Wellness Workshop Here @ First Pres
Please sign up to attend by emailing Lizzie at: lizzie@pennockcounseling.org
or by calling Jody at 303-655-9065 Ext. 9.
Children, Family & Youth Potluck
Calling all youth and their parents: The Children, Family and Youth Committee is hosting a potluck lunch on Sunday, July 31
following the second service. Bring a covered dish or two and join us in welcoming Margo as our director of Children, Family and Youth Ministries. Drinks and table service will be provided. Margo will share with us her hopes and dreams as well as her vision of what youth ministry here at First Pres might look like. Please join us.
Welcome Party for Margo
Penny Jar Month
Let’s fill the Penny Jar to the top! This is Penny Jar Month and in case you haven’t had a chance to contribute, there is still time. Put your loose coins, dollar bills and even checks in the Penny Jar. Checks can be made out to the church with Heifer Project in the memo section.
Let’s support Heifer International, which provides families around the world with training and animal gifts to help them become self-reliant. As you support Heifer International, you will also be supporting the VBS kids who worked so hard and collected $314.75 during Vacation Bible School. If everyone helps out, we can match that amount. In fact, let’s see how much more we can raise than the kids did. There’s still time to reach our goal!
Thursday Women's Bible Study
The Thursday Women’s Bible Study group will meet today, Thursday, July 14th from 2pm to 4pm at Alice Nap’s home at 1423 Bellflower Dr. Brighton, CO 80601. For directions or information, please call Alice at 303-835-2969. We are continuing our Bible Study put
together by the Churchwide Coordinating Team of Presbyterian Women called “Come to the Waters”. We look forward to having you join us!
A Special Announcement from
Pennock Center:
Our own Bill Alsdorf will be recognized today at the Chamber nonprofit breakfast as a 'Community Hero' for the many ways he works to make our community a better place! (at Pennock Center, First Presbyterian Church, Kiwanis, Eagle View Adult Center, Brighton Shares the Harvest, etc.) This recognition will take place at the Chamber breakfast this morning, Thursday, July 14th, at 7:30 a.m. at Todd Creek. Eight or ten individuals will be honored for their work in our community. Kudos Bill! We all appreciate you.
General Assembly (2016)
The 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) concluded recently in Portland, Oregon. Click Here for access to information about the various events and decisions that were made.
Music Program Update
Many of you have been wondering and it is with regret that we let you know that Hanna Wo was not able to return as our director of worship and music. Hanna understandably felt the need to find a full-time position, but this would not have allowed her time to complete the duties and tasks of her position here. We are thankful and grateful for the time she served with us, for the gifts that she brought to us, and for the spirit with which she did her work.
Over the last month, the Session has worked hard to staff the music program of the congregation once more. We think you will be ecstatic when you see, and especially hear, the directions we have been able to move.
First, beginning July 31st, Thomas Wolfe will commence his work as our new Coordinator of Music/Church Musician. It is a half-time position in which Tom will serve as a member of our church staff, be responsible for the direction of the music program, work with other staff in the planning of worship and special events, and will be the primary musician for the 8:00 and 10:00 worship services as well as the accompanist for the chancel choir. Tom brings a wealth of experience, a wonderful sensitivity to church music and its place and use in worship, and a great personality that will mesh well with the staff, with the choirs, and with the congregation. Tom is in the process of retiring from a job he has held for 39 years so we anticipate that the first couple of weeks will be a time of transition and that Tom will begin the full position in earnest on August 22nd.
Second, beginning in mid-August, the Session has contracted with Nick Lee and Kat McCusker to serve as directors of the chancel and bell choirs respectively. Both Nick and Kat helped us out a great deal earlier this year and we look forward to the continuing relationships they have established with the two choirs they work with. Each of them bring considerable skill to their work as well as enthusiasm and joy for the music they will help our choirs offer. Both of them will serve 10-month contracts from the middle of August through the first part of June. It is hoped that this will provide them with flexibility to do some new things with each choir while still offering the choirs the opportunity for respite during the summer.
We look forward to seeing the work that all three of these music people will do in their individual tasks, but we are especially excited about the ways we anticipate their work blending together, making the music program stronger and giving us all a chance to lift our voices, our hands, and our hearts in praise.
A Special Blog Post
Click here to read a recent blog post written by Colleen Briggs, daughter-in-law of Dan and Joann.
Deacons' Loose Change Sunday
Sunday, July 31st will be “Loose Change Sunday”. The loose change in the collection plate will go to the Deacons to allow them to continue helping people and organizations in need. If you don’t have loose change, but still want to contribute, just write a check and put “Deacons fund” in the memo line. Thank you for your support!
