e-journal · 2015. 10. 29. · roger purdy (pprc) 7. tim volk (moderator) 8. cindy kissane...

July 2, 2015

5833 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, NY 13078

Telephone: 315.469.2000 | Fax: 315.469.4803 | Website: www.fbcsyracuse.org

July 2, 2015

WE EXIST TO LOVE, SERVE, AND PLEASE GOD!

If President Obama is on the America for Christ offering mailing

list, the list is more extensive than I thought, but the President’s

message at the funeral for slain Pastor Clementa Pinckey of

Emmanuel AME Church focused on God’s grace, as does the

offering theme this year—Grace: Walking Together.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,

training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the

present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and

godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifesta-

tion of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus

2:11-13, NRSV).

This devotional thought, so relevant for our time is found in the

offering materials: “Titus addresses problems related to trans-

mitting the faith from generation to generation, the spiritual

health of Christians, and distortions of Christian teachings...After

enumerating several “must-dos,” the letter to Titus reminds us of

the foundation of those imperatives, namely God’s grace. The

epitome of Christian teaching is that discipleship is grounded

always in God’s action for us in Jesus:

Christian discipleship begins and ends with grace. The impact

of any Christian witness is diminished if those efforts flow out of

insecure, driven, demanding and graceless lives. The founda-

tion of discipleship, that we are justified by Christ, means we

don’t need to, and in fact cannot, justify ourselves through

activity, accomplishments or acquisition (“Learning the Way,”

In This Issue…

2 Wonderful Wednesday

PASTOR SEARCH TEAM

3 From the Music Bench

4-6 News and Events

5 Birthdays

Summer Office Hours

Monday through

Thursday

9—2

Contact Pastor

Debbie for other

appointment hours.

Next EJ:

July 16

PASTOR’S MESSAGE

"See, I am doing a new

thing! Now it springs

up..." Isaiah 43:19

E-Journal FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

http://www.fbcsyracuse.org/

July 2, 2015


Telephone: 315.469.2000 | Fax: 315.469.4803 | Website: www.fbcsyracuse.org 2

PASTOR’S MESSAGE

Cassandra Carkuff Williams, Rowman and Littlefield).

...Grace alone is the fuel that runs discipleship. This is the message that Titus had been sent

to proclaim in Crete to despised and marginalized people, who had as much right as any-

one to the good news of God’s grace. This is the message we are called to create space

for in our hearts, our churches and our world.”

We come to Christ’s table this Sunday—the ultimate grace-space. Let us celebrate to-

gether our Lord’s gift to us. See you on Sunday and/or at Wonderful Wednesday Worship!

Debbie

Working or traveling on Sunday?

Or, just wanting to give more time

than usual to your relationship

with God?

Try these outdoor, informal,

family-friendly, weekday evening

experiences of God. We will

gather on the lawn beside the

labyrinth. Bring a lawn chair or a

blanket! (Inside in case of rain.)

Wonderful Wednesdays

7 - 8 pm

July 1

July 8

July 15

July 22

July 29

August 5

August 12

Meaningful Mondays

7 - 8 pm

August 17

August 24

The Executive Committee has selected

a group to act as your Pastor Search

Team based on our bylaws and requests

for volunteers. According to our bylaws,

members of the Pastor People Relations

Committee (PPRC) and the Human Re-

sources Ministry Team (HRMT) serve on

the Search Team, in addition to others

chosen by the Executive Committee.

Our Pastor Search Team includes:

1. Don Bregande (HRMT)

2. Linda Lopez (HRMT)

3. Juanita Mitchell (PPRC)

4. Melissa Appleby (PPRC)

5. Lori Shephard (PPRC)

6. Roger Purdy (PPRC)

7. Tim Volk (Moderator)

8. Cindy Kissane (Volunteer)

9. Adrienne Allen (Volunteer)

10. Kofi Addai (Volunteer)

11.Ronald Denby (Volunteer)

The Team will meet in the next few

weeks and create an outline for the pro-

cess, including multiple opportunities for

the congregation to engage and pro-

vide input and feedback. If you have

questions about the Search Team or the

process, please feel free talk to any of

the Team members.

Tim Volk, Moderator

(Full contact info will be mailed.)


July 2, 2015



FROM THE MUSIC BENCH

I want to shout out some praise to Amelia Ryan for singing with the Gathering

Team on Children and Youth Sunday. Her Oceans solo was superb! Also,

what a great job Khani Cossa and Evelyn Tao did with their Pachelbel's Can-

on violin and piano duet!

It's been a real delight having Grace Rhee

with us for a few weeks. Last Sunday was

very special as we premiered Linguistic Prel-

ude, a lovely original piece, introduced to

me by Frank Henderson.

It was very well received and Grace and I

will try to reprise it sometime in the Fall if she

gets a weekend to come home. Frank

hopes to put it on YouTube, so be on the

lookout for it.

There's a change in date for Leeland

Whitted's piece. He will be able to play on 7/26 instead of 7/12. His Offertory

selection will be a jazzy version of Jesus Loves Me.

