Feb2016courier

Covenant

Happenings

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CPW & Service

Schedule

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Calendar

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From

Pastor Lee

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Financial/

CLERK’S CORNER

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The Family, Events, and Ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Springboro

There will be a Youth Summit of the Teen Alliance Council, 9 am to 1:30 pm on Feb. 26 here at CPC. The Violence Free Coalition started a Teen Alliance Council (TAC) to get a youth voice on violence, prevention of sexual assault and teen dating violence, and substance abuse prevention. The single most compelling fact about the TAC is that it is entirely staffed, trained and operated by the youth themselves. The TAC youth leaders are responsible for the program; they are the program; this is their work and their leadership. The TAC student leaders have gone through various training programs. They currently have students from Springboro, Waynesville and Carlisle involved. The Youth Summit is the young people reaching out to other young leaders to inform or train them and to work on action plans for their various schools. We are now a partner with the TAC and have agreed to provide the facility for the summit and to help them with lunch by picking up the food and helping to serve it. Our level of participation may increase and may continue in the months and years to come.

What a quandary we found ourselves in 2+ years ago. Who was going to lead us? What is the “interim” for an interim pastor? Why will it take so long to find a new pastor? Like lost children we would come running to you with questions or problems that arose that our former pastor would take care of. Like a good leader, you would assure us we could figure it out ourselves, and we did! And what was with the walking stick and “the box”?

With that stick you lead us along the path to our new pastor, and what a journey it was! And try as we might to put something in the box that would stump you, you opened our eyes with your insightful interpretation of how those ordinary items (and sometimes extraordinary items) related to our Christian lives. You also introduced us to a new concept - intergenerational learning. You have stoked a fire within us to keep learning, no matter what age we are.

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye, but our hearts soar with thanks for your leadership during our journey. We shed tears of sadness as we wish you well, but tears of gladness as well because of the unique gifts you brought us.

We all wish you Godspeed Lee. - John Ritzinger, on behalf of the members and friends of CPC

We say goodbye...

...and we say hello! Covenant welcomes our new Pastor, Sarah Sparks-Franklin. A native of Dayton, Ohio and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Sarah comes to us most recently from Bloomington, Indiana, home of the Hoosiers. During her time there, she served as the Director of Youth and Jubilee College/ Young Adult Ministries at First United Methodist Church in the heart of downtown Bloomington. As Director, Sarah assisted with Sunday morning worship leadership, planned campus outreach events, wrote curriculum, led young adult small group ministry, bible studies, youth Sunday School, Confirmation classes, retreats, leadership training meetings, mission trips, put together Wednesday and Sunday evening gathering content, and designed a Young Adult Ministry Internship Program that was recently selected for an award from the Lilly Endowment. In her spare time, Sarah loves to spend time with her husband, Jonathan and their hound/ lab mix, Gracey. When she’s not trying the latest drink at a coffee shop, cooking a creative Pinterest recipe for dinner, or exploring a new outdoor trail, you’ll most likely find her curled up on the couch with a good book. Welcome to Covenant!

National Scout Sunday is earlier in the month, however, we are having a Scout Sunday on the 21st. We hope to have both Cub Scouts and Brownie troops join us and take part in our service and help us with our Hearts & Hands project after church. The Project for the 21st is our part of Operation Linus; we will be tying together fleece baby blankets used

nationally and (in our area) most directly at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Please remember Session's pledge for 2016, the year we get you directly involved. The Congregation stepped up to the plate big time for Operation Christmas Child's shoebox ministry and on Jan. 24 for our College Student care packages. Operation Linus is another chance to show who

and what we are so please be there with us. If nothing else, it should be amusing watching Dale try to get it right.

February Ushers John Ritzinger & Jami Madewell February Counters 07 Bill Ilg & Tom Sebastian 14 Loretta Sebastian & Mary White 21 Jay White & Dave Siegler 28 Tom Sebastian & Vera Escott

Pre/K Volunteers 07 Erica Hicks 14 Yvonne Craycraft 21 Kristin Tibbits 28 Pfeiffer/Goins

Grades 1-6 07 Becky Hegwood 14 TBD 21 Maryanna & Kristy C. 28 Jen Knoth

Fellowship 07 CPW 14 Mary White 21 TBD 28 Annual Meeting Luncheon

Prayer Shawl Ministry

is taking a break to reorganize and recruit more crafty individuals to help in this ministry. If you would like to be a part of this, please see Yvonne Craycraft or

Linda Eaton. New dates and/or times will start sometime in April.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2015 CPC Christmas Mailbox. If you sent cards, delivered cards, or received cards; it was a fun opportunity to build congregational relationships! The

mailbox collected $87 in donations which will be used for youth related activities. On behalf of the CPC youth...Thank You!!

Join Amicae Circle as we continue “Come to the Waters” on

February 23 at 1:00 PM.

CPW Team

02/11

1:00 PM

If you would like to have your concern lifted to the Lord through the Prayer Chain, contact Charlotte McCarthy at [email protected]. Please pray for: Nadine Drew, Mike Wentzel, Mike McKitrick,

Judy Tysseling, our military men and women and their families.

