WALLACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Dr. Philip K. Gladden, Minister MARCH 2018 Cheryl Brinkley, Editor

1- Pat Alexander 3- Michael Cooper 4- Dana Myrick 5- Battle Holley Sylvia Bowman Natalie Gladden 6- Earleene Southerland George Hatch 8- Cecelia Blair 12- Hattie B. Farrior

16- Mary Kate White 19- Netti Batchelor 21- Emily Saunders Susan Carone Amanda Shea 25- Dotsie Caproni Bron Thompson 26- Whit Newkirk 28- Susie Bullard

Birthdays In March

Happy Birthday to You!

Annual Mission Program and Covered Dish Meal Rev. Dr. Doug Cushing, Guest Speaker

Sunday, March 11, 2018 5:00 pm

Wallace Presbyterian Women Coordinating Team is pleased that the Rev. Dr. Doug Cushing has agreed to be our guest speaker for the annual mission program and covered dish meal on Sunday, March 11 at 5:00 PM. He will be speaking on his recent trip to Iraq with "The Iraq Partnership Network - Presbyterian Church USA". Everyone is encouraged to attend and bring a covered dish. Dr. Doug Cushing is the Organizing Pastor of the Bridge Presbyterian Church in Leland, NC. Doug was born and raised outside of Milwaukee, WI. He attended Carroll College earning B.S. degrees in Clinical Psychology and Communications. Doug earned a Master of Arts in Christian Thought from Trinity Divinity School; a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary. Additionally, Doug has studied in Israel and at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA, Doug has served churches in Chicago, Philadelphia and, most recently, in the Upstate of South Carolina where he served as Founding Pastor of the Tyger River Presbyterian Church. During Doug’s ministry at Tyger River, he organized and launched the Tyger River Children’s Center (a faith-based after school program enrolling 100 students) and The Carpenter’s Table Community Outreach Center (a food pantry feeding over 2000 people a month). Doug is also a coach and consultant for new church pastors with Pinnacle Leadership Associates. Last year, Doug published his first book: Where There’s No Road At All: Adventures in Church Planting. Doug and his wife Sharon live in Waterford of the Carolinas along with their 10 year old Cocker Spaniel named Mattie. They both enjoy sailing, traveling and watching the Green Bay Packers – of which Doug is a part owner of the team.

Living with Grief?

Talking about it can help.

Living with Grief Series

Sponsored by The Community Counseling Center

Sunday Afternoons April 15 thru May 6

2:00-3:30 pm Wallace Presbyterian Church

Donations accepted

Pre-registration required

Call 285-2808 or email cheryl@wallacepresbyterian.com

Dear Friends, I hope many of you are reading through Matthew’s gospel during this Lenten season. The Alternative Sunday School Class is enjoying Tom Wright’s daily devotional guide, Lent for Everyone: Matthew. Elsewhere in this newsletter, you will find a schedule for the month of March with the readings from Matthew listed. If you haven’t already started reading Matthew’s gospel, it’s not too late to join in. If you are looking for a spiritual discipline for this season of Lent (and for each day of the year, for that matter), reading God’s Word is a great place to begin. What I am enjoying about this read through Matthew’s gospel is knowing that many other people in our congregation are reading, thinking, and praying about the same Bible verses each day that I am reading. Sometimes as I am reading through the daily selection, I wonder if someone else in the congregation is sitting and reading the same words at the same time. I wonder if they have the same questions, thoughts, and prayers that I do about what Matthew is telling us about Jesus. Several years ago, James Davison, retired director of continuing education at Pittsburgh (Presbyterian) Theological Seminary, wrote The Year of the Bible, a detailed reading schedule

for every day of the year. He got the idea for the book when he encouraged members of his congregation to read the whole Bible in one year. About that congregation-wide experience, Dr. Davison said, “The Bible became much better known and appreciated by folks in the congregation; a deeper sense of unity developed within the congregation. People began to share their impressions and questions with each other. They seemed to relish the sense that they are ‘in this together.’” That’s what I like about knowing that many of us are reading through Matthew this Lenten season — that we are “in this together.” That’s also a great description of what it means to be the church, a covenant community. In a time when so many are so divided by so many issues and events and opinions, it is important to identify and strengthen the things we have in common, that bind us together as one. God’s Word can do that. That doesn’t mean we will all hear and interpret God’s Word in exactly the same way. But sharing the experience of reading and thinking about and praying through God’s Word can only strengthen and enliven our congregation and our own faith. May God bless you and our whole congregation as we continue on this Lenten journey and as we read through God’s Word together.

