newsletter - Black Mountain Presbyterian Church

The
From the Weekday School
It is time to begin registration for the 2015-2016 school year. We will hold our registration
for currently enrolled children on February 2 at 8:00 am. We will then move on to
children and grandchildren of current active members of BMPC on February 2 at 8:30 a.m.
Then at 9:00 a.m. we will have registration for siblings of our currently enrolled. If you
have a child or grandchild that you are interested in being part of our program, please call
Alice Patton at the church, 669-2725. Registration forms will be available through the
Preschool Office beginning January 15.
Window
The news of
Black Mountain
Presbyterian Church
January 4-17, 2014
Well Done BMPC: 2014 Mission Giving Celebration!
As a church of around 650 members, we gave away
over $175,500 in 2014 to ministry partners here in Black
Mountain and around the world to aid them in their
ministries of compassion! We also got our hands dirty
with the literally thousands of volunteer hours that
our members donated to Swannanoa Valley Christian
Ministries and other local ministries that we – you all
– are involved in. Y’all have given leadership, helping
hands, listening ears, and meals prepared and served
with a smile! With our Can in Each Hand program where
church members bring canned food to worship every
Sunday, we donated well over five thousand cans of
food to SVCM that they then distributed to those in our
community who are hungry. We also served a holiday
meal on Thanksgiving to anyone in the community
who wanted to eat with us. We helped build a house
for Joshua London and Elizabeth Pallente and their
family through volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.
Twenty-five BMPC members, youth and adults, spent
a week this summer in rural Tennessee working on
improving the homes of three families in need.
In 2014 your Session designated 12% of the overall
annual church budget for our Mission Ministry Team
to disperse to local and international mission partners.
The Mission Committee faithfully discerned which
ministry partners to support with that $103,706 in
2014. We support over 15 local ministry partners; our
PC(USA) denomination; our Guatemala Partnership;
international mission organizations in Korea, Palestine,
Malawi, and Lesotho; and eight International
Presbyterian Mission Co-workers: John McCall in
Taiwan, Barbara Nagy in Malawi, Dan & Elizabeth Turk
in Madagascar, and Gary & Marlene Van Brocklin in
Southeast Asia, and Frank & Nancy Dimmock.
In addition to the 12% of the church budget, our
congregation also gives during special designated
offerings (Five-Cents-a-Meal, Peacemaking, Joy
Gift, Pentecost, One Great Hour of Sharing, the Black
Mountain Home for Children, SVCM, and Hunger Walk),
Alternative Christmas Giving, Potato Lunches, Weekday
School scholarships, Local Emergency Relief Fund, and
individual donations to ministry partners which totaled
over $72,000 in 2014
All together as a church we gave over $175,500 to
mission in 2014! Congratulations faithful stewards,
well done! Thank you, BMPC, for your generous giving!
Your support of your church’s budget and the additional
giving opportunities allows us to carry out Christ’s
ministry of compassion here in Black Mountain and
around the world.
We are looking forward to another year of faithful
stewardship and Christ-like generosity through BMPC.
In 2015, your Mission Ministry Team will discern how
to allocate 10% of the church budget, so this year we
will faithfully give away almost $90,000 to our ministry
partners locally and globally. This will be just part of our
mission giving added to the special offerings. Through
your generosity, many of our brothers and sisters here in
Black Mountain and around the world will have a more
grace-filled 2015 with the tangible blessings that these
ministries offer.
828-669-2725 Fax: 828-669-2727
117 Montreat Road, PO Box 39
Black Mountain, NC 28711
A con g r e g at i on of t h e P C ( U S A )
Black Mountain Presbyterian Church
Permit No. 36
U.S. POSTAGE
P A I D
BLACK
MOUNTAIN, NC
Non-Profit Org.
Calendar
Many other groups meet here, but only BMPC events are reflected on this calendar.
