MAY 2017 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF COMMUNITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

In This Issue: Worship that Welcomes

River Cats Game

Women’s Retreat Day

Special Note

Clerk’s Corner

Missionary Speaker

Children & Family

Ministries

Worship Ministry

Prayer Vigil

Youth Update

See What’s New!

May Calendar

May Celebrations

Contact Information

“In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly de-sires. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” - Jude 18-21 Dear Friends, Sometimes it’s a challenge to stay positive. Sometimes the challenge comes from the voices of others whispering in our ears, telling us how bad things are, dividing us, breaking us down, and beating us up. Jude spoke of such people and notes that they are simply following natural instincts; they don’t have the benefit of the Holy Spirit within them. They are scoffers that come from a place that Jude simply recognizes as “ungodly”. It’s unfortunate and it’s hurtful, but it happens to each of us from time to time. The solution that Jude offers is to work on our own faith – build our faith up and pray! We’ve been challenged to circle in our prayers, to come back to God over and over again, don’t stop now! And he adds, “Keep yourselves in God’s love”. What a great phrase! Not that we have to work to earn God’s love – we already have it. Just keep ourselves there. Center ourselves in him, find our home, our peace, our hope in him. When the storms come and other voices come bellowing at us in the fierce winds, let us keep ourselves in God’s great, comforting love. I want to add another thing…you all have seen this church through some amazing transitions of late. One of those comes on Sunday Mornings. You have moved the fellowship time to before the worship service and though that’s not been without a couple of hiccups, you have seen it through and you have provided an open and truly inviting place for people to come, find us and find warm welcome. Moving that time has also allowed us to form small groups immediately after worship where we study God’s word, draw close to God and connect with one another. You’ve done this to great success and I, for one, am so very proud of you! Church is not just an hour, grab a cookie and find an old friend. It’s now fellowshipping with all, worship and growth togeth-er – it takes more time, it’s a bigger investment, but oh how you are building up your faith! Oh, how you have let the Holy Spirit lead! May we keep ourselves in His love,

Pastor Mark

9:30-10am: Fellowship 10-11am: Worship

10:15-11 a.m.: Spark & Ignite Kids Programs

******* Childcare is provided for smaller

children 3yrs. and under throughout the morning.

Worship that Welcomes For the last three weeks, CPC has been having our coffee hour on the patio before Worship Service. This change has given us the opportunity to meet new people coming to our Worship Service before they even enter our Sanctuary doors. I can’t think of a nicer way to say “welcome”. Visitors need to know that we are a loving, caring church and that we care about each and every person who enters our church doors. Along with welcoming first time visitors, the coffee hour before worship gives our congregation time to fellowship with each other. What a wonderful way to enter into our worship. Whether one is a visitor or a member of our congregation, feeling welcome is the best way to enter into the worship of our Lord and Savior.

Carole Kinslow

Tickets are $20/person and available for purchase starting

May 14th during Social Hour. AND following the game there will be an AWESOME fireworks display!

LADIES OF ALL AGES…

YOU are invited to a special day of

fellowship, food, fun, worship and much more.

May 20th starting at 9:30am

in the Sanctuary.

This event is FREE but PLEASE sign up during

Sunday Social Hour or at the church office so we know how

many friends to plan for.

We’ll have childcare available by reservation only.

Need more info? Call 707-448-5055 or

email office@communitypresbyterian.com

I want to take time to commend Nancy Sanchez, Sarah Van Buskirk, and Worship Committee for the hard work and dedication that obviously went into preparing for the Easter service. l loved how the service showcased the variety of music CPC offers. I was very moved by the service and just when I thought the music and message couldn't possibly get more inspiring, it did! I be-lieve it is this variety of music that will continue to attract youth and young families to join the CPC family.

