FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH JULY 2013 N A M P A , IDAHO What is a Christian? Dear Friends, Inside this issue: Financial News 2 Session /Deacon Highlights 2 Birthdays 3 Announcements 3 Family Camp 3 Thank You 4 Fix Up Fund Update 5 Movie Night 5 Car Wash 5 Camp Sawtooth Dates 5 PW News 6 Hawaii 6 Just For Kids 7 I was naïve once. I thought in the beginning of my journey of faith that a Christian was a Christian. I broke off from non-believer or atheist or agnostic. I was not one of those other religions such as Buddhist, Shintoist, Hindu, Islam, Jewish, etc. I was a Christian. It is now years later and I now know I was terribly naïve. To many people with whom I talk, a Christian needs a classification name to truly identify who they are. Each classification identifies some particular part of what kind of advocacy your name promotes. For instance, initially I understood I was a Protestant and those others were Catholics. Then along came the Pentecostals which was another subgroup. Then I was a Lutheran, a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church and finally a Presbyterian. In the Presbyterian category I found there were two “distinct” groups: conservative and liberal. Then I found subcategories of the categories called orthodox, fundamentalists, neo-orthodox, evangelicals, and others that are difficult to define. Then I find out that each one of these subcategories has some kind of justification as to why they are the “true believers” while those other subcategories are not or at least highly questionable. Recently, I read an article from a theologian I respect who defined two key terms for me: evangelicals and ecumenicals—also known as progressives, liberals, or social activists. For him, one was Christian and the other wasn’t. A Biblical scholar, Dale Brunner, writes that evangelicals say that we must put Christ, his Word, and reconciliation with God first, and then secondarily, people, the world and reconciliation in society. Ecumenicals argue for the greater integrity of the reverse order (or for serving God by serving others). If one steps back and looks at this hair-splitting, we notice there is something to be said for each position. If I look through the lenses of the two great commandments then I hear “love God with all your heart, mind and soul and then love others as you love yourself.” When one looks at the Scripture as a whole and Jesus as the self-sacrificing servant that he was, we find a paradox: when people put Christ first (Jesus is Lord), we find that he often draws us out into the world to consider the other person first. So, it would seem to identify with one position—the Worship Lessons July 7 July14 July 21 July 28 Exodus 2:1-10 Matthew 5:27-30 Matthew 5:31-37 Matthew 5:38-48 Concerning adultery Concerning divorce and oaths Concerning retaliation (Continued on page 4) Page 2 Nampa First United Presbyterian Church Purpose Statement To bring people together to love and magnify God through worship, to minister to the needs of all His children, to fellowship in God's family, to spread the Good News, and to develop people to Christ-like maturity for their mission in the world. General Fund Financial Activity Budgeted Actual Difference Monthly Receipts $19,067.17 $20,555.80 $1,488.63 Monthly Expenses $19,067.17 $13,625.98 $5,441.19 Jan-June Receipts $114,403.00 $113,618.90 -$784.10 Jan-June Expenses $114,402.89 $111,352.83 $3,050.06 July 22nd Office Hours Monday - Friday 9:00am -1:00pm June 25, 2013 2010 Building Project obligation to the Synod of the Pacific as of June 18, 2013 is $116,634.38. Friday is the Pastor’s day off Office email: [email protected] Pastor’s email: [email protected] Website: www.firstpresnampa.org Phone: (208) 466-7061 Fax: (208) 466-7176 Session Highlights      The sanctuary air conditioning is the first priority with the Fix Up Fund. Stefanie Crowley discussed her plans for the coming school term. The Boise Presbytery meeting scheduled for August 17th will be held at First United Presbyterian Church. VBS was a lot of fun working with 17 participants. The next meeting will be on Monday, August 26th. Respectfully submitted, Ina Sano, Clerk of Session Deacons report Edie Curtin May 30, 1925-Dec. 4, 2012 Gail Krause May 10, 1933-June 2, 2013 Karla Krommenhoek March 18, 1936-June 20, 2013  from June 24th meeting from June 3rd meeting Treasurer’s Report — The beginning balance was $1,256.02. Congregation contributions were $235.00 and a $40 check returned. Expenses were: Hope House $100.00, Adopt-A-Senior $160.00, and Shelter Meal $128.51. Ending balance is $1,596.32. Birthday calls were made. Visitations were done by the Deacons and Pastor and 12 frozen meals distributed.  Shelter Meal was served to 48 people at the Salvation Army in May.  