Church Nursery
In addition to our First Kids program, we welcome our youngest members to our church nursery. The nursery is offered to children ages 2 years old and under. We have a wonderful nursery staff that is ready to take care of your little ones while you attend the Worship Service.
Adult Sunday School ~
August 7th through September 4th
Let’s plan to get started at 8:45 a.m. or so each Sunday so we have plenty of time to talk and listen, to reflect and ask questions. The books are on order and will be available to be picked up starting this Sunday, July 17th. The cost for a book if you are able to do so is $13.11. Please email Pastor Matt - matt@brightonfirstpres.org if you would like him to reserve a copy for you. In case you’re wondering, William Willimon is professor of the practice of Christian ministry at Duke University Divinity School, having previously served as dean of the chapel at Duke and bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church.
August 21st (Learning to Fear like Christians) ~ chapter 3
September 4th ~ chapter 5 (Jesus, the Other)
Lost & Found
Session and Congregation Highlights – April 2016
The meeting began with the lighting of the Christ candle, a devotion, and a convening prayer:
Treasurer’s Report ~ Margaret Henry Gubber
In Margaret’s absence, Joe Henderson highlighted the financial report. Pledge payments through April were at 39% of what had been pledged. Income overall was at 35% of anticipated budget while expenses were at 33% of budget. One blessing of the church financial picture is that we are presently under-budget in a year in which we had anticipated a deficit budget. Thank you to all of you for your faithful giving and support in these first few months of this year. A financial action taken was to accept a recommendation from the Children, Family and Youth committee to close the youth checking account and to transfer the funds into the youth designated fund.
Clerk of Session report ~ Sheryl Johnson
Sheryl had no report and had received no communications that needed to be shared with the congregation. Sheryl requested permission to be gone from the July 2016 Session meeting, but without her there, the Session decided to just not have a Session meeting in July. Merry Christmas to all!
Moderator’s Report ~ Pastor Matt Coplen
Pastor Matt led an Inquirers’ Class on May 22nd. From that class, the names of 8 people were brought to the Session for acceptance into active membership of the congregation. Lisa, Tom and Sarah Smith will be received by transfer of membership from Central Presbyterian Church in Denver; Rich Smith will be received into membership by reaffirmation of faith; Nick and Moranda White will be received into membership by profession of faith and the sacrament of baptism; the Session also approved Nick and Moranda’s two children, Harley and William, for the sacrament of baptism.
Michael Hughes and Danny Thomas were approved for active membership in the congregation following the completion of confirmation classes.
Annual reviews for Stephanie Kelley and Pastor Matt Coplen were completed by members of the personnel committee. Both staff members will be working on goals for the upcoming year.
Other items of business
Because of the Elephant Rock ride and because of the guest preacher not having the authority to officiate the Lord’s Supper, it was decided by Session to move communion from June 5th to June 12th for both services. This was communicated to the congregation via the bulletin ahead of time.
Dates for both stewardship emphasis and Kick-off Sunday were discussed but no plans were made at this time. Committees involved significantly in both events will be working.
The task force that is working with Tristan Kelley on the new website brought in two questions: one, they would like to explore shortening the church’s URL and they are also looking at potential logos that would be eye-catching.
Called Session Meeting
On June 13th, 2016 a special meeting of the Session was held in order to hear a report from the search committee for the director of children, youth and families.
7 Session members as well as members of the search committee and the personnel committee were present along with Margo Walker.
Margo Walker was presented by the search committee as their candidate for the position. Margo and the Session then had a conversation about Margo’s gifts for the ministry with children and youth, her experience, her hopes and her vision for both ministries. Following this conversation, Margo was excused and the Session voted unanimously to hire Margo.
Margo was hired as Director of Children, Family and Youth with a start date of June 26th with the provision that she would go ahead and participate in and lead the mission trip that was already on her schedule for early July 2016.
At this meeting, the search committee also presented a revised job description that gives the director more direct contact with youth and especially children in the performance of their tasks. The five primary tasks of the job are group building, worship, discipleship, mission and outreach with an emphasis on the development and supervision of children and youth ministries at the church.
For Your Information
Vacation Bible School was held June 27-July 1 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. each day. Over 150 children were registered and more than 110 were in attendance each day. Numbers in the kindergarten-5th grade range were steady each day, while the pre-schoolers varied a little more. It was a fun-filled, energetic week with a theme that offered both a lot of fun, but also a great way to help the children and the volunteers learn more about God. We hope you will join us on July 17th during the 10:00 worship service as our VBS children will be back to share with us the songs they learned that week. Check out the church’s website and Facebook pages for a preview.
Special thanks to the Deacons for a fantastic ice cream social on June 26th following worship. It was a beautiful day and the ice cream tasted great on a warm, sun-filled day.
