First Christian Newsletter

Published Weekly by the First Christian Church of Troy
Article submission deadline is 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.
Volume 30
Monday, June 30, 2008
Issue 26
SUNDAY WORSHIP 8:30 A.M.& 10:45 A.M.
SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:45 A.M

FCC Softball Team Schedule

Sun., July 13, 1:30 at A.O.G. vs. First Baptist

Sat., July 19, 7:00 at city park field #3, vs. Troy Holiness

Sat., July 26, 7:00 at A.O.G., vs. First Baptist

Sun., July 27, 2:00 at city park field #? vs. Trinity Lutheran

Sat., Aug. 2, 7:00 at city park field #3, vs. First Baptist

Sat., Aug. 9, 8:00 a.m., city park fields #3 & #4 & A.O.G.

Sun., Aug. 10, 2:00 at A.O.G., Championship Game?

ARE YOU CALLED TO SERVE IN YOUTH MINISTRY?

Some are getting ready to assist in Vacation Bible School the last week of July. Some are teaching Sunday Bible Study to fulfill their passion that the next generation would come to know Jesus. Others have already said, "I believe I would like to help with one of the youth groups in 2008-09."

What gets you excited? What powerful emotion or enthusiasm has the Lord placed on your heart? I am looking for people with a desire to help with the FCC children and youth programs from Kindergarten through 12th grade. There are many volunteer opportunities. Some include providing transportation for an event, providing food for a youth meal, co-leading in Bible studies or in the choir program, and helping plan events of fun and fellowship. Please contact Pastor Jane (636-528-5043) if you are interested in volunteering and planning, making a difference and helping develop our children and youths' faith.

Not sure yet? Keep looking. For when you find that passion, you will have a better understanding of God’s call on your life! Yours in Christ, Pastor Jane

Blood Drive, July 22,

4-8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall

Music Director Wanted

Webster Groves Christian Church, a mid-sized Disciples of Christ congregation, is seeking a part time music director. Webster Groves Christian Church has two services each Sunday -- one traditional service and one contemporary service. The responsibilities of the music director include rehearsing and directing the adult chancel choir for the traditional service, and working with the contemporary music ensemble for the informal service. The ideal candidate will have a strong, diverse musical background in both traditional and contemporary worship. Salary is competitive. Inquiries should be directed to:

Music Director Search Committee, Webster Groves Christian Church, St. Louis, MO 63122 -- 314-961-3232

Vacation Bible School

July 28th to Aug 1st, 9am to Noon
POWER LAB: "Discover Jesus' Miraculous Power"
Thanks to everyone who has graciously volunteered to help! I could not do it with out you.
I need 40 more crew leaders. There is a sign up sheet in hall across from pastor's office.
I need a games leader (Jan Burlison will help with supplies).
I need a Bible story leader for the 2 to 4 year olds.
I need $ donations to help pay for VBS. I will be $300.00 short because the Presbyterian Church will not join us this year. Donations can be dropped off in office.
CD's are $5.00 and Iron-On $1.50 in the office.
Any questions, call Sharon Falls at 636 528 2336.

Bread for Life Food Pantry

The Bread for Life food pantry has seen a great increase in the number of families it serves. It was designed to serve about twenty families a week and it now serves about sixty families a week. Right now, the food pantry is in need of plain rice and plain noodles. All other donations are always welcome.

Minister's Moment

Here’s a little poem for you from Emily Dickinson:

THERE is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of toll;

How frugal is the chariot

That bears a human soul!

May take a while for you to get through it. You might have to look up a few words. You might not even understand it all. But if you keep at it, it can unlock some deep truths. Because it speaks of the power of the mind and of imagination to free your spirit and delight the soul. Words can change our lives. Books can transport you in ways that TV and movies cannot--because the action takes place in your mind--the most wonderful and free place of all.