The next meeting is a potluck and business meeting on Monday, September 9th.  Respectfully submitted, Kip Winter, Secretary Page 3 Known July Birthdays 7/01 7/01 7/02 7/02 7/03 7/03 7/04 7/08 7/08 7/08 7/09 7/09 7/09 7/09 7/12 7/13 Jean Stansbury Derinda Johnson Alice Kiernan Kip Winter Connie Guyer Jaci Johnson Joe Kuntz Francie Hill Amy Reed Nida Ryan Cindy Dion Nancy Frederiksen Randy Harano Sally Moore Debbie Swanson Donna Anderson 7/13 7/14 7/15 7/19 7/20 7/21 7/21 7/22 7/22 7/24 7/25 7/25 7/27 7/28 7/30 Dick Kneidl Fred Christensen Mike Gussie Senita Watkins Ralph Williams Betty Wilson Karen Zacharisen Marvin Huter Bailey Maritt Sandi Kurtz Gary Decoteau Ashley Guzman Bob Redding Melva Keyes Phil Peterson Known July Anniversaries 7/06/66 7/08/72 7/12/97 7/17/04 7/19 7/20/91 7/21/56 7/23/94 7/24/10 7/29/56 Marge Robinson 5208 NE 78th Ave, Unit #12 Vancouver, WA 98662 Edward & Linda Swanson Ken & Nancy DeLong Patrick & Rana Bolyard Steve & Elizabeth Kohtz Dan & Jeanne Wiebold Mark & Cindy Larimer Jerry & Jean Day Rod & Jonica Johnson Loren & Nancy Spencer Ken & Nancy Frederiksen Brett & Karen Lolley 1956 S. Sandcrest Way Nampa, ID 83686 Dorlene Gaines Alpine Meadows Assisted Living 1695 S. Locust Grove Rd. Meridian, ID 83642 Thomas James Decker was born on June 10th. He weighed 8 lbs., 11.2 oz. The proud parents are Taylor Reed and Brian Decker. Family Camp Our annual family camp up at Camp Sawtooth starts at 4:00pm on Friday, August 9th through Tuesday, August 13th at 1:00pm. You are welcome to join us for all five days, or if you can just come for a few days, we would love to have you there. You can bring your own camper and use We want to give a warm welcome to our new members, Barbara Hindman and Bruce Freeman. They became members of our congregation on June 16th. We will feature them in next month’s newsletter to share a little bit about both Barbara and Bruce. the water and electricity hookups, or you can stay in one of the cabins. The cost is $9 per person, per night for lodging and $15 per person for food. There will be a signup sheet on the back table in the church to RSVP. You can send your payment to the church office. Please call the office if you have any questions. Page 4 Thank You - Celebrate Our Community Dinner Ellen and I would like to thank everyone who helped with the “Celebrate Our Community Dinner” on Wednesdays during the 2012-2013 school year. We had a committee (Sally Moore, Jo Mallard, Barbara Balance, Barbara Burri, Kitty Renn and Francie Hill) that met 3-4 times during the year to make sure all of the details were covered. These ladies were so faithful to this ministry. It was great to have so many helpful, faithful volunteers. We had greeters, people who set-up, servers, people who cleaned up, and of course, the food preparers, including the Mormons who cooked every Wednesday during the month of February and the Lutherans who cooked the month of September and a couple of times this spring. We also had a fun time getting to know each other better. We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. It was truly an effort from the entire Christian community. I would also like to thank Ellen Gussie for being my co-chair this past year. All fall she kept To Our Church Family, Thank you for the calls, prayers, and visits. Recovery is going well. Thank you, Bob Choat We are soo blessed!! saying she wasn’t doing anything and I assured her that when I had my foot surgery, she would indeed be doing a lot…and she did! She is a very gracious and helpful person and was right there all of the time. Thank you, Ellen! The committee also talked about how we could help these people in other ways, such as at Christmas having bags filled with items they cannot purchase with food stamps (soap, shampoo, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, laundry soap, etc.) Next year Jo Mallard has agreed to cochair this committee with me. Jo was amazing this year in that she led a session on what/how things needed to be done in order to stay in compliance with the Health Department and made up notebooks for all of the committee, as well as providing recipes that would feed 30-50 people for the cooks. As you can see it was a real community effort and Ellen and I want to send out a big “Thank You” to each and everyone of you. Peace, ~Debbie Swanson Thank you so much for your willingness to actively support the Girl Scouts of Silver Sage. Without community partners like you, we can’t do what we dodevelop girls who make the world a better place. ~Maureen O’Toole Chief Executive Officer Girls Scouts of Silver Sage What is a Christian? (Continued from page 1) evangelical—over against the other –ecumenicals-would be to live out only half the Christian calling. Our pathway to follow Christ is both narrow and wide. It is narrow in that we discriminate against