Pathfinder

  Our session has had a number of productive conversations lately and I want to inform you of a few changes that may be coming. Many of them involve changes to our order of worship.           First, as many of you know we have a men ’s ministry coordinator, Lou Hoffis, and we have a media ministry coordinator, Matt Randles. But we have been without a women’s ministry coordinator for some time now. Gabe Johnson was our women’s ministry coordinator for nearly a decade, but she felt (and I agreed) that it was time for her to pass on that role (she recently became an elder, and now has other responsibilities in the life of our church).           This past week the session heard from Laurie McWhorter about her heart and vision for the role of Women ’s Ministry Coordinator and we unanimously agreed that we would love for Laurie to fill this position. We will install her and pray for her in an up...

Famed Italian film director Federico Fellini once said, “Life is a combination of magic and pasta”. As a fellow Italian I can identify a bit with that sentiment, but suddenly it seems that in the world we live in today, the magic is waning and the pasta, among other staples, can often be in short supply. According to the most current report from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, data collected from October 18-30 of 2023 revealed that 12.5% of the country's adult population (28 million people) live in homes where there was sometimes or often not enough to eat in the last week. Included in that overall figure were 3.0% who “often” did not have enough to eat in the last week and 9.5% who “sometimes” did not have enough food that month! If these sobering figures make you wish there was something you could do to help, the Deacons' April agenda offers multiple opportunities. At the top of the list is the annual CROP Hunger Walk slated for...

We are very blessed to have so many Former Trustees and Friends of Trustees helping to keep our church buildings in beautiful shape. Many thanks to Eileen, Barry, Gabe, Claudia and Catherine Johnson for doing their annual pew cleaning. Candlewax, bits of worship guides, dirt and stains were removed making the pews spotless for Holy Week and Easter services. Thanks, also to Carl and Eileen for their skills and attention to detail which make our new railings blend in as well as being a needed aid at the steps. Our Chair Lift is back up and running after months of intermittent service. We believe that all issues have been remedied. Thank you for your patience.  As a result of our meeting with an insurance representative in January, where dates for many building upgrades were asked, we realized the need for that information to be recorded and in one place. Wes and Eileen took on that challenge and compiled a history of the APC buildings, ren...

At our February Session meeting we opened our time reading from Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, chapter 5. We discussed what it means to give people the freedom to say ‘no’ to a ministry, how to model and teach healthy boundaries to our congregation, and were reminded that we have limits in our work at the church. Did you know that we dedicate time at each meeting to pray for you? We prayed specifically for many who are going through treatments, surgeries or just struggling. We spent time discussing what we would like to see happen in our church in 2024. What sermon series we would like to hear, changes to worship and changes to both adult and children’s Sunday School. If you have ideas, please talk to a session member about it. For the session, Karen Lohret