Sunday, January 4
Sunday, January 11
Epiphany of the Lord
Montreat College Conference
8:30 a.m. FirstLight
9:40 a.m. Church School
11:00 a.m. Worship Service
5:00 p.m. Adult Handbells
Baptism of the Lord
8:30 a.m. FirstLight
9:40 a.m. Church School
11:00 a.m. Worship Service
12:00 p.m. Potato Lunch
5:00 p.m. Adult Handbells
Monday, January 5
Monday, January 12
Tuesday, January 6
Tuesday, January 13
7:00 p.m. Friends of Creation
7:00 p.m. Prophets
6:45 p.m. Ministry Teams
11:00 a.m. Presbyterian Women
combined Circles meeting
7:00 p.m. Deacons
7:00 p.m. Prophets
Wednesday, January 7
11:00 a.m. Sharing The Word
5:30 p.m. PNC Meeting
7:00 p.m. Chancel Choir
Wednesday, January 14
Friday, January 9
12:00 p.m. The Window deadline
7:00 p.m. Women’s AA Meeting
Saturday, January 10
9:30 a.m. Session Retreat
Potato Lunch
Sunday, January 11
after
11:00 worship
Fund-raiser to help
our youth go on
retreats and conferences
10:00 a.m. The Window folding ministry
11:00 a.m. Sharing The Word
3:00 p.m. Logos
5:30 p.m. PNC Meeting
7:00 p.m. Chancel Choir
Friday, January 16
7:00 p.m. Women’s AA Meeting
The deadline for the next Window is
Friday, January 9, by noon. Please send
your news to: [email protected]
During inclement weather
Thank you!
Please call the church office to listen to the recorded message or speak with someone in the office before coming to church.
Volunteer Spotlight: Jessi Stitt
Today when Christians follow Jesus’ commission, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation,”
their message is often in the form of service and sharing gifts of education, medicine, and technology to make lives better.
Jessi Stitt has spent two and a half years
in Malawi and a year in Haiti, teaching,
and recently three weeks in Malawi
installing clean water wells. Jessi says she
is motivated by a desire to travel places she
would otherwise not be able to go, and, in
doing so, to serve people in need.
Jessi grew up in a family for whom
mission is natural. All the Stitt children
are involved in serving others, her brother working for the
Mentor Network in Macon, Georgia, and her sister working
with the Open Door Community, an Atlanta a mission to the
homeless, prisoners, and other social injustice issues. Jessi,
too, found work in domestic mission when for eight months
she ran the Presbyterian Disaster Administration village in
Pearlington, Mississippi, serving victims of Katrina.
She says she did not anticipate spending her life as a
missionary when she majored in French and minored in
Mathematics in college, but she says being flexible has
helped her follow God’s lead wherever she is sent. When
she thinks she has everything figured out and is following a
plan, she has often been surprised by changes in direction.
Her flexibility and her willingness to let God guide her has
allowed her to adjust.
During her latest trip to Malawi, Jessi worked with
Marion (Illinois) Medical Mission installing clean water
wells. During her three week mission, Jessi helped install
73 wells. During the summer, the mission installed 2,504
wells. To accomplish so much, Marion’s field officers,
supervisors, and builders work with the Malawian villagers
to dig the wells, make the bricks, and prepare the wells
for the mechanics provided by mission crews like Jessi’s.
By the time the mechanical crews come to a village which
has asked for assistance, the well is already prepared for
the equipment which will complete the well, and the local
residents have been trained to maintain them.
Jessi reports her most memorable
moment on this trip came when they
entered the first of two villages where
they were going to install wells. Their
plan was to drop off the equipment
needed at the first village, travel to the
next village to install their well, and then
return to complete the well in the first
village. As they entered they were met by
villagers singing and dancing in celebration of the coming
well. However, when equipment was dropped off and the
workers left to go to the next village, the residents of the
first village were distraught even though they were assured
their well would be completed later that day. As the crew
drove away, an elderly woman followed them enjoining
them to return to build their well.
When they did return, as promised, the old woman
latched on to Jessi’s hand and led her to the place the well
would be installed. She would not let go until the process
was completed and they had celebrated the working
well. The people, especially women, benefit from the
wells because they no longer have to walk as much as a
mile to collect water of questionable purity from streams
that provide water for all, including the animals. Jessi said
she realized the importance of their work when one man
observed about the access to clean water, “You made us
people today.”
