FINLEY FOCUS

April 2006

Founded 1891          Picture by Karen Brown

 

 

From the Pastor’s Desk

 

            Last month I wrote to you about our ongoing work to plan a mission trip to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to assist in the hurricane relief effort.  Since the publication of the March Focus, plans have begun to take shape, and we are moving along nicely in our preparation to assist the hurricane victims.  So this month, I want to give you an update about the Gulf Coast mission trip as well as an update on the other work we are and will be doing this year.

            First, the Gulf Coast mission team met on March 22 to begin preliminary planning for the trip.  We had nine people at the meeting, some of them planning to go on the trip; others are serving in a support role to help us with planning.  Here are the plans for the trip to date:

When: Saturday, October 7 through Saturday, October 14.  We will leave from Finley on the morning of the 7^th, spend the night somewhere close to Mississippi, and arrive Sunday, October 8 in Hattiesburg, MS.  We will leave late afternoon on Friday the 13^th, spend the night on the way home, and arrive back at the church on Saturday the 14^th.  The date of departure will depend on the work we will be assigned to do.  If we cannot finish our work by Friday afternoon, we will have to depart on Saturday and arrive home on Sunday the 15^th. 

            Where: We will be going to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg, MS, and we will be staying in a house owned by the church.  This will be our base of operations for the time we are in Hattiesburg.  The church will direct us in finding the work we will be doing.  This work could be around the Hattiesburg area or we might be sent further down toward the coast.  This will depend on where they need the most help!  Our work will probably consist of home repairs such as roofing, debris removal and clean up, or working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes. 

            How:  We are planning on traveling by van to Hattiesburg.  We will most likely be renting one to two vans for the trip depending on how many people we have going on the team.  We will also be taking a truck and a trailer to help transport our bags, supplies, tools, and items we collect for hurricane relief.

            If you are interested in being part of the mission team, please make sure you attend the planning meetings.  Our next planning meeting will be Sunday, April 9 after worship.  We will eat lunch together and then continue our planning and preparation work.  If you are planning to go with the team, it is very important for you to be at our meetings.  We must have an accurate count of people as soon as possible in order to make sure Westminster knows the number of people to plan for.  We are shooting for the goal of 15 people for the trip, so if you are planning to go, there are still spots available. 

            Second, as the Gulf Coast mission team plans their trip, the Mission and Outreach ministry will continue to work on our plans to collect items to take to the coast.  You have already been given a list of items we will be collecting.  This list will change a little in the coming months, so keep on the lookout for updated information.  At this time, the plan is to start collecting the items to take after the yard sale on May 20.  This will give us several months to collect the items before we leave for Hattiesburg.  The mission team will then take the collected goods to Handsboro Presbyterian Church on the coast of Mississippi and hand deliver them in person to the distribution center along with our greetings and prayers from Finley. 

            All in all, this will have to be a communal effort of the whole church, so be sure to keep our call and work in your prayers as we continue to reach out in Christian service to our brothers and sisters in need.  And most importantly, I encourage each of you to find a way for you to help us in our mission as Christ’s church.  We need your prayers, your gifts, your financial resources, and your skills and talents.  This is after all what it means to be a church – people helping people respond in faith to God’s call to mission and ministry.  May God’s blessing be upon you and upon this church as we step out in faith to join with God in God’s work in the world.

 

May the peace of Christ be with you,

Dan

             

 

 

Worship Ministry

 

    How do we keep Holy Week ‘holy’? Through prayer, that God reveal to us in our own lives, the meaning of Holy Week.  God will do the rest!

    Easter Lily reminder: Lilies are $9.00 each and your check should be made out to Mary Alice Lunsford. Please contact Mary Alice by April 2 with your order which may be in honor or memory of a loved one, if you wish.

    Would you like to usher? Help out in our nursery during worship?  Assist with communion? Serve as liturgist? These are a few of the opportunities to serve as we worship together. If you are interested in taking a more active part in any of these areas, please speak to Donnie McCormick or Linda Cohron. 

    Some dates to keep in mind during Lent are our Maundy Thursday Communion service on April 13 at 8:00 PM, Good Friday service on April 14 at 8:00 PM, Easter Sunrise service on April 16 at 6:00 AM, and our Easter service at 11 AM where we will give the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

    May you be greatly blessed in your worship experience here at Finley.

 

 

Member Involvement Ministry

 

        We will have a Member Involvement Ministry meeting after church Sunday, April 9. Lunch will be provided!

