The Good News - This Week

In 2013, the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) will come out with the new hymnal entitled "Glory to God". (Our current hymnal was published in 1990 and the previous red hymnal in 1955.) Since our hymnal is such an important part of our worship life, you may be wondering how they decide which hymns to include. Over 10,000 hymns were submitted for consideration but only 850 were selected. How do they decide?

A committee of 15 members elected from over 200 nominees have met over the last three years. Here is how the Presbyterian Hymnal Project describes the process: (www.presbyterianhymnalproject.com)

"Every hymn and song was submitted to the committee anonymously; all author, composer, date, and identifying information was removed to promote honest and unbiased reflection. A 2/3 majority vote was required to move forward in the process. Submissions were voted on 2-5 times. To carry forward, each hymn was analyzed on its own merits. The text's clarity, theology, and language were significant factors. A tune's singability, playability, and instrumentation were considered."

(If you want to get a sneak peek at the contents see www.presbyterianhymnal.org/sneakpeek.html)

At some point APC will have to decide when to replace our current hymnals. Until that time, here are some important facts that you can mull over: The new hymnal will come in a choice of two colors, red or purple and will be $20 ea. We have been assured that the books are about the same size as our current books and will fit in the pew racks. There are more international selections from 6 continents (including Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Latin, French, Sotho and Swahili) and it will include some praise and worship songs. About 50% of the songs will be taken from our current hymnal with the remainder coming from other sources, including the old red hymnal. (They brought back "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me"!)

Breakfast Sunday, June 17

Sunday, June 17 is Father's Day and we have decided to give the men a break in our APC kitchen from cooking Sunday Morning Breakfast. A continental breakfast will be available.

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.

New Member Class

Interested in joining APC? Please speak with one of our pastors about our New Member Class on Saturday, July 14. July 15 will be our next "Joining Sunday."

Dreams & Visions

Dreams and Visions: Final Call. We popped the balloons-we ate the cake-we celebrated the end of the Dreams and Visions campaign-but there are still some outstanding pledges to be received! Please help us to make our budgeted payment of $120,000 on our mortgage in July by making sure you have fulfilled your pledges to the debt-reduction campaign. Thanks to everyone whose gifts have made APC stronger.

Summer Series

Molly Elkind's summer series, Seek His Face: Images of Jesus in Art, meets this week, June 17 at 9:45am in the theater. Come see how believers encountered Jesus "face to face" in Byzantine icons and learn how the appearance of Jesus that we recognize today came to be.

Cancer Care Group

The APC Cancer Care Group will not meet in June. June 24 falls during a time when many people are vacationing and away from home. We will resume meeting on Sunday, July 22 to talk about serveral exciting opportunities: The APC mission fair which will be held on Sunday, August 26 and support for church members and friends walking in the Susan Komen 3-Day, October 19-21 and other activities. We look forward to seeing you in July!

Divorce Care Group

New Beginnings, a new divorce care group that is forming here at APC, will be holding their first meeting on Sunday, August 5 at 9:45am. If you are going through a divorce or have been through a divorce, this group is looking for you. It will be focused on understanding the effects of divorce - physical, emotional, spiritual - as well as fellowship and support of each other and preparing for what's next. If you are interested, please contact Greg Jones at gjones38@yahoo.com or 678-620-8879.

VBS Update

Plans and preparations are in full swing for this years VBS. We expect to have 350 children in attendance and we need your help! Our mission focus for this year's VBS is Haiti. Our VBS attendees will be creating educational materials and games for the children of Haiti and donating them through our partnership with La Gonave Haiti Partnership. Please save your cans ( soup, bean, broth, etc) to be donated. Also we have placed a Helping Hands board in the hallway outside Fellowship Hall. Please help us make our VBS successful and serve the children of Haiti through donating supplies and volunteering the week of VBS, July 10-13. Volunteers can contact Kristin Hicks at kristinhicks@bellsouth.net

Ladies Night Out - Zumba!

What is Zumba? It is an exhilarating, easy-to-follow, dance-fitness program. Put on your workout clothes and join us Saturday, June 23. We will meet at APC at 6:30pm and caravan to Fellowship Christian High School for the Zumba Party!!! Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Proceeds benefit the children of the Dominican Republic. RSVP to Pam Heydinger at 770-664-8354 or pamheydinger@comcast.net.

Calling Any Artists!

Calling any artists, art students, art teachers! ACT1 urgently needs someone with artistic ability to help with the set for "The Wind in the Willows" this summer! If you help with the set, you will be rewarded with free tickets for a performance! Please contact Dianne McNaughton as soon as possible for details and to see if you can help with this fun project! diannemcnaughton@comcast.net

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.

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 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 Ray Shenk at the death of his grandfather, Tom Ware, last week in Gulf Shores, AL. Tom was 91 years old and is survived by his wife of 73 years.

Sympathy - To Hope Williams at the death of her father, Don Williams, on Tuesday, June 12 in Lawrenceville, GA. He was 90 years old.

Celebration - To Mark and Carolina Smith and big sister Delaney, at the birth of Tyler Cooper Smith on Monday, June 11.

Sunday Volunteers

Serving as greeters this Sunday: Volunteer needed

Serving as ushers this Sunday: Kim and Valerie Fulkerson, Sybille Johnstone, Alan Crowell at 8:30 & Ed and Pat Rea, Jeff Stewart, Ralph Pollifrone at 11:00

Promise Class volunteers this Sunday: Trish Kent

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).