Diane Feinstein

Clerk’s Corner The attention of your Session has once again been diverted from work to build up the church to work to protect the church from the ecclesiastical lawsuit filed by Ms. Brobeck. In early April we received another 21 pages of duplicate and querulous complaints which she lodged with the Synod, the Bluewater Presbytery and the Northern California/Nevada Presbytery. We have responded and expressed our desire that this matter be swiftly concluded. Session was pleased to approve Alec Matheson, Garrett Matheson, Thomas Burkhart, Tommy Sohnrey, Elena Wright, Clara Seres and Aliyah Orozco as members upon hearing their testimony of faith and also approved baptism for Aliyah and Tommy. We welcome these young people as full partners in service to Christ. I can’t possibly say enough in praise of Choir Director Nancy Sanchez, Pastor Wright, Youth Praise Team, Youth Director Bryan Quinn and Children and Family Ministry Director Brendan Kavanagh for the joyful Easter service they put together. It was wonderful to have the church filled to capacity and to hear the children singing Bullfrogs and Butterflies. Everyone is looking forward to the next small group study beginning April 23. In other work, the serving Elders have been sharing their spiritual biographies or as some would call them, their journeys, with one another. Many are quite poignant. The Bluewater Presbytery March 4 meeting was held in Milpitas at Christ Community Church. This was a meeting with 20 minutes of business where the spelling of the name of the presbytery was changed from Blue Water to Bluewater in the incorporation paperwork with the remainder of the time devoted to worship and to learning how Elders might spend less time on business and more time on leadership of the church. The next meeting of the presbytery will be an “e-meeting” on May 20. We will attend via skype and members who wish to observe are welcome to join us in the conference room that morning. The fall presbytery meeting will be Oct. 5-7 at Mt. Hermon.

Vern Sandusky, Clerk of Session

For several months, your mission ministry team has been working to arrange a visit with one of the missionaries CPC supports. Now we can finally announce that our efforts have been successful. During worship service on Mother’s Day, May 14, you will have the opportunity to hear directly from a young man whom CPC has just begun to support this year. This individual, along with his family, is departing for central Asia this summer. We are excited that he has accepted our invitation, and we will be sharing more information about him and his family in the coming days.

Following small group meetings that day, Pastor Mark and Ruth will be hosting a barbecue at their home at 12:30 pm, so that the congregation has an opportunity to get to know our speaker on a more personal basis. The weather is usually pretty nice by mid-May, so mark the date on your calendar and plan to bring your favorite pot luck dish to share. (The main course and drinks will be provided.) We hope to see you then!

The Mission Ministry Team

Children’s and Family Ministries

Greetings,

April is nearly over! How can it be? It seems that with all the activities, planning, and excitement leading up to Easter Sunday, another month has raced by yet again! Though some months seem to move more quickly than others, I suppose the reality is that life just goes by fast which brings to mind words written by James:

“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time

and then vanishes.” James 4:14

Well, if our own experiences tell us that life goes by quickly, that our children seem to grow to adulthood before we even realize, and Scripture describes our lives like a mist vanishing quickly into the air, then I suppose there should be a sense of urgency regarding how we pursue God. In other words, we might want to get after it! No wonder Paul tells the Phi-lippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” As adults, our responsibility and hopefully our desire, is to live in complete devotion to Christ, to truly walk in obedience in accordance with God’s will, to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This not only for the sake of our own salvation but also for the sake of the young people in our lives who will come to know the Lord and who will come to understand what the Christian life entails not just by having stories read to them or being told how to act, but by watching and imitating how we as Christians, who serve as their models of the Christian life, actually live our lives.

How are we showing our kids that we prioritize Christ more than anything else on earth?

We don’t just talk to our kids about integrity, but we live our lives with integrity and our children watch and learn. We don’t just tell our kids about devotion but we live our lives with devotion and our children watch and learn. We don’t just talk about the importance of sharing our faith but we go out and proclaim the Gospel to others and our children watch and learn. We show our kids that our God is greater than just a couple hours on Sunday. We have conversations with our kids about why we, as Christians, live a certain way and over time the dots connect and a deep and lasting faith forms. What we say must be matched with how we live. Nothing will speak louder to children regarding the greatness and significance of our God then how we as Christians live out our faith and love for Christ on a daily basis.

Throughout May, kids in our Spark program will be “Coming to the Castle” to hear stories from the King. Our young-est kids will learn all about how God is always with us. How He hears us and gives us what we need. How God teaches us the way to go and how He protects us. He certainly does all that AND much more! How might you help a child understand the greatness of the King we worship? We never know the sphere of influence God has placed us in….it could be your story that helps a child come to know God! It could be your story that affects someone’s eternity!