In Christ,

SUNDAY ELDER PREACHER March 4 Clay Blue Philip Gladden March 11 Clay Blue Philip Gladden March 18 Christy Johnson Rev. Cynthia Williams March 25 Dean Hanson Philip Gladden

WORSHIP LEADERS IN MARCH

ACTIONS OF THE SESSION

At the Tuesday, February 20, 2018 meeting of the session, the elders and minister: * were led in an opening devotion and prayer by Elder Dan Robinson; * conducted the meeting as a worship service; * read and discussed God’s Word in Genesis 12:1-9 and Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-22; 12:1-2 and a reading, “Ancestors”; *approved the minutes from the January 31, 2018 called session meeting; * approved the 2017 annual statistical report; * approved a recommendation from the Building & Grounds Ministry Team to spend up to $1000 to run cable and electrical wires to the nursery in the upstairs Currie Building (to allow nursery workers to watch and hear the worship service) and to the Youth Room; * heard a report from the Congregational Care Ministry Team for 2018 plans; * reviewed the 2017 year-end financial reports with church treasurer Wayne Casteen; * invited Rev. Cynthia Williams to preach on Sunday, March 18; * approved a request from Grayson and Ashton Casteen to have their son, Rowan Wayne, baptized on a Sunday in the spring; * approved a request from the board of directors of the Community Counseling Center (formerly the Presbyterian Counseling Center) in Wilmington to sponsor a “Living with Grief” series to be led by former Hospice Grief Counselor Sue Strickler; * were led in a closing prayer by Elder Curt Simpson.

03/04: Christy & Kevin Johnson 03/11: Danielle & Elizabeth Sills 03/18: Mary Laine & Jason Rouse 03/25: Gina & Sarah Pearl Farrior

04/01: Susan & Ellie Carone 04/08: Georgia & Nate Farrior 04/15: J & Joell Parker 04/22: Nettie Batchelor & Andrea Casteen 04/29: Madelyn Coombs & Hope Turnbull

YOUTH WORSHIP LEADERS

03/04: Ellie Carone & Madelyn Coombs

03/11: Cameron & Reese Blue

03/18: Hill Lanier & Robert Coombs 03/25: Garrett Bullard & Sarah Pearl Farrior

Fred Burroughs, Leader Blake Wallace Susan Walters Bill Walters Greg Maready

March

GREETERS

CHURCH NEWS . . .For Your Information * We will receive our quarterly P.A.T.H. (Presbyterian Answer to Hunger) Offering on March 4. This offering supports our presbytery’s hunger program which provides meals for children in Haiti and Malawi and support for congregational food pantries such as our Helping Hands Food Pantry. * Presbyterian Men will meet at the Oak Plain Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. for supper and Bible study. All men are welcome. * The Presbyterian Women will host a covered dish supper and mission program on Sunday, March 11 at 5:00 p.m. Dr. Dough Cushing, pastor of the bridge Presbyterian Church in Leland, NC will share about his trip to Iraq. * Basic Bible 101: Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About the Bible but Were Afraid to Ask! meets on Monday nights (7:00 - 8:30 p.m.) and Tuesday mornings (10:00 - 11:30 a.m.) in the Fellowship Hall (note: Tuesday morning, March 6, meet in Room 304). No class on March 19 & 20. * The session will meet on Tuesday, March 20 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 304. If you have any business or concerns for the session to consider, please speak to one of the elders or the minister. * We will receive our Feed Our Hungry Children/Backpack Ministry Offering during worship

on Sunday, March 25.

* We will celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper during our Good Friday worship

service at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 30.

OPENING CHURCH BUILDING

March 1-15: Chuck Farrior

March 16-31: Dave Wells

Hospital & at home: Verlie Wells (Rosemary)

Cathy Wells (Fayetteville) June Blalock (Rosemary)

Judy Robinson (home) Kelsea Webster (home)

FEED OUR HUNGRY CHILDREN/ BACKPACK MINISTRY OFFERING

SUNDAY, MARCH 27

An extension of the Duplin Christian Outreach Ministries Contributions from individuals, twenty plus churches, foundations,

and other organizations provide lunches and weekend food to schoolchildren. Thanks for your contributions!