The Annual Meeting will take place on February 28. We will have a light lunch after the service, followed by the meeting.

Remember to turn in your reports by February 10!

Sun Mon Tue

1 5-7:30 PM Weight Watchers

6:45 PM Cub Scout Den 3

2 7:00 AM Men at McDonalds

6:30 PM Cut Scouts Den 6 & 15

7:00 PM Outreach

7 10:00 AM Worship




7PM Bimonthly Meeting


6:30 PM Admin/Personnel

6:30 PM Cub Scouts Den 1,6,15

14 10:00 AM Worship

6:30-8PM Youth Group




6:30 PM Session

6:45 PM Cub Scout Pack Meeting

21 Celebrating Scouting 10:00 AM Worship

11:15 AM Hearts & Hands

22

5-7:30 PM Weight Watchers



7:00 PM Deacons

23 1:00 PM Amicae Circle

6:00 PM Adult Ministry


28 10:00 AM Worship 11:15 AM Lunch &

Annual Meeting

6:30-8PM

Youth Group



Birthdays and Anniversaries are published with your

permission only. In an effort to update our list, please notify the office of your family’s special dates,

especially if you are new to our fellowship.

We want to include you!

Please email any updates and articles to the secretary at: [email protected] or call me at (937) 748-0272.

2 Susan Pfeiffer 4 Phil Fershee

6 Paul Cimprich

9 Leatha Stewart 14 Cindy Caiarelli 17 Carole Hepp

19 Bev Madison

20 Emily Knoth

26 Bill Ilg

27 Neva Bell

14 Jay & Mary White

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

7:00 AM Men at McDonalds

6:30 PM Cut Scouts Den 6 & 15

3 6:45 PM Choir Practice

8:00 PM Praise Band

4

5 6:30 PM Cub Scout PW Check In

6

8-9:30 AM Weight Watchers 2:00 PM Scouts Pinewood Derby


6:30 PM Admin/Personnel



8:00 PM Praise Band

11 1:00 PM CPW Team

6:30 PM Clearcreek GS Svc Unit

6:30 PM Brownies #35238

12

13 8-9:30 AM Weight Watchers


6:45 PM Cub Scout Pack Meeting


8:00 PM Praise Band

18

19

20

8-9:30 AM Weight Watchers

1:00 PM Amicae Circle

6:00 PM Adult Ministry


24

6:45 PM Choir Practice

7:00 PM Youth Ministry

8:00 PM Praise Band

25 6:30 PM Brownies #35238

26 9:00-1:30 PM Youth Summit

27 8-9:30 AM Weight Watchers

Financial Info Month of Month of Year to date Year to date

Operating Fund Dec-15 Dec-14 Dec-15 Dec-14 Receipts $16,522 $18,605 $140,496 $136,699 Expenditures $13,555 $11,373 $145,831 $147,863 Net Receipts (Expenditures) $2,967 $7,232 -$5,335 -$11,164 Mortgage Reduction Beg. Balance $5,875 -$828 Receipts $1,570 $22,497 Mortgage Payments $1,071 $15,295 Transfer to Operating Fund* $5,335 $5,335 Balance End of Month $1,039 $1,039 Cash Flow Beginning Cash $61,389 Cash Used (received): Operating Fund $2,967 Other Designated Funds -$2,831 Payroll taxes $77 Mortgage Payments Principal -$908 Total Cash (Used) Received -$695 Ending Cash Balance $60,694

*Funds were transferred from Mortgage Reduction Fund to cover deficit in Operating Fund

Church Staff Sarah Sparks-Franklin Pastor Janet Wayne Church Secretary Kim Denney Music/Choir Director Susan Pfeiffer Pianist/Organist Vera Escott Treasurer Tom Sebastian Financial Secretary

www.covenantspringboro.com

[email protected]

CLERK’S CORNER

January

We welcomed our 3 new members to session, Amy Lehman, Dave Siegler, & John Ritzinger Session voted on the following assignments on the year: Clerk - Gordon Neumann Treasurer - Vera Escott Financial Secretary - Tom Sebastian

Presbytery Commissioner - Dale Hunt Alternate Presbytery Commissioner - Amy Lehman

Session voted to partner with Living Waters Church to house puppets for their puppet ministry. They will also include our kids into this active ministry.

We will be hosting a Youth Summit on February 26 run by the Teen Alliance Council. A group of 50+ kids from 3 area schools. Topics include the following: Drug and alcohol - Peer Pressure, Healthy Relationships - Gender Roles, Social Media

Session is looking to add to their signature events for the springtime. Some ideas were presented. If you have any suggestions please bring them to a session member.

Set the date for the annual meeting to be February 28

Hospitality and Saying Good-bye

By the time many of you read this, my ministry alongside you will have ended and you will have begun your next chapter of ministry with your next pastor. In other words, these will be my last words to you… and you know, we always save the best for last.

