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Newsletter>
Pastor Craigs Notes; Membership Directory
March 1, 2006
PASTOR CRAIG'S NOTES
How exciting it was to watch the Youth of our church serve
dinner during the past Valentine dinner. If you have not
been noticing, they are growing in size and in age. During
the last year, we have attracted a group of new young
people who have joined the church and are now very much
apart of the Youth and the Church. They in turn have
invited others and we now can boast a *Kids in Christ*
with a membership of a dozen or more. Add to this, those
young kids, that were just the other day in first or second
grade, are now looking forward to starting Junior High next
year. We have a lot to look forward to.
Time goes by so fast and things change with it. We will
soon need to begin discussions about the future of our
youth. How will the Church respond to their growing and
ever changing needs? Camps, Chi Ro, JYF and other group
activities may be needed. This will call for adults to
volunteer time and talents. A lot of planning and prayers
will go into this.
The one amazing bright spot is that we are preparing future
Disciples. Our KIDS will be taking our stories and
traditions into the future with them as they go out into
this world. They will be the new Disciples that will some
day lead this church and take their place among those that
have lead us so greatly in the past. I know that they will
do an outstanding job.
Our future has a bright side.
Praying for you as I hope you are praying for me.
~ Craig
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE
WEDNESDAY MARCH 1, 2006
7:00 P.M.
WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
The first Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
in the 21st century was under way in Porto Alegre, Brazil,
running 14-23 February 2006 under the theme *God, in your
grace, transform the world*. The Assembly reflects the
churches* commitment to seeking unity, common witness and
service to the world.
The Assembly, which meets every seven years (last was in
1998 in Harare, Zimbabwe), is the highest governing body of
the WCC, the world*s broadest global gathering of churches
and Christian organizations. This is the ninth assembly
since the WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam.
Attending this Assembly are over 2,300 delegates,
representatives, staff, interpreters and guests from 348
member churches from every remote corner of the globe.
Students and young adults have been given some prominence
among those attending.
Plenary themes include economic justice, Christian unity,
overcoming violence, Christian identity and interreligious
dialog, including possible public statements on issues such
as nuclear disarmament, United Nations reform, terrorism
and counter-terrorism, and water.
Prominent personalities at the assembly will be three Nobel
Prize laureates (Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Perez
Esquivel and Ms Rigoberta Menchu), the archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Walter Cardinal Kaspar,
president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity, and Metropolitan Kyrill of the Russian Orthodox
Church. More than 30 Disciples of Christ are attending the
Assembly including General Minister and President Sharon
Watkins and Robert Welsh, President of the Council on
Christian Unity.
The WCC promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC
brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and
other churches representing more than 560 million
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively
with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary
is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in
Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
Assembly website: www.wcc-assembly.info
KIDS IN CHRIST WILL NOT HAVE THEIR REGULAR MEETING IN MARCH
DUE TO A THE ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE
THEY WILL MEET AGAIN APRIL 5TH
ELDER REPORT
The Six Board Elders met and divided the (66) sixty-six
local members that are in (42) forty-two families into six
elder shepherding groups. Each Shepherding group has two
deacons to assist in the care of members. It is hoped that
each shepherd group will come know and care for each other
and be alert as to any needs, illnesses, joys or concerns
of the members.
Each Elder is to report to the Pastor or the Elder Chair
and appropriate church leaders, any joys and concerns of
the members and their families. Elders are to check on
those who miss church or other functions they would
normally attend. We as elected Elders of our church family
want to know about the spiritual and physical welfare of
our family members. We will encourage members who are
inactive to become active. We will assist where possible in
all matters concerning the welfare of our members.
CYF ~ KIDS IN CHRIST
Thanks to all who came out and participated in the Annual
Valentine's Banquet. With your donations, we were able to
raise over $300.00. This money will be put into our Youth
Fund and help to send our kids to camp this summer. Thanks
to Skye, Ryan, Carrie, Craig, Ro, and Charles for
decorating, preparing, serving, and furnishing food.
