Kay Day, a Baptism, new Deacons - The Piper for August 12, 2018

Weekly News from Northmont United Presbyterian Church

August 12, 2018

Welcome to The Piper , Northmont's weekly newsletter!

The Piper helps you keep up with what's going on at Northmont.

Weekly, you will have access to updates on what's happening at

the church. The Piper includes articles, a weekly schedule,

upcoming church-wide events, partnership

and mission news,

youth & children's ministry information, public announcements, a list of members & friends who

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Kay Day returns to Northmont

This Sunday, we are delighted to welcome back to the Northmont pulpit, Rev. Catherine "Kay" Day, a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), who has been serving for the past five years as a mission co-worker in Rwanda, Africa. She is a lecturer in Practical Theology and English at the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences, in Butare, Rwanda, a school that trains pastors from five different protestant denominations, as well as offers degrees in education and development studies. In theology, she teaches preaching and New Testament and, for the other faculties, she teaches English. In a country that just seven years ago adopted English as its international language, a native English speaker to teach English is a blessing. In addition, she pastors a small English speaking congregation near the campus. Prior to going to Rwanda, she served as a mission co-worker in Malawi, Africa for four years.

In preparation for this service, Kay served as a pastor of local congregations in Pittsburgh Presbytery for over 10 years. Prior to that, she was an English teacher at the high school and then the college levels. Kay has advanced degrees in English and Divinity. She was part of the Pittsburgh Presbytery partnership with Blantyre Synod, Malawi for 15 years.

At present, Kay is traveling and speaking in the States about her part in PC(USA) World Mission's role in world mission partnership around the world.

New Secretary for Finance & Administration

Northmont is pleased to welcome our new Secretary for Finance and Administration, Bob Addleman. Bob has been a member of the Northmont church staff since January, 2017, when he accepted an appointment as our Financial Secretary. Before joining the Northmont team, Bob served as the church administrator at Park Presbyterian Church in Beaver.

Bob's office hours will be 9am-2pm, Mondays through Thursdays. Stop by and say hello!

Worship this Sunday

Sermon: "Jesus is Our Peace," Rev. Kay Day

Liturgist: Joanne Zaletsky

Music: David Daugherty, Director of Music; Dianna Hollo, soloist

Stephen Minister Judy Marshall will be available for prayer near the chancel after worship

Chancel Flowers are given to the glory of God by: Daryl Scott Rahenkamp, in honor of Bernard & Eleanor Dusenberry

Fellowship Time immediately follows worship in Polley Fellowship Hall, hosted by: Mission Ministry Team

Need a ride to church?

Call the church office (412) 364-0105 or email before 2pm, Thursday, and we will arrange for a church member to pick you up for Northmont's Sunday service.

This Sunday

Jesus is Our Peace

Rev. Kay Day

Ephesians 2:11-22

In case you missed it ...

Audio from last Sunday's service has not yet been posted. You can access worship audio by from two Sundays ago by clicking the link to the right.

July 29, 2018

"What's Your Name Again? - Titus"

Rev. Ben Robbins

Audio from all of our Sunday services may be found on our Web site or by clicking here .

Ear Candy & Inspiration for a Sunday Morning

This week, we remember Elvis Presley, who left us 41 years ago next Thursday, at the age of 42. Elvis grew up singing Gospel music, and left us with many fine recordings in that tradition,including this rendition of "Peace in the Valley."

Click the link to the left and enjoy!

If you have a musical selection you would like to have featured in this space, we'd love to hear from you! Please send the title (and artist, if it's important to you that we find a specific version of the music) to Bob Addleman.

From the Pastor

Hello everyone,

Just a few things to highlight this week:

First, we are very pleased to have Bob Addleman join us in a new capacity. He has been a pleasure to work with on the finance side of things, so we're excited to work with him now on the administrative side of things too!

In addition, we are glad to officially have Steph Martin step into her expanded role of ministering to children and their families. Steph will continue to lead our youth and develop our website and other electronic communication needs as well. Steph has been performing these added duties expertly since May, so the Session agreed to make them a permanent part of her job description moving forward.

Congratulations and thanks to you both!

Second, starting this Fall, I will be teach an adult education class during the Sunday School hour called, "Starting from Scratch." You can think of it as a sort of "Bible 101," meant for anyone who feels like they aren't the "expert" they'd like to be. If you've never attended a bible study before, or just think you'd like to get a little more understanding of scripture, this could be for you. Let's face it: The Bible (and many of its readers) can be intimidating. So, no memorizing, no fancy bible terms, no professorial answers. Let's just learn a little more together. We'll have the schedule for this class out later this month.

Third, thanks to anyone who submitted scripture suggestions for my next sermon series. If you didn't see it last time, let me remind you-

I'm calling this series: "Getting to Know You," an opportunity for you to suggest passages that have touched you in some way. Perhaps because it's a favorite, perhaps because it's compelling or challenging or mysterious- whatever the case may be. And with your submission, I would like you to include your name, and why you chose this particular text - something I could print and pass along to the rest of the congregation in the bulletin. This way, we can get to know each other a little better, too.

