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August 30, 2007 Issue #77 |
Top Stories
Mission Info
News Issues
Christian Formation Info
Positions Available
Upcoming meetings!
One Good Idea |
Growing Faith Growing Churches |
Upcoming Presbytery meetings:
Send docket requirements to netting@epix.net for the presbytery meeting by Wed, Sept 5th!
Council meets on Mon Sept 10th at 7pm
September 18th at Stewartstown Presbyterian Church at 3pm, BUT DO NOT MISS the Pre-Presbytery event on Small Groups at 1pm! This could be the learning that you need to effectively launch small groups!Presbytery meetings:Do you need a baby sitter for presbytery meetings? Call the church directly and they will arrange for it!
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Personnel Resource Database! |
Need a contact in our presbytery with some special expertise? Go to our web site, www.donegalpby.com click on Resource Center and then Personnel and find some help! To add your own skills to the database, just use the password - dpres and you can add your own.
As of 8/30/07 there were 130 skilled people in this database. What skills do you need? |
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CONTACT |
Presbytery of Donegal
P.O. Box 10054
1861 Charter Lane ste 125
Lancaster, PA 17605-0054
717.392.4035 (phone)
717.392.8922 (fax)
To unsubscribe from this news, send an email to: kathy@donegalpby.com and put in the subject line - unsubscribe eNews
Important Note: If you want to have a confidential conversation regarding a possible sexual misconduct incident, call our Stated Clerk, Rev. Dr. William Netting, 717.548.3719, as indicated in our Presbytery Sexual Misconduct Policy.
Go see what's new at our constantly changing webpage!
http://www.donegalpby.com |
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TOP STORIES GROWING FAITH - GROWING CHURCHES |
Small Groups Workshop – Pre-Presbytery Event at 1pm on Tuesday, Sept 18th Everything that happens at NLPC happens through two connections: Worship and Small Groups. Therefore we have put all of our eggs into those two baskets! What about missions, service, giving, leadership development, discipleship, Christian ed., youth, older adult ministry, evangelism, stewardship, facility care, and all the rest? The path to all of it runs through worship and groups. As a result they are currently receiving our best and most intentional efforts. If you would like to learn more, please join us for the pre-presbytery workshop at 1:00 on September 18. Presenters: Jeff Lampl and Small Group "pastors"/coordinators, Amy Haehle and Lenny Gawlikowski
275th Anniversary Celebration of the Presbytery of Donegal Oct 14, 2007 at Hempfield Performing Arts Center at 3pm! Mark and Save The Date! Consider opening your church for “visitation Sundays” with some type of historical display or presentation. Get information from Bill or Nancy Brown at wjb453@verizon.net
Life Changing - Continuing Education offered in October! "Being the Church: Moves for Missional Reformation" led by the Rev. Tony Sundermeier. This will be a partner event with Lancaster Theological Seminary. Friday mornings, Oct 5th - 26th from 9:00am till noon at the Lancaster Theological Seminary Lark 202. The cost is $150 with some scholarships available. Receive 1.5 CE units. To register call Dr Bruce Epperly at 717.290.8759 or bepperly@lancasterseminary.edu This will revolutionize your approach to "being the church!"
The Presbytery 2008 Budget draft. A dedicated group has been working on our 2008 budget. Our efforts have been filtered through the lens of Growing Faith and Growing Churches with the priority areas of Building Healthy, Vibrant Congregations, Leadership Development, Evangelism and New Church Development, and Outreach to the World. At this point our Per Capita budget for 2007 was $365,600 and is proposed for 2008 at $385,600 for a total per capita rate of: $25.35. This increase is due to the General Assembly this coming year, the shift of the Associate Execs pay from Mission to Per Capita and a proposed 4% pay increase. The Mission budget for 2007 is $361,000 and we are proposing $371,000. The increase is primarily in our Vitalization efforts as well as support for Camp Donegal.
