Ongoing Response to COVID-19

Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-04-22

Thursday April 22nd 2021
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
I am looking forward to our Cuba Celebration weekend on Saturday and Sunday May 1st and 2nd. See details, times, and Zoom links below.
 
Our partnership with our sister church, the Luyano Presbyterian Church in Havana, is revitalizing. Here’s a short essay from our travel journal from our winter trip in 2019.
 
* * *
Cuba Journal/ 
 
            Pastor Daniel is somber. Some days, he said, “I feel like I’m running with twenty pounds of rocks in my pocket.” He was talking about modernity in Cuba. The internet wasn’t working that morning and there was, we were told later, a shortage of salt.
 
            The church van is a carousel of squeaky springs, grinding gears, and uneven engine roar. Carlos swerves ably and often to avoid the larger of the multitudinous pot holes, the seismically faulted road plates, and rough railroad tracks. The van objects every time Carlos yanks the steering wheel or stomps the clutch. A 22-passenger Toyota that isn’t sold in the States, she lets out a fantastic array of groans, screams, pops, sizzles, and clanks, walking tenderly like an old, arthritic woman over red, hot coals.
 
            The grinding, crashing gears are particularly cringeworthy; she doesn’t go into second easily, and sometimes first is impossible, despite Carlos’ fierce yanking at the gear shift. His rocking in the driver’s seat doesn’t help, either, but twisting his face up does work some kind of alchemy and she shifts easily into gear, and we lurch onward. The shift changes are accompanied by a terrifying sound akin to the slamming of sheet metal against stone. 
 
            Every time Carlos coaxes this machine into first gear, I fear the transmission will simply fall out onto the road with a final crash of pipes and automotive guts. Even on a smooth road, which I have yet to discover in Havana, the van bounces and yawls protesting with woeful yelps. 
 
            Hanging from the rearview mirror is a budded cross, which swings in astonishingly graceful circles as from the hand of a transcendent dervish.
 
            Calamity-on-wheels delivered us windblown, jiggled, and shaken but safely to each destination. I should never have doubted Toyota or faithful Carlos, our intrepid driver, who weaves through traffic tapping the horn, beep, beep, beeping his way through traffic and around slower vehicles, leaving flatbeds carrying workers and pipe, anemic vans and scooters, and slow Buick taxis behind. Carlos is an honors graduate of the Dale Earnhardt School of Offensive Driving.
 
            We’re in good hands.
 
* * *

News:
 
Drop off your Styrofoam this Saturday, April 24, between 9 and 11 in the alley between the Church and the Education Building.  Our Environmental Committee will be there masked and ready to recycle it for you.

* * *

Don’t forget to RSVP if you want to come to church on Sundays.  Call the church office 217.356.7238 by noon on Fridays to let us know you are coming.

* * *

Cuba Celebration weekend on Saturday and Sunday May 1st and 2nd. Mark your calendars now for our Cuba Forum on Saturday, May 1, for the Annual Cuba Forum at 10 am.  In the meanwhile watch
firstpres.church/cubakeynote about Cuba and Cuba-US Relations 2015-2021. Then join us Saturday with your questions for Professor Jacobsen. You can link into the Forum on May 1 at 10 am

On Sunday, we’ll worship with a Cuba theme with special prayers for our partner church in Havana, the Luyano Presbyterian Church. Later Sunday afternoon, we’re having a Cuba Two-Step 

Shared Worship  Sunday, May 2         9 AM at FirstPres.live
Cuba Two-Step  Sunday, May 2          1 PM

For more information, contact the Church Office at 217-356-7238 or zoom@firstpres.church.  The links for the Cuba Forum, Shared Worship and Cuba Two-Step will all be live on their designated dates and times.

* * *
 
What a great Wednesday night zoom last night, huh? What moment in nature has absolutely taken your breath away?
 
* * *
 
Humor
 
George Carlin asks if we have ever wondered…
 
…Why don’t you ever see the headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?
…Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word?
 
* * * 
 
Good Word:
 
Psalm 98 (The Message)
 
Sing to God a brand-new song.
He’s made a world of wonders!
He rolled up his sleeves,
He set things right.
2 God made history with salvation,
He showed the world what he could do.
3 He remembered to love us, a bonus
To his dear family, Israel—indefatigable love.
The whole earth comes to attention.
Look—God’s work of salvation!
4 Shout your praises to God, everybody!
Let loose and sing! Strike up the band!
5 Round up an orchestra to play for God,
Add on a hundred-voice choir.
6 Feature trumpets and big trombones,
Fill the air with praises to King God.
7 Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause,
With everything living on earth joining in.
8 Let ocean breakers call out, “Encore!”
And mountains harmonize the finale—
9 A tribute to God when he comes,
When he comes to set the earth right.
He’ll straighten out the whole world,
He’ll put the world right, and everyone in it.
  
