Grace Notes
Community of Grace Presbyterian Church February
2010
February Highlights
From the Pastor’s Desk
Deacon/Elder Retreat January 30. Pastor Bill reports on the recent joint retreat for deacons
and elders.
Presbyterian Women
Tasting Dinner Date Changed. The Presbyterian
Women Tasting Dinner is now scheduled for March 20 at 6:00 p.m.
Crossroads Food for the Month. The
Crossroads Urban Center Food of the Month for February is dry, shelf, or canned
milk. The most needed item in the
Crossroads Thrift Store is towels and men’s clothing.
Our Church Community
Session Notes. Here you will find the notes from the Session meeting of
January 19.
Presbyterian Links. Here is a listing of
helpful links for those who are interested in our denomination’s work at the
national level, including what Presbyterians believe.
Church Officers. This
is a listing of the current elders and deacons.
Thanks
to XMISSION for providing our church
with
free internet access and a website.
From the Pastor’s Desk
Deacon/Elder
Retreat January 30 by Bill
McGuinness
Pastor
Your COGPC Deacons and Elders met
Saturday January 30 for a three-hour working retreat. The sole focus was “how can deacons and
elders work and communicate better with one another to serve the people of the
church?” The Saturday morning “kickoff”
was a 30-minute video illustrating the importance of relationship-based church
and spiritual life. In contrast with
that relationship basis, we then considered the “silo” issue.
A big movement in many fields in recent
years has been the attempt to eliminate or reduce the extent of the ‘silo”
style of organization. “Silos” are individual stand-alone entities
scattered out on the prairie without any real connection among them. In
banking, for example, the checking account product/service people often don’t
know what the credit card people are up to. Nor are the investment
product folks very interested in savings account products except to maybe
“steal” their customers. This happens in all kinds of fields, from
healthcare to automotive. The need is to focus on the people we serve and
to do our organizing / communicating / teaming in ways designed to meet their
needs in a more coordinated fashion rather than simply carrying out our own
individual assignments.
At COGPC we’re pretty good at
minimizing the silo effect, but we want to get better. During our time together Saturday we looked
at deacon and elder responsibilities and noted their similarities and
differences according to our Presbyterian Book of Order. We looked at what it is about our teamwork
and communication that is working well. We talked about and devised some simple
practical strategies for keeping one another better informed. We devised a more streamlined process for
noting and staying on top of prayer requests. We determined to meet together quarterly with a spiritual
learning/training component followed by discussion of how those insights inform
our lives as individuals as well as in our roles as deacons and elders. At a very simple practical level we agreed to
1) maximize our availability for various worship related tasks and assignments,
2) assist and be present in a more visible way, and 3) make it easier for
members to identify us and approach us about whatever may be on their hearts
and minds.
Please pray for our church
leaders. None is any more or less
adequate to the leadership task than this pastor. But by the grace of God, we can move
mountains.
Look
what PW is doing…
PW Tasting Dinner
Date Changed by Karen
Durrant
COG
Presbyterian Women
The Presbyterian Women Tasting Dinner
is now scheduled for March 20 at 6:00 p.m. This is an adult social, but
childcare will be available if needed. Contact Kristin Gorang (801) 562-8820 if
childcare is desired. The tickets will go on sale February 7 through March 14.
Tickets are limited to the first 100 and will be $6.00/person. Recipes for the
dinner will be selected from our three Community of Grace cookbooks. If you
haven't attended a tasting dinner before, you won't want to miss the fun! Those
of you who have participated in the past know you will definitely want to
participate in this event. Remember, this is a church-wide event and includes
both men and women.
Our Church Community
Session Notes (Meeting of
January 19) by Jane Cooper
Elder
& Clerk of Session
1.
Prayer
Reflection: Session members reflected on a handout from
Pastor Bill listing twelve types of prayers from a book called “The Hour That
Changes the World: A Practical Plan for Personal Prayer” by Dick Eastman. This book encourages individuals to develop a
consistent habit of daily prayer that can have a strong impact on their
lives. Elders shared their thoughts on
the type of prayer that was most meaningful to each of them.
2.
Second
Celebration of Baptisms: Three more children
of new members were baptized by Pastor Bill McGuinness on Sunday, December 27,
2009 at the 11:00 a.m. worship service.
3.
Annual
Statistical Report: Session has approved
the Community of Grace Annual Statistical Report for 2009 that our Clerk of
Session will submit to the Office of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) in
February.