03/04: Cindy Barrow & Sandra Phillips 03/11: George & Elizabeth Hatch 03/18: Dan & Tanya Robinson 03/25: Bill & Susan Carone

GREETERS

JANUARY

GREETERS

CENTERPOINT

When our schools and communities experience mass violence, mental health professionals are often asked, “what are the warning signs?” By now we’ve all come to recognize a quiet and withdrawn, yet angry and depressed personality, accompanied by evidence of violent fantasies as warning signs. But when it comes to parenting and caring for all of our adolescents, whether violent or not, we shouldn’t be waiting for warning signs. We don’t need to overly pathologize common behavior in all of our teenagers, but we also don’t need to laugh off angry and withdrawn behavior as “typical.” There is grief involved in growing up. And too often we as adults are poor teachers of how to regulate our negative emotion in a healthy way before it causes unwanted consequences. Most adolescents at some point feel overwhelming negative emotion they don’t know how to handle, while also feeling invisible to others and powerless to make a change in their lives. In the most extreme and horrific way, perpetrators of mass violence are seeking an outlet for negative emotion that also provides them with a way to be instantly and extremely visible and powerful. As adults, we are responsible for teaching all of our adolescents how to regulate negative emotion and getting them the help they need to do this. We are also responsible for helping our teenagers to feel visible and connected to others while using their voices as powerful ways to make change in ways that are self-respecting and respectful of others. Who knows; maybe by learning how to teach this to our younger ones, we too will gain the ability to cope with our sadness and anger while gaining a sense of connectedness and power to bring about good in our too often violent world.

Call the Center at 910-452-7370. Visit at www.wantcounseling.com “Like” the Community Counseling Center on Facebook.

Susan Lewis, LCSW

Greetings from the Youth!

February was an exciting month! We met several times and raised over $150 with our

Heart Attack fundraiser.

March has a lot of wonderful things in store. Confirmation has started, and we have 7

youth participating in that. The class will meet throughout the next couple of months,

ending in May. The first Sunday in March, we will be hosting Game Night! Everyone in

the congregation is invited to attend! The Presbyterian Youth Council middle school

retreat will be at Kirkwood, as well. Here is a list of dates for March:

March 4: Game Night! 4-7pm

March 10-11: PYC Middle School Retreat

March 25: Youth Group at Church, 5-7pm

The registration deadline for Montreat is March 10. Please have your deposit paid to the

church by March 9.

As always, if you would like to assist in the youth program in any way, please contact

Zach@Wallacepresbyterian.com, or call me direct, (910) 284-6869.

In Christ,

Zach Casteen

MARCH SCHEDULE

Monday, March 5, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall

Tuesday, March 6, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Room 304

Module 2, Class 3: The Gospels of Luke and John. Characters in the New Testament.

Monday, March 12, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall

Tuesday, March 13, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Fellowship Hall

Module 2, Class 4: Holy Week Stories: What happened in the last week of Jesus’ life? We will compare the stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Monday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 20: No Class

Monday, March 26, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall

Tuesday, March 27, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m., Fellowship Hall

Module 2, Class 5: Christ is Risen! We will compare the Easter stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and read what the letters say about Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

The Presbytery of Coastal Carolina will hold a stated meeting on Saturday, March 3 at the First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, NC. Please keep the ministers, elders, and presbytery staff members who will attend in your prayers as we join together for service and mission in Christ’s name

READING THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW DURING LENT

The members of The Alternative Sunday School Class invite you to join them in reading through the Gospel of Matthew during the Season of Lent which began on Ash Wednesday, February 14. Here is a schedule of daily readings for March. Won’t you join us in this Lenten spiritual discipline?

March 1 Matthew 12:1-21 (focused on 12:15-21) March 2 Matthew 12:22-50 (focused on 12:27-32) March 3 Matthew 13 (focused on 13:31-33, 44-46) Sunday, March 4 Psalm 95 March 5 Matthew 14 (focused on 14:22-33) March 6 Matthew 15:1-20 (focused on 15:1-9) March 7 Matthew 15:21-38 (focused on 15:21-28) March 8 Matthew 16 (focused on 16:21-28) March 9 Matthew 17 (focused on 17:14-20) March 10 Matthew 18 (focused on 18:21-35) Sunday, March 11 Psalm 23 March 12 Matthew 19 (focused on 19:16-26) March 13 Matthew 20 (focused on 20:1-16) March 14 Matthew 21:1-22 (focused on 21:1-17) March 15 Matthew 21:23-46 (focused on 21:33-45) March 16 Matthew 22 (focused on 22:1-14) March 17 Matthew 23 (focused on 23:29-39) Sunday, March 18 Psalm 130 March 19 Matthew 24 (focused on 24:15-28) March 20 Matthew 24 (focused on 24:45-51) March 21 Matthew 25 (focused on 25:14-30) March 22 Matthew 25 (focused on 25:31-46) March 23 Matthew 26:1-13 March 24 Matthew 26:14 - 27:66