Let us pray
 
A prayer for wisdom.
 
* * *
 
A Dove in April Snow
 
You ask me how I like it here. 
 
These plains are cold and grey in winter,
and winter feels forever when you’re in it,
and heavy like layers and layers of slate. 
What pandemic hasn’t driven indoors,
this cold snap has. And everything
and everything and everything is blurring. 
Time, for one thing, whip-snaps like sheets 
on the clothes line in a stiff wind, 
or a flag yanking at its pole, flailing.            
My eyes weep away the spring cold,
and my nose runs from allergies, and everything,
everything is a blur, red buds, dog woods, 
flowers dusting creation in yellow pollen, 
vision, breath, life—a blur of sneezing, 
and for two days in a row, this is late April,
snow slashed from bruised skies,
obscuring tulips in the park across the street,
acres of newly-mown grass frosted in slush.
 
 A dove is nesting in a light fixture 
beneath the eaves above our new porch. 
She reminds me not to rush—she isn’t, anyway.
She is sitting on eggs, no pecking away on her cell phone,
no playing Scrabble with her neighbors,
no fretting a deadline, just sitting, sitting,
maybe in deep thought or prayer, writing 
a novel in her head, feathers puffed up, 
face tucked in, plonked in that nest of twigs.
Bliss may come from sitting waiting watching.
 
* * *
 
Much love to you all.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church


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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-04-21

Wednesday April 21st  2021
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
I am looking forward to our Cuba Celebration weekend on Saturday and Sunday May 1st and 2nd. Mark your calendars now for our Cuba Forum on Saturday, May 1, for the Annual Cuba Forum at 10 am.  In the meanwhile watch firstpres.church/cubakeynote about Cuba and Cuba-US Relations 2015-2021. Then join us Saturday with your questions for Professor Jacobsen. You can link into the Forum on May 1 at 10 am

On Sunday, we’ll worship with a Cuba theme with special prayers for our partner church in Havana, the Luyano Presbyterian Church. Later Sunday afternoon, we’re having a Cuba Two-Step 

Shared Worship
Sunday, May 2          9 AM at FirstPres.live 
Cuba Two-Step
Sunday, May 2          1 PM

For more information, contact the Church Office at 217-356-7238 or zoom@firstpres.church.  The links for the Cuba Forum, Shared Worship and Cuba Two-Step will all be live on their designated dates and times.
 
To get us in a Cuban state of mind, I’ll be sharing short essays I wrote about our trip in 2019. Rachel and I, along with Robert Ferrer and Judi Geistlinger, left the winter cold of Champaign/Urbana for 82-degrees and sunshine in Cuba. The trip was eye-opening and wonderful. Deepening kinship with our church friends there was sweet and holy. 
 
Our partnership with Luyano is important, putting feet on Jesus’ injunction to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Help us to celebrate this partnership in a few weeks.
 
* * *
 
Landing in Havana
 
            Parked alongside the runway as we landed sat a ghost fleet of several junked airliners: jets without engines on their wings, fuselages peeling paint, chocked wheels with flat tires.
 
            The terminal, by contrast, is modern enough, like a swooping bird, grey wings with red trim. Our Delta Airlines plane parked neatly between an airworthy Columbian Avianca and Aeromexico. We walked down steep ladder-steps into a shuttle that took us to the terminal. 
 
            Daniel and Yamilete seemed happy to see us after we made it through customs and got our religious visas. I was happy to be on the ground, and the warm air was delicious.
 
            The drive to the church was an adventure. I hung my head out the window part of the time and, the other, watched Daniel orchestrate directions to Carlos with large hand signals like a conductor. Old American cars filled the road, as well as Puegeots, Toyotas, Hyundais, and a plethora of Lada (Russian) taxis. There were motorized three-wheelers, horses and buggies, motorcycles with sidecars, scooters, and bicycles. Everything was old.
 
            I had seen the dilapidation in pictures. It looks different in real life, quaint, maybe, but sadder. A little dog stood on the roof of a carport looking down at the patio below where old men sat playing chess. We passed the couple who barely fit on the small motorcycle as they puttered up the hill; on the way down, they flew past us.
 
