The Tucket
Indian Potluck!
after worship in the church basement on Sunday,
February 28. We will have an Indian theme,
meaning, curry, rice, fruit, and, anything else you
want to bring. Bring enough to serve 12 to 15
people. Please leave your prepared dish in the
kitchen in the basement, marked clearly with
instructions. The Joe Eisenbraun and Bryan prayer
groups will be glad to heat and serve the dish for
you.
At the end of the meal on February 28, we will have a
discussion of the financial projection. The vote on
the projection is scheduled after the next meal on
March 14. The next fiscal year starts April 1, 2010.
Please phone the church office with any questions.
-submitted by Deb Eisenbraun
As an expression of our love for Christ and for each other, the elders are calling for the people of Grace & Peace Fellowship to hold a Congregational Meeting on Sunday, February 28. The purpose ofthis meeting is to consider and discuss the 2011 Financial Projection. This will be followed by a Congregational Meeting two weeks later, on Sunday March 14 for the purpose of voting on the Projection. Both meetings will be conducted toward the end of our meal together. For both meetings child care will be provided. For both meetings we need the Holy Spirit to shape our hearts and our choices.
Kurt Lutjens for the session
The Word of God (with Edith and Bruce)
Attention Grace & Peace-
The Christmas Eve service will be held an hour before our traditional time this year. The service will begin in the sanctuary at 10pm. Hope to see you there to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus!
(Indian recipes can be found later in The Tucket!)
Feb. 28th Congregational Meeting
Kurt Lutjens for the session
The Word Of God Class
The word of God is potent. By it the heavens, the earth and the seas in all their vast array were fashioned from nothing at all. The word of God provokes, shakes, comforts, warns, exposes, heals and refreshes. It gets people saved and has been known to get people killed. According to King David there is nothing greater in the universe! (Psalm 138:2) Yet it can be carried with care in the most tender human heart. Edith Graf, who has been walking with Jesus for many decades, and Bruce Smith who has done the same but not quite as long, are going to help me teach the class we call “The Word of God.” Edith and Bruce are going to help us think about and enjoy the way that God’s voice impacts our lives when all is calm and when all is trouble and crisis and even despair. The class will begin on Sunday, February 21 (3:30-5:30 PM) and run for 6 consecutive weeks through Palm Sunday. Please sign up in the hall at the top of the Clara steps so we know roughly how many copies we will be needing. As always though, last minute walk-ins are welcome! We will have extras. Kurt Lutjens, for the three of us
New Prayer Groups!
Dear Church,It is a new season of fellowship at Grace & Peace! After much prayer and hard work, the 2010 Prayer Groups are here.You will find the complete list posted in the back of the sanctuary. We've done our best to meeteveryone's needs geographically, and I hope this will lead to more regular attendance across thegroups. If you signed up to be placed in a group, you will find your name in one of the 11 groups. Iffor some reason you signed up but were not placed, please call or email me. m ail@johnhendrix.com- 917-597-6310The leaders are meeting for training this week, with the first meeting taking place the week ofJanuary 25th. You can expect to be contacted by your leader soon to discuss the location and timefor your groups.The goal of this reshuffle was never disruption, but newness. As the church enters into a season ofrefreshment in our relationships, we will all need to be more patience and more flexible with eachother as our boundaries, comfort zones and routines are challenged. This is a good thing, and I'mconfident that the Lord will use these new relationships to do his work. John Hendrix
Christmas Eve Service at 10pm!
The Christmas Eve service will be held an hour before our traditional time this year. The service will begin in the sanctuary at 10pm. Hope to see you there to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus!
The Big Shuffle
At the end of this year, it will be time for our current configuration of Prayer Groups at Grace & Peace to come to an end. December will be the last month we will be meeting together until a new roster is posted in January 2010.
For those of you new to Grace and Peace, you may not be aware of this change. We intentionally mix up our small groups every three years in order to create new relationships, get out of old ruts, bring new life and energy back to the fellowship and most importantly- to get people talking!
Thinking back on the three years in my own prayer group- much has changed. We have seen many prayers answered with great rejoicing... and others prayers have been left unanswered in the hands of our Father. I want to encourage all of you in Prayer Groups to have a dinner or some kind of celebration at your last meeting (either on 12/16 or 12/23). Give thanks to God for your relationships, give thanks for the time you've spent shouldering each other's burdens, give thanks for prayers answered, give thanks for prayers unanswered. Give thanks for the work God has done in each of your lives.
I know many of you will find it difficult to leave your small group after such rich time together. I would encourage you to celebrate your time together, mourn the ending of this season and prayerfully ask God to prepare your hearts and minds for new relationships. Pray that leaders would come forward (we do have a need for Prayer Group leaders) and that the Holy Spirit would lend wisdom and guidance to the reorganization.
We will all take a short church-wide hiatus from prayer groups until the end of January. New prayer groups will be starting on either the 1/20 or the 1/27. A church wide prayer group meeting will take place on the 13th at the church to kick off the new season. The committee appointed by the session to reorganize the new prayer groups hopes to have its work done by the second week in January.
