Prayer List

Please keep the following family and friends in your prayers this week. If you have a prayer request to add to the list, please email your request to prayer@oaklandpresbyterianchurch.org. This email address will only be accessed by Ann Grundstrom to ensure confidentiality, and Ann will follow up with each request received.

Stuart Anderson
Eric Brown
Mike Brewer
Jennifer Bausman
Phyllis Collins
Debbie Dockery
John B Dalton
Audrey Ennis
Joyce English
Stephanie English
Franciose Family
Benjamin Geary
Candice Green

Bo Kelly
Ann Lee
Jane Lee
Ken McGee
Family of John McPhail
Jeremy Myers
Bill Norris
Ada Norris
Clara Santana
Bob Webb
Alfred Workman
Danny Wood
Paulette Woodard
Kris Wilson
Bill Yelvington

April 4th- No Choir Practice
April 5th- No Bible Study at 11 am
April 6th- Meadowview visit
April 6th- No Evening Bible Study at 7pm
April 6th- Seder Service
April 9th- No time of Prayer, please join us at 9 am for the Easter Gathering
April 9th- Easter
April 10th- Office closed
April 12th- No Be Bold Meeting
April 16th- Presbyterian Women meeting at 3pm
April 16th- Session meeting
April 21st-23rd- PYC Beach retreat

A big "Thank you" to the servants during worship service
Sunday, April 9th
Liturgist: Bob Foor
Ushers: Craig and Mary Jo New; Rob and Beth Braswell
Children's Church: No Children's Church
Children's Conversation: Sarah Leonard
Nursery: Cathy Mulhern

Sunday, April 16th
Liturgist: Bob Foor
Ushers: Craig and Mary Jo New; Rob and Beth Braswell
Children's Church: Sarah Leonard
Children's Conversation: Ed Williford
Nursery: Sharon Arends

The Mission Team will be meeting at the Meadowview Assisted Living Center in Smithfield at 1:30 Thursday, April 6th, to deliver Easter bags to their residents. If you would like to join us, please meet outside the facility by 1:30 and if possible, please email, text, or call Katie Dulmaine (774-200-3077 / katiedulmaine@hotmail.com) so we know to expect you! The residents always love seeing visitors, especially kids!

No time of prayer this month
There will be no time of prayer this month, April 9th. Please plan to join us for our Easter gathering at 9 am in the fellowship hall.

Easter Morning
We hope to see you and your family on Easter morning. There will be sunrise service at 6:30am. There will be an Easter gathering beginning at 9am with a small Easter activity for families to do together while we all have breakfast together. Breakfast will be pot luck style so please bring something to share.
Don't forget to bring your flowers for the flower cross also!

The church office will be closed on Monday, April 10th for Easter Monday.

Food Drive
The Mission Team will be starting our first drive of 2023 with a Food Drive to benefit Polenta's Backpack Buddies program as well as the Blessing Box located in front of the school. While any non-perishable items are appreciated, the items of greatest need are canned meats and 8 oz.-sized Horizon Organic shelf-stable milk. Additionally, pop-top cans are preferred when possible for children who may need to prepare food themselves and are unable to use a can opener. For additional donation suggestions, please visit the Backpack Buddies website. The food drive will go through Sunday, April 23rd.

Oakland will be collecting for the One Great Hour of Sharing offering on Sunday April 2nd and Sunday April 9th. There will be special envelopes in the pews each of these Sundays for your donation.
Below is great information from The Presbytery on why this offering is collected.

The Annual One Great Hour of Sharing Special Offering

Dear Members of Presbytery,

Greeting in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Season of Lent is again with us and that means our focus among other things is on the annual One Great Hour of Sharing Special Offering.

As you all know this Offering has a three prong focus or emphasis:

1) Disaster Assistance

2) Hunger

3) Self-Development of People.

The OGHS is our Denomination’s largest Offering and the monies received during the Lenten Season and especially on either Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday is divided as follows:

32 % goes to the Presbyterian Disaster Program

32 % goes to the Self-Development of People

36 % goes to the Presbyterian Hunger Program

The NHP Peacemaking Network hopes that your congregation will receive this Offering on either Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday in support of these 3 worthwhile mission efforts of our Denomination.

Peace,

Rev. Willem Bodisco Massink

NHP Peacemaking Network

Presbyterian Women
The Presbyterian women group will meet on April 16th at 3pm in the Parlor.