Try this out! It's really easy to call and express yourself and your ideas for raising the bar in ministry! You can call in from the beach or from the mountains and publish an entry to our blog via phone! Don't be shy! It's fun, easy and educational!
Just call 214.615.6431
Enter pin – 168-049-813 and #
Then select 1 to record and publish
Then select account 1000 and #
Then just follow the instructions to record your message and hit # to end. It’s that easy. In a day or so, I will make sure that it is published on the following blog area for all to hear! Give it a try! If you want to listen to my first attempt at this, go to the following location and listen! http://www.donegalpresbytery.blogspot.com/
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MISSION INFORMATION
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Our missionaries are being encouraged to raise their Designated Mission Support funds! Mission Beyond the Presbytery will tell us more about this soon, but I'd love for our presbytery to support our own missionaries who are in the field. The names that come immediately to mind are: Doug Baker, Eric and Becky Hinderliter, and Marcia Towers.
Clothing/Medical Mission to Honduras. February 24-March 1, 2008 Cost $1,250 includes all but a few meals. Travel with Steve Mentzer to the Southern Region of Honduras where we will work in several rural villages and worship with our Presbyterian Friends. For more information see: www.missiontrav.com or call Steve 717-299-4942. Thanks, Steven C. Mentzer, Central American Relief Efforts, ssmentzer@comcast.net (717) 203-4942
Do you promote fairly traded coffee and other economy enhancing products? Click here: http://equalexchange.stores.yahoo.net/
The designated giving account for the Ohio Flooding is U.S. A. Disaster DR000015. The link for online giving is , <https://www.pcusa.org/give/online/project?DR000015>
To supercharge your zeal for serving Christ, give David Hall a call and set up a seminar on what God is doing around the world! It will be an outstanding event for your church! Call 215-692-2481 or weclink@wec-usa.org
Guinston has scheduled its 8th trip to New Orleans for September 22-30. The main focus of the trips have changed from "out with the bad" to "in with the good." We have begun the long and arduous task of rebuilding homes and rebuilding lives...one person, one family at a time. Anyone in Donegal interested in going along on the trip is welcome. We average about 12-16 people per trip including members of Guinston, other local churches and the community. If you or someone you know is interested in finding out more contact Walt and Sue Blumenfeld (team organizers) at electroptin@msn.com. The prayers of you and your congregations is most welcome. Blessings! Daniel
Our missionary friends Ted and Sue Wright, now laboring in Zambia as Regional Coordinators for Southern Africa . Sue Wright will be visiting Donegal Presbytery October 12-19. Ted and Sue Wright are currently Regional Coordinators for Southern Africa and are from the Presbytery of Philadelphia, where Ted was Pastor of the Langhorne Presbyterian Church . Formerly from the Presbytery of Albany, the Wrights were close neighbors and friends to Larry and Barb Moir. Sue will be available to meet and greet the Presbytery through local churches or clusters of churches. She is available for preaching, has a power point presentation, and would very much enjoy meeting with church groups throughout her stay. For more information, or to reserve a time for Sue's presentation for your congregation, please contact Larry Moir at 717-354-5311. E-mail LarryandBarbMoir@comcast.net
Our denomination is having a BIG mission conference in Louisville from Oct 2nd - 6th titled "World Mission '07." There will be many dynamic speakers & workshops and it will be a chance for the many PC(USA) Mission Networks to meet. I'm the convener for our South African Mission Network that will be meeting at this time.
To find out all the information on the conference just click: http://www.pcusa.org/missioncelebration/ To cut to the chase, i.e. the registration page click: http://www.pcusa.org/missioncelebration/register-now.htm
The registration fees are as follows:
$175 – Registration fee after Monday, June 18th
$25 – Student registration (seminary, college & high school)
$75 – For attendees of the network gatherings only (Oct 4th - 6th)
I hope you find this conference of interest and make plans to attend. Rick Schmidt |
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NEWS ISSUES FROM PRESBYTERY!