PRESBYTERY OF COASTAL CAROLINA MEETING

SATURDAY, MARCH 3

P.A.T.H. OFFERING Presbyterian Answer to Hunger

Sunday, March 4 We will receive our quarterly P.A.T.H. (Presbyterian Answer to Hunger) offering during worship on Sunday, March 4. This offering supports the Hunger Program of the Presbytery of Coastal Carolina. The Hunger Program supplies funding for feeding programs for children in Haiti and Malawi and grants for congregational food ministries within our presbytery, including our own Helping Hands Food Pantry. Thank you for your generous contributions!

HOLY WEEK Sunday, March 25 Psalm 31:9-16 Maundy Thursday, March 29 Matthew 27:1-32 Monday, March 26 Matthew 26:14-35 Good Friday, March 30 Matthew 27:33-56 Tuesday, March 27 Matthew 26:36-56 Holy Saturday, March 31 Matthew 27:57-66 Wednesday, March 28 Matthew 26:57-75

Preaching During Lent March 2018 Journey Through the Gospel of Matthew

As we read through the Gospel of Matthew during the Season of Lent, the Sunday sermons will be based on texts from the Gospel of Matthew. SUNDAY TEXT STORY March 4 Matthew 12:1-8 The Lord of the Sabbath March 11 Matthew 16:13-20 Peter’s Confession March 18 Matthew 20:1-16 Parable of Laborers in the Vineyard March 25 Matthew 21:1-11 Jesus’ Arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

Sunday School Assembly Sunday School Assembly starts at 9:40 am every Sunday

morning in the sanctuary. We sing a couple of hymns, recognize birthdays, and have a short devotion. Please come join us. It's a great time for fellowship before Sunday School, and everyone is invited. If you would like to do a devotion, please let Curt Simpson or Nell Sloan know.

Rev. Cynthia Williams to preach on March 18

Rev. Cynthia Williams will be our preacher on Sunday, March 18. She is a native of Duplin County and a graduate of St. Andrews Presbyterian College (Laurinburg, NC), the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Cynthia has recently retired and moved back to the Kenansville area after serving churches in Charlotte, NC, Newton, NC, Dunedin, FL, and Dallas, TX. She has also served as interim pastor at the Beulaville, Warsaw, and Calypso Presbyterian Churches in Duplin County

SOUND RETREAT Trinity Center

Our Annual Sound Retreat VIII was held at the Trinity Center in Pine Knoll Shores, NC on February 2-4, 2018 and was another great success. There was a total of 22 in attendance, including 4 youths. Many thanks to Rachel Doll our Worship Leader and Zachary Casteen our Leader for the Youth. Everyone had a wonderful experience during our spiritual studies "A Letter of Christ" as well as during our fellowship activities. We all got to know each other better as brothers and sisters in Christ and look forward to next year’s Sound Retreat

to be held on January 18-20, 2019. SAVE THE DATE

Friday, March 30 7:30 p.m. Sanctuary

We will celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper during our Good Friday worship

service. All who have been baptized and put their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior are

welcome at the table.

Wallace Presbyterian Women

Invite you to attend Annual Mission Program &

Covered Dish Supper Currie Building

Sunday, March 11, 2018, 5:00 PM

Guest Speaker Dr. Doug Cushing, Pastor, The Bridge Presbyterian

Church

MARCH SCHEDULE

Wednesday, March 7, 7:00 - 8:15 p.m. Youth Room Saturday - Sunday, March 10-11 Presbytery Retreat, Camp Kirkwood Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 - 8:15 p.m. Youth Room Sunday, March 25, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Youth Room Wednesday, March 28, 7:00 - 8:15 p.m. Youth Room Confirmation 2018 class members are: Reese Blue, Ayden Fussell, Henry Moore, Piper Moore, William Powell, James Sills, and Kennedy Thompson. Please keep our youth and their leaders in your prayers on this Confirmation journey of faith.