many other religious groupings because we recognize Christ at the center of our calling. At the same time our call in the world is not to a narrow group, but to the world. I just find this all fascinating and challenging. This is our journey together through the life of our church. Warmly, Page 5 FIFTY YEAR FIX UP FUND On May 5, 2013 the church initiated the “Fix Up Fund” to have $100,000 available for building and property repairs and replacing heating and air conditioning equipment. As of June 10, 2013 we have two-year pledges totaling $20,580 !!! With what was given by the session from last year’s overage, a Building Fund CD, and pledges we have $49,821 or 50% of our goal!!! So, we are well on our way to a successful drive. A concern that the Building and Grounds Committee has is that the sanctuary heating and air-conditioning unit has had maintenance issues the past few years. The unit in the ceiling at the rear of the sanctuary is 50 years old!!!! Two other heating and cooling units on the roof are 21 years old, and beyond their life expectancy!! Likewise the roof is requiring more and more sealing each year and is deteriorating rapidly. 2013 Dates 9th & 10th Grade June 30 – July 5 3rd & 4th Grade July 7 – July 10 5th & 6th Grade July 14 – July 19 7th & 8th Grade July 21 – July 26 th th 11 & 12 Grade July 28 – August 2 You can send a letter to the campers, cabin parents, camp hosts, and camp directors Steve & Senita Watkins at the following address: Camper’s Name Camp Sawtooth HC 64 Box 8290 Ketchum, ID 83340 Logic tells us that the air-conditioning needs to be replaced BEFORE the roof is resealed. These two items together are approximately $89,000. We would like to get both of these repairs completed this summer or early fall. To do so we would like to have enough pledges to complete these needed repairs. If you have not pledged or contributed to this fund we ask that you consider making a pledge. Fiscal responsibility dictates that we have the funds pledged before we go ahead. These repairs are something that needs to be done in the near future. Please prayerfully consider pledging or contributing to the FIX UP FUND. Pledge cards are in the pew racks or on the tables in the Narthex. If you write a check or enclose cash for this fund please designate that it is for the “FIX UP FUND” so that it doesn’t get mixed up with the building addition fund. We thank you in advance. ~Building & Grounds Committee Young Life Carwash Young people and leaders from Young Life, a parachurch youth program in our area, will be with us July 14th to give car washes in the parking lot after church from 11:30am – 3:00pm. They will introduce themselves during the “minute for mission” and be available after church to clean every last spec of dirt off your car. Movie Night is July 20th Bruce and Debbie Swanson will host the Movie Night in July. “Quartet” will be the July movie. Please be sure to preview the movie beforehand then join the group for a potluck and discussion of the movie. It is always a lively conversation and the rating system demonstrates the varied tastes of the critics represented. Anyone and everyone is invited to attend Saturday, July 20th at 5:30pm. Page 6 PW Christmas Bazaar PW Summer Picnic Christmas. Already? Well, yes, for Bazaar reservations. Presbyterian Women will hold a Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, Nov. 2nd. Again this year, you can reserve a table to sell their own goods for $20 total. A $10 fee to hold your reservation is due on August 1st and is nonrefundable. The remaining $10 is due on setup day Friday or at the opening of the Bazaar on Saturday. This was a great event last year, and we are expecting it to grow again this year. We will also have a soup lunch and a baked goods sale, including whole pies. For details and reservations, please call Pat Baker at 442-0328. All women of the church are invited to the PW summer picnic, to be held at 11:30 AM on Tuesday, July 16th at the home of Barbara Hindman (11907 Plantation Court, Nampa.) Please bring a potluck dish to share, and enjoy the fellowship of other church women. Beverages will be provided. RSVP to Pat Baker by Sunday, July 14th at 442-0328. Directions: (from the church) West on Lake Lowell to Midway. Turn right to Plantation Court, which is north of Lone Star and Smith but south of Orchard, on the east (right) side of Midway. Take the cul-de-sac to the right end house. Missing from the Church Over the years we have had tools and other things at the church that would disappear for a time and then reappear… evidently after its usage was completed. A few months ago one our most useful items disappeared and has not returned. It is a dolly that can carry very heavy items. It looks like a U-Haul dolly which is orange and black. If you have it, please return