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January 2007

The Pastor’s Column
By Rodney Newman

In Honor and Praise

       Each Sunday we gather for worship and celebrate the different ministries coming in the weeks ahead. It is helpful periodically to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of how our church continues to touch the lives of many people. The end of the calendar year offers such an opportunity as we print the report to the Charge Conference from our Lay Leader, Julie Williams, reviewing our ministries for 2006. In reflecting on this, I am reminded of the words from a hymn we sing written by Jane Marshall:

Give thanks for the past, for those who had vision, who planted and watered so dreams could come true. Give thanks for the now, for study, for worship, for mission that bids us turn prayer into deed.

Give thanks for tomorrow, full of surprises, for knowing whatever tomorrow may bring, the Word is our promise always, forever; we rest in God’s keeping and live in God’s love.

This gift we now bring, this present, this token, these words can convey it, the joy of this day! When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing, this song we now offer in honor and praise!

Membership Update

 New Members in 2006

Jason & Samantha Bradshaw, Ed & Sybil Eliasen, Shawn & Katie Freeman, Kate Lott, Wylie & Lauren Walton, Amy Loughridge, Joe & Ginny Royer, Marty, Tamara, & Tanner Wimmer, Mark, Leslie & Taylor Yancey

Baptisms in 2006

Frankie Jo Bradshaw, Gavyn Giese, Andrew Harris, Michi Medley & Robert Medley, III.

Ministry and Mission

We have experienced continued growth in our mission work:

Started our fourth year hosting a Whiz Kids after school reading program in conjunction with Mayflower Congregational Church and Putnam Heights Elementary School. An increasing number of our members are serving as tutors, administrators, and Bible study leaders.

Collected 2264 this year in support of the October Food for Skyline drive. This was a 259 can increase over our collection last year.

Served a meal at Saturday Night Alive.

Supported Skyline’s Back to School clothes drive.

Continued support of the Angel Tree during the Christmas season.

Sponsored a mission trip to Rio Bravo Mexico the week after Christmas for the third year.

Participated in an ecumenical event on April 22 with neighborhood churches. Not Alone Day ministries included a fair at Putnam Heights Elementary School and clean up at area homes.

Janet Kingsolver participated in a Conference mission trip to Miedzyrzeca, Poland in June.

Taffy Fellingham and Janet Kingsolver served on the staff of New Day Camp.

Offered the Crown Heights Café, a fellowship dinner on Wednesday nights, during the school year.

Continued our fine music program with the presentation of John Rutter’s Requiem on Palm Sunday, a cantata during Advent and other special events including Gospel Music Sunday.

Enjoyed record attendance in our Chancel Choir in the fall.

Observed Laity Sunday in October directed by our Lay Leader, Julie Williams. She interviewed two members, Bill McKnight and Lee Endicott, about their lives and their faith. Evelyn Phyffer gave the sermon emphasizing the lay speaking ministry.

Marilyn Oden presented the Holland Lectures on the theme of hospitality on February 26.

Continued our van ministry and Mobile Meals.

The United Methodist Women continued their ministry through the Pumpkin Patch.

Continued offering scholarships to our members engaged in higher education through our Endowment Fund.

Introduced a revised order of worship for our 11:00 a.m. service in September. This included moving the announcements to the beginning of the service, changing the tunes for the Doxology and Gloria Patri, and having our organist/pianist, Mariann Searle, play beautiful piano pieces for the offertory.

Rededicated the Steinway piano in the sanctuary after having it refurbished by a Steinway technician. This effort was funded by gifts from the Maxine Dinstbir Endowment and memorials presented in honor of Loretta Brown.

Received gifts of new registration pad covers featuring the church logo and a prie dieu built by John Harris.

Received a new paschal candle and stand to be used during Easter and on special occasions.

Children and Youth

The children and youth continue to be involved in our worship, serving as liturgists, acolytes, and singing and playing musical instruments.

Continued the summer programs of a music camp and Vacation Bible School.

Recognized children in our acolyte program and presented Bibles to 3rd graders.

Continued coordinating the children’s program through the Children’s Council and programs such as the Advent Festival and Egg Hunt.

Observed our first Trunk or Treat on October 29 with 14 vehicles participating.

Introduced the new Live Big curriculum from Cokesbury.

Began Creative Kids, a ministry for children held during the 11:00 service after the Children’s Moment.

Said goodbye to Mike Slack who moved to a job at OCU and to Jenifer Thompson as she moved to Tulsa and welcomed Tyler Kirk as Director of Youth Ministries and Ryan Mobley as Director of Children’s Ministries.

Updated the Youth Room by moving their furniture and making it their primary meeting space. We also purchased a television with DVD and received donated video games. The pool table was resurfaced with new cues purchased.

Administration

The Administrative Council created a Vision Committee to look at our current ministries and begin looking toward the future of our congregation. This group chaired by Jack Thompson met several times with the assistance of the Reverend David Severe who guided us through a demographic study supplied by the Conference. This group worked joined with the Trustees and Administrative Council to consider the needs of our buildings including accessibility issues.

We responded to the Bishop’s call to consider our disciple making ministry with our Lay Leader, Julie Williams, leading this discussion with our Sunday School classes.

