Document 132216

Tower Views
Firs t Presby terian C hurch of South St . Paul
Page 1
Tower Views
Volume 26, Issue 6
June 2014
Graduation Sunday, June 1
Join us as we honor those students graduating from high school and post-secondary
schools, and award scholarships to those graduating high school. This is also our
seminary intern, Erin Marth’s, final Sunday with us, as she will be graduating from Bethel
Seminary. Come wish the graduates Godspeed on the next path of their journey.
Patrick Eiden
Patrick is graduating
from Eagan High
School. He will be
attending Creighton
University in the fall.
Libby Lough
We strive to be a
vibrant Christian
community that is
loving, nurturing,
open, sustainable
and renewing, and
one that inspires
people of all ages
to live in the
Christian faith and
serve the world.
Libby is graduating
from South St. Paul
High School. She will
be attending
Minnesota State
University Mankato,
with a major in
business and minor
in communications.
JP Swanson
JP is graduating from
Simley High School.
He will be attending
the University of
Minnesota with a
major in aerospace
engineering and a
minor in
astrophysics.
Lauren Horan
Lauren is
graduating from
North St. Paul High
School. She will be
attending St. Cloud
State University in
the fall.
Abbey Luhrs
Abbey is graduating
from South St. Paul
High School. She
will be attending
Miami University,
Oxford, Ohio, for
pre-med/pharmacy.
We would also like to recognize the
following post-secondary graduates:
Bethany Bourgoin, graduating from
the U of M Duluth, with a BFA in Studio
Art—emphasis digital art &
photography, minor in business
administration; Courtney Campbell
and Bogar Mendiola, each received
Associate's degrees from Inver Hills
Community College.
Page 2
Volume 26, Issue 6
For Your
Information
Congratulations to the 2014 Confirmands!
Office: (651) 451-6223
Fax: (651) 451-3866
www.fpcssp.org
“All Are Welcome Here”
Office Hours:
Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Pastor Katie off on Monday;
Pastor Tom off on Friday
Email Addresses:
On Sunday, May 18, nine of our students made their Confirmation
during the worship service. Congratulations to Brady Campbell,
Grace Estes Collins, Rachel Kaisler, Tucker Kaup, Willard Lee,
Jack Luhrs, Grace Ross, Lizzie Rud and Luke Zaiser.
Pastor Katie Estes
[email protected]
Pastor Tom Watson
[email protected]
Eleta Pierce
Church Administrator
[email protected]
Linda Kachelmeier
Director of Music & Hand Bells
[email protected]
Jen Bierlein
Organist
[email protected]
Ruth Rutford
Youth Coordinator
[email protected]
Follow us on
Twitter
@FPCSSP
Wednesday Night June Jam!
Do you play an acoustic instrument, even if
you just know a few chords? Every
Wednesday night in June at 7:00, Linda
Kachelmeier will host an informal jam
session at church. Bring your guitar,
ukulele, bass, harmonica, spoons, etc. and/
or your voice. The ability to read music is absolutely not necessary,
although chord charts will be available. Talk to Linda if you have any
questions. Depending on interest, look for a possible July Jam!
First Friday Film Forum:
“The Monuments Men”
June 6 • 7:00 p.m.
Rated PG-13. Based on the true story
of the greatest treasure hunt in history,
The Monuments Men is an action
drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by Roosevelt
with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi
thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an
impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the
German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how
could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians,
all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to
succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found
themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years
of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's
greatest achievements. This film is based on the book by Robert M.
Edsel with Bret Witter, directed by George Clooney, and stars George
Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob
Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett.
Tower Views
Page 3
June 1
June 15
Graduation Sunday
8:30 a.m. Adult Education
10:00 a.m. Worship Celebration
11:00 a.m. Reception for Graduates
Trinity/Father’s Day
8:30 a.m. Adult Education
10:00 a.m. Worship Celebration
11:00 a.m. Coffee & Fellowship
1:15 p.m. Timber Hills Worship
June 8
Pentecost/Communion
8:30 a.m. Adult Education
10:00 a.m. Worship Celebration
11:00 a.m. Congregational Meeting
11:15 a.m. Coffee & Fellowship
Congregational meeting following worship
on June 8, for the purpose of electing
Elders & Deacons.
Bible Study
Wednesdays,
9:00 am & 7:00 pm
The Acts of the Apostles is one of the most exciting and
action-packed books in the New Testament. In June we
will continue our study of Acts. In it we hear the evocative
story of the Church’s roots that traces its beginnings from
the final days of the risen Jesus and the Pentecostal
arrival of the Holy Spirit, to Paul’s final missionary trip to
Rome. The book provides a detailed, orderly, eyewitness
account of the birth and growth of the early church and the
spread of the gospel immediately after the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Its narrative supplies a bridge connecting
the life and ministry of Jesus to the life of the church and
the witness of the earliest believers. In Acts, we learn just
how the good news of Jesus Christ spread from
Jerusalem to the “ends of the earth” from the viewpoint
that we, too, are called to be disciples. Meeting these first
Christians and experiencing their passions and struggles
among Jews and Gentiles gives us a glimpse of what it
means to be a follower of Christ.