Our annual PYC Beach Retreat is coming up! We are so excited to once again take some time to get away as a group and spend some time together in God’s Word and having fun as we build relationships. Our theme for this year is Discipleship and our kind of motto for the weekend will be “Love God, Love People, Make Disciples.” We would love for each of you to be in prayer for our group and leaders during the retreat from April 21-23.

Parents of youth, check your email for the link to form to sign your child up to go!
Any questions? Please reach out to Sarah (sarah@oaklandpresbyterianchurch.org)

The Free Little Library

The Little Free Library idea for Oakland Presbyterian Church was born from a Boy Scouts of America leadership program, Wood Badge. Through Wood Badge we learned about making a difference in the community by leading others and giving back.

To finish this course, we envisioned and completed five new projects. The Little Free Library is one of the 5 community centered projects.

My kids have always enjoyed and taken advantage of the network of Little Free Libraries throughout the state and OPC is an excellent location to invite the community to give and receive books at no cost.

OPC has been a strong, unwavering and reliable advocate for the BSA scouting program for many years. Please accept this small gesture as a token of our gratitude for your continued support.

I hope OPC will enjoy this Little Free Library gift from the girls and boys of Pack 33 for years to come. I invite the church community of all ages to utilize this space to share and receive free books.
-Kurt Reed Pack 33 coordinator and Den leader

Applications are being accepted for the Percy and Flossie Barber Memorial Scholarship. To recognize the importance of Oakland Presbyterian Church and Cleveland community in the lives of Percy and Flossie Barber, this annual scholarship is awarded to a deserving graduating high school senior to provide assistance with college expenses. Applications are available online or you can contact the office if you would like on.
All applications are due to the church office by May 1, 2023.

Directory updates
If you would like a printed copy of the directory, please email the office (secreatary@oaklandpresbyterianchurch.org) and we will make sure you get one. If you would like a new picture for the directory, please also email the office and we will be sure to set that up for you.

Please note that there is a new app for the directory, the old one does still work but it does appear it will be phased out in the coming months.
Here are some instructions and updates for the new directory app!

We are excited to announce our New Online Member Directory app! Follow these directions to get the new app, and dont forget to tell the other members of your organization to do the same!

Download the Online Member Directory App for Apple or Android
Tap + Add New Directory then enter oaklandpresbyterian for the mobile code and submit.
Tap the church name and log in using your existing username and password.

New features include:

Touch a picture to enlarge
Expanded search feature searches all fields
Notifications always appear in the app
Your family names have been updated. We split your family names into two fields: the last name on one line and first names on another.
The way you add people to your directory has changed. Please click here for instructions or use the HELP button in your directory.

Your directory is still available on the web at https://oaklandpresbyterian.ctrn.co
Our legacy app, CTRN Online Directory, will continue to work for the time being. However, it will be phased out in the coming months.

OPC T-shirts
We have had several requests for OPC shirts and sweatshirts. We have a link to the store now so you can order and pay for them all with using this link. There are a couple colors and styles too.
If you have any questions or are not comfortable doing this online, please email the office (secretary@oaklandpresbyterianchurch.org) and we will be happy to help you.

Do you know of someone in the church in need of some help with yard work? Need help with a project around the house? Do you know of someone that might need help with some cleaning? Oakland has a ministry for that! The helping hands ministry can help with yard work, small projects or clean up around the house. Please email Kate (secretary@oaklandpresbyterianchurch.org) if you know of a need and she will get you in touch with the right person.

Bob and Janet Foor are leading a weekly Bible Study on Wednesday at 11am in the Parlor. There will be no Bible Study on April 5th or April 12th.

There is also an evening weekly Bible Study led by Pastor Debbie on Thursday evenings at 7pm. Please use this link to join remotely https://meet.google.com/vzc-jhqn-gex
There will be no Bible Study on Thursday April 6th or Thursday April 13th.

Please email the office if you have questions about these or if you would like help getting plugged in.

Be Bold is the ministry for 4th-6th graders and their meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month. There will be no meeting on April 12th. The next meeting is on Wed, April 26th.

PYC is youth group for 7-12th graders and holds their meetings every Sunday at 4:30pm in the youth center. This year the youth will be studying the book of Revelations. PYC will not be meeting on Sunday, April 2nd or April 9th. We will see the youth back on Aril 16th! Have a safe and Happy Easter and Spring Break.