The Good News - This Week

The church is in the world to worship God, make disciples of Jesus and share God's love in the world. APC prints its mission statement on the weekly worship bulletin, so I hope you know it well. Joyfully, we worship God and invite our neighbors to join us. Would you consider inviting a neighbor or friend to join you for worship at APC? This Sunday, Rev. Richard Hill will be preaching at our 8:30am and 11:00am worship services. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper will be celebrated. Even though it is summer, I hope you will make it a priority and commitment to attend weekly worship on the Lord's Day. There are churches at the beach!

APC continues to answer Christ's call to "make disciples" through education for all ages. This Sunday in the theater at 9:45am, Molly Elkind will begin her five-week series exploring images of Christ in art. She is calling this "Seeking His Face." This promises to be a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in faith. Adults are never done growing as disciples! Next week and in July our children will enjoy "Faith and Sports Camp" and "Vacation Bible School." Information about those opportunities is on the website. More than three hundred children will be blessed through these ministries and adults are always needed to volunteer to make it happen. Why volunteer? To help make disciples of Jesus!

Worship, Discipleship and Service in the world - Service trips commence this Sunday! By the time you read this I will be with APC member Walter Dean in Kenya to dedicate a water point that APC built for a rural village that previously lacked clean water. 5,000 lives have been blessed through your generosity! You can learn more about this work at www.habitataid.org. Already commissioned in worship with prayer, our youth and their leaders will be the next to embark on mission for inner-city work in Charlotte, house repair work in rural West Virginia and finally to Camp Hope where children of incarcerated parents are served. In October, Sydney Schneider will be leading an APC mission trip to Haiti and registration has just begun!

It is what we do, not only as a congregation, but individually as Christians: worship God, make disciples and serve others in Christ's name.

In the Spirit's strength, keep it up!

Congregational Meeting

Please attend a congregational meeting on Sunday, June 17. We will meet at noon in the sanctuary to vote on the Session's recommendation to transfer land to the city of Alpharetta. This transfer was requested by the city and has been studied by the Property Committee and approved by Session. This thin strip borders Academy Street and totals 0.12 acres. In exchange for the land the city will provide the church $10,000 in landscaping. The city needs the land for the Haynes Bridge Road realignment project, which includes widening Academy Street to include a dedicated left turn lane into our church driveway. This project is envisioned to improve safety and traffic flow. If approved by the congregation, this transaction will also need the approval of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta.

STARS News

Join the STARS for the July 4th concert and celebration with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestrs at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Spectacular fireworks follow the concert! Tickets are $22.50 for reserve seating and the firm deadline to signup and pay is Thursday, June 21. Meet at the back parking lot to carpool at 6:45pm. See the signup sheet and more details on the STARS bulletin board in the lobby.

Summer Series

Molly Elkind's summer series, Seek His Face: Images of Jesus in Art, begins Sunday, June 3 in the theater at 9:45am. Come and see what the earliest examples of Christian art, in the catacombs of ancient Rome, looked like. See how this art literally went aboveground and changed radically in the fourth century. Learn how these early works continue to influence our imagery today. Don't hesitate to come even if you can't make it every week-each week is self-contained. (There is no class June 10; the series resumes June 17.)

Save the Date!

The 8th Annual Miss Mary's Ice Cream Crankin'

will be held Sunday, August 26 from 2 - 4:00 PM on the Square in Roswell. For a $5 donation ($20 max per family,) guests are invited to sample a vast array of homemade ice cream brought by an army of volunteer "Crankers". All proceeds benefit "The Drake House," an emergency housing facility for homeless women and children in North Fulton County.

Camp Hollywood

Remember the wonderful days of summer camp - playing with old friends, meeting new ones? Messy art projects, group games and great music? Children with multiple disabilities have few opportunities to attend summer camp; their medical, physical, or cognitive needs cannot be managed by most camps. FOCUS day camps offer the care the children need - and the fun children should have!! While fees are charged for day camps, scholarships are available. Here at APC during the week of June 4-8 we will be hosting Camp Hollywood - Camp Hollywood makes all children feel like STARS!! Campers enjoy a week of art, music, science, cooking and recreation based on the themes of popular children's movies. Counselors are paraprofessionals and teachers who have experience with children with developmental disabilities. There are also many volunteers that come to play with the children. For more information check out www.focus-ga.org. We would love to have members of APC make a few simple donations so that FOCUS knows that we welcome them with Open Arms to our church. Suggested donations: paper towels, wipes, adult snacks, stickers. Please just mark them for FOCUS and leave with Rev. Jamie Butcher.

VBS Registration

VBS Registration has begun and spots are filling up fast. Don't miss out on the fun! Sign up today! At this years theme, SKY, kids learn that with God everything is possible. VBS is for ages 3 (potty trained) through rising 6th graders and will be held July 10-13 from 8:45-12:00. Adult and Youth volunteers are needed as well. Don't wait! Sign up online today at www.alpharettapres.com/VBS.

