October 26, 2012

Harvest Food Drive

Thank you for supporting our annual Harvest Food Drive!  Please bring your donated food items in a paper grocery sack when you come to worship.  The bags will be displayed in the upstairs and downstairs church lobbys and Fellowship Hall before being taken to North Fulton Community Charities and the Place at Forsyth.

Volunteers needed for Open Arms Ministry's Parents Night Out on Saturday, November 3 from 4:30-8:00pm. You may volunteer for the entire time or for a portion of it. For more information, contact Sarah Provow shprovow@bellsouth.net.    

Adult Education-The Young Adult Sunday School class will no longer be meeting on Sunday mornings. Instead, that group of twenty-somethings is reorganizing into an evening fellowship format. Stay tuned for details! If interested in helping organize, please contact Dr. Wagner in the church office.

The Faith and Families Sunday School class meets from 9:45-10:45am in the multipurpose room upstairs. This Sunday, they will begin a study of a parenting book. Please join in!

FAITH 101, a three-week Sunday School series for new and inquiring members of APC begins Sunday, November 4 at 9:45am in the theater. Join Rev. Jamie Butcher as we discuss basic beliefs, perennial questions, and essential answers of the Christian faith.

Congratulations to the APC Men's Softball Team for finishing in third place with a 7-3 record in the city softball league. Eighteen players participated and enjoyed the fellowship. Their last games will be this Tuesday night, October 30 at North Park in Alpharetta. Come cheer on Team APC!

Come and enjoy a Haitian themed dinner, see the slides and hear the highlights of the Haitian Mission trip of three APC women.  Chef Doug is preparing an authentic Haitian dinner for everyone.  Kelly Edwards, Cynthia Hale and Sydney Schneider will share with us about their mission trip to Haiti and how it changed their lives. 

Dinneris from 6:00 - 6:30 PM.  Dinner fees are:  $4.00 for children 8 years and younger; $6.00 for adults/youth.

The adult program and children's activities are from 6:30 - 7:30 PM.  The kitchen and Fellowship Hall clean-up begin at 7:30 PM so those volunteering can attend the program.

Make your reservations by noon Sunday, November 4 by (1) going online at http://www.alpharettapres.com/acs ; (2) by filling out a card on the table in the hallway, or (3) by entering  info on the bright lime green sheet posted by the APC kitchen door.  Nursery is provided.

Donate gently used bikes, trikes and scooters on November 10. Be a part of the Sixth Annual Bike Drive, gifting gently used bikes to North Fulton area children through NFCC's Santa Shop. With area bike shops as drop points in 2012, we hope to gather close to 1,000 bikes, nearly doubling the 550 collected last year from area neighborhoods. By NOON on November 10, drop off outgrown, used bikes to a bike shop below. Organizers will pick them up and clean them up to make a child's holiday bright when they get their shiny "new-to-them" bike via NFCC's Santa Shop.  If you don't have a bike to give and would like to help, donations to purchase basic parts allow us to spiff up mechanically-sound bikes:  $10 buys a new saddle, a set of pedals or two tubes; $30 gets two new tires or two sets of handlebar grips. For donations of any size, drop off a check made out to NFCC with "Holiday Bike Drive" in the memo line.

If you are mechanically inclined, please join for bike clean up and repair, December 1 at 1425 Market Boulevard Roswell, GA 30076 adjacent the Publix grocery store. Clean up runs from 9:00am till the job is done. Bring shop rags and towels, scrub brushes, Armour All for tires, WD 40 or bike lube for chains, and any bike tools you have.

Participating bike shops:  Alpha Bikes (Alpharetta), The Bicycle Wheel (Johns Creek), Cycle Works (all locations), Fresh Bike Service (Roswell), Performance Bikes (Roswell), Reality Bikes (Cumming), Roswell Bikes (Roswell).  For more information:  http://nfcchelp.org/holiday/santa/ or email Brian at bmullenbach@yahoo.com.

The APC Foster Care Support Mission Team invites you to join them for their monthly volunteer day in Roswell this Tuesday, October 30. We carpool from APC at 9:30 in the morning, help sort clothing, and fill mail orders for children in foster care. We then enjoy lunch and fellowship at a nearby restaurant before returning to the church by 2:00 PM. For more information, please contact Marianna Raffensperger at 770-442-3672 or theraffs@juno.com  

Channel your inner artist! Come join your friends on Thursday, November 15 from 7:00-9:00pm at Masterpiece Mixers Paint & Party Studio in Johns Creek. For $25 you can create your own masterpiece. Anyone can create a lovely portrait, no experience necessary! Please bring an appetizer to share and spirits are allowed. RSVP to Amy Ordahl at 678-637-6489 by November 14. 

The Sunday evening C.S. Lewis lecture series continues.  Jim Motter, an APC member and C.S. Lewis scholar, will lead a 10-week Sunday evening lecture and discussion series on C.S. Lewis' masterwork, Mere Christianity.  The lectures will be held in the theater now through November 11, from 5:30 to 7:00pm. The public is invited.  

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.

Sympathy & Celebrations 

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                             Nancy Hill-Personnell/Nominating       Charles Moriarty-Property/CE Adult 

Jessie Prigge-Youth Ministry                 Jan Hughey-LRP/Finance                   Sarah Provow-Open Arms/Commitment

Amy Rogers-Communications               Kylie Vacko-Open Arms                     Ferrell White-Worship/Fellowship

Jean Williams-Nominating/Membership  

Deacon Care Teams

Hospitality - John Hicks, 678-513-4570, john.c.hicks@gmail.com

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 

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!