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http://donegalpresbytery.blogspot.com/ - Tell us what God is doing in your life! Record your own stories of the power of the Almighty! We are richly blessed!
Donegal Presbyterian Church will host Scottish troubadour, Bruce Davies, in concert, Wednesday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. A free-will offering will be taken. Don't miss this fabulous artist! For more information call 717-653-1943
S.P.I.R.E. (Meeting) (Spouses and Survivors are cordially invited)
Date: September 10, 2007
Place: Moravian Manor Café, Lititz, PA Time: 11:45 a.m. (Note the time!) Program: Brad Davis will share some of his thoughts on “The Scots Confession” (Bring your copy of The Book OF CONFESSIONS—if you wish Bill Brown, Sec.
BRIEF DIRECTIONS TO MORAVIAN MANOR From Lancaster, go North on Rt. 501 to Lemon Street in Lititz. Turn left and go 2 blocks to the Manor. Park wherever you can. The 2 hour restrictions are for students at the High School. There will be someone at the Main entrance to direct you to the Café.
Preaching Workshop! November 8th. The Rev Dr Sally Brown of Princeton Theological Seminary will hold a preaching workshop called, “Preaching in Advent: Facing Judgment, Embracing Hope”? We will look at the texts for Advent, Year A. Sally A. Brown, Elizabeth M. Engle Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary. This will be held at Bellevue Presbyterian Church on Thursday, Nov 8th from 9am till noon. Register with Kathy at 717.392.4035 or kathy@donegalpby.com
Garage Sale at Nottingham Presbyterian Church
The public is invited to a garage sale at the Nottingham Presbyterian Church on Friday, September 7 and Saturday, September 8, from 8:00 a.m. to ?. Come out and join us to see what treasures you can find — rain or shine. The church is located in Nottingham on Rt. 272 and Old Baltimore Pike (across from Herr Foods, Inc.). For more information, call the church office at (610) 932-0556.
Columbia Presbyterian Church, 360 Locust St. , Columbia , is preparing to celebrate its bicentennial on September 22, 2007, from 10 am until 5 pm at the church. Our theme for the occasion is: Celebrating 200 Years of Ministry: 1807-2007. Watch the video! http://www.columbiapresb.org/11.html The church will have an open house, a display of the contents of the cornerstone (last removed in 1957 for the church's 150th anniversary), historical artifacts and displays on hand. The bicentennial celebration will also feature an outreach to the community. There will be a picnic in the church grounds with live music by the church's own Found Grace Worship Band, face painting, free hot dogs and other summertime goodies! For more information, contact the Rev. David C. Powers at the church- (717) 684-6271.
Please join English Presbyterian as we open our hearts and our doors in this new outreach ministry to the community of Marietta and beyond. We invite everyone to join us for songs, arts and laughter upon the occasion of our opening on October 5th from 6:30 until 9pm. Please pray for this new mission outreach and pray for the Church and community of Marietta as well as English Presbyterian - Peace, Kathy Taylor and the folks of English Presbyterian Church.
"I find that it is not the circumstances in which we are placed, but the spirit in which we face them, that constitutes our comfort." -- Elizabeth T. King Quote from Don Lincoln’s weekly update
Dates are set for the mandatory Sexual Misconduct Prevention Training!Please mark these dates on your calendar and spread them around. These are the dates for the mandatory “every three years” sexual misconduct prevention training sponsored by the Committee on Ministry and Human Resources. Thursday, Oct 25th from 9:30am to 12:30pm with lunch provided at First Strasburg Pres. It will be taught by the Rev Bob Barcus. Thursday, April 10th from 9:30am to 12:30pm with lunch provided at Bellevue Presbyterian. Also taught by the Rev Bob Barcus. The list of those who have not had this recurring training will be circulated at COM and all (who have not had the training in the last 3 years) will be expected to attend one of these. Thanks very much!
