St. Philip's e-News - September 26, 2018

*Sonora Flood Relief
As you probably know the recent heavy rains resulted in catastrophic flooding in many parts of central and west Texas including Sonora. We have reached out to Fr. Casey and fortunately he, Michelle, and St. John's are all okay. Many others were not as fortunate. Hundreds of homes and businesses had several feet of water and mud inside them as widespread flooding ran down the Dry Devil’s River through the center of Sonora. The Sonora Ministerial Alliance is partnering with the San Angelo Area Foundation to collect contributions to help those affected by the flooding. Please consider donating to help our neighbors in Sonora.

To donate online directly to the Sonora Flood Relief Fund, please click here,

You can also mail your check to:

Sonora Flood Relief Fund
c/o San Angelo Area Foundation
221 S. Irving St. 
San Angelo, TX 76903

*Renewal Work's Can't Work Without "YOU" 
Have you taken some time to fill out the Renewal Works on-line survey?  If you did not receive an email invitation please email Cyndy or call the church office. Your participation in this survey is important and will help us see what is "abundant" in our parish ... and where's our greatest growth potential.

Remember the survey will only be available until Sunday, October 7th.  

Bark in the Park - Blessing of the Animals 
This year we will be blessing the animals in conjunction with the annual Bark in the Park in Memorial Park on Saturday, October 6th. Blessings: 10:30 - Noon. 

*Bishop Reed's Visit to St. Philip's
Bishop Reed will be here on Sunday, October 28th at both the 8:00 and 10:30 services.  Join us for breakfast and conversation with Bishop Reed between the two services at 9:00 a.m. in Briscoe Hall.

Parish Dinner - Sunday, November 11th, 6:00 p.m.





 

New Vestry Members
We will soon be electing three new members to the vestry. As you may know, the vestry is the group of lay persons that, with the rector, leads the parish by helping discern and articulate the vision toward which God is drawing us and by holding the community accountable for the realization of that vision. The vestry consists of nine persons each serving a three year term. 

Every year three vestry members retire and three new persons are elected to begin serving in January. This year Greg Baber, Lee Case, and Mike Moore will be finishing their term on the vestry. I am grateful for their work and commitment to St. Philip’s, and it has been an honor to serve with them. Please offer them your thanks for their service and leadership.

Please also begin prayerfully considering who might be called to next serve on the vestry. As you do so please consider the following:

• Is this person regular in worship attendance?
• Does this person participate in spiritual formation classes and demonstrate growth in and attentiveness to a life of prayer?
• How present and involved is this person in parish life beyond Sunday worship?
• Does this person tithe or, if not, is he or she intentionally working towards a tithe as the standard for financial giving?  
• Does this person show a willingness to grow and learn, an openness to new ideas, and a vision for the future of St. Philip’s?
• Is this person a capable leader?

Please give the names of potential candidates to our Senior Warden, Charlie Downing.

Expanding our Communications and Social Media Presence
As you may recall, Fr. Mike spoke at the 2018 Annual Meeting about reaching beyond our walls and connecting with people who may never come through the church doors but who, nevertheless, could be or already are being impacted by St. Philip’s. Pat Carver took that idea and ran with it, creating a brand new outreach project, The Uvalde Lamplighters. This is a ministry to the lonely. You can read about it soon in the Uvalde Leader News. 

Reaching beyond our walls is a large part of what is happening with live-streaming the Sunday liturgy, our Facebook presence, and Fr. Mike’s blog. We’ve reached out and people are reaching back to us. It’s people who e-mail Fr. Mike seeking some spiritual guidance. It’s people from out of state who watch and comment on our video. It’s people for whom we have become their spiritual community. 

In recognition of this and wanting to further our reach the vestry has hired Cyndy to work part time on a contract basis. Her work will focus on editing and promoting the live-stream video, enhancing and expanding our social media outreach, and advancing and developing our internal communications. 

The key to social media is . . . is it is social. So watch for some tips and invitations from Cyndy about how you can help us reach beyond the walls. Oh, the places we could go!