 

Family Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday, April 15 @1:00 pm

 

Bring a picnic and come have lunch on the lawn with your Finley family. We will have fun and games for the children…then we’ll hunt! Please bring 1 dozen filled plastic eggs per child to donate for the hunt.

Thank you!

Member Involvement Ministry

 

Presbyterian Women

 

    Presbyterian Women will meet Tues, April 4 at 7:00pm. Our Bible study lesson will be lesson 8, Easter, "A Time to Weep, and a Time to Laugh."  All women are urged to join us for meetings.

   Presbyterian Women are collecting paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, etc.) and cleaning products (Lysol, Windex, etc.) for the Presbyterian Group Home in Waynesboro. We do not collect washing detergent as the folks at the group home have many allergies, and have to buy certain products that are non-allergenic and dye and fragrance free. Cleaning and paper products can be left in the narthex through Tuesday, April 4. Any monetary donations can be given to Yvonne Simmons. Last year's drive was very successful. Let's make this year's a good one too.

    P W wants to thank the Youth of the church for the fabulous job they did collecting canned goods and nonperishable items for the Blue Ridge Food Bank. These young people really worked hard collecting items, and we want them to know how much we appreciate their hard work.

    Our "Links of Love" offering for Sunny Side Retirement Community was $210. Thanks to all who contributed.

    The 18th Annual Presbyterian Women's Spring Gathering is to be held at the Massanetta Springs Conference Center on April 8. The cost will be $10 per person and the money and registration needs to be in by April 1. Please see Yvonne Simmons if you are interested in going.

    Prayers were offered and blessings bestowed on the latest "Prayer Shawl" which will go to Mary Young. If anyone has interest in working on one of these shawls or knows of someone who would appreciate one, please let one Yvonne Simmons or Karen Brown know.

 

 

Child’s View of the Bible:

    Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.

 

 

From The Fellowship Committee

 

April 2 – 8:30 am – Men’s Fellowship breakfast downstairs

Easter Sunday, April 16 – Breakfast after our Sunrise Worship Service at 6 am

April 30 – Coffee after worship in the fellowship hall downstairs

 

Mission and Outreach Ministry

 

    We continue to plan for our hurricane relief effort along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and we need your support. There are two meetings scheduled in April to mark on your calendars related to our relief effort. The first is Thursday, April 6 at 7:00pm at the church. This will be a meeting of the Mission and Outreach ministry where we will be discussing plans for collecting items to take to the Gulf Coast, as well as other mission work we are doing here at Finley. The second is Sunday, April 9 after worship. This will be a meeting of the Gulf Coast mission team, focusing on the trip planned for October 7-14. Remember, if you are interested in being part of the mission trip, you need to be at the meeting on April 9, so we can firm up the number of people who are planning to go.

    The Finley yard sale to help support our children at the Gore Home in Ethiopia is scheduled for Saturday, May 20. Please start saving items to donate to the yard sale. If you are willing to help work on the yard sale and/or work during the yard sale, please see Jacquelyn May or Beverly Ellis.   

 

Help Support an Aspiring Eagle

 

    Hello, my name is Brian Boswell, and I am a member of Finley and of Boy Scout Troop 11 of Fishersville. I am working to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. One of the requirements for this is to lead a service project which will benefit an organization other than scouting. It was brought to my attention that the front yard of the church could use some improving where the gutters from the roof of the church drain down into the front yard. This has led to three rather large ruts and mud spots in the yard.

    I am currently working on plans to correct this problem. My plan is to put in new underground piping, which would drain the water directly down to the street. The first step will be to dig trenches for the pipes. The existing pipes would be shortened, and new ones would be attached. The three pipes would come down the yard at an angle, combine into one, and continue down to the bottom of the driveway. After the trenches have been refilled, new grass will be planted over them. For more information on this, see the display in the narthex. This plan has been cleared with both the county and the church session.

. I believe that this will be a large improvement to the look of our front yard, and would greatly appreciate any donations that you can make towards helping with this project. To make a donation, please see the display in the narthex. Thank you for your time and consideration in helping me achieve my Eagle Scout rank.

 

2005 Yearly Report from:

 Stuarts Draft Clothes Closet

 

    Thank you for your continued support of our Clothes Closet. We have had a great year, giving out approximately 24,000 items to families at our building on Monday mornings.  In addition, surplus clothing and yard sale items goes to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and, this year, some went to families affected by Hurricane Katrina.