Hospitality

A quick review of an online dictionary defines hospitality as kindness in welcoming strangers or guests, receptiveness, or an act or show of welcome. Simply put, hospitality is about being generous, authentic, curious, and vulnerable. In these terms, you have been all this and more to me from the beginning of our interim relationship up through the end. (As an aside, I hope that you have felt me being equally hospitable toward you.) So in this regard, I have no doubt that you will be equally hospitable with Sarah and those she loves.

Hospitality as a Continuing Practice

The First Letter to Timothy is filled with helpful instructions. One in particular tells him to continue practicing and believing what he's been taught and convinced of in regards to Christ. The letter goes on to say that by continuing in that learning he will find wisdom in the ways of salvation. (1 Timothy 4:16) I think hospitality definitely falls within the parameters of what Jesus, Paul, and the early church taught and practiced. As a result of the participation of first followers, the quality of life that flowed out from these fledgling Christ-communities convinced many others to follow as well. I also believe that it is one of the essential practices of a faithful lifestyle for both individuals and communities.

Hospitality and Saying Good-bye

Usually when we think of hospitality, we think of the beginning of things. As you can well imagine, I’d like to turn that notion upside down as a way to gain a new perspective. As an experienced interim pastor, I know that saying good-bye is just as much an act of hospitality as saying hello. First, because we always remember the last thing that has happened in a series of happenings and it colors everything that has gone before it. A good host knows this and makes sure that the parting is “such sweet sorrow.”

Second, it is only by saying good-bye that we can be fully present to what comes next. Eventually, our guest leaves and we shut the door, having said what needed to be said, knowing that our lives have been shaped by our time together, while acknowledging that the next person who comes into our life is not bound by that earlier relationship. A good host understands the unfairness and foolish fantasy that expects things to be the way they were.

Third, saying good-bye is an expression of trust in God’s goodness, faithfulness, and love. To hang on to one gift at the expense of the next gift that God wants to graciously give us undermines our experience of life as it really is. It sends others and us the wrong message. It says, “This is as good as it gets,” rather than “the best is yet to come.” So for those that I did not see before I left, let me complete our relationship in this way.

Please forgive me… for anything that I said or did, or didn’t say or do, that has caused you harm. It was never my intention to hurt you and I wouldn’t want you to carry the burden of my action or inaction one moment longer. I forgive you… in the same way. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will assume that you treated me with the best of intentions and any hurt that has occurred was the unexpected result of your doing your best. Thank you… for all that we have experienced and learned together, for sharing your life with me, and for giving yourself to the work of being God’s people in this place and time. I love you… as you are and as you will become because I am confident that God is not finished with any of us just yet. Good-bye… while I will always keep you in my heart and prayers, I have handed the pastoral care of your souls to Sarah. I will keep an eye on your growth, maturity, and fecundity (I just had to use that word J) by periodically checking your website.

Finally, I offer you a passage of Scripture quoted from the Second Letter to Timothy, inviting you to take its message to heart.

Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you… I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.

2 Timothy 1:3-4 MSG

So in this way, let us continue to do our part and make a good transition from this interim chapter of the story of God’s love and faithfulness in, around, and through Covenant Presbyterian to the next.

Thanks again for sharing this amazing journey.

May all this, and even more come to pass.

Grace and Peace,

Lee

CPC - Called and Connected by Christ, Partners in Our Community, Committed to Serve

Worship Guide Deadline

By 9:00 a.m. on the Tuesday before the Sunday you would like it to appear in the worship guide.

Courier Newsletter Deadline

Feb. 22, 9:00 a.m. for the March

edition. You may leave articles on the office desk or e-mail them to [email protected].

Men’s Fellowship

Men meet weekly at McDonalds every Tuesday morning from 7:00 - 7:30 a.m. Contact John Ritzinger (748-1437) if you have any questions. If you’ve never joined us, we would greatly welcome you!

Administration/Personnel Ministry

Admin/Personnel will meet on Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Contact David Payne (513-836-3464) or Barb Mourouzis (748-3049) for questions.

Adult Ministries

meets on the last Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact Steve Hegwood at 885-1031.

Session

Session will meet on Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m.

Prayer Partners

We have a vital prayer ministry here at Covenant. We have an electronic prayer chain for those who would prefer to be notified of needs as they arise via email. To get connected in prayer through the internet, contact Charlotte McCarthy at 937-558-2120 or [email protected].

Outreach Ministry

will meet on Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m. Contact Dale Hunt for questions. (937-305-7055)

Youth Ministry

meets the last Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Contact Erica Hicks for questions at 748-6352.

Covenant Presbyterian Church 415 N. Main St.

Springboro, OH 45066 address correction requested

Worship Service: 10:00 a.m. Worship

Toddlers and children through 6th grade have age appropriate learning opportunities. Nursery - provided for ages 2 and under.

Office Hours

Our secretary is generally in the office Tuesday through Friday from 9AM-Noon.

Phone: (937) 748-0272 & (937) 748-4734

Fax: (937) 748-4734

Feb2016courier

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