Kids in our Ignite program will learn about the maze of life, how determination shows up in the first followers of Je-sus, and how we still need it just as much now as the apostles did thousands of years ago. We all have a responsibility to bring up generations who understand what it means to keep doing what is right even when difficulties arise. Through deter-mination, we learn to trust God’s promises so we can experience the joy of completing what we began. Determination al-ways pays off! How has determination marked your life? Perhaps there is a child needing to hear your story! I encourage you to model and share your love for Christ with the young people placed in our care!

Hope-Joy-Love-Peace to you all,

Brendan Kavanagh, Children & Family Ministry Director

CFM PICTURE OF THE MONTH

A few of the children at our egg hunt work at blowing their jelly bean towards victory!

NEED SOME INSPIRATION?

Brendan Kavanagh Director of Children & Family Ministries cfm@communitypresbyterian.com 707-880-6793

From the Worship Ministry Happy Springtime….CHRIST has risen indeed! Have you noticed over the past few weeks, as the rain has gifted us with its vibrant, beautiful scents and colors, that this year’s particularly rich, deep color of green is embracing us everywhere we turn this beautiful Easter season? From our majestic Vacaville hillsides to CPC’s own green lawns that only last week provided the glorious bedding for our children’s Easter egg hunt, the color green brings with it a spirit of renewal, a reminder of new life and new love, and above all, the reminder that our glorious Lord is alive in His church, in our church, and He is doing wonderful things!!!

This month and this season, we want to celebrate the glorious gift of music and the glorious impact it is making on our fellowship and in our worship. We have embraced so joyously our new fellowship time, making new friends, entering into worship by the blessing of uplifting, joyful melodies playing on our patio and in our sanctuary as we share coffee and treats during this 9:30-10:00 fellowship time. If you have been blessed by the uplifting, joyful melodies playing on our patio and in our sanctuary as you fellowship, would you thank Donald and Nate, and our talented organist, Bill? Would you thank Bryan, Brendan, our welcome center volunteers and all of our greeters and ushers who have brightened our Sunday mornings as they have welcomed everyone at the door of church. From the powerful rich voices and rhythms of the Tarlesson family, to the sweet melodies of our Children’s Choir and the vibrant refrains of our Adult choir…..from the soulful clarity of Wendy Seres’s clarinet reminding us that Jesus has overcome, to the energy and youthfulness that our teen and youth bring through our Worship Team the fourth Sunday of each month, we are reminded through the glorious sights and sounds of this spring in particular, that we are indeed Jesus’ “Easter people,” so very renewed by the vibrancy of our weekly worship, and celebratory in our musical offerings. And, as always, embracing and encouraging of any musical gifts that God has blessed us with!

AND ON THAT NOTE... come be moved even more each week, by the uplifting music streaming from our open doors on Tuesday mornings at 7 AM or 7:45am, inviting students on their way to school or people on their way to work to come inside and “Jumpstart” their day! Or you can even come at 11:15am and 3:15pm for Jumpstart with PEP families. Let’s thank Brendan for his initiation of this beautiful new ministry, and let’s begin to invite our neighbors and our friends to be a part of our joyful worship.

AND ONE MORE THING...if you can play an instrument of any kind, would you consider sharing this gift with our congregation in worship? If you can sing (or even love to hum!), if you love to tap or clap out the rhythms around you, if you know how to strum a guitar or pick out the melodies on a banjo, ukelele, or violin…if you can play the bass, or even play bass chords on a keyboard, would you consider sharing this gift occasionally with our Worship Team? God may be calling you, and we’d love to have you join in praise and to sing (or make a joyful noise) to our Lord!

Sarah Van Buskirk, Worship Ministry Chair

Dear Community Church, We are a community who has just reflected on God's word in a new way - prayer journals. There is a movement of the Spirit that is leading us into another possibility in prayer. There is a desire that was born out of our small groups to do more in prayer and so we are holding a prayer vigil as we have in the past.

The prayer team will be offering a focused time of prayer on Sat. June 3, 8 to 10:30 am. The schedule for this time will look something like this: 8:00 Meet for coffee and review the format for the vigil 8:30 - 9:30 Silent prayer in the Sanctuary Scripture passages for reflection and other materials will be provided but please bring your prayer journals 9:30 Debrief - A time of reflection and revelation of God's words, songs, desires and vision for Community Church.