Peter Steinke is coming for a workshop on family systems in churches, which I hope most of us can attend. If there are 6 or more, it drops to $30 each. Saturday, Sept. 15, 9:00 am - 3:00 p.m @ St. Paul Lutheran Church in Spring Grove, PA More info from [Pastor] danbiles@pa.net or 717-968-7741. The basic registration is $45 for one person, $35 for three or more, $30 for six or more. Includes presentations, lunch, and refreshments - need to indicate lunch choice: Turkey, Ham & Cheese, Tuna Salad. Hope many of us can attend. Please let me know ASAP. Pam Fischer - 717-682-0222
Please mark your calendars Rick Ufford-Chase will be leading a workshop on Immigration on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church , 727 Harvard Ave, Swarthmore, PA 19081 from 1:30 to 4:30. He will be preaching at the morning worship service the next day. Everyone is invited to participate in this workshop. Additional details will be available soon at the Presbytery Of Philadelphia website – www.presbyphl.org. Keep checking. Jeanne Radak Phil Associate
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CHRISTIAN FORMATION INFORMATION
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SAVE THIS DATE!! —Wednesday, September 26th. That’s the day of the presbytery’s annual educators’ event at Camp Donegal , 9am-3pm. Our theme is “Fashion Me A People,” based on a book by the same name written by Maria Harris. We’re excited to have Byron Borger, proprietor of Hearts and Minds in Dallastown as our keynote speaker. If you didn’t get a book at the June presbytery meeting, they will be available in the presbytery Resource Center or from Hearts and Minds Bookstore 717-246-3333. The cost is $20, cash or checks made out to Hearts and Minds (no plastic, please). Full details of our event are in a flyer attached to the June newsletter. Go to this link http://www.donegalpby.com/documentdownload.php and scroll down to June Resource Center Newsletter. Betty Duncan Copies of the book are also available here: http://www.amazon.com/Fashion-Me-People-Curriculum-Church/dp/0664240526 Editor's note: I read the book and whole heartedly recommend it!
John Bell of Iona is coming to Lancaster on October 22-23! Best known as one of the leaders of the Wild Goose Worship Group of Iona, Scotland, John Bell joins traditional lyrics and passages from scripture with music influenced by the Celtic Christian tradition. He will be on the Lancaster Theological Seminary campus in the Santee Chapel on Monday, October 22, 2007 from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. On Monday, October 22 from 3 p.m.-5:00 p.m, Bell will be leading an interactive workshop for clergy and church musicians at Lancaster Theological Seminary’s Santee Chapel, entitled “Worshipping the Incarnate Jesus.” On Monday and Tuesday evenings of that week at 7:00 p.m., Bell will be giving the Carson Lectures at Highland Presbyterian Church in Lancaster on the theme of “God in the Ordinary.” Editor's note: Doug Baker knows John Bell and sent in a wonderful recommendation to attend this!
We also want to invite you to Seminary’s Fall Convocation, September 20 at 11:00 a.m., featuring Emilie Townes of Yale University, and the Ward Lecture and Workshop, October 18, at 11:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., featuring Mary Elizabeth Moore, of Candler School of Theology. For more information, please contact Dr. Bruce Epperly, Director of Continuing Education and Professor of Practical Theology, at bepperly@lancasterseminary.edu or 717-290-8759.
What's going on in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers? Come hear Tony Compolo and Bob McCarty address this on Oct 15th from 10am till 2:30pm at: Cardinal Keeler Center, 4800 Union Deposit Road, Harrisburg, PA 717.657.4804 or register at: http://www.pachurches.org Register before October 5th.
