing concept. We are still looking for a topic for July. As always, we will send out a reminder a week or so before the meeting to announce the topic and ask for RSVPs so we can plan our fellowship meal for the evening. Happy Fourth of July everyone, and hope you are all having a great summer! SEASIDE BOOK CLUB will meet Monday, July 9, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the home of Harvey Eidinoff Book of the Month for July The Bruges Tapestry by P.A. Staes Book of the Month for August The Shoemaker s Wife by Adriana Trigiani GENEVIEVE KISER SEASIDE SENIORS Our next meeting is at 2:00 pm July 26, 2018 in the SEASIDE RECYCLES Did you know we recycle? When you bring your bottles and cans to Seaside, the Outreach Team turns them into money that benefits the ministries that Outreach supports. Collection Bins are outside in the Prayer Garden. Contact the church office for more information. Bring your bottles and cans on any Sunday or to the church office during the week. Help the environment and the least among us!

6 Join us for an ADULT BIBLE STUDY Explore how the New Testament was made. We will use The Great Courses videos and have discussions. Thursdays in July at in the. Contact Pastor Elaine or the church office for more information. Join us for MINISTRY NEWS Seaside s MOVIE NIGHT! The Princess Bride We will meet Saturday, July 21st at 6:00 pm in the to watch The Princess Bride, an American romantic comedy fantasy adventure film directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner, starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, and Christopher Guest. Adapted by William Goldman from his novel of the same name, it tells the story of a farmhand named Westley, accompanied by befriended companions along the way, who must rescue his true love Princess Buttercup from the odious Prince Humperdinck. Contact the church office for more information.

7 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Communion 8 (Community s Child) (Veterans of the Cross Special Offering) Adult Bible Study, 9 7:00 pm Book Club, Harvey Eidinoff s house Adult Bible Study, :00 pm Leadership Council 19 Adult Bible Study, Newsletter Articles due :00 pm Seaside Seniors, Adult Bible Study, SEASIDE COMMUNITY UCC Ocean Ave. Torrance, CA (310) seasideucc.org - seaside@seasideucc.org JULY :00 pm Movie Night! 27 Sisters In Spirit, 28

8 The Good News is published monthly by Seaside Community United Church of Christ. The church is located at the corner of 230th and Ocean Avenue in Torrance. Phone: (310) INTERIM SENIOR PASTOR The Pastor Rev. Elaine Dave Schoepf Sigmund Office Hours: Tues Thurs 11:00 am to 6:00 pm OFFICE HOURS: Tuesday: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm Wednesday: CHURCH 10:00 OFFICE am HOURS: to 2:00 pm Tuesday: Thursday: 8:00 10:00 am am to to 12:00 pm pm Wednesday: Friday: 10:00 8:00 am to to 12:00 pm Thursday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm Friday: ADMINISTRATOR 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Laura Key ADMINISTRATOR Ryan O Sullivan Everyone Everyone is is invited invited to to join join us us for for Worship Worship on on Sundays Sundays at at 9:30 9:30 am am CHURCH LEADERS MODERATOR Lynn Van Zandt PAST MODERATORS Dayna Kosinski Connie Sherman Marsha Bannon SECRETARY Karen Gebhard CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Matt Zarro FINANCE Gary Van Zandt WORSHIP Tangie Hill FELLOWSHIP Laura Atamaniuk FACILITIES Lisa Hansen OUTREACH Peg McCartney SEASIDE COMMUNITY UCC Ocean Avenue Torrance, CA ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED ADDRESS CORRECTION DATED MATERIAL REQUESTED DATED MATERIAL SAVE THE DATE July 1st Communion Sunday July 8th Community s Child Donation Sunday July 22nd Veterans of the Cross Thursdays July 5th July 26th Adult Bible Study 6:30 PM In the Wednesday July 18th Leadership Council meeting 6:00 PM In the Saturday July 21st Movie Night! 6:00 PM In the please refer to Calendar for more events and times NEWSLETTER ARTICLE DEADLINE If you have anything to share about our community, please send your updates and articles for the August edition to the office by July 19, 2018 seaside@seasideucc.org