Please feel free to call me with any questions. We hope to see you there. In His Service,

Sabrina Boltz, Prayer Ministry Coordinator

A Word from the Youth Director

Someone told me once that faith without incarnation is just information. In other words, if we do not live out the same lifestyle our faith demands, our faith is simply information and nothing more. Our faith demands a certain way of thinking, a certain way of acting, and a certain way of living life. In the next following weeks leading to Summer, our youth will be learning the importance of acting out their faith in practical ways, and the Book of James will guide us there. The Book of James is a "punch to the gut" for any Christian looking to better their walk with Christ, and our youth will not shy away from the challenges of this book. Also, if you are a Youth Shareholder, be looking in your email inbox for the very first e-Newsletter coming in May. In it, you will find highlight videos, prayer requests, testimonials, pictures, articles, and so much more. Thank you again for your support! Events

Youth Group May 7, 21 & 28 6pm - 8pm LOCATION: Social Hall and Youth Room We love to laugh, worship, and learn together. We eat dinner around 6:15 so come hungry. Members and groups within the congregation prepare dinners for us most every week. Come and hangout with us! REMINDER: no youth group Mothers Day, May 14th!!!

Youth Sunday May 28 930am - 11am LOCATION: Church Come celebrate what God is doing in our church! Every fourth Sunday is Youth and Children Sunday. Come for the excitement and enthusiasm that the youth bring to worship. REMINDER: if you are a Youth Shareholder, you are encouraged to wear your Youth Supporter t-shirts. Bryan Quinn

Director of Outreach & Youth Phone: 916-225-5610

Email: youth@communitypresbyterian.com

Come and See What’s New! PEP School has purchased new equipment in the ‘tree area’ adjacent to

the parking lot and social hall patio where families gather before and after

classes. The children have a new balance beam and stepping logs made of

real wood! We have extended the fence and will also add another bench

in that area for parents.

We had an amazing crew to help with the installation! Sincere thanks to

Dave Sparks, Rod Foster, Chris Inman, Tiffani DeTar, Tim Fitzsimmons and

Kevin Hietbrink for making it all happen! We hope our families and their

children will enjoy this new area for many years to come.

Renée Inman Director

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Phone (707) 448-5055 Fax (707) 448-2083 Mailing Address: 425 Hemlock Street, Vacaville, CA 95688

CHURCH Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 9-4 FINANCE Office Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10-2

ALL CHURCH OFFICES CLOSED ON FRIDAY

www.communitypresbyterian.com Pastor …… The Rev. Dr. Mark A. Wright …..pastor@communitypresbyterian.com

Director of Outreach & Youth…..Bryan Quinn…..youth@communitypresbyterian.com Director of Children & Family Ministries….Brendan Kavanagh…..cfm@communitypresbyterian.com

Music Director…..Nancy Sanchez…..music@communitypresbyterian.com Director of New Focus: Kay Buchanan…...(707) 455-8176….. newfocus@communitypresbyterian.com

Presbyterian Enrichment Preschool……...(707) 448-1626…..pep@communitypresbyterian.com PEP Director: Renee Inman Secretary: Mary Lou Gantt

Mother’s Day Out(707) 448-5159 MDO Director: Margaret Jacobs…..mdo@communitypresbyterian.com Good Samaritan Ministry………………(707) 446-4899

Church Office Staff: 707-448-5055 Becki Fulton - office@communitypresbyterian.com

Michele Harn- finance@communitypresbyterian.com

BIRTHDAYS

May 2: Elena Wright May 3: Rod Foster, Judy Vaughn, Preston Dougherty May 5: Jeff Krulick May 7: Trevor Johnson May 8: Vern Sandusky May 10: Leona Bonovich, Rick Smith, Ruth Wright May 11: Karen Smith, Lisa Reyes May 13: Missy Monroe May 16: Alec Matheson May 17: Julie Schober May 18: Cole Ballard May 20: Wendy Seres May 24: Scott Reid May 25: Taylor Peterson May 28: Beth Cesena, Tony Boltz May 30: Robert Kennedy

ANNIVERSARIES May 3: Chris & Renee Inman May 5: Ken & Shirley Matzinger May 8: Scott & Kathy Reid May 9: Bryan & Rachel Quinn May 25: Sam & Lacie Lopez May 30: Norman & Barbara Stevenson