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Season is Here:
Welcome Back to the Beach! |
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| News from the Anglican Presence on Ft. Myers Beach | October 2011 |
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WELCOME
Welcome to St. Raphael's by the Sea. We are an orthodox Anglican parish in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church of North America. We seek to know Christ and to make Christ known. Our worship services are a blend of traditional hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs. There is no need for prayer books or hymnals as our service is projected on the screen for your convenience. So just relax and worship the Lord with us. There are no strangers here, only friends we haven't yet met. Please stay afterwards for some refreshments and more importantly to make new friends. Looking forward to meeting you..
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 Pastor Marcrum's Featured Article
Dear Friends and Family, There is a sense of excitement in the air here at St. Raphael's by the Sea as we anticipate the return of our seasonal friends and family to Fort Myers Beach. Hopefully, some of you will make it down here in time to celebrate St. Raphael's saint day with us on Sunday, October 23rd. St. Raphael, our patron saint, is the Archangel traditionally assigned to watch over travelers and for healing. Every Sunday at St. Raphael's by the Sea we offer prayers for travelers and for those seeking healing. If you can't be here to celebrate with us, then please send in your prayer requests to be lifted up at the altar for St. Raphael's Day. In celebration of St. Raphael's Day, Roxie Smith has kindly offered her beautiful historic cottage for a potluck dinner following our Sunday morning worship service. We also began our first Alpha program last week with a kick-off dinner of homemade chicken and dumplings at Roxie's historic cottage. Thanks Roxie for opening up this wonderful place for us to fellowship and study together about our Savior, Christ the Lord. This Thursday we will focus on Jesus through the teachings of Nicky Gumbel followed by group discussion. Dinner begins at 6:00 PM. Class time is from 6:45pm-9pm. So if you can't make it for dinner, then please join us for the Alpha class. For those unable to attend the fall session, we will be offering another Alpha session beginning in January. I am delighted to share with you the launching of another outreach program to reach others for Christ via postcards and rack cards. The postcards, which are offered freely to you as evangelical tools, are already reaching others here at the concession stand in the Beach Theater and the rack cards are on display at the Fort Myers Beach Chamber headquarters. These beautiful cards were designed by Cris Zach and Andrea Hedricks, using a photograph of Fort Myers Beach by Jim Marcrum. Special thanks to Hazel Anlauf and Roxie Smith for funding this important outreach and to our volunteer design team in doing such a terrific job! As you can see, step by step we are seeking to fulfill our mission statement "to know Christ and to make Christ known" through various innovative ways. Please pray for favor as we continue to reach others for Christ. And don't forget to let others know about the live streaming webcast of our Sunday morning worship services on our website! Thanks again for your generous support! We look forward to welcoming all of you back to your beach home by the sea. Blessings, Pastor Alice+ _________________________________________________________ |
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Plateaued and Perplexed? Getting Our Church Growing
A Sure Foundation Presentation for the Gulf Atlantic Diocese
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Where:
Servants of Christ Anglican Church at:
3536 NW 8th Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32605
When:Saturday October 22, 2011 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM EDT |
Dear Partner in the Gospel,
I felt it when I was a rector; and I know that you experience it as well: perplexity. It comes when we are doing everything we know to do, but week by week we see the same faces in church. We know that healthy congregations, like healthy plants, should be dynamic - growing and multiplying. But ours is static. And if we allow perplexity to hang around too long discouragement joins it.
Churches, regardless of size, hit growth plateaus. In fact, 80% of America's 350,000 congregations are plateaued (most of them with less than 75 people on Sunday). Though plateaus are inevitable, they need not become permanent.
Canon Jim Hobby and I invite you to bring some of your parish's key leaders with you to a one-day conference on October 22nd called "Plateaued and Perplexed: Getting Our Church Growing." The Rev. Phil Ashey (from American Anglican Council) and the Rev. Alex Farmer from our diocese will share with us biblical principles with practical application that will point the way forward.
