Category: 2022 04 April

April 2022 Mustard Seed Announcements

4/8/2022

Spring Workday is Set for Saturday, April 23
We will need lots of volunteers to help with sprucing up the outside of the church as well as dusting and cleaning windows on the inside of the church. We will be meeting at 9am on Saturday, April 23rd. Bring shovels, rakes, clippers, trimmers, blowers and anything else you can think of we might need to get the job done.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
We are continuing an in-person Sunday School program during the 10:30 a.m. service as well as a Wednesday Bible School program on Wednesdays at 4:30pm via zoom!
   Our Sunday teachers are Gail Achilles and Anita Halpern and our Wednesday teachers are Nancy Gansner, Gail Achilles and Anna Friedrich. We are using the Whirl curriculum, following lessons that go along with the lectionary (the lessons that are read each week.)
    Please come on Sunday morning or contact the church office at faithmont@verizon.net if you would like to be part of the Wednesday zoom class. (Please make sure we have your email address so we can send you the zoom link. Materials will also be sent to those participating on zoom. A Bible will be provided to your child if they do not have one. Please let us know.)         For more information see, Melissa Prunkel

Monday Night Bible Study will meet via zoom from 7-9pm on Monday nights. They are reading, "Leading a Life of Balance" by Christa Kinde, foreword by Marilyn Meberg. There are 12 chapters, and they started Chapter 1, on January 24. All are welcome to come at any time during the study.
                             Your Sister in Christ, Gail Achilles.

We will be resuming in-person VBS in 2022. Gail Achilles is enthusiastically looking forward to August. We will be doing “Monumental” Vacation Bible School Monday through Friday, August 8-12, 2022 from 9am to 12noon. We will be needing lots of volunteers to help out in many different ways. Please contact Melissa Prunkel, Gail Achilles or the church office with your suggestions or to volunteer to help. Thank you, Church Family!

SOCIAL MINISTRY PROJECT
Books – Books – Books for the Children
141 Impact is a ministry we have supported over the years through Pastor Nelson’s daughter, Carrie Brown.

They have raised funds to build a community library to supplement education in Uganda. Reading is such an important part of every child’s life. These children are anywhere between 3 and 15 years old.

Therefore, they are in need of books to fill that future library and we can be a special part in doing that. We donate the money for them to purchase the books in Uganda.

Our Social Ministry team prays…
    . our families will work with their children to donate the money for these books
     . our grandparents will donate book moneys in honor of their grandchildren.
     . everyone else supports the need to purchase these books

The hope is that we can actually have labels in the books they purchase showing given “by the Hood Family”, for example, or “Given in Honor of Greg Hood.”

We are figuring on $5.00 per book with a goal of $150.
There will be a “Book Bank” on the foyer desk and another one in a Sunday School room.

If you want a book specific for your family or child, please let us know.

Bless a child today. Show our love to these parents who are deeply grateful for what is being done for their children.

Any questions, please contact me.    Your Sister in Christ,     Sharon Hood

Coffee Hour after Worship on Sundays at Faith
In an effort to return some normalcy to Faith Church (not only are masks optional now) but we will be bringing back ministry teams and congregational volunteers to help out with coffee hours.

We all love to congregate in the Fellowship Hall after worship to break bread (or cake, or fruit, or pretzels, etc.) together but we need some help providing the “bread.”

The coffee hour sponsors for the month will be listed in the Mustard Seed on the Volunteer page and also weekly in the bulletin.

Here are the assignments for April.
4/3 Evangelism-Doug Renner;
4/10 Anniversary Coffeehour - Congregation to bring finger sandwiches;
4/17 Easter Sunday - NO Coffeehour;
4/24 Evangelism-Doug Renner

On Palm Sunday, Faith’s Anniversary, we will have a special cake and we are asking the congregation to bring finger sandwiches to share. We will not be having a coffee hour on Easter Sunday as everyone will be anxious to get home for Easter festivities!

If you are not presently attending in-person church, you could possibly drop something off before-hand or have someone on your team bring something.

Thank you to all those that pitch in to set up and clean up the kitchen on Sundays!

April 2022 Mustard Seed Council Notes

4/8/2022

Council Minutes March 16, 2022
Council was called to order by President Rich Hollenbach. Gail lead devotions on Church Health. Minutes of the February regular council meeting was approved as written.