Put the Bible in a movie, and it limits the way you perceive its truth. But read the words, then pray over them, and study them, and live with them, and just maybe they might become clear for you. They might become true to you, and as the Master says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” And free is always good, the way God intended us to be.

A frigate is a sailing ship of the nineteenth century--the equivalent of today’s space ship, to take you to exotic places. With a turn of a page, you’re there. Books have always been sacred to me. I began reading at age five before I started school. I would lug ten or twelve library books home each week, sneak the light back on at night and be whisked away to the Land of Oz or a baseball field in Ohio. I could ride with Anthony Wayne and feel stirred by the life of George Washington Carver. I learned about Abigail Adams, and I gained a deep and lifelong affection for the man who freed the slaves, saved our nation, and then died a martyr at the end of great and tragic Civil War.

If you have not guessed, I have a deep and passionate love for books, and I make no apologies about trying to get others to share that love. I grieve that kids too easily choose to spend their days texting and e-mailing and phoning and watching TV and listening to music--while disdaining the printed words of great minds. I feel horror at the prospect that one day few people will know what the Bible says. And I agonize over the fact that we no longer carry on spirited conversations about the great ideas of faith and history and culture. It only takes one generation to turn an educated nation into a people of the modern dark ages.

Books. Have you noticed that Donna and I have been giving books away for months? No, we don’t hate them. It’s just that they’re sitting on shelves and need to be shared and read. So, we let our friends take them. Some may read and give them away. Others may keep them. It doesn’t matter to us. What is important is that ideas move between minds as on a sailing ship, so that they never stop. We’ll continue to make books available.

The neat thing is that others have started doing that too! Other books turn up on the table. And last week, one man asked me if he could add books to the table so that others could read them. Sure!! Feel free. That’s the marvelous thing about books. They have a life of their own, and the more they are used; the more precious is that life. Like the Skin Horse of “The Velveteen Rabbit” (a story allegedly for children only), books should be dog-eared and worn and finally used up.

That’s why you can’t find too many old Bibles, you know. They were worn out. I have seen five of my Grandma’s old Bibles, and they were threadbare and ragged--falling apart. Because she read them faithfully every day, prayed over them, kept precious pictures and letters in them, carried them to church and prayer meetings, and finally wrapped bands around them to keep them from disintegrating.

If you can read--thank a teacher. But if you choose not to read--then you’re only cheating yourself. Pick up a book. You know you’re too “busy” (you use that word a lot, don’t you?). But live a little. Indulge your mind. Treat your spirit. And be free--you might just really learn the truth. In Christ, Pastor Steve

Jottings from Jane

Simple Guidelines for Discipleship

1. You can't keep a secret. Luke 12:1-12 ...not secrets from our friends but secrets from God. You are forgiven so do not try to pretend that you are better than others. What are you doing in your life right now that you would not want God to know about?

2. Avoid letting "things" rule your life. Luke 12:13-34 -- It's not bad to have possessions, but it is bad for them to rule your life. Use your possessions to glorify Him. Even Jesus enjoyed possessions when He allowed His feet to be washed with an ointment that was worth three hundred days wages (Matthew 26). What possessions do you have that you think you could not live without and why?

3. Always be ready. Luke 12:35-48 -- Simply stated, don't waste time. If you need to make things right with God or man, do so now. Do not let time control you. You control your time. Live today like you will not be here tomorrow. What activity are you willing to give up to make more time for God? Maybe you watch too much TV, video games, etc.

WOC --Unprecedented Year of Disaster Responses

From the escalating global food crisis to a record- setting weather-related disaster season in the U.S., Week of Compassion is being called upon to respond to disasters and emergencies in the world at an unprecedented pace. As of June 12, WOC has responded 135 times - or an average of once every 1.2 days - thus far in 2008.