Come join us on Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m. or
evenings at 7:00 p.m. for the study. All are welcome,
whether you are a student of the Bible or new to the faith!
Good discussion, no tests, maybe a little homework, and
plenty of encouragement and fellowship are the goals of
this Bible study.
June 22
Baptism
8:30 a.m. Adult Education
10:00 a.m. Worship Celebration
11:00 a.m. Coffee & Fellowship
June 29
8:30 a.m. Adult Education
10:00 a.m. Worship Celebration
11:00 a.m. Coffee & Fellowship
5:00 p.m. Dinner & “Sinatra” Show
The church staff will be
away from the office June
12-14 for a program planning
retreat. Volunteers will be in
the office answering phones Thursday and
Friday, and the pastors will be available via
their cell phones if pastoral needs arise.
FPC-SSP included in
SSP Garden Tour!
On June 29, the Sunday of Kaposia
Days, the South St. Paul Garden Club
will be hosting a tour of local gardens,
including our Memorial Garden and
Community Garden. The tour starts
at 10:00 a.m., so the south parking
lot will be reserved that day for
tour participants. Please stop
out to see our gardens, and
perhaps buy a ticket to see the
other gardens that will be on
the tour.
Page 4
Volume 26, Issue 6
from the
Property
Committee...
Do You Like to Paint?
Dinner & “Sinatra” Show
June 29, 5 pm • FPC-SSP
“Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where
the flowers is?” We all know that old ditty, however
this last winter has left the Property Committee
holding the bag rather than a bouquet. We have had,
or are still dealing with, a leaky roof, malfunctioning software for the
heating and cooling (HVAC) system, non-functioning valves in the HVAC
system, and our share of parking lot potholes. We still have to repair the air
handler for the Sanctuary and in addition the City is assessing the Church
for work on Congress Street. All of a sudden FPC-SSP has been piled on
with six significant repair projects that are outside the church’s operating
budget. Known costs are about $12,000, but bids have not yet been
received for fixing the roof and the parking lot—so you can see we aren’t
talking about small change.
The Property Committee
occasionally has projects that
they do not have time for due to
other responsibilities. Two of
those projects that we can use a
hand at are painting the storage
shed in the South parking lot, and On Sunday, June 29, at 5 PM, the Property Committee will host a spaghetti
dinner and show concert to begin to raise funds to pay for the six projects.
painting the insides of the
Les Lankhorst, (Christel Brosi’s brother), an award
cupboards in the Fellowship Hall
winning singer, producer and vocal coach, will grace us
kitchen. If an individual or a
with
his musical talent. In addition to his award winning
group is interested in doing one of
solo
show
RED, HOT & SWING!, Les has appeared as
these projects please contact
Frank
Sinatra
in the acclaimed Las Vegas show The Rat
Pastor Tom, or one of the
Pack is Back! Please bring your neighbors and friends
members of the Property
and join us for good food and music. Watch for more
Committee, and we will be happy
information on tickets coming soon!
to assist in getting you started.
Volunteers Needed in July for Project Home!
In July our
⇒ Luther Memorial and St. John
church once
Vianney Catholic Church take
again becomes
the 13th through the 26th.
a homeless
⇒ Volunteers hosts have two
shelter for a
options:
month through
St. Paul Area
1) The evening hosts arrive
Council of Churches’ Project
by 5:30 pm, greet the
Home. Many of you have
families at they get off the
volunteered in the past and we are
bus, prepare and serve a
hoping you will return again this
light snack, play and read
year. This is a wonderful
with the children and chat
opportunity to help your community
with their parents.
in a very personal and hands on
2) The overnight hosts arrive
way.
by 9:00 pm and can sleep
once the families are in
Project Home volunteers generally
their room for the night,
say they “received more than they
prepare and serve a light
gave.” We partner with other area
breakfast, wake the
churches to make this happen.
⇒ We provide volunteers for July
1st through July 12th and again
July 27th through July 31st.
families and help them get
on the bus.
Project Home has created an
online training for volunteers. Go to
www.spacc.org and choose
“Project Home Training” from the
Programs drop-down menu.
The sign-up sheets will be available
starting Sunday June 1st. Please
stop by the Mission Committee
table and sign up, or call Ruth
Krueger at 651-455-7367, or the
church office.