Treasurer’s Report: The income for February was $8,315.02, expenses $9,970.77 for a monthly deficit of $1,655.75.
Denise noted that we had a negative month; we are down $1600. This is largely due to seasonal items such as snow removal, a large PECO bill due to heating the building, and onetime expenses of member envelopes and our Sundays & Seasons subscription. Also, there was a faux paux with the bank; Denise transferred money into wrong account causing an overdraft. We were charged twice for monies not being in right account to cover the payroll expenses. Denise told us that we will now get notifications in the future if we have any accounts in the negative. Rich asked Denise to make sure that we have overdraft protection. Janet is working with Univest to avoid problems in the future. Denise put alerts online with the bank. The treasurer’s report was approved as written.

President’s Report: Rich informed us that Pastor Bruce Davis will lead worship through Easter. Rich also informed us that Pastor Tim Garman has officially declined our call and is pursuing an interim position in another Synod.

Ministry Team Reports:

Call Committee: In light of Pastor Tim Garman’s decision to decline becoming our pastor, the call committee will regroup and move forward in our quest to call a pastor for our church.
Christian Education: Sunday Bible School (in person) and Wednesday Bible Whirl (Zoom) are holding steady with our attendance. We may be adding one more child to Wednesday Zoom bible school. We just received our Vacation Bible School (VBS) “Monumental” Resources. Gail with the help of VBS veterans is learning what it takes to lead a successful VBS and will send out an email for an upcoming VBS meeting tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 3, around 12:15 pm. It will be an introductory meeting for all volunteers, and anyone is welcome to join us to feel out if there would be some way you can be of help. We need all the help we can get and so far we only have a handful of people. Traditionally, our enrollment for VBS is approximately 50 children. VBS is scheduled for the week of August 8 through 12, 9 am to 12 noon, but there is much we can do in the upcoming months to make it all work smoothly and be fun and safe for the children who attend. Thank you for your support!
Communications: Jack Walls proposed we inject an attention getting possibly humorous message on our new sign (to be changed periodically). He confirmed that Adam will be putting out the Easter banner in front of our church. Jack will also be in contact with Lauren Allegrezza Krupp to make necessary updates to our website.
Fundraising: In Linda Kratz’s absence, Rich reported that we will have a scrapbooking event held at our church on Friday, May 13, and Saturday, May 14.
Hospitality/Fellowship: Anne Hutnyk informed us that the list for Fellowship food/drinks after Sunday Worship Service is posted in the Fellowship Hall.
Property Team: Vince Hill will set up a date for Spring cleanup. Missy mentioned that she noticed the church’s stained-glass windows need a little spring clean-up too.

Shepherding: Sharon Hood reported that Valentine’s cards were sent out and Easter Cards will be sent to our congregation.
Social Ministry: Sharon reported that Valentine’s cards were sent to our 13 homebound members which was February’s social ministry project. Sharon informed us that March’s Social Ministry is for donating specific essentials (for example towels, combs, soap, fingernail clippers, toothbrushes) for Lutheran World Relief kits. She also gave us a heads-up that in April, social ministry will be asking for monetary donations for 141 Impact so that their newly built library in Uganda can be filled with books. Essentially you will be donating money and can have your family/child honored with a book or books that they purchase through your donations for their library (your name will be written in a book(s) in your honor).
Special Funds: Chris Jones will do another 2-year term as the member at large. No requests this month.
Worship & Music: Rich reported that Pastor Bruce Davis will lead worship through Easter continuing the Lenten Series.

OLD BUSINESS

Prayer Vigil, Sat Mar 12th We had inclement weather, so only a few showed up in person, but others who signed up prayed from home. We did get God’s answer according to His will and plans for us.