We held several work days sponsored by the Trustees that attended to such items as oiling the wood in the sanctuary and cutting down overgrown hedges outside.

About thirty women from OU replaced the ceiling tiles in the Youth Room, refreshed the woodwork in the Youth Activities Building, and cleaned out some rooms on the third floor as part of their Big Event project. Another group sponsored by OCU replaced bulbs and light panels in the Youth Building hallway.

Three heating/air conditioning units were replaced after breaking down and a drinking fountain was donated for the Children’s Building.

Received a new freezer donated by the city-wide Mobile Meals organization.

Church Officers for 2006

Dedication of New Paschal Candle

On Christmas Eve we introduced a new paschal candle presented to the church as a gift from Jay Acquaviva and Amy Loughridge in celebration of their wedding. The paschal candle’s primary use is in the celebration of Easter where it is lit on Easter Sunday and each Sunday in Eastertide. It will also be used for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, and baptisms and special services such as the one tonight. We

appreciate this gift for our sanctuary to enhance our worship and recognition of the presence of

Christ among us.

This Month in Worship

By Reverend Newman

Next month, our pastor will begin a six week sermon series looking at many of the significant transitions in our lives. We will look at events from birth to death, how our religious tradition provides us with rituals to mark these passages, and how our spirituality guides us through them.  We welcome you to come to any and all of these special services. 

Sermon Titles & Texts

Jan 7         Christian Initiation – Baptism

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Baptism of Jesus

Jan 14       Marriage – Wedding Rituals

Genesis 2:18-24

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Jan 21       Death – Rituals of Death and Resurrection

Revelation 21:1-5

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Jan 28       Seasons of Life

Dialogue sermon with our Pastor and the Rev. David Wilson, General Superintendent, Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference

Luke 4:16-20

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Feb 4         Life with Christ – Confirmation & Conversion

2 Timothy 1:1-7   

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Feb 11       Growth in Faith – Worship Rituals

Philippians 3:7-16

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Special Gifts

In Memory of Buddy Lowe

Ed & Sybil Eliasen

In Memory of Willis Wheat

Richard & Frances Baker

Weddings

Amy Loughridge & Jay Acquaviva were married on December 26.

Youth News

by Tyler Kirk

I hope that every one had a great Christmas Holiday. I know Will, Hillary, and I all had a great time in Mexico on the mission trip during the break.

It’s been a few Sundays since we’ve met for youth group but I look forward to seeing every one on January 7. We begin confirmation this Sunday. For those that have been through confirmation before, I assure you that youth will still be the same, just with a lesson dealing with the confirmation subject. For those that have not gone through confirmation you will have a mentor to meet with during the week. We will discuss all of this in youth on Sunday. We plan to go on a retreat some time in February. If every one could please check your calendars and let me know what weekend you COULD NOT go on the retreat. Please e-mail that information to me at youth@crownheightsumc.org. Keep in mind that even if you have completed confirmation the retreat will still be a great time and I strongly encourage every to plan to be there. If you have any other questions please send me an e-mail.

UMW News

The UMW Executive Committee met in November and elected new officers to include:

Co-presidents: Betty Langer and Susie Wallace

Secretary: Sally Hayes

Treasurer: Charlotte Trobaugh

Please give them your support as they assume these leadership roles.

A great big thank you goes to past officers:

Treasurer: Paige Selby

Secretaries: Carole Higgins and Betty Langer

Circle Chairpersons: Charlotte Trobaugh, Kitty Ogburn, Betty Langer and Alice Whittle

Our first executive meeting of the new year will be held January 31 in the Fellowship Hall at 6:00 p.m.

All Circle chairpersons and/or representatives are encouraged to attend this meeting.

Are you looking for a piano? The church has a number of extra pianos that we would be happy to give a new deserving home. If you or someone you know would be interested in acquiring one of these, please contact the church office for more information.

Music Ministry

by George Massey

Christmas Cantata

Our Christmas Cantata, One Incredible Moment, certainly lived up to the title! Many thanks to our dedicated choir members for their tremendous contri­bution of time and talents which made the services on December 10 and 17 at PCCC so memorable. We had a beautiful score, the choirs and their training were on the same levels, the orchestra from UCO was superb and we also had training CDs so choir members could work on their parts outside of regular rehearsals!

We hope to have DVDs with both presentations made available for purchase to our congregation. Order forms should be available later in January. Many thanks to Sandy Sanbar, Brent Massey, and especially Ed Durell for taping the services and Ed editing the final version.

Chancel Choir

We resume Sunday services on January 7, 2007 with rehearsals beginning Wednesday, January 10.

Easter Service Hand Bells

I am currently in the planning stages for our special Lenten music series and would like to invite all hand bell players to join us for our glorious Easter services Sunday, April 8, at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. I have some wonderful anthems that would be outstanding with bell accompaniment.

If you are interested, please e-mail me at gmassey4@cox.net at your earliest convenience so we can determine if this will be possible. I feel we would need at least two rehearsals and then a short rehearsal with the Chancel Choir on Saturday, March 31.  We'd love to have you!

Crown Heights Café to Resume

The Crown Heights Café will re-open in 2007 on January 31. The Café will be open the final Wednesday of each month through May and will serve delicious hot meals for a reasonable price. Meals will be served from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Everyone is invited.

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