Jessi is not sure what she will do next. She says if she
had a chance to go on another mission she would go
gladly. She would like to travel to Central or South America,
but notes she needs to work on her Spanish before that
happens. Until her next call, she volunteers at the church,
with youth, serving Logos meals, or anywhere she is
needed. Jessi demonstrates that living at God’s bidding can
lead to serving in ways one could never imagine. She waits
to see where God will send her next.
3
New Slate for the Nominating Committee
We will vote at the Annual Meeting on January 25 at 9:40 a.m.
Mary Jo Adams has been a member of BMPC for two
years. She has been married to her husband, Sheldon,
for 20 years. They both grew up in Black Mountain/
Swannanoa. They have two children, Sydney and Lucas.
Sydney is 19 and a college student at Berry College. Lucas
is 15 and a freshman at Owen High School. Both children
attended preschool at BMPC. Mary Jo served as a youth
leader with our middle school youth last year. She is
employed by Wendy A. Craig, P.A.
Dave McClintock has lived in Black Mountain and been a
member of BMPC for twenty years. He has served as both
an elder and a deacon, and is currently an active member
of the Mission Committee and the Faith Builders Sunday
School Class. Dave works as Regional Sales Manager for
the fair trade retailer Ten Thousand Villages, serving stores
from Pennsylvania to Florida; and his wife Ellen manages
the Ten Thousand Villages store in Montreat. Dave and
Ellen have two grown daughters: Anna and Corey.
John Hopkins and his family moved here from Charlotte
four years ago and transferred their memberships from
FPC, Charlotte. John is no stranger to BMPC. He grew up
coming to Montreat for the summers with his family and
attended this church as a child. He now works for Montreat
Conference Center as the Director of the Montreat Fund.
When not working within the Montreat gates, you will
see John around here as the elder serving as Stewardship
Representative, helping with Logos on Wednesdays, and
ushering or working at the Welcome table.
CareNotes
Display Rack in Narthex
(behind the sitting area)
4
Margaret Fouse joined BMPC in 2009 with her husband,
Clarence. Margaret is a retired teacher. She is the wife
of a Presbyterian minister and the mother of two more
Presbyterian ministers! Margaret currently serves as a
deacon, is active in Presbyterian Women and our Mission
Ministry.
Summer Kirkpatrick moved to Black Mountain with her
husband, Reid, last April. She enjoys hiking and spending
time outdoors. Summer teaches science at Community
High School. She grew up in Alabama and ran track at
the College of Charleston. She is interested in working
with youth and mission and has jumped right into
congregational life.
Mistie Cogbill was born in Black Mountain, and returned
here with her husband to start their family. She attended
East Carolina University and received a BS in Child
Development and a Kindergarten Teaching License. She
joined BMPC staff as Co-Director of the Weekday School
in 2004, which led to her teaching Middle School Sunday
School and her current position as lead teacher of the
four-year-old Giraffe Class. Mistie and Phil have enjoyed
becoming part of BMPC with their children, Maia and Max.
Jane Bannerman currently serves on the Christian
Education committee and teaches Sunday school for the
4th and 5th grades. She is married to Craig Bannerman and
they have two children, Megan and Levi. Jane works at the
Montreat Conference Center as manager of the Montreat
Store. She enjoys hiking with her dogs and gardening.
information includes (these and more) Provided by your
BMPC Deacons.
• Health Care • Aging Take any you find
• Spirit Care • Cancer Care • Counseling • Bereavement Care
to be helpful.
Presbyterian
Women
Each One Invite One
“Each one invite one” is the theme of the
upcoming Presbyterian Women’s meeting
in January. A meeting of the Presbyterian
Women is planned on Tuesday, January 13,
2015, at 11 a.m., in the Fellowship Hall. A
delicious brunch will be prepared and served
by the PW. Even if you are not in a circle,
you are urged to join us for this combined
circles meeting. A Presbyterian Woman will
be inviting you to join us for a delicious
brunch and a welcoming fellowship time.