Be sure to check out another way
to support this ministry in the article
on page 5 of this newsletter!
Tower Views
Page 5
Pentecost Offering • June 8
In April, Session
approved the
recommendation
of the Mission
Committee that
our portion of the
Pentecost Offering
be used to support the work of
Rev. Dustin and Sherri Ellington,
Mission co-workers of the PC(USA)
in Zambia, a small impoverished
country in Southern Africa.
Following a 2012 General
Assembly decision, PC(USA)
missionaries like the Ellingtons
must generate financial support for
their missionary work from local
congregations.
The Ellingtons and their two sons,
Clayton and Christopher, have a
connection to our church: Sherri’s
grandmother was Ruth Nelson’s
cousin. The family will soon be
returning to Zambia for a second
four-year assignment. Dustin is a
faculty member at the Justo Myale
Theological College and Sherri
serves as a teacher both at a
church and a school, and bases
her mission work on the parable in
Mark 4 of “the sower and the
seed.”
The Ellington family visited our
church in July 2013 and presented
a program to the adult education
class describing their mission work.
All present were deeply impressed
with the dedication of their family to
this mission, and the many
examples of the impact that their
Ellington family: Dustin,
work is having on the lives of the
Sherri,
Clayton & Christopher
people they touch directly and
indirectly, as graduates of the
You can follow Sherri & Dustin’s
college move on to establish
mission and/or subscribe to their
churches throughout the region.
mission letters on the Presbyterian
Mission website at:
So, please give generously as you
www.presbyterianmission.org/
are able to on Pentecost Sunday,
ministries/missionconnections/
June 8, to support this dedicated
ellington-dustin-and-sherri
mission project. The contribution of
our church can make a difference!
There’s never been a better time to give!
Project Home,
the family
shelter
program we
host in July, has
received a wonderful match grant
from the Mardag Foundation.
Contributions made between now
and June 22, up to $15,000, will be
matched. While our generous gift of
space and volunteer support helps
keep costs low, Project Home still
needs funds to provide vital
infrastructure for the year-round
shelter program – including
insurance, daily and emergency
transportation, overnight on call
staff support, laundry, and healthy
snack and breakfast items.
Contributions should be made to
FPC-SSP with "Project Home"
noted in the memo line.
Thank you for supporting Healthy
Women Healthy Families with your
purchase of Mother’s Day cards last month.
We are able to send $65.00 to this joint
mission, sponsored by the Presbyterian
Mission Agency and Presbyterian Women,
who will see that health programs in Africa
and beyond are helped.
$297.30
A round of applause for Jan
Olson, whose guess was within
$2 of the actual amount that
was in the water jar, and for all
of you who gave your coins to
fill it. That amount, plus an
additional $113.28 that was in
the larger jug, will be given to
Compatible Technologies
International, to help fund a few
more water chlorinators for
Nicaragua before their goal
deadline. Over the past three
years of this mission, FPC-SSP
has given over $1,100!
Page 6
Volume 26, Issue 6
Last Summer for Adult
Education we offered a series
of classes with the theme of
“God in Popular Culture”. We
looked at how different
biblical and theological
themes get expressed in
specific films and television
shows such as The Lord of
the Rings, Welcome Back
Kotter and Battlestar
Galactica. This Summer we
are going to do something
similar, but turn this idea on
its head a bit. Instead of
looking at specific shows and
movies and pulling out the
themes, we are going to start
with specific themes and then
see how they are expressed
in a variety of ways in popular
culture. So instead of miniclasses such as “The Gospel
According to Disney” we will
have something more like
“Heaven and Hell in Popular
Culture.” In fact, we plan to
start this summer-long series
on Sunday, June 1 with
exactly that class on Heaven
and Hell. We have the
possibility of having guest
speakers during the summer
months that will speak on
other non-related topics, but
for the most part this will be
our focus through the end of
August. We hope that you will
come and join us and
perhaps even offer up your
own ideas for themes that
would particularly interesting
and compelling.
Adult Education class will
continue to meet at 8:30 AM
on Sunday mornings in the
Knox Room.
Saturday Book Group
June 7 • 8:30 am
This month's book is
“Paper Towns” by John Green
Quentin Jacobson has spent a lifetime
loving the magnificently adventurous
Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So
when she cracks open a window and
climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja
and summoning him for an ingenious
campaign of revenge—he follows. After
their all-nighter ends, and a new day
breaks, Q arrives at school to discover
that Margo, always an enigma, has now
become a mystery. But Q soon learns
that there are clues—and they’re for him.
Urged down a disconnected path, the
closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he
thought he knew...
Come join us for good discussion and
delicious treats. Books available in the
church office.
Library News
Register TODAY for
CampCamp-inin-a-Van
July 21-25
Right here at FPC-SSP!
