First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, NM July 2013

Transcription

1 First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, NM July 2013

2 Bob Waguespack Visit Alex Burr One of the missionaries we support visited our church on June 13. Bob Waguespack works for Latin American Mission in Mexico City. He has been partially supported by our church for many years. He, and his wife Donna, engage in a variety of activities to prepare Mexican lay people, pastors, and Christian workers to be more effective in all aspects of evangelism, spiritual growth, and church development. Specifically, Bob teaches at the National Baptist Seminary and at Christ for the Nations Mexico. Mexican missionaries trained at Christ for the Nations Mexico are already serving in South America, Africa, the Middle East, India, and China. Bob also heads a separate program at the Baptist seminary to train Mexican missionaries to serve both in Mexico and in other countries. In addition, he counsels missionary students and former students to adjust and grow in full-time ministry. Donna has been working with Wycliffe Bible Translators to illustrate Bible stories into sign language for use with DVDs for deaf Mexicans. She is also active in a Bible study ministry for bilingual women in Mexico City. During their 25 years in Mexico, the Waguespacks have contributed significantly to helping the Mexican churches to realize their desire to bring the Gospel to the unreached peoples in Mexico and elsewhere. Bob flew into El Paso Saturday night and stayed with Richard Paul, the Missions Committee member who coordinated the visit. Sunday morning Bob spoke briefly with Rev. Hawkins, the pastor of Iglesia del Pueblo. He then gave a presentation to the Sunday School classes, a short presentation at the regular Sunday service, and a question-and-answer session after the fellowship hour. After this rather busy morning, he had lunch with the Missions Committee and then flew out of El Paso in the afternoon. 2

3 While at lunch he gave many examples of people who have been part of his educational efforts. Two were of particular interest because they illustrated some of the difficulties which many missionaries face. One young woman is working for a non-governmental organization in Morocco as a physical therapist. She has to work for this agency for half a day in order to get a visa to live in that country. The other example is that of a Mexican business woman who ran a successful restaurant. She is now in the internship year of the four year program. She is in China working with two experienced missionaries. When her internship is over, she hopes to continue her work in China, opening a Mexican restaurant there to provide a plausible reason to obtain permission to remain in China. It is interesting to note that her support is provided by her home church in Mexico, which has a congregation of about 75 persons. Bob reports that efforts such as his have helped Mexico to rank third in the list of American countries sending out missionaries. SonWest Roundup Vacation Bible School Our 2013 Wild West-themed Vacation Bible School is history now, and what joyful history we made! Fifty-five adults, along with 35 youth Wranglers, spent a wonderful week riding herd on, leading, and feeding just over 100 children age 4 through 5 th grade. There was so much going on that it s hard to believe it was all packed into three hours each morning! With their red tee-shirted youth Wranglers and adult volunteers, the children sang and danced to exciting music with lyrics of Bible truths, played active games outdoors, made Bible-related 3

4 crafts, enjoyed quite amazing made-with-love snacks, and participated in Bible lessons. The Bible theme, continuing through the week, was the life of Moses, from the basket among the reeds to the Ten Commandments. There was a Jesus connection for each lesson as well, with a daily Bible verse from the Gospel of John. The youngest class of 20 children aged 4 and 5 was called the Playful Ponies. They met with their youth Wranglers on a different colored blanket for each of 3 groups for the application of daily Bible-theme tattoos, learned from a pony puppet, heard volunteers from the congregation read aloud, and gathered manna (saved Communion wafers!) from the desert (a large sand-colored towel) to eat. The SonWest Roundup music was an especially great teaching tool, since children learn and remember the words to catchy songs. The song lyrics were full of the love, power, and joy of the Lord. When everyone gathered in the Sanctuary for singing, amusing skits conveying Christian concepts performed by youth actors Miss Lily, Hank, Dirty Daryl, Cowboy Jack, and Sheriff Sunday were a highlight. This year s VBS Mission Project was gathering contributions of toiletries, school supplies, and gently used clothing for the El Crucero program that provides help for young people ages who are homeless or near-homeless. VBS was truly a week of fun and sound Bible learning. Our church can be wellpleased with VBS as a community outreach and as an effective ministry. 4