After the brunch, Florence Shelor will lead
us in studying 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:10,”
Reconciliation and the Whole Creation.” Don’t
miss this special time of Bible study led by our
gifted teacher, Florence, as well as a time of
uplifting fellowship.
Did you know that college scholarships
are available for BMPC college students? Two
$1,500 scholarships are granted annually
through Presbyterian Women-Presbytery of
Western North Carolina to college students
who are presently enrolled in a 4 year
program of undergraduate study. Students
who have qualified for admission to an
accredited institution of higher learning may
also apply. The deadline to apply is February
15, 2015. Contact Berry French or Penny
Mayronne for additional information and
application forms.
Advent decorating in the sanctuary. Thank you, volunteers!
Thursday Night Live
Winter Plans
Just so you can make your new calendars for the
new year – because of weather than is always “iffy”
in January, there will be no TNL in January.
However, on February 12, we will enjoy a program
that the Mission Ministry Team has planned with
guest speaker, Rob Robinson. He will bring his slide
program about his North Korea trips and the work
he has been doing there for several years. For years
we have heard about North Korea being a closed
society with no visitors from the “outside world”
being admitted, so Rob will tell us how he happens
to be an exception to that rule!
–Charlotte Sprawls, Chair, Nurture Committee
5
ThankYou BMPC family
In Our Community
A Widow’s Tale
A retreat just for widows!
Saturday, January 17, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Happy
Birthday!
January
4Mert Honeycutt
Levi Hall
5Carol Tyson
Valorie Speegle-Snell
6Becky Peterson
Stories, Laughter, Food and Fellowship
with professional storyteller and widow,
Donna Marie Todd
$99 all inclusive. Call 828-664-1657 to register
Space is limited – register by January 5.
The Weekday School had Giving Trees in their
classrooms during December. The children and families
brought in gloves, hats, underwear, and pajamas to decorate
the trees. All the items collected were taken to SVCM to be
used in their Christmas shop and children's Christmas boxes.
We collected five boxes full of items! We are so thankful to
be a part of such a wonderful giving community!!!
6
Friends Far and Wide,
The Buncombe County Reentry Council will
be opening its third home to support men and
women leaving incarceration and pursuing
educational goals at AB-Tech. We will be opening a
fourth at the beginning of the year.
It appears that a recent arrangement with a
local non-profit to acquire donated furniture will
not be able to continue. So, we need a mighty
wind to blow through and free up the necessary
items to turn a house into a home. At this point,
WE NEED EVERYTHING! More specifically, we are
also looking for a good electric oven/stove.
Thankfully, Sandi Lee-Vielbaum, from the
Reentry Council, has agreed to be the contact
person. If you have some items, please contact her.
(at 828.506.5115 or [email protected])
Emelyn Gwynn
7Jeff Ruppert
8Susan Banzhoff
Kim Fisher
Ron Nalley
9Rosy Robson
10 Carey Jo Elam
Sloan Price
Sarah West
12
Megan Bowman
Dear Church Family of Black Mountain Presbyterian,
What a joy it was to welcome loving members of our
church who came to my home and sang beautiful
Christmas carols. You were a great blessing and I thank
each one of you. Merry Christmas and God bless!
Ruth Ansley
Thank you Elves everywhere!
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the BMPC Staff
is given the most wonderful surprises. These surprises
include boxes of apples, boxes of clementines, plates of
cookies, bags of chocolate candy, pies, wonderful cards
and expressions of love. We appreciate every one of you –
Thank you.
Adult Church School
Becomers
January 4
II Peter 2, Beware of False Prophets, Florence Shelor
January 11
II Peter 3, Promise of the Lord’s Coming, Jim Cogswell
Charlie Edwards
13
Jeff Kesterson
Sara Owen
14
17
Briggs Barker
Daisy Buckner
Nancy Ruppert
Sheldon Adams
Cecilia Brandon
LOGOS
begins again
January 14
Theme:
Pajama Party

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