it. You have won a free trip to a Hawaiian luau! Early Christian missionaries to the Islands may have made some mistakes. We invite you to come have some fun and explore with us what effective Discipleship in a modern age might look like. Save the dates for this Presbytery-wide event, Oct. 11th and 12th. On Friday evening there will be a family luau dinner at Nampa Presbyterian Church. The following morning, Saturday, there will be study/discussion sessions dealing with Discipleship. These will be held at First Presbyterian of Boise under the direction of Pastor Andrew Kukla . Check this location next month for more details and make plans to join us! Page 7 From Pastor Bruce Page 7 Dear Children, You know about habits. A habit is something that is done repeatedly. We have habits that are good and habits that are not so good. Burping at the table would probably not be your mother’s favorite habit for you, but picking up your clothes in the morning and putting them away could make you a hero. These that I have mentioned are physical things we do. There are other habits which might be called optimism and pessimism. Optimists have the habit of looking at the good that is going to happen and pessimists anticipate the bad that will probably happen. These are habits of attitude. The attitude habit that I want to tell you about regarding the verse on Moses is that he was endangered of being taken to be a slave. A slave is not a free person, he or she is in bondage to someone who owns them. The Hebrew people at the time of Moses were enslaved by the Egyptian people. Those people who moved to America in the 1600’s felt enslaved and wanted to experience an exodus which was a journey to freedom. There are habits of thoughts. Our forefathers and mothers “thought” freedom was possible. We see their belief in freedom in the sermons in their church sermons and things such as the Liberty Bell that were important to them. This belief has been part of the beliefs of our country since the beginning. This thought or belief was the hope of the common people in Jesus’ day. They wanted to be free of the oppression of Rome. They hoped Jesus was the one who could free them. He did. Believing Jesus can set us free as Moses set the Hebrew people free is a great thing to believe. Bible Verse of the Month Thinking of you, Moses was keeping the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Exodus 3:1 Page 8 Known July Birthdays 7/2 Cameron Cihgoyenetche 7/3 Kedrick Stellway 7/7 Brady Dion 7/8 Colton Johnson 7/13 Kieran Johnson 7/15 Hailey Gepford 7/20 Caitlyn Hamilton 7/23 Jake Hamilton 7/23 Connor Johnson 7/25 Nate Johnson 7/27 Alison Lolley 7/27 Amber Zacharisen 7/28 Andrew Foreman 7/30 Keffrey Stellway 7/31 Haggon Isaacson Nursery Update Bible Quiz During Israel’s 40-year sojourn in the desert, where did the Lord turn bitter water sweet so the people could drink it? A. Egypt B. Mt. Sinai C. Canaan D. Marah There will not be any nursery service for the month of August due to the low nursery attendance in the summer. If you are available to help in the nursery on an “as needed” basis in August in case we have a need for a nursery attendant, please contact the office to sign up for a particular August Sunday. Answer: D (See Exodus 15:23-25.) Community Shelter Meal 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 7:00p Boy Scouts 7:00p Young Life meeting 22 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 7:00p Boy Scouts 29 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 8:45a Adult Sunday School 10:00a Worship 11:30a Young Life Car Wash 21 8:45a Adult Sunday School 10:00a Worship 28 8:45a Adult Sunday School 10:00a Worship Link Deadline 15 14 8 30 6:00p Outreach Committee 31 24 6:00p Girl Scouts 23 17 12:00p PW Potluck at Barbara Hindman’s Home 10 16 9 7:45p Softball game 8:00a Mentoring Network 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 7:00p Boy Scouts Communion 3 2 Wed 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 7:00p Boy Scouts Tue 1 Mon 8:45a Adult Sunday School 10:00a Worship 7 Sun Office Closed 10:00p Fit & Fall-proof 25 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 18 10:00a Fit & Fall-proof 11 4 Thu 26 19 12 5 Fri 27 5:30p Movie Night Quartet 20 3:00p Taylor Reed & Brian Decker Wedding reception 13 6 Sat FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 400 Lake Lowell Avenue Nampa, ID 83686-6617 PASTOR: Bruce D. Swanson RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Nampa, ID 83651 Permit No. 180 If this publication is no longer needed, please notify the church office. June 2 ................................................. 174 June 9 ................................................. 140 June 16 ............................................... 130 June 23 ............................................... 137