Special thanks to all the kids for doing a wonderful job
serving the food and providing some light entertainment.
SUMMER CAMP DATES
Chi Rho June 25th-30th
Discovery July 20th-23rd
Junior June 19th-23rd
Let Craig or Carla know ASAP if you would like to attend
camp this year. While it is still early to turn in
registrations, we would like to get a head count of those
planning to attend.
CWF MARCH MEETING
The women of the church will meet for their March CWF
meeting Sunday March 12, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. Our host this
month is Beth Willis. We will have a light snack, a short
business meeting and a worship led by Alice. We encourage
all the women of the church to attend. It is a time of
good food, good friends and good fellowship. For more
information contact Carla Hudson, Darlene Beardsley, Beth
Willis, Alice Cochran or Yvone McGinnis.
T.G.I.F
Dear Editor,
Today is Friday the 17th, "TGIF" (Today God Is First). The
way I see things is that we need more people with a TGIF
attitude. Our family strives to achieve that attitude
everyday by reading two devotionals on the Web and a
devotional with Bible references from the "Secret Place".
This sets the tone of the day.
There are many people in our membership acting out the TGIF
attitude. In fact one might be surprised at the traffic in
the church during the week. One person studying the word of
the Lord, another replacing lights, another practicing
music, and another cleaning and straightening and even
picking up trash. All of them putting God first in a small
span of time.
Lately I've been reading 'The Purpose Driven Life',
'Purpose Driven Church', 'How to Handle Money God's Way'
and a few other references. Our time on earth together is
short, and the closer I get to the end of it, the more I
try to develop the "TGIF" attitude. The instructions on how
to do this are in God's Word.
Brother Mix once told me to look in my checkbook to learn
who was first in my heart and in my life. My dad taught me
to save money like the ant and not be like the grasshopper,
don't let your yearnings get ahead of your earnings and
don't spend what you don't have. They were both right and
this wisdom is in the Bible.
Our church youth are on the right track learning about
money and putting God first. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 teaches
that everything belongs to God and He is in control. We are
just his stewards using time talents, and money to do His
will. Luke 16:11 tells us that we must be faithful in
worldly wealth if God is to entrust us with true riches. 1
Corinthians 4:2 shows that stewards must be trustworthy and
faithful. Proverbs 22:7 states that the debtor is slave to
the lender and Proverbs 12:15 teaches us to seek His
counsel because the ways of the world are foolish in God's
sight. In ten weeks they will memorize 10 verses and learn
many more of the 2,350 verses in the bible that tell us how
to handle money Gods' way.
Maybe we should follow the children and put God first in
our checkbook instead of our worldly wants. The right
attitude everyday is the TGIF attitude; "Today God Is
First."
That is The Way I See Things.
~Mr. TWIST
SECRET PLACE
The new Secret Place Daily Devotionals for March, April and
May are now available. Those interested in a daily
devotional will find it to be a great book. We have them
in regular and large print. Pick one up from the table in
the narthex and get your day off to a good start.
NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE ON THE WEB
The Church newsletter is now available on our website.
Please logon at fccmariettaok.com to enjoy the newsletter
and the activities of our congregation. The website is
linked to the Love County Chamber of Commerce and our
Regional Disciples of Christ website.
Due to increase in postage we encourage you to enjoy the
newsletter on line. Please contact the church office at
580-276-3093 or e-mail at fccmar@brightok.net if you prefer
to continue receiving the newsletter by mail.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBSCRIBING TO THE NEWSLETTER ONLINE:
After viewing our site, click on the newsletter link. On
that page you will have the opportunity to "subscribe" to
the newsletter via email. All you have to do is enter your
email address. You will receive a confirmation email in
your inbox. After clicking on that, you will receive the
newsletter each month without doing anything!
PRELUDE ~ A TIME OF QUIET MEDITATION
We see this phrase printed in our bulletin every week, but
what does it mean? As we enter the sanctuary on Sunday
morning to begin our worship service we offer each person a
moment to prepare for worship. This time starts around
11:40 am. When the piano begins to play we would encourage
everyone finish their pre-service visitation, find a seat,
and get their mind a body prepared for worship.