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POSITIONS AVAILABLE
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DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN’S MINISTRY
Awesome children’s ministry position of 27 hours per week to lead our active and dynamic children’s programs from birth through grade five. Seeking a person who loves the Lord, who has experience in children’s ministry and has excellent relational skills. A great group of children and a dedicated team of volunteer leaders await. We are a 2,200 member PC(USA) church in West Chester, PA (west of Philadelphia), since 1832, with four growing Sunday worship opportunities (3 traditional, 1 contemporary) and people of all ages ministering with their gifts. Send a cover letter and resume to The Rev. Robert M. Barcus, First Presbyterian Church, 130 W. Miner Street, West Chester, PA 19382 or email them to bbarcus@firstpreswc.com. You will receive in return a copy of the position description.
The First Presbyterian Church of Phoenixville is seeking a Worship & Praise Team Leader to lead the music and direct our Praise Team during our contemporary Rise & Shine service. This is a salaried, part-time position (approximately 10 hours per week). This is your opportunity to contribute to a loving, growing and thriving church. Interested musicians should forward their resume to anne.park@verizon.net or mail to: The First Presbyterian Church of Phoenixville, 145 Main Street Phoenixville , PA 19460 RE: Praise Team Leader.
Presbytery of Genesee Valley is looking for a Co-Presbyter for Pastoral Vitality. Go to: http://www.pbygenval.org and click on the link for Co-Presbyter Search. Deadline for receiving applications is Sept 17, 2007.
The Presbytery of West Jersey is seeking a faith-filled EXECUTIVE PRESBYTER who is: Dedicated to spiritual and organizational transformation within our presbytery body and within our individual churches; Committed to inspiring the work of unity in the midst of diversity; Motivated to lead while working with us to develop a unified vision and mission as the people of God. Please visit our Web site to learn more about this position at www.wjpresbytery.org (on the home page, click the button for "Executive Presbyter Search") or contact the Rev. Richard Sindall, search committee chair, at: rsind@earthlink.net or 107 W. Commerce Street, Bridgeton, NJ 08302.
First Presbyterian Church of Allentown has an immediate opening for an interim pastoral staff position. There are 2600 members. Call the Clerk of Session - Marsha Heimann at 610.437.6341 or email her at mheimann@ptd.net To contact someone after Sept 1st (Marsha will be on vacation), call Cheryl Dravuschak at 610.395.3781 or Cheryl@fpcallentown.org
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CALENDAR OF COMING MEETINGS!
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Use the webpage calendar at: http://www.donegalpby.com/cgi-bin/calendar.pl or:
Wednesday, Sept 5 - Mission Beyond the Presbytery meets at 9am at the presbytery office
Thursday, Sept 6 - Property and Insurance meets 9:30 - 11:00 at the presbytery office; Coffee Chat with Charlie for Lancaster County pastors at Highland from 8:30 - 10
Sunday, Sept 9 - Building dedication at Donegal Presbyterian Church at 11am and Open House from 2pm - 4pm
Monday, Sept 10 - Committee on Preparation meets at Highland at 1pm - 4pm; Steering Committee meets at 4pm at the presbytery office; Council meets at 7pm at First Presbyterian Church in Strasburg.
Tuesday, Sept 11 - New Church Development meets at Central Presbyterian at 1pm
Wednesday, Sept 12 - Women in Ministry meet at First Pres Strasburg at 10am; The Transition Team meet at Judd McConnell's house.
Thursday, Sept 13 - Coffee Chat with Charlie for York pastors at New Harmony at 8:30am till 10am.
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ONE GOOD IDEA
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I have "One good Idea" that came from one of our Trustees, Gary Devansky:
We need a phone number that is posted in every church that a victim of sexual misconduct can call to report.
In every eNews in the left hand column, we now publish the following - If you want to have a confidential conversation regarding a possible sexual misconduct incident, call our Stated Clerk, Rev. Dr. William Netting, 717.548.3719, as indicated in our Presbytery Sexual Misconduct Policy.
Extravagant Blessings! Charlie
If you have a good idea, I'd love to share it in this eNews letter. Send it to me via: cwgross@gmail.com Thank-You Very Much!
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