            We were heading to our home away from home and I couldn’t wait to arrive.
 
* * * 
 
News:
Join us tonight at 7 pm for our Mid-Week Gathering.  Nearly everyone knows about Sir David Attenborough, one of nature’s most ardent explorers and defenders, still going at 93!  His recent film, “A Life on Our Planet” is well worth watching on Netflix or YouTube, but it’s too long for a Wednesday evening gathering of an hour.   In observance of Earth Day, April 22, we’ll celebrate the evening before with a film in which people ask Sir David questions about the world today.  It’s a great opportunity to experience this articulate champion of creation.  Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

See you at 7 tonight.

* * *

Drop off your Styrofoam this Saturday, April 24, between 9 and 11 in the alley between the Church and the Education Building.  Our Environmental Committee will be there masked and ready to recycle it for you.

* * *

Don’t forget to RSVP if you want to come to church on Sundays.  Call the church office 217.356.7238 by noon on Fridays to let us know you are coming.

* * *

Need a good TedTalk?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_1Eh6rqf8
Celebrate What’s Right with The World, DeWitt Jones
 
* * *
 
Humor
 
Hymns for People Over 50:
 

  •       Give Me the Old Timers Religion
  •       Precious Lord, Take My Hand, And Help Me Up 
  •       Just a Slower Walk with Thee
  •       Go Tell It on the Mountain, But Speak Up
  •       Nobody Knows the Trouble I Have Seeing
  •       Guide Me O Thou Great Lord God, I’ve Forgotten Where I’ve Parked The Car
  •       Count Your Many Birthdays, Count Them One By One
  •       Blessed Insurance
  •       It Is Well With My Soul, But My Knees Hurt

* * *
 
Good Word:
 
Psalm 98
 
1 O sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
    have gotten him victory.
2 The Lord has made known his victory;
    he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the victory of our God.
 
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
 
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing together for joy
9 at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
    to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.
 
Let us pray
 
Dear Lord. Snow? In late April? We delight in this world you’ve created, the lovely greening of spring and a full day of snowfall. What a surprise. What a gift.
 
Thanks, God. 
 
Snow is too fantastical a gift. And praise is too small a word. 
 
AMEN.
 
Much love to you all.
  
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church


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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-04-20

                                                       

 

 

 
The Heart of Mission
April 20, 2021
 

We have begun the week of Earth Day with a fresh look for State street and around Westside Park. On Saturday April 17, twelve of us gathered for Adopt-a-Highway. This photo shows a few of us signing in. I think we picked up more than two full size garbage bags and even more recyclables. If anyone is interested in some dandelion picking, there is some to do in our gardens. Let us know! The help would be appreciated.
 
This Wednesday April 21 will feature a discussion on David Attenborough’s film A Life on Our Planet at 7pm on zoom.  April 22nd is the 51st Earth Day and there are three circles in Presbyterian Women studying Lesson 7 on Creation Lament. Saturday we will have a Styrofoam drop off from 9-11am culminating on Sunday worship when we will worship and celebrate this great Earth God has given us to care for.
 
Add another plant sale to your gardening list. I learned that on April 30 and May 1, the Kappa Kappa Gamma flower sale will be held at the Indian Acres Swim Club and the proceeds will go toward DREAAM house! We love supporting DREAAM!
 
And, don’t forget May 1 and 2 will also be our Cuba Weekend. Next Wednesday, April 28, 7pm, we will show Dr. Nils Jacobson talk on the history and current situation in Cuba video. Or, you can watch it on your own now to prepare questions for the Annual Forum where he will be available to answer your questions. The Cuba flier is attached below with the YouTube link to the talk. You will need a zoom link for the Cuba Weekend. Let me know and I will send it to you.
 
Peace,
 
Rev. Dr. Rachel Matthews, Mission Coordinator
 
 
SAFEHOUSE: Before and after photos of the new siding at SAFEHOUSE. The house was damaged last year from hail. It is looking great!
 

 

 
 
Friends of PEB have teamed up with our friends from Bunyaad Rugs to bring us a PEB Benefit event: a series of cooking classes that will go to benefit our PEB schools in Pakistan! We have to register before May 8 so if you are interested in what you see on this schedule, please let Sallie Hutton or anyone in the Pakistan group know. We are trying to get a group together to watch the shows. Or, register at https://donorbox.org/pakistani-dinner-series

 
 

LifeLine Pilots Turns 40! Here is what they have to say,
In 2021, LifeLine Pilots celebrates an important milestone: 40 years of helping people in need! Since our first flight under the watchful eye of our visionary founder Wanda Whitsitt to now having flown over 8,900 missions, the caring reach of LifeLine Pilots is stronger than ever!
 