Last month's cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China remain two of our most pressing concerns, along with the ongoing tragedy in Darfur and a growing number of requests due to rapidly rising food costs in the world. Tornadoes, storms, floods and wildfires have brought destruction to scores of communities across the U.S., and numerous Disciples congregations are responding to needs. Earlier this week, WOC provided more than $32,000 in emergency grants to ten congregations in central Indiana in the aftermath of some of the worst flooding in decades to hit the Hoosier state.

Because of the incredibly generous support to this year's WOC offering observance and a tremendous outpouring of designated gifts, WOC is making sure that Disciples are providing help and hope to hurting people around the world and around the year. Accounts have been set up for directed gifts to the Myanmar cyclone, the China earthquake, the Darfur crisis, and now the floods - or for "where most needed". All designated contributions go in their entirety as the donor directs. We are grateful here, but many, many more elsewhere are grateful, and will be grateful, because of Disciples caring and sharing. Thank you! Gifts can be made online or sent to WOC, PO Box 1986, Indianapolis, IN 46206.

Sunday Bible Study (3 yrs. - 8th Grade)

Our children's and youth classes will not meet on July 6th. Adult classes will meet as usual.

A Faithful Voice

She must have asked several times why God didn't make the world a little more just. Like when Yale Divinity School shut the door because she was a woman. Or when she lost a two-year-old to diphtheria on the mission field, then saw her marriage crumble after six years of faithful service overseas.

But Disciple missionary, social justice advocate, and educator Mae Yoho Ward (1900-1983) never gave up. And her deep, life-long sense of God's presence probably explains why.

Born to a West Virginia Disciple pastor two decades before women could vote, Ward studied at Bethany College, where she graduated in 1923. Going on to serve as director of religious education for the Christian Church in West Virginia and Ohio, she longed to follow in her father's footsteps and study at Yale Divinity School. When the Divinity School refused her admission because of gender, she instead entered a Yale graduate program in education.

After graduate school, Ward went to Argentina as a missionary with her husband Normal, whom she had met at Yale. But when the couple returned from Latin America to serve a church in Ohio, their marriage broke up. Having lost one child and now all alone with a young son, the Ivy League missionary and single mom worked any job she could, including cleaning hotel rooms and peddling biscuit samples in grocery stores. "It was a time of humiliation, hopelessness, and near poverty," her son later wrote.

In those dark days a miracle occurred, to borrow the son's term. Robert M. Hopkins (1878-1955), president of the United Christian Missionary Society, invited Ward in 1941 to serve as the organization's executive secretary for Latin America. She would later become chair of the UCMS World Mission Division – predecessor to today's Division of Overseas Ministries – and finally UCMS vice president, a post she held until retiring in 1967.

In addition to executive leadership, Ward also expressed her faith by speaking out on civil rights and farmworker justice. And retirement never seemed to stick. In 1969, the Board of Higher Education – now Higher Education Leadership Ministries (HELM) – called Ward back into service. Even after retiring a second time in 1976, Ward became a volunteer grounds keeper for Disciples headquarters in Indianapolis.

Despite obstacles in her life – a broken marriage at a time divorce was stigmatized, doors shut simply because she was a woman – Ward "continued to pursue what she understood to be God's call," says Scott Seay, assistant professor of the history of global Christianity at Christian Theological Seminary. He adds that Ward "understood that God calls and equips all people for ministry.”

T.J Liggett, former CTS president, believes that there was “no doubt that she held a very vital and strong sense of God's presence. But that sense was more than just a sentiment or a feeling. It was a fundamental, operational principle. ... In the midst of plans, budgets, boards, committees, Mae saw the presence and activity of God."

During a long life spanning most of the 20th century, Mae Yoho Ward was an exemplary Disciple – persevering in hardship, committed to service, passionate about justice, and constant in prayer.

Welcome, New Members!

We would like to take a moment to welcome our newest members to FCC! Miranda (left) and Katie (right) Kemmery. Miranda and Katie are granddaughters of Nila Kemmery. They came forward to join the church family on Sunday, June 22. You may send your welcome cards to them at 301 Monroe St., Troy, MO 63379.

