Rehoboth Beacon. February From the Pastor s Desk... Who Are We?

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1 Rehoboth Beacon February 2017 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good work and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) Rehoboth Presbyterian Church 442 Rehoboth Road Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania (724) February Articles 1. Souper Bowl Sunday - 2/5 2. February Worship Schedule 3. Nursery School News 4. Financial Statement 5. Deacon Bench 6. Session minutes From the Pastor s Desk... Who Are We? Over the last two years, I ve searched for and found two calls to ministry. I think that most of my colleagues in the Presbyterian Church would agree that finding that first call to ministry is always the biggest challenge. As I searched for my first call to ministry, and also as I searched for this position here at Rehoboth, I had to explain this process to all of my friends who aren t members of a Presbyterian church. Over and over again, my friends would say, Wow! That s a really long process! They didn t understand why our call process is so complicated. The short answer is this: it s very important to find the right pastor and that person needs to be the right fit for this congregation. If a congregation calls a pastor, and that pastor is a very poor fit for the congregation, then that congregation is going to be searching for another pastor in the next two or three years. That scenario doesn t happen often, but it does happen, particularly when a congregation doesn t wrestle with the difficult work of discernment. I heard a story at the last presbytery meeting about a congregation that was searching for a new pastor. I don t remember where this church was, but like so many other churches, they wanted to hire a young pastor so that this new person would attract young families to their church. Sure enough, they found a guy who was about 30 years old, and he had young kids! But the new, young families didn t come. It turned out that there weren t any people under the age of 40 within five miles of the church! In my Beacon article last month, I laid out several questions that this congregation needs to deal with during this time of transition. Let s look at those questions again: Who are we? What are our greatest strengths as a congregation? What are our challenges? What are our fears? What is God calling us to do in this place? How will our next pastor help us to fulfill our calling? We have to get an accurate answer to that first question (Who are we?) before we can begin to tackle the others. In fact, the answers to the other questions will come out of what we learn when we deal with the first question.

2 From the Pastor s Desk... (Continued) Who Are We? When I have explained this whole process to my friends who aren t Presbyterian, I often compare it to online dating. Pastors who are seeking calls have Personal Information Forms (PIFs) on file with the Church Leadership Connection (CLC). Congregations that are seeking new pastors have Ministry Information Forms (MIFs) on file with the Church Leadership Connection. The PIF and the MIF are a lot like dating profiles I jokingly refer to the CLC as PresbyterianMatch.com. The point is this: Rehoboth Church needs to paint an accurate picture of itself in its MIF, its profile. The story of the church that called the 30-year-old pastor and didn t get any new, young families in the congregation sounds like a congregation that didn t spend enough time figuring out who they were. They probably spent several years spinning their wheels as they tried to figure out why the young families weren t showing up. The work of figuring out who we are as a congregation belongs to all of us. Over the next couple months, the Session and I will take a close look at the membership rolls. That s the first step in answering the question: Who are we? The Session will produce a quantitative answer to that question. That is, they ll give us raw data; they ll tell us the numbers of this congregation. But we re more than just numbers. We re people. We have stories. So, I would encourage all of you to begin to have conversations with one another about your experiences here at Rehoboth. Talk about the things you love and talk about the things that get on your nerves. The more we talk about who we are, the easier it will be to articulate who we are when we put together the profile, the MIF for Rehoboth. In the meantime, if any of you would like to see what an MIF looks like, I would be happy to show you. Please drop by for a visit. I want to do everything I can to take the mystery out of this process. Grace & Peace, Pastor Alan alandolson@gmail.com rehobothchruchpa.blogspot.com/

3 February Worship Schedule February Birthdays February 5 - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Souper Bowl Sunday Offering & Luncheon Greeters: Bethane Smoyer Worship Leader: Al Freet Acolyte(s): Olivia Saxon & Brianna Krall Sunday School: Nikki Samoda & Sarah Zundel Ushers: Kevin Huebner, Al Freet, Ed Moore, Louetta Hayden & Colleen Ress Counters: Allan & Debi Buza February 12 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time and 2 A Meal Offering Greeter: Tony & Kristie Russell Worship Leader: Sandy Stratton Acolyte(s): Carter Stasicha & Alex Nash Youth Sunday School: Carolyn Smith & Dean Rippel Ushers: Bill Smith, Carolyn Clark, Debi Buza, Frank Thomas & Doug Zundel Counters: Kristie Russell & Sandy Stratton February 19 Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Greeter: Carol Zundel Worship Leader: Al Freet Acolte(s): Jason & Jocelyn Chapman Sunday School: Bethane Smoyer & Ushers: John Zenobi, Ed Moore, Dave Smith, Bill Strickler & Kevin Huebner Counters: : Paul Stratton & John Zenobi February 26 Transfiguration of the Lord, and Communion Greeter: Amy Flower Worship Leader: Paul Stratton Acolyte(s): Andrew Foringer & Brendan Krall Youth Sunday School: Chris Stasicha & Randy Foringer Ushers: Debi Buza, Amy Flower, Carolyn Clark, Bill Smith & Doug Zundel Counters: Allan & Debbie Buza 4 - James R. Orr 5 - Marianne Turcheck 9 Linda Nelson Colleen Ress 10 - Jeremy Shannon 11 - Elaine L. Harris 12 - Ava Ann Zenobi 17 - Richard Wolfe 19 - Allan Buza 22 - Paul Stratton Ava Jones 23 - Tom Smith 24 - Gianna Smoyer 26 - Amy Campbell 28 - Melba Wolfe February Anniversary 2 - C. Jeffrey & Eleanor Lee 5 - David & Jenny O Casek