 

    Please continue to help us financially as our heating bill is more this year, and, of course, we have the electric bill. If you can help us out with these expenses, please send your checks to our treasurer, Harry Devore, PO Box 128, Lyndhurst, VA 22952.

 

    The Clothes Closet is staffed and run by volunteers, who give of their time to sort, clean and give out all the generous donations brought in for distribution.  We are located in the small building next to the Schoolhouse Restaurant, and the side door is always open to accept your offerings.

 

    Our budget is small, but we accomplish much with it.

 

FINANCIAL REPORT 2005

Ending balance:

$752.69

 

    If you have questions about our operation or would like to help us out in any way, please contact Brenda Nice, director, at 337-0486.

 

    Thank you for your donations of items and your financial support; without all of you our ministry could not continue.

                                            

 

God's Asian Youth Group

 

    Calling all youth to an exciting evening of food, fun, missions, and cultural sharing. On April 8th at 6:30 at Augusta Stone Church, Sharon Stanley (Becky Stanley's sister-in-law) and her youth group from Fresno, CA will prepare a meal and share their Asian culture with us.

     As background, this youth group is called "God's Asian Youth Group."  It is composed primarily of Hmong, Lao, and Cambodian Youth--but there is one Mexican/Hispanic young man as well!  The youth ministry is affiliated with University Presbyterian Church of Fresno, Ca., in the heart of California's agriculturally productive and culturally diverse Central Valley. Sharon is founder and Executive Director of FIRM, Inc. (Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries)--and serves as a kind of "pastoral staff" to God's Asian Youth Group, through her connection with University Presbyterian Church as its "Parish Associate for Cross-cultural Mission." Sharon grew up in the Shenandoah Valley at Timber Ridge and then Tinkling Spring Church where her father was the minister. Her group also participated in the Baja Mission Trip a few years ago!

     These young people have been fundraising for this trip to the east coast for several years. It is a mission trip for them and they will tell us about some of their mission activities, as well as providing the cultural exchange. We will meet at Finley at 6:00 pm to car pool to Augusta Stone. Each person is also asked to bring a canned food item which we will donate to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Monetary donations will also be accepted to help to defray the costs of the group. Please bring your friends and welcome these Californians to the Shenandoah Valley! If you have questions, contact Marti Elliott and if you want to know what a great group of young people these youth are, ask Courtney Elliott.

 

Our Active Youth

 

Middle School Youth Group: Meetings Sunday evenings, 7-8:15 at the Nelson’s.  

 

High School Youth Group:

Sun. March 26 - meet at the Coble's 7:00-9:00 - Bring your guitars, friends and singing voices. We will be focusing on music in preparation for an anthem to be shared with the congregation in worship on Sun. April 2.

 Sun. April 2 - 10:15am - meet at Finley to prepare for the anthem during worship.

         7:00-9:00 pm - Fellowship & Devotion at the Coble's. Bring your bibles, guitars, and friends.

 Sat. April 8 - 5:30 pm - meet at the church to attend the "Southeast Asian Comfort Food" Mission Feast and Culture Show at Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church. Feel free to invite your friends, but let Marti Elliott know if you plan to attend so we can arrange for enough transportation. There is no charge for this event, but a freewill offering will be collected and each participant is encouraged to bring an item of canned food for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Sun. April 9, 23, 30 - 7:00-9:00 pm - Fellowship & Devotion at the Coble's. Bring your bibles, guitars, and friends.

     Please note there will be no regularly scheduled Youth Meeting on Easter Sunday, April 16th.  Enjoy the holiday with your friends and family!

 

 

	Nursery Schedule	Visitation Schedule
April 2	Greg & Amy Allen & Carolyn Palmer	David Wenner & Don Markle
April 9	Darlene Bowles, Jill Matthews & Kathy Boswell	Darlene Bowles
April 16	Jan & LeAnne Wenner; Shirley Meijer & Alicia Alcala	Janet Robinette & Doris Willey
April 23	Allison & Randy Fink; Jacquelyn May	Marjorie Shreckhise
April 30	David & Lisa Seaman; Paul Willey	Esther Winton & Beverley Ellis

 

 

Usher List

 

Gloyd May (CH)

Ben Meijer

Janet/Gene Robinette

Jonathan Smith

David Cohron

Liz Bowles

 

 

April 2006