Career Transition

APC Career Transition Program - Recently the unemployment rate in Metro Atlanta dropped from 10.2% to 9.9 %. When individuals are no longer job hunting, as well as those who seek full-time jobs are counted, the real rate of unemployment is a conservative figure of 15%. Since 2007, Georgia has lost 360,000 positions, so the state now has approximately the same number of jobs that existed in 1999. Elder Bill Harris leads efforts at APC to address the employment concerns and needs your help. We are trying to get a handle on how many of our members are unemployed and underemployed and whether or not they participate in the Career Transition Group at APC. If you would like employment assistance, please email Bill at w.m.harris@att.net.

If you work for or lead an organization, we would appreciate any information on positions that might represent opportunities that become available or contact names that would ensure a more effective outreach. We need our employed professionals and executives to reach out and make information available that will give a competitive edge to members of our congregation who are endeavoring to gain a sense of the real jobs and hidden market versus Internet postings. In the Lobby, the Career Transition Bulletin Board is now up and running. Please email Bill with any assistance you can offer as we renew our commitment to serve our members, veterans and the community in this challenging and prolonged Recession.

Youth Ministry News

June Youth Group Dates - June 10 and June 24 from 5:30 - 7:30pm at APC (no dinner served)

Click here for an Informational Bulletin about our CROSS and Appalachia Mission Trips.

During the summer, we will not send a weekly newsletter via e-mail, rather, we will send periodic information about summer activities and mission trips as needed. Please continue to refer to the Good News and the Youth Website for information.

For questions or more information, please contact Kelly Edwards, Director of Youth Ministries at kelly@alpharettapres.com or 770-751-0033.

Children's Ministry News

Disciples' Village will not meet during the summer. We will welcome everyone back on Rally Day, August 19.

Nursery care is provided on Sundays from 8:15am - 12:15pm for ages 0-2 in the nursery.

Promise Class is provided on Sundays during the 11:00 worship service for our special needs students in the Blue Room.

Kinderkirk (Children's Worship Education for children ages 3 - First Grade) will be during the 11:00 service only during the summer. Preschool classes will meet in Room 105 and Kindergarten and first grade in Room 108.

Sympathy & Celebrations

Sympathy - To John Booth and his family, at the death of his grandmother on Monday, May 28 in Thomasville, GA.

Sympathy - To Cynthia Hale and her family, at the death of her mother, Virginia R. Elswick, on Wednesday, May 30 in Dunwoody, GA. She was 91 years old. Services will be held later in June.

Sunday Volunteers

Serving as greeters this Sunday: Larry and Mim Prohl at 11:00

Serving as ushers this Sunday: Dick and Sharon Bean, Tom Hyatt, Richard Boston at 8:30 & Steve Ludlow, Dale Carter, Duane Lofdahl, Lee Jones at 11:00

Promise Class volunteers this Sunday: Laurie Peebles

APC Church Officers

The Session

Class of 2012 Class of 2013 Class of 2014

Dianne Berry-Children's Ministry George Bancroft-Property Scott Doll-Membership/Youth Ministry

Michelle Burton-Youth Ministry Jodie Barger-Children's Ministry Molly Elkind-Worship

Morris Estes-Finance Lynn Danson-Fellowship/Mission Stu Laubenstein-Personnel

Jim Gray-Clerk of Session/CE Pat Dennis-Open Arms Anne Mahone-Dayschool/LRP

John Shevlin-Mission Stacy Guy-Commitment/Commun. Charles Moriarty-Property/CE

Jessie Prigge-Youth Ministry Nancy Hill-Personnel/Nominating Sarah Provow-Open Arms/Commitment

Amy Rogers-Communications Jan Hughey-LRP/Finance Ferrell White-Worship/Fellowship

Jean Williams-Nominating/Membership Kylie Vacko-Open Arms

Deacon Care Teams

Hospitality - John Hicks, 678-513-4570, hicksjc@bellsouth.net

Companion Care - Carolyn Dillon, 770-751-3799, csdillon@bellsouth.net

Hospital & Recovery - Paul McChesney, 678-234-8471, paulsmcchesney@gmail.com

Sympathy & Celebrations, Steve Ludlow, 770-722-5473, ludlowst@comcast.net

APC on Facebook

Find us on Facebook! That's right Alpharetta Presbyterian Church has a facebook page! You can "like" APC at http://facebook.com/alpharettapres. Look for the latest information about activities and missions of the church!

The Good News - This Week

Alpharetta Presbyterian Church.
You can visit the church on line at www.alpharettapres.com or contact the office during regular business hours at 770-751-0033 (Mon-Thurs, 8:00am-4:00pm and Friday, 8:00am-1:00pm).