4.
Triennial
Visit: The Presbytery of Utah’s Committee on
Ministry (COM) Representative for our church has requested a Triennial Visit
with our Session in 2010. Session will
schedule this visit at a date still to be determined.
5.
2010 Communion
Schedule: Session approved the 2010 schedule for Holy
Communion which includes offering Communion every Sunday at the 8:30 a.m.
worship service and also the first Sunday of every month at the 11:00 a.m.
worship service.
6.
Election of
Treasurer: Session unanimously approved electing Tim
Fluetsch to serve as Treasurer in 2010 for Community of Grace. Session is very grateful for Tim’s continued
faithfulness in serving our church in this vital volunteer position.
7.
Treasurer’s
Report & Budget Update:
·
Treasurer Tim Fluetsch reported that 92% of the 2009 pledges
came in well at the end of the year, and he is thankful that members were so
faithful in meeting their pledges. Tim
will explain our financial picture more fully in a power point presentation at
the Annual Congregational Meeting on January 31st.
·
Members of the congregation will be receiving letters asking
them to donate the amount of their Per Capita ($36.00 per member) in 2010 to
help our church pay the mission obligation we have to the Presbyterian Church
(USA).
·
We raised about $3,000 for Local Mission at the “Be a Magi”
tent during the Birthday Party for Jesus in December. Donations may still be made to defray expenses
for Local Mission projects that our church hopes to support in 2010.
·
Session has given approval for the Youth Area Leader Search
Team (YALST) to hire the person they recommended for the Youth Area Leader
position, but our 2010 budget will only support funding for an eight hour per
week position at this time.
8.
Session/Deacons
Retreat: A joint half-day retreat for Elders and
Deacons is scheduled for Saturday, January 30, 2010 beginning at 9:00 a.m. and
including lunch. The retreat will focus
on ways to build a stronger relationship and support network between the
Session and the Board of Deacons.
9.
Pastor
Nominating Committee: The PNC will present
a report at the Congregational Meeting on their progress in the search for a
permanent Installed Pastor for Community of Grace.
10.
Church
Nominating Committee: Elder Debbie Colt
chairs the Nominating Committee and is preparing for the nomination and
election of four at-large members from the congregation who are willing to
serve on the 2010 Nominating Committee for one year. This committee also consists of two Elders
and one Deacon. The committee’s task
will be to nominate Elders and Deacons for the class of 2013.
11.
Sunday
School/Session Partnership: Pastor Bill is scheduling time to meet with individual Elders to discuss
ideas for a closer partnership between Session and the Sunday School classes
and teaching teams in our church.
12.
Pastor’s Study
Leave: Pastor Bill will be on Study Leave from
February 15 – 25, 2010 at the PC(USA)’s San Francisco Theological Seminary in
California. He will arrange for pulpit
supply on Sunday, February 21st to cover his absence.
13.
Presbytery of
Utah: Our Elder Commissioner Elaine Nordberg will
represent Community of Grace at the Stated Winter Meeting of the Presbytery of
Utah on February 19 and 20, 2010. We
appreciate Elaine’s willingness to continue to serve in this important
volunteer capacity.
Presbyterian
Links
Here
are some helpful links for those who are interested in our denomination’s work
at the national level:
Home Page, PCUSA (www.pcusa.org)
Presbyterian 101 [Facts about
Presbyterians] (www.pcusa.org/101)
Expressing Our Faith: National and International Service
(www.pcusa.org/navigation/mission.htm)
What Presbyterians Believe (www.pcusa.org/catech/studycat.htm)
Church
Officers
Board of
Deacons
Deacons
Moderator: Lisa Wiscomb
Class
of 2010 Class of 2011 Class of 2012
Debbie Bybee Kim Beaslin Erica Adamson
Denise Harris Barb Gentry Scott Adamson
Brooke Holyoak Elaine Nordberg Sherry Britt
Tom Keene Linda Page Wes Starkenburg
Bonnie Sackett Lisa Wiscomb Keith West
Session
Moderator: Rev. Bill McGuinness
Clerk: Jane Cooper
Treasurer: Tim Fluetsch
Class
of 2010 Class of 2011 Class of 2012
Pat Holmes Kelly Harris Jane Cooper
Chuck Stolfa Debbie Colt Alwyn
Vanderwalt
