First Baptist
Church ~ January
2014
Happy New Year!
Looking back over the last year I can
only offer thanks for the incredible blessing of being your pastor. The warmth
of your love and support continue to strengthen and encourage us in every way.
Our gratitude goes up to God because of you. We are overwhelmed and thank you
for your loving cards and gifts, not just at this time, but all through the
year.
While we have said farewell to a few
dear souls, we have also celebrated some major milestones in the lives of
others. We have shared the burdens of some, cried with some, laughed with some
and hugged a lot. Karen has been a blessing in that last regard as our “Lead
Hugger” and seems to have rubbed off on us all.
The last year has been such a blessing
it would be hard to beat, but we need as a church to spread the love and
blessings even more. We look forward to new challenges and new opportunities in
the year to come.
Some things to consider for the New Year
include visual support in the sanctuary (projection?), broadening our musical
offerings, and finding better ways to communicate with each other. I look
forward to see where God would lead us next.
God Bless Us, Everyone!
January Birthdays
7 -
Beth DeLooza Travis 24 – John R. Tharp
12 – Melvin Cornell 29
– Elijah Clancy
22 – Fran Morse
Annual Reports – needed by January 6, 2014
Committee reports are due to the church office by
January 6, 2014.
Advisory Council - Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The next meeting of the
Advisory Council will be on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 at 6:30 pm. This purpose
of this meeting is to set the budget. All boards need to have a representative
present.
Annual Meeting - Sunday, January 19, 2014
The Annual Meeting of the
First Baptist Church of Penn Yan will be held on
Sunday, January 19, 2014. The business portion of the meeting will take place
immediately following the worship service. Following the meeting we will have
our pot-luck luncheon. Please bring a dish-to-pass and your own table setting.
Highlights from the Board of Trustees Dec. 8th
Meeting
Stewardship Campaign Update – As of
December 1st we had received 34 pledges. If you have not returned
your pledge card, please do so as soon as you are able.
Endowment Fund – Because the Endowment Fund has been
doing so well over the past couple of years, we have enough to further
diversify into other funds.
From the Board of Missions
Board of Mission Report
We wish to thank all of you who have been so generous
and up-to-date with your pledging and have given so generously to serve those in
in need. The final total for the World Mission Offering was $1144.48. To date we have received
$835 for the RMM Offering exceeding our goal of $800! We
have met all parts of your 2013 budget!!!. Thank You!
Thank You!! Thank You!!! We have decided to use any surplus funds as follows:
1/3
goes to ABC/NYS for the “Regional Offering”
1/3
goes to the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering for Disaster Relief in
the Philippines
1/3
goes to the ABC/NYS Camping Program
As we plan our budget for 2014, in order to make the
same budget as this year, an additional $664 is still needed (as of 12/15). To
increase our giving 5%, another $1417 needs to be pledged. To increase 10%,
which is our goal, another $2279 is needed in pledges. Please consider
prayerfully what you can do to help us reach our goal, particularly if you have
not yet made a pledge for mission. Thank you.
If you haven’t heard, 3 days after the typhoon hit the
Philippines, $10,000 of OGHS
funds were dispatched to the Philippines
for Disaster Relief.
We have received a Thank You from the Green Lake
Conference Center
for your donation.
We received a nice letter from the Longs in Baja Mexico.
They tell us of the Advent and Christmas preparations in Mexico. They included a couple of
great photos of the children and young adults that attend the Tijuana School
where Patti works with disadvantaged children and the Mexicali Seminary
where Tim works. Be sure to read the letter and look at the photos which are
posted on the bulletin board.
Board of Missions Backpack
Information
The “Backpack Project”
began as a way to make our church more visible in the community and be a help
to those in need. Each month we spotlight a specific item that would assist the
Backpack Program in getting food to kid’s backpacks to take home for the
weekend for our Penn Yan elementary, middle school
and high school children, Headstart and Keuka Lake
Schools. Every month we
spotlight a specific item that would be beneficial to these kids. A box is kept
in the sanctuary for your much appreciated donations. We thank you for taking
part in this ministry.
Backpack Spotlight Item Schedule:
Jan. – Oatmeal July
- Oatmeal
Feb. – Cocoa August – Cereal
March – Mac ‘n Cheese Sept.
- Mac ‘n Cheese
April –
Fruit/Pudding/Applesauce cups Oct. – Fruit/Pudding/Applesauce
May – Tuna/Chicken Nov. – Tuna/Chicken & Cocoa
June –
Cereal/Granola/Energy bars Dec. – Cereal/Granola/Energy bars
The Nationwide Backpack
Program
The nationwide Backpack
Program has been in effect for over 10 years. In Oklahoma it began with a firsthand account
of an elementary school student who fainted on a Monday morning while waiting
in the school lunch line, due to a lack of food over the weekend. Backpacks are
filled with non-perishable, kid-friendly food to eat on the weekends.
As a result of the Food
for Kids Backpack Program, teachers have reported:
+
better school attendance
+
improved school performance
+
better concentration in the classroom
+
increased self-esteem
+
reduced signs of hunger
Ideally the foods would be
kid-friendly foods that require no preparation. Kids can just “open and
eat”.
A complete list of
acceptable foods would be:
Beef sticks Snack
Mixes
Peanut butter (12 oz jar)
and a sleeve of crackers Raisins (snack size boxes)
Beans & Franks
(pop-top can) Pudding
Cups
Beef Stew (pop-top can) Juice
boxes (100% juice)
Cereal (1 oz bowl) Sunflower or Pumpkin Seeds
Fruit Cups Vegetable
Cups
Cereal Bars or Granola
Bars Milk,
white and chocolate, which
does not require refrigeration
Your Board of Missions appreciates what you can do
each month to help out our kids!
A
Prayer for The New Year
Eternal God, as a new year begins, forgive our
failures of the year now passed. Sustained by our faith that you are a loving and merciful God, may we go
forward into the new year resolved better to keep your commandments, to be more
appreciative of your blessings, and more closely to approximate the example for
living found in the one whose birth we just celebrated, even Jesus, the Christ,
in whose spirit we pray. Amen.
~ Chaplains’ Book of
Prayers, U.S.
Air Force
About
PYFBC
First Baptist Church Church Staff
224
Main Street Rev. Stephen M. Sanden
Penn Yan, NY
14527 Barbara Stewart: Music Director
Phone: 315-536-9821 Carrie Ahearn: Organist
E-Mail: pyfbc224@gmail.com Peggy S Smart: Secretary
Website: pennyanfbc.com
Office Hours: Mon thru Fri 9AM - Noon
Church
Officers
Our Schedule
Moderator: Nancy Marion Sunday Worship - 10 AM
Vice Moderator: Rick Willson Sunday School - 10:15
AM
Church Clerk: Cheryl Stewart Adult Sunday School -
11 AM
Church Treasurer: Mary Watkins
Finance Officer: Diane DeLooza
Missions: Ed Castillo
Trustees: Sheryl Robbins
Deacons: Barb Stewart
Christian Education: Greg Marion
ABW: Diane DeLooza