They will also introduce you and your key leaders to a program called "Sure Foundations," an on-going program of leadership training, strategic planning and coaching that can transform the DNA of your church. This intensive program may well be a great next step for your congregation.
Here are the details:
- When: October 22, 9 am to 3 pm; lunch is included.
- Where: Servants of Christ, Gainesville, FL.
- Cost per person: $49 (includes lunch and conference materials).
I encourage you to invite your Vestry, staff and key opinion leaders to join you at the conference. It may well change the spiritual climate of your church - and help you move beyond perplexity into intentional, cooperative mission and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We look forward to seeing you on October 22nd.
In the Messiah,
+Neil
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 | | Just Ask for a Supply! |
New Postcards-Rack Cards available for distribution to anyone who wants to use them to invite others to join us!
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 Father Murphy Father Murphy walked into a pub and said to the first man he met, "Do you want to go to heaven?" The man replied, "I do Father." The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall." Then the priest asked a second man, "Do you want to go to heaven?" "Certainly, Father," was the man's reply. The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall." Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and said, "Do you want to go to heaven?" O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father." The priest said, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?" O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now." ____________________________________________________________________________ |
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 Our Mission is to Know Christ and to make Christ known to others.
To accomplish that mission, it takes commitment and resources. Please read the next few paragraphs and do what you can to support and further the mission.
Needs of our Church
- Financial contributions and donations to cover:
- Operating expenses; such as, rent for our worship space, supplies, secretarial assistance and office supplies, outreach, etc.
- Dedicated donations of Altar Guild supplies and support.
- Outreach efforts for our community
- Salary and modest expenses for our pastor
- Prayers and support from our seasonal members to sustain our full time members in their efforts until you all return and physically "pitch in"
- New members to expand our outreach and service in doing the Lord's work in our communities
Our Prayer List: PARISHIONERS: Ruth Abraham AJ Bassett Betty Goodacre Geri Paprocki Roxie Smith Jane Upsal FAMILY OF PARISHIONERS: Frandy Bassett Tasha Looney Harold Futch Iris Street Anthony Smith Mary Sue Webb FRIENDS: Sue Egony Lily Langster Allison Watkins Cathryne Anne Kahililani Andrew Hartfield Jean Matthew Mary Ellen Smith Remember to pray for those who are in the military service:
Rockford , Adam, Louis, David, Caroline, Nick and Jessica
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Here Is Your Chance!
Make an On-Line Donation to Support Our Mission!
Donate On-Line to St. Raphael's by the Sea Church
To make it readily accessable and easy for our season members and friends to help support the missions of St. Raphael's by the Sea, we have set-up a means to receive donations via credit cards, debit cards, and direct from your bank accounts! Just click on the link below, enter you information and desired donation, and voila!, the transaction is completed for you direct into St. Raphael's by the Sea checking account. You can even specify how you want the funds used; from paying operating expenses, to flowers, music, Christmas, Easter, etc.
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Live Streaming Video of Each Service!
We went "LIVE" a few Sunday's ago with our first ever real time, streaming video of the entire service. It went so well, that it is now a permanent feature of our mission; To Know Christ and to Make Christ Known. You can watch the stream every Sunday at 10:00AM ET by starting on our website, www.saintraphaelsbythesea.org and following the link as indicated there. |
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Saint Raphael's by the Sea Church
The Anglican Presence on Fort Myers Beach
Webmaster St. Raphael's by the Sea www.saintraphaelsbythesea.org 239-464-9823 |
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Butterscotch Bread Pudding
Ingredients 
- 1 (10.75 ounce) loaf day-old bread, torn into small pieces
- 4 cups milk
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish
- In a large bowl, combine bread, milk, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and butterscotch chips; mixture should be the consistancy of oatmeal. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven 1 hour, until nearly set. Serve warm or cold.
Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 623| Total Fat: 23.1g | Cholesterol: 120mg |
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