4 TACKLE HUNGER SOUPER BOWL OF CARING ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5th The Souper Bowl of caring began with a simple pray from a single youth group. Lord, even as we enjoy the Super-Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those without a bowl of soup to eat. Be part of this movement that is sharing God s love with those in need. On Sunday, February 5, 2017, there will be a special collection taken following worship that will be sent to two of our local food banks to provide food for the poor. This has been a very successful project in years past for our church and the larger church family. Please give generously on Super Bowl Sunday. We also hope that you will participate in our Souper Bowl Luncheon. See the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board to bring your favorite soup, sandwich, bread, or dessert to share with each other in the social hall. This has been a fun event in the past and one you should not miss. See you there Sandy Stratton DEACON S BENCH Minutes from January 10, 2017 Carolyn Clark opened up the meeting with devotions. She presented the treasures reports for November and December and read the minutes from the November & December meeting. We then decided the who will be the officer for the Deacons. Election of officers: Carolyn Clark - Moderator & Treasurer Colleen Ress - Secretary Bonnie Rozik - Flowers & Funeral Dinners Jannine Blacka - Mailing of Cards, Home Touch, Bulletins and other items. We want to say THANK YOU to everyone who purchased poinsettias to decorated the church for Christmas. Several Thank You notes were received from our December donations to the Salvation Army and City Mission to help feed the hunger during the holidays and from Kathy Smith on money we gave to help mail cookies to Dalton s Army Reserve #316th Expeditionary Unit in Kuwait. We discussed giving to three organization each money to help more people in our community. Our donations for January will be to support the Rostraver Food Bank ($200) and the Fayette City/ Washington Twp Food bank, and Blackburn Center ($100 each). This help to support our local foodbanks and families in need. Jannine will be sending Valentines Day cards with a subway card to our college students for February. Our next meeting will be on February 14th at 6 pm. Colleen Ress Deacons Secretary WOR FEBRUARY MEETING Mary Koontz would like to invite all the WOR to a Tea on Saturday, February 25th from 1-3 pm at her home in Monongahela (705 Maple Drive). Direction to her home is easy to find near the entrance of Mon Valley Hospital. If you would like we can met at the Church and car pool to Mary s house. This is in place of our regular evening meeting. Please give your reservation to Jannine Blacka by Sunday, February 19th, so Mary can plan for this event. I hope everyone will come to enjoy this new event. Jannine Blacka

5 Rehoboth Nursery School February 2017 In the month of February we are hopeful that the groundhog doesn t see his shadow! We will also celebrate Valentine s Day with the children. The 4, 5 year old class will have a party on Tuesday, February 14th. The 3 year olds Valentines party will be on Monday, February 13th. We are very pleased with the success of our all day preschool program. Please spread the word for next year! Liz, Karen and Terri Sympathy Note OUR SINCERE CONDOLENCES TO THE MATSON FAMILY ON THE DEATH OF RICK MATSON ON JANUARY 13 OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU DURING THIS TIME OF YOUR LOSS YOUR REHOBOTH CHURCH FAMILY Rehoboth Presbyterian Church Highlights from January 12, 2017 Session Meeting MSP to purchase an insurance policy for the Manse from Church Asset Management (company that hold policy for church) with the following coverage Property/Liability - $124,000, Contents - $10,000, Deductible - $1000. Cost is $300 per year unoccupied, $400 per year occupied MSP to designate proceeds from the Souper Bowl offering to go to the Rostraver Foodbank and offerings collected during luncheon to go to Hunger Fund THANK YOU NOTE!! The Program Committee would like to say THANK YOU to Carolyn Clark for all her dedication and hard work over the years in being the Editor of the BEACON. It is amazing on how she uses her magic with the computer to create Rehoboth s monthly BEACON newspaper. Thank You again Members of the Program Committee

6 WANTED BEACON EDITOR!! After 17 years, Carolyn Clark has resigned as Editor of the Rehoboth newspaper, the BEACON. This will be the last Beacon unless someone will volunteer to do this for the church. Carolyn has become the Moderator and Treasurer of the Deacon group. This new responsibility requires more time to focus on their mission work. Carolyn is very willing to help with the transfer of computer files and information on how to create the newsletter. So, we need a new EDITOR as soon as possible. If you would be interested in helping the church with this job, please contact one of the following members of the Program Committee. Thank You! Rebecca Reeb, Chris Reeb, Nikki Samoda or Carolyn Smith Program Committee THANK YOU NOTE!! THANK YOU to everyone who helped me with creating the monthly newsletter for Rehoboth over the past 17 years. I have enjoyed being your Editor and hope the Beacon will continue to give the church news to all of our members. It has been nice to gather each month with Kathy s helpers in preparing the newsletter to mail to all our members and friends. I have decided to step down as Editor of the BEACON so, I focus more of my time to the mission of the Deacon s. Thank You, Carolyn Clark