A few bullet points-
• PLEASE GO TO THE BACK OF THE SANCTUARY AND SIGN UP TO BE IN A NEW PRAYER GROUP, regardless of whether you are in one now or not. We want to have a complete an accurate list of everyone before we start the reorganization.
• Something new this time around you may notice on the sign-up sheets: there is a section to ask to be place in a Prayer Group that is geographically close to you. We will do our very best to accommodate as many of these requests as we can, but we cannot promise that all requests will be met.
• These sign-ups will only be up for TWO WEEKS- because we need to get the reshuffling started as soon as we can. Please be prompt in signing up.
• There will be 2-3 session of leader training, for all new and returning Prayer Group leaders, those dates will be determined at a later time.
If you have any questions or concerns, have an interest in leadership, or need clarification on the process of getting into a new group please find me or one of the other elders. You can also email me at mail@johnhendrix.com
Please make plans to come to the Advent Festival immediately after worship in the
-John Hendrix
Advent Festival
fellowship hall on Sunday, December 6. Invite grandparents and cousins and
neighbors. Bring food to share. The menu is chili, veggies and dip, and chips or
cornbread. The Dads and kids will make Christmas cookies for dessert.
Think about whether you have an Advent or Christmas tradition to share. In the past
people have taught us how to make Advent Wreaths, and, how to assemble a Yule
Log (chocolate rolled cake). One family brought their collection of Christmas books.
Others have brought projects of food, paper, or fabric to make ornaments,
decorations, or greeting cards. As we finish our chili, we'll move to tables along one
side of the room to have some fun. I'd love to hear some of your favorite Christmas
music. If you have something you'd like to share, just bring it. Phone me if you need
anything besides a table for set up. Deb at 241-4202, e isenbraun@sbcglobal.net
Prayer group hosts are Bob Lowes and Sarah Oldham's prayer groups.
The shelter is scheduled to open on Tuesday,
- Deb Eisenbraun
Shelter Meals Needed!
November 10th and we still have a need for food on
Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and
New Year's Eve. My understanding is that without
these meals secured, it is recommended we delay
opening. With that, I would like to open the freezer
to you all! If you would like to provide a portion of
any one of these meals by bringing it to the shelter
and freezing it, this would certainly help us out! In
addition, below is a short list of those dates that
need to be filled as soon as possible. I would also
like to encourage prayer groups and/or groups of
friends to join together in preparing a meal(s)--what
a great time of year to join together and bring cheer
and food to these women! You can contact me via
email at e mily.holcombe@gmail.co m or via phone at
(205) 994-0569. I look forward to hearing from you!
Emily Holcombe, Meal Coordinator for the Grace &
Peace Winter Shelter
Thanksgiving - Thursday, November 26th
December/Holiday Meals Needed:
Breakfast, Sunday, December 20th
Thursday, December 17th
Tuesday, December 22nd
Christmas Eve - Thursday, December 24th
Christmas - Friday, December 25th
Wednesday, December 30th
New Year's Eve - Thursday, December 31st
We Are THAT Close!!!!To being ready to open the shelter, that is. As youcan see from the calendar attached to the back of
Breakfast - Sunday, January 3rd
Shelter is nearly there...
this Tucket, we have only 1 overnight opening for a
volunteer during the month of November, and just a
few in December! The problem is, that one
November night lacking an overnight volunteer
comes only 6 days after we would open, and two of
the other openings are Christmas Eve, Christmas
night and other holidays. We are praying that a
person or persons who would especially love to serve
on the holidays, perhaps havingan odd holiday
schedule for non-related reasons, will sign up!
Please see Emily Holcombe's note about meal needs,
too, in this Tucket. Please pray that the workers and
the food will come and the Shelter will open as
desired on November 10! We know many will read
this before Sunday and we will give you an even
more updated update on Sunday, 11/8.
The Pastoral Search Committee has recommended enthusiastically and unanimously--and the Session has unanimously concurred--that Aaron Turner be called as "Assistant to the Pastor" with a three-year commitment. Although Aaron is a Reformed Baptist (and thus cannot be ordained in the PCA), both the Committee and the Session feel strongly that Aaron's particular gifts so match our needs at this time that the issue of ordination is, in the short run, secondary--especially under the consideration that this is a three-year position as Assistant to the Pastor and not as an Assistant or Associate Pastor. The job description and posting of this position specifically mentioned that we might hire an Assistant to the Pastor as the candidate pool dictated. Thus, this call is consistent with that original job description. Calling of an Assistant to the Pastor requires neither Presbytery nor congregational approval._The Session does desire, however––for everyone’s sake––to have a congregational conversation regarding the committee’s recommendation.Because Aaron is now leading our youth (and would continue to do so under this arrangement), there is a slight modification of the original job description to include youth work. Since we consequently will not need a separate youth leader, this may open up a part-time pastoral-leadership position that could be filled with someone who would take on some of the responsibilities included under the original posting for this position.
Blessings, Melody Perkins, Shelter team Leader
Pastoral Search Committee
The Tucket
The Tucket is the Grace & Peace Weekly Newsletter. Your one source for recent church information and news updates.