The Beacon For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God not because of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 The Newsletter of St. Paul s UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST McConnellsburg, PA Trinity UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST Fort Loudon, PA OCTOBER 2017 United Church of Christ Emergency USA Fund Each year in the United States hundreds of natural disasters occur. And each year in the United States resettling refugees and new immigrants face large-scale emergencies. Some natural disasters are large enough to make the news, but often dozens of smaller natural disasters escape media attention. The Emergency USA Fund allows UCC Disaster Ministries to respond to both large and small natural and human-caused disasters in all U.S. states and territories. This Emergency USA Fund also enables the United Church of Christ to be even more deeply involved in refugee and immigrant emergencies within the United States. If you prefer to donate by mail, make checks payable to United Church of Christ, with "Emergency USA Fund" in the memo. Mail to: United Church of Christ c/o Financial Services office, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland OH 44115. Un-designated giving allows the United Church of Christ to respond where resources are needed most but if you prefer to designate your gift you may do so by noting the disaster or refugee/immigration emergency in the designated box on the on-line form or in the memo line of the check. 100% of funds to the United Church of Christ designated for U.S. disaster relief are used for disaster relief and rehabilitation programming within the United States. 100% of funds to the United Church of Christ for U.S. refugee resettlement/immigration emergencies are used for providing humanitarian assistance in these situations within the United States. *Funds raised in response to a specific solicitation, that exceed the amount necessary to respond fully to the designated disaster or emergency will be directed towards other emergency-relief and disaster-preparedness efforts in the United States. The Fort Loudon-McConnellsburg Charge of the United Church of Christ 228 North 2nd Street McConnellsburg, PA 17233 STAMP
TRINITY S FINANCIAL UPDATE Month Received Budget to Date Expended Jan/July $31,159.16 $44,075.78 $29,024.89 August $12,036.91 $ 6,294.54 $ 8,849.39 Totals YTD $43,196.07 $50,372.32 $37,874.25 Trinity would like to thank all the volunteers who helped at the Peach Festival, friends from St. Paul s and the community, as well as our own members. Net proceeds from the festival were $7,591.36, the best ever! Secretary - Pam Carmack buckpcar@embarqmail.com (717)-485-4795 St. Paul s UCC 228 N Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233 (717)-485-5554***mcbucc@embarqmail.com Facebook & www.uccmccbg.weebly.com Trinity UCC P.O. Box 253 13189 Main Street, Fort Loudon, PA 17224 (717)-369-4773***trinityuccftloudon.webs.com www.pccucc.org (Penn Central Conference) www.ucc.org www.mercersburgassociation.wordpress.com Dates for the Mt. Parnell Lions Club meeting nights October 12, October 26, November 9, 2017 January 11, January 25, February 8, February 22, March 8 and May 10, 2018 Trinity Special Events Fall activities include our Food and Clothing Giveaway on Saturday, September 23 from 10:00 to 12:00; a Potpie Buffet Supper on Saturday, October 7, from 3:30 to 6:30; Trick or Treat Night on Friday, October 27 from 6:00 to 7:00; a Chicken BBQ at the church on Saturday, November 4 from 10:30 to sell out; Trini-tea on November 11, and cookie collection for truckers on November 26. We will also be working with the other churches in Fort Loudon to hold the Thanksgiving Eve service at Freedom Lighthouse. You are invited to join us in any of these activities. Trinity United Church of Christ Peach Festival 2107 On behalf of Trinity United Church of Christ, I want to thank you everyone for their generous donations to cover the expenses for the 2017 Peach Festival. I m sure you are aware that many churches are struggling to meet their budget. Thanks to the help and support of members of both Trinity and St. Paul s the Peach Festival was a great success this year bringing in much needed funds for our church. Glenn Crouse will be providing the final financial report to us but just let me say that the Festival has been steadily growing and this was our best event yet. There is not enough room to thank each individual personally; however, I want to especially thank Pam Carmack and Donna House for donating their time to sell food tickets. We also want to thank St. Paul s Church Women United for their generous donation and I know we had some personal donations from St. Paul s as well. As our congregation gets older and the membership is dwindling it is a blessing that our partner church is so willing to help us. Thanks also to everyone at Trinity who personally donated money, time, food, drinks, supplies, solicited sponsors for the entertainment, and recruited family members to help. It takes many hands to pull off an event this large and we are so grateful to everyone who pitched in from both St. Paul s and Trinity. Thank you again. Linda Best TCC Consistory President
CHRISTMAS CHILD SHOEBOX MINISTRY SOME CHANGES THIS YEAR By: Mary Haubrick There are a couple of small changes in the instructions for packing the shoeboxes this year for the Samaritan s Purse Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. NO TOOTHPASTE OR CANDY CAN BE INCLUDED. These items are no longer allowed due to custom regulations. The cost to cover shipping for each box and other project costs has increased to $9.00. Empty shoeboxes are available at St. Paul s United Church of Christ for anyone who would like to participate in this outreach ministry. Thanks to Yvonne Krebs, we received a donation of larger shoeboxes for this project. Since the boxes are larger, it is not necessary to completely fill the box to full capacity. You may also use your own empty cardboard box or purchase a plastic shoebox with lid. DEADLINE FOR RETURNING THE FILLED BOXES TO ST. PAUL S IS SUNDAY, NOV. 12. Things to consider when filling a box are: Determine whether your gift will be for a boy or a girl and the age category: 2 to 4; --------5 to 9;--------------- or 10 to 14. Suggested items are School Supplies: pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons or markers, stamp and ink pad sets, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, coloring and picture books. Toys: small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos; jump ropes, small Etch a Sketch, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), slinky Hygiene Items: toothbrush, mild bar soap, (Put in a plastic bag), comb, washcloth, etc. Other: T-shirts, socks, ball caps, sunglasses, hair clips, toy jewelry, watches flashlights (with extra batteries) A Personal Note; In a separate envelope, you may enclose a note to the child and a photo of yourself or your family. DO NOT INCLUDE: Candy; toothpaste; used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives, or military figures; chocolate or food; seeds; fruit rolls or other fruit snacks; drink mixes (powdered or liquid); liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; aerosol cans. A donation of $9 is requested for each shoe box to help cover shipping and project costs. If you are not able to shop to fill a shoebox, you can still participate by your donations that will be a great help to this special ministry. A gift to Operation Christmas Child helps cover processing and shipping expenses and allows teams to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with children and their families. Make checks payable to Samaritan s Purse with a note on the memo line Operation Christmas Child, and give donation to Mary Haubrick. For more information, contact Mary Haubrick at 987-3604 or mhaubrick@embarqmail.com.