While we can’t have a large public celebration this year as we had originally hoped, the staff recently celebrated at our office (and speaking of our office, keep reading for an exciting announcement!)
And, LifeLine Pilots has a new home! Our new address is LifeLine Pilots, 4507 N. Sterling Avenue, Suite 402, Peoria IL, 61615

CU at Home in the news:  Rick Williams, Ministry Development Assistant, shared this news,
On the first Tuesday of every month, representatives of more than 25 non-profit and government agencies, faith-based organizations, and businesses, including C-U at Home, come together (via Zoom during the pandemic) to address the challenges of homelessness in Champaign County.
 
Known as the Champaign County Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless (CSPH), this organization coordinates services and supporting programs crucial to helping those in our community who are most in need.

“People who benefit from these programs include those who have experienced crises resulting in homelessness—the kinds of crises that could affect any one of us at any time,” CSPH Coordinator Thomas Bates notes.

Another important activity entrusted to CSPH is the annual count of the local homeless population, which took place here this past January (video below). Learn more about CSPH in our April Newsletter, which will arrive in your inbox next week. Before then, would you consider sharing this link with friends and family with an invitation to subscribe to our newsletter? We would love to bring more partners into our C-U at Home extended family!
 
Here is a WCIA news report on the Annual Homeless Count. See it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhgkqmXgUSs
 
Praise God for Year Round shelters!

We want to keep our mission partners in our prayers, those who are waiting to go back to their place of ministry and those who are able to work where they are. Listen for God’s call to you in their ministry.
 
Our PC(USA) Mission CoWorkers:
Mark Adams and Miriam Maidonado Escobar (Mexico)
Farsijanna Adeney-Risakotta (Indonesia)
Jeff and Christi Boyd (Central Africa)
Bob and Kristi Rice (South Sudan)
 
Our regional and global mission partners:
Kemmerer Village (and Camp Carew)
Lifeline Pilots
Marion Medical Mission
Mission Aviation Fellowship
Opportunity International
Friends of Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan Presbyterian Cuba Partnership
Special Offerings of the PC(USA)
Theological Education Fund
Young Adult Volunteers
 
Here in Champaign – Urbana:
CU at Home
CANAAN S.A.F.E. HOUSE
CANTEEN RUN
COURAGE CONNECTION
DREAAM
eMPTY TOMB, INC
FAITH IN ACTION
JESUS IS THE WAY PRISON MINISTRY
THE REFUGEE CENTER
RESTORATION URBAN MINISTRY
SALT & LIGHT
 
Here at First Presbyterian Church
FPCC Amateur Preachers
FPCC Environmental Committee working with Faith in Place
FPCC Presbyterian Women
FPCC ESL
FPCC Children, Youth and Families
FPCC Mission Possible/Go and Serve
FPCC Mission Team, World Mission and Community Mission Deacons

 
 
A picture containing drawing Description automatically generated
 

  302 W. Church Street
  Champaign, IL 61820
  217-356-7238
  info@firstpres.church
 
 

 
   
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-04-19

Monday April 19th 2021
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois

Dear Friends,
 
Poems from the Corn
By Kathy Villegas
(Submitted by our Tom Gilmore, Kathy’s brother)
 
Too deep to sing
(except by birds)
First hope of Spring
Suns even words
 
Too soon to paint
It’s chartreuse tint –
Pale buds so faint
The only hint
 
The winds of March blow wild
Fierce and Bold –
One day is mild
One gray and cold
 
But under guise
A promise waits –
It’s paradise
Anticipates
 
Dark sepulcher –
Winter’s tomb –
From this cloudy myrrh
The rose will bloom.
 
Aerial born –
A spirit bright –
Death’s pail outworn
Transcends the night
 
To risen sun
And pristine air –
New life begun!
How old – how rare
 
* * *
 
News:

Sunday we had 22 people enjoy the sunshine and conversation in West Side Park. Join us next Sunday, April 25, 11:15-noon and then starting in May, the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month.  We hope to see you! 

