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| Lake Michigan Newsletter | September 30, 2010 |
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Elders and Deacons Workshop
When: October 23, 2010, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Where: Westminster Grand Rapids
Come and explore how our spiritual growth affects our leadership styles. Keynote speaker: Rev. Joan Gray, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly.
Suggested fee: with book and lunch - $25
lunch only - $15
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This email newsletter is produced by the
Presbytery of Lake Michigan.
Presbytery of Lake
Michigan
is a middle governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) serving over
70 churches . If you wish to have something included in the newsletter,
please read our Electronic Communication Policy then use
our online form. Deadline
for this
newsletter is the 12th and 27th of each month. Sincerely, |
| Upcoming Events
View Presbytery Calendar
10.05 - 10.10 - Administrative Personnel Association (PCUSA) National Meeting
10.26 - 10.28 - Great Lakes APCE
Click here for Event Flyers and Registration Forms |
| Designated Associate Pastor Position
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This Sunday is World Communion Sunday
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Planning Calendars - We have a few!!! We now have 20 "Planning Calendars 2010" in the office that were returned. First Come First Serve!!!
$6.30 each - Going once, going twice..... |
 Covenant Players Theatrical Group
The Covenant Players theatrical group will present the dramatized gospel message
on Sat. evening Oct. 23, 2010 at 7pm at the Pennfield Presbyterian Church in Battle Creek, Michigan. A time of gathering and dessert fellowship will follow their performance. The Covenant Players will also be present at Pennfield Presbyterian Church in Sunday morning worship on Oct. 24, 2010 at 10 am. Please bring your friends, youth groups and neighbors to experience this gospel presentation in dramatized form.
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ATTENTION - CHANGE IN ANNUAL STATISTICAL REPORT FOR CHURCHES The denomination has announced that they will not be sending to us the workbooks for filing of your Annual Statistical Reports. We will instead be able to place those forms onto our website: www.lakemichiganpresbytery.org. Once the forms for this required report are available we will alert the churches by our e-bulletin, an announcement at the November 14 stated meeting of the presbytery and in a letter to each church about the status of their annual review of minutes and registers. For more information complete note from our Stated Clerk - click Change In Annual Statistical Report For Churches |
 Ghana Partnership Committee Announcement
The Ghana Partnership Committee of the Presbytery of Lake Michigan is pleased to announce that Rev. Alphonso Kwadzo-Kuma, Chairman of the Ho-East Presbytery, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, has received a visa to come to Michigan later this fall. Dates for his visit are not completely firm, but tentatively, he will arrive here late in October and return to Ghana sometime after the middle of November. He will visit the Benton Harbor area during his first week in Michigan and the Kalamazoo area during the second week. He is scheduled to bring a report to the presbytery meeting at Grand Rapids Westminster on Saturday, 13 November. He will be available to visit congregations elsewhere in the presbytery during his remaining time in Michigan. The schedule for his visit will be announced in a subsequent e-bulletin. To read more about Rev. Alphonso Kwadzo-Kuma in the complete announcement click here Ghana II .
If you are interested in having Rev. Kwadzo-Kuma visit your congregation, please contact John Petro, (269-342-6817), <john.petro@wmich.edu> as soon as possible.
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 Camp Greenwood 2011
Camp Greenwood has 2011 schedule set and posted on-line. Save $25 dollars per camper with the Early Bird Registration by January 1. We have camps for all ages, from grandparents/grandchildren, Adults Special Needs camp and youth camps starting at age 5 thrugh high school. Check us out at www.campgreenwood.org.
Youth News
Junior High SERVE Week - June 19 - 24 The speaker will be
Jonathan Kraker, Youth Pastor at Centerpointe Church in Kalamazoo with music provided by Bryan Kelly, Youth Pastor at 3rd CRC in Kalamazoo.
Senior High SERVE Week - July 11 - 16 The speaker will be Jonathan Kraker, Youth Pastor at Centerpointe Church in Kalamazoo with music provided by Bryan Kelly, Youth Pastor at 3rd CRC in Kalamazoo.