5 5

6 2013 Prayer Breakfast The ninth annual Prayer Breakfast was held in our church starting at 6:30 AM on June 28. This annual event, held just before Independence Day, is a buffet breakfast and program open to the entire community. It started at 5:30 AM when Don Rhodes, who organized the cooking, arrived in 6

7 the kitchen after preparing his famous sweet rolls the night before. The breakfast, which included eggs, ham, and bacon, featured biscuits and gravy prepared by Dutch Matkin. About 70 people from our congregation and the community at large attended. The program opened before breakfast was served with the presentation of colors by Boy Scouts, Parker and Kyle Temple. 7

8 Afterwards the singing of the national anthem was led by Jeremy Borchert and Courtny Malony. The program itself was organized by Lyn Ames and led by Jim Parks as master of ceremonies. He introduced the various participants and gave a bit about their backgrounds. The program included patriotic songs by Brochert and Malony and short presentations by speakers which included Susan Grandle, Gregg Sherman, and Gracie Class. It featured a prese n t a t i o n b y Lieutenant Colonel Bradley West, chaplain at White Sands Missile Range. 8

9 Hymn sing The annual Hymn Sing, organized by the Congregational Life and Outreach committee was held this year on June 2. Most of the congregation gathered in Watkins Hall after the Sunday church service for a salad lunch and the singing of mostly old time hymns. A wide choice of salads was available at 11:30 and, after lunch, the hymn requests came in a steady stream. Greg Sherman kept the songs coming in an orderly fashion and Howard Smolleck did his usual good job of accompaniment. Cluster Meeting The new arrangement of meetings for Sierra Blanca Presbytery had divided the presbytery into four clusters to facilitate the operation of the Presbytery. We are in the West Cluster along with Santa Teresa, Deming, and Iglesia del Pueblo. On June 1, the third meeting of our cluster took place in our church under the direction of Iglesia del Pueblo. The cluster was brought up to- ate on the activities of the churches, discussed possible actions of the Presbytery, and agreed that the next meeting would be at Santa Teresa. 9

10 Staff News Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. Patti Knowles, bookkeeper in office 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Staff meetings are held on Tuesdays at 10:00 am. Deadline for announcements going into the weekly Sunday Bulletin is 10:00 am on Thursday mornings. Rev. Story out of the office until August 1. Communion Join us for communion on Sunday, July 7. Attendance Sundays June June June June (These do not include attendance on Saturdays) The Cover The cross on the cover belongs to our secretary, Linda Ramirez. It was given to her by her granddaughter. First Presbyterian Church 200 East Boutz Road Las Cruces, NM Tel (575) Web URL Rev. Dr. Norman Story, Pastor Photographs by Judith Ames and Alex Burr The The Lantern Lantern is a monthly is a monthly publication publication of First of First Pres- Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, NM. NM. Articles and and photos, photos, preferably preferably in computer in computer readable readable form are form welcome, are and welcome, will be used and at will the be discretion used at the of the discretion publisher. of the For further information For further call (575) information call or send or to publisher. send fpc1@zianet.com. to fpc1@zianet.com. Editor: Editor: Alex Alex Burr Burr aburr@aol.com Production: Linda Linda Ramirez Ramirez 10

11 P FIRST E S B Y T E R I A N Ice Cream Social July 21 11: E. Boutz Rd. Las Cruces, NM Non-Profit Org. U. S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 91 Return Service Requested Mission Mission Statement Statement for To emulate minister the to the work, members the word, of our and Church the way and of Jesus prepare Christ them in ministering for Christian to Outreach the needs of members and preparing them for Christian outreach to people within and outside the Church of Jesus Christ. Vision Objectives To clearly and courageously communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ Our to Vision all within Objectives our reach. for are: To create develop spiritual leadership from within that recognizes our congregation and ministers to recognize those and in need. minister to members in need. To develop and maintain specific ways for members to reach out and draw the community into our fellowship. To create a God-centered atmosphere for for worship that will attract and bind individuals, families, and and youth youth to our into church. Christian commu- to nity. 11