* * *
 
Need a song? Try this:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=reconciliation+tommy+mcdonald+youtube&type=E211US105G91506#id=1&vid=7fdaa41dc73d8233614ff538e447648a&action=click
 
 * * *

Humor
 
Thank God for Bill Gambel’s humor: From the pilot’s perspective, flying is long periods of boredom separated by a few seconds of sheer terror.
 
* * * 
 
Good Word:
 
Psalm 139
The Message
 
1-6 God, investigate my life;
    get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
    I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
    before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
    then up ahead and you’re there, too—
    your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
    I can’t take it all in!
 
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
 
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.
 
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
    God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
    And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
    all the men and women who belittle you, God,
    infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
    see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
    Your enemies are my enemies!
 
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.
  
Let us pray
 
Holy God, we look back on this week giving you thanks that you are the God of history, maker of time, unraveller of the colors and warmth of Spring. 
 
As we look back, we thank you. As we look forward, we ask you, again, to guide our steps and open us to the song of your Holy Spirit. Help us be faithful witnesses of your amazing grace.
 
This week, we remembered special anniversaries—
 
The American Civil War began on April 12th 1861. Franklin Delano Roosevelt died that same day many years later in 1945. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated that same week (April 14) in 1865; the world seemed then to be slinging itself apart—even in the warm beauty of Spring.
 
We remember last week when Galileo was put on trial for his scientific views of the solar system. It turns out he was right. The Earth does, indeed, revolve around the Sun. Your church has always been wary of change and scientific discovery; those who thought and spoke of such were deemed criminal. Forgive us then—and now.
 
The Titanic sunk on April 15 in 1912. And we thought the best work of human hands was invincible. 
 
Leonardo da Vinci was born last week in 1452. We’ve been gathering around his painting of the Last Supper—looking at it like a Mona Lisa—pondering our place at that long table in that upper room with our Lord telling us to love one another. 
 
And yesterday in 1924 the first book of crossword puzzles was published in NYC. Our thoughts of You are like a crossword: every word connects to the other, and every word is another word for Thanks and Praise. Such is the language of prayer, the spilling out of words like the colorful trains on long dresses racing through our summers.
 
This weekend, the Covid death toll climbed above 3,007,838 souls worldwide. In the United States that number has passed 572,155. Hear our cry. We are numbed by numbers. We’d like the pandemic to be over, O God, and in many places we are behaving like it is. May we remain wise stewards of the fragile life entrusted to our care.  
 
We long for the day when we can sing and gather more closely and numerously to praise you. However, if our praise now is anemic—it is not because we lack hymn and chant in great crowds. It is because we are tired. You, Great God, surely understand this half-heartedness. Forgive us where our praise of You has been stingy, and our relations with neighbor have been sharp.
 
Coax from us a better song.
 
AMEN.
 
Much love to you all.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church


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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-04-16

Friday, April 16th, 2021
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
  
Friends,
 
Eric preaches this Sunday. A lot of preachers seldom get a break from preaching. I get breathers regularly, for which I’m grateful. But when I’m not preaching, I get to hear other good preachers, Eric Corbin among them. I am doubly blessed.
 
And so are you.
 
Join us THIS Sunday.
 
Remember: FirstPres.Live for on-line, and State and Hill Streets, big green doors, for in-person.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
matt@firstpres.church
 
* * *
 
What is a strong congregation? Strong congregations are places where people (1) are growing spiritually, (2) engage in meaningful worship (where notions of “joy” and “awe” are not alien themes), (3) are active in the work of the congregation, (4) have a sense of belonging (“Relationship, Relationship Relationship”), (5) care for children and youth, (6) focus on the community (“Mission, Mission, Mission”), (7) share their faith, (8) welcome new people, (9) are challenged to use their gifts in ministry (“empowering leadership”), and (10) look to the future. (Cynthia Woolever & Deborah Bruce, Beyond the Ordinary: Ten Strengths of U.S. Congregations.)

* * *

From your Nurture Team — Last week’s photo challenge received many correct guesses, starting with Amy Born, who identified Nicole Miller

  
Here’s this week’s photo.

Visit http://fb.com/groups/firstpreschampaign to make your guesses, or email them to photos@firstpres.church.  
 
Please join in the fun!  We are running low on photos, so we would like you to select a photo from your younger years (grade school, high school or early adulthood). Photos need not be professional. Candid shots are welcome. Please send your photos to photos@firstpres.church.
 
* * * 

Marge Olsen shares this–a story and an amazing bass voice…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8HffdyLd0c
 


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