News from the Search Committee The Search Committee has been searching, but this task has not been an easy one. In the beginning the committee carefully compiled a profile of our two congregations and sent it to Penn Central Conference of the United Church of Christ to be placed on the job search network. This profile would help prospective ministerial candidates to become familiar with our two ministries, church activities and communities. Also, a special profile was sent to Lancaster Theological Seminary in hopes of attracting a possible recent graduate. Over the past two years the Search Committee has received a wide variety of candidate profiles from all over the United States. The profiles were read and discussed, and references were checked. In the judgement of the committee members, three possible candidates were selected and contacted from interviews either by phone or in person. These personal interviews were very friendly and informative, but did not yield any positive results. Here is what we learned from the comments of these prospective candidates: They were impressed with the amount of activities and accomplishments of our two congregations with limited membership. Two of the candidates once discovering how rural our two congregations were, opted to select ministries in a more urban-suburban area. One candidate, who visited us on site, showed a strong willingness to be pastor here, but would require health insurance coverage that had a small co-pay and a pre-existing condition rider. The coverage was in access of $20,000 which along with salary and other benefits, was too pricey for our limited budgets. Upon checking references, a number of candidates had served multiple congregations in a short period of time, indicating personal issues and conflicts. Something our committee wanted to avoid. These are the issues the committee is facing in our attempts to attract viable candidates: (a) small memberships, (b) limited budgets, (c) rural communities. HOWEVER, while we have been searching our congregations have been blessed to have two fine, outstanding interim ministers serve in our midst keeping our members worshiping and working together. As I am writing this article, a new profile of a Spring graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary arrived from Penn Central Conference. The committee will start the careful process of checking this candidate. Your committee is on the job and still searching. Respectfully submitted, Loy Garber
St. Paul s Sunday School Classes Are Practicing Random Acts of Kindness You can too!
Random Acts of Donations Money Donations Needed for the Children s Sunday School snacks...give to Seleen Shives. Money Donations needed for Church Women sponsored Halloween Treats for Trick or Treat night at the church. See Donna House.
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS 3 Rosie Shives 6 Donna House 7 Betty Burns 9 Darlene Seiders Bill Alexander 12 Connor McElhinny 13 Zereau Higgins 15 Kimberly Pryor Matt Pryor 17 Loy Garber Karen Rosenberry 18 Jeanne Sweeney 18 Benson Mester 19 Barb Hurst 21 Cecil Mester 24 Bethany Wynn Skip Daniels 25 Kadence Lake 28 Mary Lou Fritz 29 Linda Garber 30 Amanda Zeis Trinity s Ushers: Betty and Sam Burns Betty Daniels Dorothy Stevens Gary Stevens Gene and Barb Bricker Joyce and Thurman Hassler John Hornbaker Military and families Zeis family Jean McLucas Diane Baxter Tom Hamil Nancy Barmont Korbyn Rotz Nancy Lawyer Sawyer Bye and Family Meril Fetters All individuals and families sorrowing or dealing with an illness All Sunday school classes Our Church & ministries St. Paul s Ushers: Nevaeh and Abby St. Paul s Flowers: Jody Shimer and Seleen Shives If you have any additions or corrections to the prayer list or the birthday list, please contact the church office.
2017 Pray, Serve and Proclaim the Good News! Saturday, September 23 Trinity Food and Clothing Giveaway on from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Sunday, October 1 Trinity and St. Paul s World Wide Communion St. Paul s $100.00 of our morning offering will be sent to Neighbors in Need St. Paul s Contemporary service and Fellowship Lunch and Blood Pressure Sunday (get your blood pressure taken by one of our nurses) Wednesday, October 4 Trinity Choir practice, 6:30 PM Saturday, October 7 Trinity Potpie Buffet Supper at the Community Center, 3:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 10 Trinity consistory meeting, 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 11 St. Paul s Church Women United meeting, 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 17 St. Paul s consistory meeting, 7:00 p.m. TO BE ANNOUNCED St. Paul s Trick or Treat (watch for date and time) Friday, October 27 Trinity Trick or Treat Night from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 31 500th. Anniversary of the Reformation Saturday, November 4 Trinity Chicken BBQ at the church 10:30 a.m. to sell out Saturday, November 11 Trini-tea (watch for more information) Sunday, November 26 Trinity Cookie collection for truckers (watch for more information)