I will be taking submissions from now until Sunday, August 26, which is the last week of our current series. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

Have a good week!

Ben

A Note from Steph

(Steph is on vacation this week. Last week, she shared this update on summer activities in Northmont's Children's and Youth Ministry. We're running it again, just in case you didn't see it last week.)

Hey everyone!

I want t o give you a report of the crazy and wonderful summer that the youth and children have had here at Northmont!

We kicked off the summer with Youth Sunday which was led, organized, and run by our amazing youth. We recognized the graduating seniors and blessed them as they enter this new and exciting chapter in their lives.

At the end of June Northmont hosted our AMPED Vacation Bible School. Combined with volunteers from Wexford we had a great group of adult and youth volunteers who came together to pull off an amazing week of VBS for our 73 children in attendance. Our youth worked as Crew Leaders (leading groups of kids from station to station), Craft Helpers, Recreation Leaders and Helpers, and many other roles. VBS was a great success and it is only because of the help of our amazing volunteers (youth and adults alike) as well as the generous donations and support from the whole congregation that we could make this happen.

We took the first week of July to regroup and then on Sunday July 8th we loaded up two minivans and took a group of 10 down to Seymour, TN (45min from Gatlinburg) for a week-long mission trip. We worked on Miss Tracy's house where we shingled a roof, built a large slat fence, and did demo work inside in a room damaged by the leaking roof (think mold and other gross things). We were combined with a youth from from NJ on our mission site and we loved making new friends and working alongside them. In the evenings we had some free time, had worship with around 100 other youth and adults from around the country, and had some good discussion in our back-home groups. We were able to go white water rafting on the Pigeon River through the Smoky Mountains. We also spent some time exploring the Ijam Nature Reserve and got to kayak in a quarry. We had a great time doing hard work and enjoying each other's company while keeping an eye out for "Sneaky Jesus" through it all.

We took another few days to regroup and then the youth and I set out on separate adventures. A number of our high school youth attended New Wilmington Mission Conference (hosted by Westminster College) where they heard from various global and local missionaries, processed things in small group discussion, and enjoyed the company of old and new friends as they learned about sharing the Gospel with others. At the same time I was a speaker at Trinity Youth Conference (hosted at Living Waters Camp in Schellsburg, PA) which is a conference for high school and college students. I led a workshop called "Your Past Does Not Define You" where I talked to youth about how to process their pasts and see God in their stories. The theme of the conference was "I am with you always" and Rev. Brian Wallace preached each night about different situations and how God is present with us in each of them. Our Northmont Youth and I had great experiences and have enjoyed swapping stories.

I want to thank the congregation of Northmont for the wonderful ways that you all have supported the children and youth ministries this summer. You all attended a spaghetti dinner, bid for pies at our auction, donated random food items for VBS, made monetary contributions designated for youth, volunteered for VBS, helped lead the mission trip, helped provide scholarships for students to attend trips and conferences, and held us all in prayer. In all of those ways you each participated in the ministries and missions that our youth and children did this summer. Thanks for all of your support and I look forward to a wonderful fall with all of you!

In Christ,

Steph

Doc's Clef Notes

The next pick-up Family Summer Choir is this Sunday, August 12, and is open to anyone in seventh grade and up. Join David Daugherty in the choir loft at 9:15am to learn the music for the worship service that day.

See you in church!

David (Doc)

Annual Rose Barn Service & Picnic

P RAYERS AND PICNIC IN THE PARK! Sunday, August 26 is our day to worship at the Rose Barn in North Park. Our ministry team is cooking up something really special for this fun gathering of our flock. The service begins at 10am, and will be followed by a picnic. All you need to bring is a chair and a side dish to share. Games are encouraged! Please bring your favorite, or teach us a new party game. The Deacons will be providing meats and dessert. Please sign up after church, phone (412) 952-0662 or email [email protected] so we know how much food to get.

Small Group Interest Survey

One of the initiatives set out in our Spiritual Plan is to have small group ministry be a big part of our mission moving forward.

What is a small group? It is a collective of individuals willing to invest in one another, sharing each other's lives, and growing spiritually in the process. They are a way for parishioners to go deeper in their faith and invest themselves in the lives of others more intentionally.

Our plan as we begin this new phase in our ministry is to give participants some basic structure and guidance. We will be learning together what works best for the people of Northmont, and we believe this structure will be helpful as we get started.

The leadership will be offering 3 small group topics at one time which will run in 6 week intervals. You sign up for the small group topics that interest you. You tell us the time slots that work for your schedule, and then we will match you up with the group that meets those requirements. After the 6 weeks there will be a break and then 3 more offerings will begin. Depending on needs and participation, this can be augmented accordingly.