BULLETINS
Have you noticed the new bulletins we are using Sunday
mornings? We are no longer using the preprinted bulletins.
The worship committee has created several styles of
bulletins that we will be using in the coming months. If
you have any comments, suggestions, questions or concerns
let the worship committee know. The members of the worship
committee co-chairs are Gwen Bailey and Bob Frank-Plumlee.
CONGRATULATIONS!
To Alex Hudson, Conner Rutherford and Morgan Hudson for
receiving their God and Me medals, and Carla Hudson for
receiving her counselor pin. They were recognized during a
special service on Scout Sunday February 5, 2006.
2006 DIRECTORY
The membership committee is putting together our 2006
membership directory. There will be two styles available
this year. The traditional directory we have had in the
past, and a new pictorial directory. Alice Cochran has
been taking pictures of each member family and is putting
them all together in a directory. The pictorial
directories will be in a three ring binder, so in future
years we will only have to change pages and not print an
entire new directory each year. There will be a minimal
fee charged for the pictorial directory to offset the cost
of printing. The membership committee is taking orders for
the directories now. To place your order see Alice
Cochran.
Thank you! ~ Membership Committee
THE SEASON OF LENT
Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash
Wednesday and ends on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. We
skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays
commemorate the Resurrection. This year Lent begins March
1, 2006 and ends April 15, 2006.
Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a
season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in
the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time
for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and
when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for
baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the
individual Christian imitates Jesus* withdrawal into the
wilderness for forty days.
In Lent, it's traditional to give up something(s) that we
do a lot of and that we find pleasure in. This 'giving up'
is done as a discipline for learning self-control, to free
our minds from the chase after material things, as a
reminder of Christ's sufferings and what our true pleasures
are as followers of Christ, as an act of sorrow over our
sin. Sometimes we don't notice how certain things we do
have gained power over us and dictate our actions. In Lent,
we discover these things and give them up so that God can
be in charge. Franciscans use the term 'detachment' - the
less that 'stuff' preoccupies your life, the more room
there is for God.
Lent is not all about giving things up. It's also about
adding good things to our lives or to others' lives -- the
kind of good things that follow on what Jesus asks of us.
Reconcile yourself to someone you don't like, or have lost
contact with.
Do acts of kindness for people, just because they're there;
give them little tastes of God's love.
Study, meditate, and pray each day
Think upon something ordinary that you do every day, and
think about God while doing it, in a way that ties into
what you're doing. Or think of a place you come to
regularly, and each time think where Christ might be in
this place, what Christ might do there, or what you might
be led to do for Christ.
Try to find a new way every day to bring to mind Jesus'
death on the cross, and why it happened.
MARCH
BIRTHDAYS
2 Susanne Wegner
10 Verna McCain
11 Rick Brannan
13 Barbara McGinnis
Sarah Ward
21 Karen Frank-Plumlee
ANNIVERSARIES
5 Carl & Barbara Cochran
6 Randy & Barbara McGinnis
6 Lowell & Carol Baird
7 Stephen & Gayla Burrage
JOYS & CONCERNS
Louise Harkey
Verna McCain
Sybile Askew
Jodie Hall
Agnes Anderson
Jesse Barr
Mary Harper
Catherine Gollan
THANK YOU!
To everyone who provided cookies or cake for our after
church fellowship during February. Beth Willis, Yvone &
Phil McGinnis, Bob and Karen Frank-Plumlee and Sam and Rosa
Knight.
MARCH COOKIE / CAKE SIGN UP
3/5 Florine Hill
3/12 Yvone McGinnis
3/19 Carrie Rutherford
3/26 FELLOWSHIP DINNER
BAKED POTATO DINNER
SATURDAY MARCH 4, 2006
4:00 PM - 8:00 PM
LOVE COUNTY FAIR BUILDING
SPONSORED BY LEADERSHIP LOVE COUNTY III
All proceeds go to the improvement of the Love County Fair
Building.
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