NEW BUSINESS

Entering back into Call Process – Pastor Penman informed us that he has a dean’s meeting next week, and that we should regroup our Call Committee to be prepared for pastoral candidates coming our way. Check in with your call committee members to see if they will remain on the call committee. Gail has agreed to stay on as the Call Committee Chair and will contact the current call committee (Nancy Allegrezza, Anita Halpern, Rich Hollenbach, Carol Taylor, and Jack Walls) asking if they will remain on the team). Pastor Penman also suggested a book for council to read titled, “Part-time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-time Clergy” by G. Jeffrey MacDonald. Mr. MacDonald outlines 3 models to thrive: 1) Teaching lay people to do ministry; 2) Part time Pastor being utilized as an ambassador to the community; and 3) Whole team running the church are all part-time. Pastor Penman and council members discussed different scenarios: part-time pastor, full-time pastor, sharing a pastor. Jack specifically asked if we could interview full-time candidates with a one- or two-year contract and try in the interim to increase our membership with the hope that we will have the money to sustain a full-time pastor. Pastor Penman was a bit doubtful on that idea. Pastor Penman did answer that there are more candidates seeking a full-time call over a part-time call. Rich informed everyone that he will update information for our folder for the Call process to provide more current information. Our MSP was just recently updated and will not be changed at this time. When asked how many full-time candidates are in the pool as of now, Pastor Penman answered that there are 8 candidates, and most are from outside of our Synod. Pastor Penman ended with that we probably are one of the strongest, dedicated congregations that he has seen in our situation.
Synod Assembly, April 30th, 2022 – need 2 volunteers (M & F) – Gail will represent Faith.
Indoor Mask Mandate update - Review and update our policy. Following current CDC guidance, council agreed on making indoor masks optional. All council members voted in favor of making indoor masks optional
Seat cushions in Fellowship Hall - A few members have asked about having the metal chairs with cloth seats at least at one of the tables in the fellowship hall for coffee hour as the regular chairs are cold as are the cushions in the closet. Action has been taken to provide one table with cloth seating.
Motion to approve membership of Dell Greer and Sarah Snyder. All council members voted in favor to approve membership of Dell and Sarah.
Printer lease and Maintenance - Our current copier is 5 years old (and the lease is coming to an end) and print quality is not as good. Jack had a meeting with Theresa Hammond, from Toshiba and proposed a plan to get a new copier that will save us some money. We will see a $240.00 reduction per year with this new copier proposal. Rich requested that Jack verify that the old copier’s lease ends and is off the books so we will not be accountable for it in the future. All council members accepted to approve.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 7pm. Will be a hybrid meeting.

April 2022 Mustard Seed Note from Council Secretary

4/8/2022

Hello Church Family, As we go through the Lenten Season, Holy Week, and culminating with Easter/Resurrection Sunday, our thoughts are on many of God’s promises to us John 3:16 (NIV) in particular: 16”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Thank you, God, for your many promises and sending your Son Jesus to save us from all our sins and bring those that follow your teachings taught by Jesus to have eternal life with You Lord.

This month I am focusing on Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness, complete divine forgiveness, and once forgiven—forgotten. Sometimes the part to forget is the hardest for me and I am in awe of God’s unconditional love for us to forgive and forget. You see, if you do not forget, you are not really sincere in your forgiveness. But our humanness gets in the way, and we may possibly never get there. However, that is what makes our God great, He loves us and forgives us by knowing what is in our heart, as long as we try. There are many verses in the Bible that teach us of God’s forgiveness like in Isaiah 43:25 (ESV) “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” and Hebrews 8:12 (ESV) “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” , and in 1 John 1:7-9 (ESV) “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Here is a poem/prayer I wrote asking for help with complete forgiveness the kind God has for us.

Teach Me Jesus by Gail Achilles, 6-6-20
Hanging on the cross unjustly accused
how did You forgive those from whom You were abused?
Above all, Jesus, you died to forgive our sins,
according to Your Father’s will, not once did you give in.
The grace and mercy that You have
for all the children of God leaves me in awe and wonder how I can
            rise above.
Teach me how to forgive Jesus those that injure me;
help my heart grow fonder for those who cannot see.
Help me be a helper and do what is right,
and make a better world filled with peace, love, and light.
It gets pretty ugly down here on earth;
the devil is always lurking to take away our worth.
Help me love my enemies; fill me with Your Love,
            so I can turn the other cheek,
and help the lost and those who are weak.
Thinking of the wonder of You and the love You shine on us,
I want to become Christlike and try to be righteous in Your sight.
Thank You Jesus for Your self-sacrifice
            that is the ultimate in pure love;
help me be a helper and please the Lord above.
Help me be a helper, teach me how to forgive
so I can in pure righteousness eternally live….with You.

Ephesians 4:32 (NIV) 32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Your Sister In Christ, Gail J. Achilles

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April 2022 Mustard Seed Announcements

April 2022 Mustard Seed Council Notes

April 2022 Mustard Seed Note from Council Secretary

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