An Early Bird price of $225 by January 1, includes 1) food, 2) lodging, 3) speaker, 4) music, 5) serve sites, 6) Bible material and 7) lodging for 5 days. Download the application from the website or register online at www.campgreenwood.org. |
Youth Events -
- Urban Plunge - October 8-10, 2010; First Presbyterian Church, Sturgis. Contact: Jeff Coney ( coneyjn@verizon.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
- SnowFest - February 18-20, 2011; First Presbyterian Church, Cadillac; Contact: Don Phillips (presbyeducator@sbcglobal.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
- Alma Youth Mix - March 11-13, 2011. Visit the Youth Mix website (http://www.almayouthmix.com) for more information.
For more information or to download a flyer click here - http://www.lakemichiganpresbytery.org/index.php/youthstrat
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Congregational Connection
The presbytery is pleased to announce the new Congregational
Connection media kit! Our presbytery recognizes that not all people
glean their information in a written format and therefore will now
provide a multi-media information kit for your church. The money spent
on copying the Congregational Connection bulletin insert will now go
toward designing and printing a colored poster for display in your
church. The hope is the poster will have broader appeal than the single
bulletin insert. The bulletin insert will still be available for
download. A two powerpoint presentations are also available for
download; one is a continous loop presentation that could be used in
pre-service announcements and a version with speaker notes that could be
used as a minute for mission.
Please
remember the Congregational Connection's purpose is to help you
interpret to your congregation the connectional nature of the church and
to see how per capita is used by our presbytery. You can download all or part of the kit by clicking here.
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Educator Fellowship Schedule - 2010-2011
An exciting year of Educator Fellowship gatherings is planned and I hope that you will put all of these dates on your calendar. Anyone who is involved in educational ministry in the church is welcome to attend. Making reservation or more information can always be found on the Presbytery of Lake Michigan website under the Shepherding Team - Educator Fellowship.
Tuesday, November 9, we will gather with the PALMS group (Presbyterian Association of Lake Michigan Secretaries) at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson (743 W. Michigan Ave.). Thursday, January 13, 2011, we will meet from 10:00 to 2:00 pm at the presbytery office (1511 Helen Ave., Portage). Jane McGookey, the Communications Coordinator for the presbytery, will show us what is new in communications and technology and talk about the ethical implications for young people and families. .
A Spring Retreat is being planned for May 5 to 6, 2011 at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt. |
Communication Corner - ROI - Communication Score Keeping
How do we determine the effectiveness of our church communication? Let's
say we are having a fall event. Score-keeping in church communications
is determined by first of all by attendance, the simple numbers of
people that respond (or didn't) after you created and distributed your
communications.
The attendance score is determined by asking questions such as these:
* Did you do a mailing? Send a postcard? An email? Web
announcement? Pulpit announcement?
* Did you equip your people with communication tools? Connection
cards, postcards, website links?
* How many people attended event? How many were new to the church?
Making up a simple chart of what you did to promote an event and then
the results of it moves discussions of church effectiveness away from
personal opinion to objective numbers.
The simple numbers of how many new people attend the church event, why
and what brought them there is important because you cannot start the
road toward sharing the message of salvation without people getting
inside the church and becoming part of the process.
(Source: Yvon Prehn, www.effectivechurchcom.com) |
OBITUARY
Our church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, Someone Else. Someone's passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Someone Else has been with us for many years and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than a normal person's share of the work.
Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone's list, "Let Someone Else do it." Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results; "Someone Else can work with that group." It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most liberal givers in our church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.
Someone Else was a wonderful person; sometimes appearing superhuman. Were the truth known, everybody expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it" Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?
When you are asked to help this year, remember - we can't depend on Someone Else anymore |
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Opportunities
Other Opportunities
There are several ministry opportunities in Lake Michigan Presbytery which are NOT posted on the Congregational Leadership Connection site:
- Interim Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Coldwater
- Interim Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Muskegon
Please contact John Best, General Presbyter ASAP if you are interested or know of someone interested in knowing more about these positions. Click here to see all opportunities available in the Presbytery. |
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