July 16-20th: Youth Triennium

@ Purdue University

July 17 & 24th

Life Together

Study Group

6:00 pm RH

July 27th:

Kids Night Out

6-9:30pm

July 29th-Aug2nd

Art Camp

9am-12:00pm

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Pastors: Rob Lohmeyer Elaine Dreeben

Office Staff: Mary Stone

Alicia Martin

Directors: Seth Lafler

Gretchen Rye | Mike Garcia

Ann Reynolds | Scott Russell

Natarsha Sanders

800 Jefferson St.

Kerrville, TX 78028

www.fpckerrville.org

830-257-3310

GOD-CENTERED WORSHIP

We continue through the uniting theme of

Life Together in the summer worship services

throughout the summer. We switched from

two services to one service at 11 am as a

means for us to come together while FPC

looks for a new organist to begin this Fall. It

is a joy to share that Dr. Sabrina Adrian plans

to join the FPC staff beginning in September.

As such, the one service at 11 am will contin-

ue through August, as we are so grateful for

Verna Benham’s heavy lifting with regard to

our worship music and leadership.

One of

FPC’s many

gifts is its

Jehmlich

Organ in-

stalled in

2005. This

world class

instrument

has drawn much interest from talented musi-

cians, but such a grandiose piece of equip-

ment requires some serious skill to make a

joyful noise that unites us in praise. Let’s all

express our gratitude to Verna as we contin-

ue to worship together through the month of

August. The 8:30 service will resume in Sep-

tember when Sabrina comes on board.

Additionally, this Sunday, July 14th, we will

commission 14 youth and 3 sponsors to trav-

el to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in

South Lafayette, Indiana. They will gather

with thousands of Presbyterian youth from

around the nation to learn, worship, serve,

and grow for a week.

BIRTHDAYS

July 15-31, 2019

Gail Gross 15

Kenneth Gross 16

Susan Reinbach 16

Harvey Vordenbaum 17

Donna Tait 18

Sam Begeman 19

Dick Harben 19

Connie Jetton 19

John Sniffen 20

Jeff Harris 21

Fuzzy Swayze 22

Jeanie Merkel 23

Warren Schlechte 23

Don Steele 23

Rita Blanks 25

Nickie Cunningham 25

Asa Jewell 25

Bailey Petri 25

Julia Russell 26

Verna Benham 27

Betty Clyburn 27

Jack DuRocher 27

Randy Spear 27

Amy Jones 29

Anais Unfress 29

Harvey Brinkman 30

Richard Jones 30

Archie Campbell 31

Dianna Hale 31

Triennium 2019 Participants Colten Cooper Beth Cunningham Lyle Goodyear CJ Goodyear Emilia Graham Robert Jackson Austin Lane Vivian Priour Madison Repka Katy Rye Suzanna Rye Braedon Schlechte Anais Umfress Ariel Umfress Sponsors: Emily McAllister Cristy Jackson

LET US PRAY...

WINDMILL 7.14.2019

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Building a community of disciples growing towards

God-centered worship · Christ-centered service · Spirit-led lives

BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF DISCIPLES

Vacation Bible School 2019 is a wrap!

Many thanks to the volunteers of all

ages who spent their evenings this week

feeding children from FPC and the sur-

rounding community dinner, putting

their silliest foot forward in games,

crafts, and activities, and teaching by

example the power of God to do

“abundantly more than we ask or imag-

ine.”

It may seem like the “Mars and Beyond”

Space theme is a bit out-of-this-world

for teaching Bible stories, but the volun-

teers who spent months planning and

putting together this week got to the

heart of what Vacation Bible School is

about: building an authentic experience

of Christian community with young peo-

ple and their families through whatever

means necessary to open up God’s word

for our lives.