For kids entering Preschool
through completed 6th grade
Monday—Friday, July 21-25
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$30 registration fee
Registration forms now available in the church office!
Four New Bookcases
The new bookcases have been installed in our
library providing space for expanded collections
of both adult and children’s books.
Donations
The library is seeking book donations. We will
add donations that fit into the library collection
and sell the others at the church’s August book
sale. Proceeds from the sale will be used to help
fund the library. If you identify your donation,
you will receive a thank you from the church. If
you want your books back if they don’t fit the
collection at this time, please indicate that.
NEW DVDs
Saving Mr. Banks
The Help
I Am
Frozen
•
•
•
•
The library Committee meets at 10:00 am on
June 7 in the library. All are welcome.
Tower Views
To all those who
planned, shopped
for and prepared
the meal, planned
and executed the
decorations, copied
and cut the bio/menu cards, set
the tables, provided the bread and
rolls, served the meal, guided the
servers, arranged for the speaker
and the meal crew, and cleaned
up and washed dishes for the
Senior Brunch: Thank you from
the bottom of my heart. This event
could not have happened without
all your help. It is so wonderful to
belong to a congregation that
steps up to the plate when help is
needed. Sincerely, Mary Love,
Moderator of The Board of
Deacons
Dear Deacons, What a fabulous
meal you prepared for us seniors!
You really outdid yourselves. The
young people did a splendid job as
well. It is so kind of you to invite
me and it is added joy to see old
friends. Thank you very much.
Affectionately, Nancy Kachel
Page 7
Yet another
delightful Senior
Brunch—a
gastronomical and
social pleasure!
Thank you to all who
made it possible. And thanks to
the Deacon Board for all that you
do. You are appreciated.
Blessings, Ruth Nelson
To all Deacons: Cal and I want
you to know what a joy it was to
attend the Senior Brunch. The
tables were lovely, and the food
very good. It was especially fun to
see the young teens serve. Thank
you for your hard work.
Lovingly, Eleanor Twining
To everyone who helped with
the Senior Brunch, Thank you all
so much for the lovely brunch. The
food was wonderful! The youth
group did a great job serving. We
should all be so proud of the youth
in our church. Many thanks again,
Wayne and Sandy Otto
SCRIP FUNDRAISING
PROGRAM UPDATE
The Scrip program kicked off on
March 30, 2014. Total sales to date
have been $5,635.00 with an instant
rebate to the church of $256.78.
Gertens plant card sales have totaled
$400.00 with an instant rebate of
$60.00. 33 different families have
participated in the program so far.
So you can see that your everyday
expenses are helping to raise funds
for the church.
church. The cards are available for
hundreds of retailers nationwide.
Scrip is available to purchase the last
Sunday of every month and delivery
of the card not in stock are delivered
the following Sunday. You can pay by
Curious what the buying buzz is
cash, check, or online with a preabout for Scrip? Scrip fundraising
registration account. Questions on
uses gift cards purchased at face
the program or registration, please
value by members and the church
orders those same cards at a reduced contact Julie Vigness-Pint.
price. It’s an instant rebate for the
Prayers for those
members who have had
surgery, been hospitalized
or ill in recent weeks,
including: Lauren Horan,
Elaine Quinn, Montell Pierce.
Congratulations and best
wishes to: Jana & David
Prall, who are expecting their
first child in October, and
Ruth Rutford & Peter Buller,
who will be married on June
27 in Stillwater.
Please contact the church
office with all prayer requests,
thank you!
Highway Haiku
Our people put on
Vests, with bags in hand, oddly
One black sandal found.
Five great trash pickers!
Wentworth is now neat & clean.
Hope it stays that way.
Thanks to those who picked up
trash last month. Here are the
dates of the next cleanups to
put on your calendars: August
16th & October 18th.
Session has approved a
new sexual misconduct
policy for the church
members, staff and
volunteers. Copies are
available in the church
office by request.
Page 8
Volume 26, Issue 6
First Presbyterian Church
of South St. Paul
“All are Welcome Here”
535 20th Avenue North
South St. Paul MN 55075
Phone: (651) 451-6223
www.fpcssp.org
Address Service
Requested
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
South St. Paul, MN
Permit No. 156
Adult Education at 8:30 a.m.
Worship Celebration at 10:00 a.m.
Coffee and Fellowship at 11:00 a.m.
Tower Views
is a monthly publication of the
First Presbyterian Church,
South St. Paul, MN
Rev. Katie Estes
Rev. Tom Watson
Pastors
Eleta Pierce
Church Administrator
Tower Views Deadline
June 15, 2014
For events taking place in July 2014
July 20
Lorraine Park
(3rd Ave. South between
7th & 8th Street)
10:00 am Worship
11:00 am Picnic