I hope to eventually be able to acknowledge all of your favorite hymn re-

quests. The ones most requested were Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art,

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Shout to the Lord, We Are Singing, and For the Beauty

of the Earth. Obviously, it will take quite a few weeks to sing all 52 requests

and to keep them appropriate to the scripture and message. But, hopefully

we'll enjoy the journey!

The past two weeks have included the favorite requests, Here I Am, Lord,

Amazing Grace, Great is Thy Faithfulness and O God, Our Help in Ages Past.

The next 2 Sundays will include, You Are My King, We Are Singing For the Lord

is Our Light, Because He Lives, Panis Angelicus (Offertory), I Love You Lord,

Take My Life and Let it Be, Here I Am to Worship, 10,000 Reasons, How Great

Thou Art, Trust and Obey and Finlandia (Postlude).

~Mar Bregande


July 2, 2015



NEWS AND EVENTS

Friendly folks: Call

Yvonne for greeting

or Lyle for ushering at

FBC.

Lyle 492-8694

Yvonne 446-8131

Would you like to

help lead worship by

reading?

Call Yvonne.

“Breathe”

A Women’s

Study by begins

Monday, July 13

6:30 PM at FBC.

Contact Nancy

Volk for details.

It’s a Party!

I'm celebrating my

65th birthday! Sunday, July 12th

FBC

4-7 pm

Stop by to say hello! No gifts, please, but bringing

a dish to pass would be terrific.

We'll be serving hot dogs, soda

and whatever folks decide to

bring.

Thanks and see you soon!

Ray Hevner

The Marcellus family is

donating a lovely bench in

memory of Carol. If you

would like to have the

wooden bench that

currently sits between the

front doors at FBC and the

parking lot, please let

Debbie know right away.


July 2, 2015



CELEBRATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

We will soon be calling many

people to get their birthday in-

formation for the EJ list. If you

know your birthday is not on our

list, please email the office or

call 469-2000 with the date!

July Birthdays Purdy, Paulette 2-July

Davis, Sara 4-July

Haase, Alice 6-July

Halbert, Terri 9-July

MacLeod, Jean 10-July

Cossa, Tebo 10-July

Hevner, Ray 12-July

Martinez, Roberto 13-July

Santos, Jessenia 14-July

Dennis, Mike 14-July

Booher, Jeff 26-July

Reese, Betty 26-July

Haines, Bill 27-July

Poovalingham, Kamal 30-July

We regularly post

photos from FBC

worship and

events to

www.fbcsyracuse.org and the

EJ. If you do not want your pho-

to or that of your child posted,

please let the office know.

On Sunday in worship, in the

international spirit of FBC, Ben

Kelsey will share a quick report

of some of his impressions of

Japan, where he recently

spent 17 days with Colgate

University’s Benton Scholars. If

you have a question you

would like him

to address,

email Ben this

week: benpkel-

[email protected].

REGION CAMPING

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

ABC/NYS has made $3,000

available for camping

scholarships for kids

attending a Camp Vick or

Pathfinder Lodge camping

program in 2015. When

you include a request for

financial assistance in your

registration form, you are

automatically considered

for one of these

scholarships.


July 2, 2015



NEWS AND EVENTS

Upcoming Events at the Spiritual Renewal Center

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 19th Annotation

A 30-week program to find God in all things This highly structured program takes retreatants through this timeless program. Your commitment to the 19th annotation program includes:

Praying on daily basis

Attending weekly meetings

One-on-one sessions with a prayer guide

Journaling your prayer experiences

Integrating faith into your everyday life Accepting the challenge to become a more faithful disciple of Jesus. The next session will begin on September 22, 2015 and run through May 17, 2016. Participants can select Tuesday afternoons (12:30 - 2:30 pm or 1:15 - 3:15 pm) or Tuesday evenings (6 - 8 pm or 6:45 - 8:45 p.m). The cost is $600 plus a $40 application fee. The $600 can be paid in weekly increments of $20. Apply today or contact Sister Marise May at the Spiritual Renewal Center by calling 315-472-6546.

On behalf of the Samaritan Center’s guests,

Board of Directors, volunteers and staff, I

would like to thank you for your generous

donation. Your donation of $250 will ena-

ble us to provide a nutritious, well-prepared

and dignified meal daily, without conditions

to men, women and children...I cannot fully

express the difference you make in the lives

of those we serve through your support and

generosity. I can only offer my sincerest

thanks and gratitude for your faith in us and

the work we do to help those in need. May

your kindness return to you always.

Thank you! Mary Beth Frey

Exec. Director

America for Christ Offering (AFC)

envelopes have been sent to your

home address. You might be

wondering:

What is the distribution of the total

AFC Offering 2015?

The offering is distributed in three

parts:

29% supports regional ministries

59% supports the ministries of ABHMS

(From the 59%, the Neighborhood

Action Program receives 20%.)

12% supports the offering’s

promotional and deputation costs
http://www.fbcsyracuse.org/#14d7cbfbaf990c82_#14d7cbfbaf990c82_

e-journal · 2015. 10. 29. · roger purdy (pprc) 7. tim volk (moderator) 8. cindy kissane...

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