These small groups will begin the week of September 9, which starts our program year. In order to set up these small groups and their topics we need feedback from you. So if you believe that in the right circumstance you would be interested in trying a small group, please fill out the following survey pertaining to topic categories you might be interested in and times you are most likely to be available to participate. If you are filling this out electronically, please cut/paste the survey into an email and send it to Pastor Ben at: [email protected]. A paper copy of this survey will be available in the bulletin on Sunday and in the front office during the week.

Thanks so much for participating in the ministry of Northmont.

SMALL GROUP SURVEY

NAME: ________________________________________________________

I would be interested in the following topic categories:

_____ Biblical/Theological

_____ Contemporary/Political (Topics in the news today)

_____ Lifestyle (Being a parent of school age children, Being a parent of adult children, retired, divorced, grieving, etc.)

_____ Prayer (for our own lives, for the world, etc.)

I would be available to meet at the following times:

_____ Weekday mornings

_____ Weekday evenings

_____ Saturdays

_____ Sundays after church

_____ Sunday evenings

_____ I am interested in small groups, but only if they meet at my residence

Name of Residence (if applicable) ____________________________

Address of Residence: _____________________________________

Notes (Please provide more detail of your interests and needs if helpful):

______________________________________________________________________________

"Growing Young" Survey

A few weeks ago our church had the opportunity to fill out a "Growing Young" survey during church. In case you didn't get a chance to fill this out yet, here is an electronic version of this survey. Click here to fill it out.

Please note: If you filled out this survey on paper already please do not fill it out again.

Contact Ben Robbins or Steph Martin if you have any questions.

Sunday School

Sunday School for children and youth is on break for the summer! Keep an eye out for special events for youth and children during the summer months. See below for information on adult Sunday School.

Kids Kirk Children from pre-K through grade 6 are invited to join us after Time with the Children (during wo

Kids Kirk is on hiatus for the summer months. Children's worship bags are in the narthex stairwell.

Adult Bible Studies

Impact Bible Study meets Sundays at 9am in the Berean Room.

Adult Bible Study meets Sundays at 9am in the Mangochi Room.

Nursery Worship time childcare will be available in the nursery.Worship time childcare will be available in the nurser

The Nursery will be unsupervised for the summer. You are welcome to use the Nursery and listen to the worship service through the speaker in the ro om. Our nursery staff will return in the fall.

Wednesday Club is on hiatus until September. Keep an eye on emails for up dates! .

Yout h Group Our "normal" youth group and Sunday school activities are on break Our "normal" youth group and Sunday school activities are on break for the summer. Stay tuned for info on special events this summer!

We will have a Movie Night for all 319 Youth, Sunday August 19, from 7-9:30pm. As we get closer, the youth will vote on the movie selection. Movie Night will be hosted at Wexford Presbyterian. Bring a friend and get excited! Summer is almost over and it is almost time for Youth Group to start again!

News from your Mission Ministry Team

by Jim Nicola

Produce to People

Produce to People needs 10 people to help distribute produce on Saturday, August 18 , from 8:30am to 12:30pm. Northmont has been working with this organization for more than a year. The distribution site is Martin Luther King Elementary School in the park on the North Side (across from Allegheny General Hospital.) Arrive about 8:30am to prepare the site and package some produce. The actual distribution starts at 10am and lasts until noon. Clean-up is usually finished about 12:30pm. Dress for the weather. Distribution is undercover, but otherwise exposed to the elements. Children should be over the age of 12 and accompanied by an adult. If you have any questions feel free to talk to Jim Nicola or any Mission Team member.

A sign-up sheet is in the Narthex.

Tuesday mornings at 8:30 in Fellowship Hall

Stephen Ministry

Crisis Can Turn Your World Upside Down

When an event shakes up your world a Stephen Minister would like to offer God's love through a Christian caring relationship on a one-on-one confidential basis.

Contact Stephen Leader Nancy Garver

at 724-935-2194 or [email protected] for more information.

S tephen Minister Jan Baty

is making hospital calls this week.

She can be reached at 412-427-8476 or [email protected]

Please remember in your prayers:

Our pastor, elders, deacons, committee members and all of the Northmont community

Our neighbors

All those affected by war

All those affected by natural disasters

All those affected by school shootings, violent crimes and other senseless acts of violence

All those facing infertility issues

All those who must, literally, today pray for their daily bread

All those who must meet secretly, in order to worship God

All those who suffer persecution for loving the Lord

All those in need of healing

All those who are bereaved

Our sister church, Mangochi CCAP, in Mangochi, Malawi

Our sister church, Second Presbyterian Church, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania

Our global mission partners, the Ludwig family, the Weller family, and Kay Day

Members of the congregation who are seeking employment

The leaders of our federal, state, and local governments

All the men and women of our Armed Forces and our Veterans

Our enemies, as God has called us to pray also for them, even as we may not understand why

As The Piper is posted to the World Wide Web, privacy concerns dictate that we no longer publish the entire weekly Prayer Chain. If you would like to receive the Prayer Chain by email, please contact Jane Nicola or the church office.