After rocket ship crafts, songs high-

lighting God’s wonder and majesty, sto-

ries of biblical heroes who were able to

do hard things by God’s presence and

leading, even the littlest among us can

point the way to what Paul wrote in

Ephesians 3:20, “Glory to God who is

able to do far beyond all that we could

ask or imagine by his power at work

within us!”

By Elaine Dreeben

“What makes the church grow?” This question posed to the FPC Leadership when I arrived three years ago led me to pursue a unique, ecumenical program which “offers preaching practioners the opportunity to hone their homi-letical gifts to advance the work of ministry” (From the ACTS D.Min. in preaching website).

This week I returned from my second set of classes and feel refreshed, excited, and hopeful for what God is doing here. At this point in the process, I anticipate a May 2021 gradua-tion date—with lots of work between now and then.

What is this “work” and who has to do it?

This has been a covenant in which each of us has a part. There are 6-8 people who are involved in the Parish Project Group, who help plan, give feedback, and will elicit evalua-tions on the effectiveness of my preaching over time. In the coming months, questionaires will go out on particular ele-ments related to my project. Currently, the end we are all working towards is a project that answers the question, “What kind of preaching encourages spiritual growth when we go through changes in our lives?” Finally, in addition to my pastoral responsibilities, I will be reading and writing about this process of how God is present during seasons of change, and how we the church might speak about God’s work in and with us.

What can you do?

Pray for me. Come to worship! Pay attention. If you notice something specific that is said or done that helps you going through changes in your life, I’d love to hear it and include it in my findings, which I hope will be part of what God is doing to help the church, not just FPC, but the whole church grow deeper in faith.

NEW MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

SPIRIT-LED LIVES

Meet Harlan!

Harlan Helmers joined the FPC family this

summer and has been in the Kerrville area

since 1982. You might recognize his friendly

face as he began serving on an Usher team

even before officially joining the church.

Harlan grew up in Iowa, but has moved

around the Southern US and Texas for his

career in business before finally ending up

in “the best place in Texas” (and you can

guess where that is!).

Harlan is part of the Friendship Bible Study

and an active volunteer with Habitat for

Humanity, where he’s come to know FPC

folks like John Mallory, Ralph Kutzer, and

LeRoy Schlechte among others. As a young

person, Harlan worked extensively with

over 10,000 Prisoners of War who came

through a POW camp on his uncle’s farm in

Algona, Iowa. We look forward to getting to

know Harlan more as we integrate him into

the FPC community.

My cohort of fellow pastor-classmates with our Colloquy Professors: Dr. Patrick Schultz (left of Elaine) and Dean Gennifer Brooks (right of Elaine). This diverse group anticipates a May 2021 graduation date.

CHRIST-CENTERED SERVICE

CAM is reaching out to surrounding churches for some immediate needs they’re experiencing. Their mission is to provide food, clothing,

and financial support for prescriptions and utilities to low income families in Ker County. CAM is supported

through donations from benefactors and member churches. CAM is a volunteer driven and they need our

help. CAM has requested the following from anyone able to contribute.

1. Volunteers needed 2-4pm Monday-Friday and 4-6pm on Monday only

2. Men’s clothing in any size

3. Toiletries (toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, and bath soaps)

Calling All Potential Stephen Ministers! First Presbyterian will be training another class of Ste-phen Ministers starting October 5th for a intro session and continuing weekly for 2 1/2 hour sessions. We take a break at Thanksgiving and Christmas finishing up be-fore March. Stephen Ministers work alongside our pastors to care, encourage, and provide emotional and spiritual support to people who are going through a difficult time, such as divorce, grief, hospitalization, unemployment, termi-nal illness, relocation, chronic illness, or loneliness. If you have gifts for caring, encouragement, and listening, please begin to prayerfully consider whether you might want to be part of this exciting ministry. We are currently losing several of our group and are in need of getting some additions to our team. If you think you might be interested, please call Liz Mur-ray or drop by the church office to obtain an application. She can be reached at 830-377-8104 or email lizmur-ray1954@gmail.com.