Want to do something to help the flood victims? Click here.

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HOMETOUCH & ACTIVITY PAGES

As you invite a friend to church
As you visit a shut-in

FITNESS AND FELLOWSHIP

EXERCISE WITH FRIENDS

View our HOPE Exercise Schedule...

WE NEED CANDY DONATIONS FOR THE FAIR PARADE AND WE HAVE A BOOTH AT THE FAIR!

Our E-Team has secured a booth for our church at the Lincoln Co. Fair this year, July 8-12. We must have some people to staff the booth for all the hours the fair will be open. If you'd like to be there, call the office, or Pat & Jeanne Schwent, or Scott Falls, or Bob & Ava Hall, or any E-Team member! Let us know what day (or days) you would like to work. This will be a great opportunity to reach out in the name of Christ to the people of our community. A sign up sheet is in the Nartex for scheduling the booth. Bring candy donations (wrapped candies, pleas) to the church office. Thank you!!

You Are Invited To A Wedding

We, Terri Vaughn And Denny Gibson along with Kim, Erin, Ashley and Brittney invite you to witness our beautiful beginnings on July 19, 2008, 3:00PM at First Christian Church of Troy. Reception immediately following the ceremony in the Fellowship Hall.

We request no gifts, please. Your presence on our Wedding Day is the only gift that we need. We look forward to celebrating with you at our wedding. Please RSVP by July 5, 2008, by calling 636-528-0237or By email @ dennysangel07@hotmail.com

Our Wedding Website Address: www.theknot.com/ourwedding/TerriVaughn&DennyGibson Guest Password: GIBSON

Some Dates to Remember…

Mon June 30

4:15 p.m. 3 D
6:30 p.m. Adult Bible Study

Tue June 01

6:30 p.m. Adult Bible Study

Wed June 02

5:15 p.m. 3 D
7:30 p.m. Committee Meetings

Fri June 04 --Happy Independence Day! Office Closed

Sat June 05

7:00 a.m. CMF Breakfast

Next Sunday June 06

8:30 a.m. Worship
9:30 a.m. Adult Bible Study
10:45 a.m. Worship

Please pray for:

Debbie Bowling (Debbie Priest’s sister-in-law), Jerry Pittman (Merril’s husband), Jane Jackson (LouAnn Lawrence’s mother), Joan Smith, Payton Matthews (friend of Creeches & Whalens), Don Williams (friend of David Hollingsworth), Bob Maxwell (friend of Clem Creech), Judy Wright (Steve Wright’s mother), Laura Hay (Kathy Lewis’ mother and Kia Lewis’ grandmother), Shirley Harke (friend of Betty Guzenski), Peggy South, Marissa Orlando, Linda Atchison (Terri Vaughn’s sister-in-law), Laverta Jackson and Mary Kay Jackson. We gladly run prayer requests for three weeks unless notified otherwise. Please pray for nursing home, assisted living and shut in’s: Steve Woods (Linda Hollingsworth’s father), Candi Jones, Fred Treadway, Nina Kinworthy, Betty Martin, Freda Pilliard, Dorothy Giles, Hazel Mershon, Wibbie Groshong and Virgil Witthaus. Please pray for our troops: Amanda Richardson (2nd tour in Iraq) and husband (3rd tour in Iraq) (friends of Bud Creech), Sgt. David Rasmussen (friend of Dale Kelley), Michael Schreiner (Mark Reese’s son-in-law), Micah Cox (friend of Kelly O’Bryan), Tom Whitworth, Jason Schmidt (grandson of Catherine Collins), Tony Orlando, Roy Edward Nickel Jr. (friend of Betty Guzenski), Ryan Trantham (grandson of Rich and Fran Vidas), Erik Stagner (Nina Kinworthy’s grandson), Jeffery & Jessie Comer and Ashley Beatty (friends of Crystal Bobeen), Joe Mohorc (uncle of Mike Mohorc).