 |
|
For Friday, April 3
, 2020
|
WFPC Officers' Column
When I first served on session, I rotated off at the end of 2012. WFPC was still in our 'Wilderness Times,' although the end was in sight. Joel Alvis was a wonderful interim Senior Pastor. Moffett Churn was a calm, steadying soul as Interim Associate. And the PNC was hard at work discerning senior pastor candidates, including our own Pastor Rebekah who was called and came in the late summer of 2013 (has it really almost been seven years??!!). I had the privilege to serve on the APNC that called Pastor John, who recently celebrated his FIFTH anniversary this past January! WFPC has been blessed with great pastoral staff, including Kim, Katherine and Janet, as we as a church family live our lives of Christian faith together.
So now we find ourselves in a different Wilderness Time. Not being able to physically be with one another, to offer the handshakes and hugs that go with sharing the Peace, is hard and emotionally taxing! Missing Wednesday dinners, not attending Sunday School (I miss our confirmands and fellow teachers) and no worship in either the CLC or Sanctuary is something we have all never experienced before.
BUT...we do have each other! Our pastors are doing a wonderful job bringing worship to us through technology that did not even exist 10 years ago! Our deacons are keeping us connected through e-mail and phone calls. Zoom is making Sunday School and youth groups stay engaged. Our weekly Leaflets keeps us informed as to the goings-on of the church. And most importantly, we have Christ. As Paul says in Romans: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (15:13, NIV).
So although we are living in times none of us have seen, remember that we have Christ to lean on and trust. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13, NKJV). Enjoy the time with your family. Reach out to people you care for. This too shall pass, and we will be stronger for it!!
Ed Pulliam
Elder for Finance
|
WFPC Online Resources During the Pandemic
Things are changing quickly these days, so we've built a special page on our website that will contain information about all the ways we're being the church (including worship and small groups) on the web. Just
click here or choose "WFPC on the Web" on our website. We, too, are learning as we go and exploring new opportunties, and we appreciate your patience!
|
Holy Week Worship -- Maundy Thursday/Good Friday
Tune in for a special Maundy Thursday/Good Friday streaming worship at 7 pm on Thursday, April 9, on our Facebook page
. There will be special offerings of music, and we will hear a dramatic reading of the Last Supper and Passion stories of scripture with help from George Dudley, Logan Lowery, and Hannah Briley. We will celebrate communion together in our homes with bread and juice
. We will worship and hear these important and familiar stories of Holy Week as we tune in together!
|
Sharing Holy Week Together
Palm Sunday "Palm Waving"
Even if we can't wave our palms in the sanctuary, we can wave branches in joy on Palm Sunday! Cut flowered branches, find a fancy tree branch, find anything you'd like to wave, and during the opening song on Palm Sunday's virtual worship, we will all wave our "palms" together!
Special ways to share together in Holy Week!
SEND US YOUR PICTURES!! We have been blessed to see each other in smaller groups, or staff on screens, but we want to see our WHOLE church family! While we can't gather together to share hugs and stories, we can "see" one another through picture stories!
Send your pictures...pictures of cutting and waving branches in your yards for Palm Sunday, pictures of you and your families in your Easter finery (fancy up a little early!), pictures of you doing the very things you do to find joy during this time of deep uncertainty, pictures of you telling the story of your life right now.
We will compile our church family photos into a slide show that will play during our virtual worship on Easter Sunday morning...that way we can see each other, share smiles together, and celebrate the Resurrection together, even if we can't reach out and hug one another right now!! We want to see you ALL!!!
|
Acts of Kindness
March 29 would have been our Youth Sunday service. We planned on giving kindness cards to everyone as they left the Youth Sunday service. The idea was to do the act of kindness on your card, and then pass the card along to someone else, so that the kindness continues to spread! Many of the acts that the youth chose to put on the cards can easily be done during a "stay at home" order. See what ways you can use them during this time!
-
Give someone a compliment.
-
Do a favor without asking for anything in return.
-
Take a day off from complaining.
-
Pass along a smile.
-
Spread words of encouragement.
-
Take the time to listen to someone.
|
The Flowering of the Easter Cross
The "Flowering of the Easter Cross" will take place again this year at WFPC. A cross will be placed and decorated with greenery.
A purple cloth will be placed on the cross until Good Friday, at which time black fabric will be placed. On Easter a white cloth will replace the black.
The "flowering" begins on Saturday, April 11. Come on by the church circle, one family at a time please, bring your flowers, fresh or artificial and place on the cross. Eventually the cross will be completely covered and becomes beautiful, new, and alive in celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. Return to the circle on Easter for family photos.
|
A Note from Rebekah Maul, Senior Pastor
Hello fine people,
I've been missing you. At the same time, I'm very proud of the fact that during this time of the pandemic, and our personal dis-ease surrounding our search for the "new normal," I hear of the many ways you continue to reach out with God's grace to one another, and to our community and world. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all who have been remembering to contribute to Tri-Area Ministry. Many of our food-scarcity ministries are using Tri-Area Ministry as the clearing house for our ministry to the hungry. The need is only going to grow in the weeks and months to come.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to the church staff, and our elders and deacons, and many others of you who are on stand-by to assist in any way you can. All of you are using your creativity to help us all stay connected through Zoom gatherings; devotion times; phone calls, especially to our shut-ins who have no family in the area to assist them.
My tent-making preacher brother Jesse, in Jacksonville, FL, shared the following earlier this week. I've only doctored it a little bit, but it's a good reminder of what we are about as Christians.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
How can you go "out" and bless your world today?
How can you obey Jesus' command to love your neighbor in Corona season -- creatively, intentionally, (legally), and wisely?
Who can you encourage?
To whom can you give strength and comfort?
From my reading today: "We're not people who just bide our time, staying out of trouble and waiting to escape this troubled world. Instead, we bring God's presence right into the world around us, proclaiming His lordship and supremacy and love. We reach out and we intercede. We break bondages and deliver people from captivity."
(J Goll)
Who is on your heart? Be the church! Bring God's presence to the world around you! Pray and take a step!
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well said, brother Jesse.
You all be well. I love you.
Rebekah
|
Calling all Musicians -- Adults, Children, and Instrumentalists!
For our creative musicians in our congregation, we are asking you to video yourself offering one or more sacred songs to be used on our Facebook Group page to encourage our congregation. Submit your video to
secretary@wakeforestpres.org. For questions, contact Kim Glasscock at
kimglasscock@wakeforestpres.org. Thanks for sharing your gifts!
|
An Update from Ministry Partner, Tri-Area Ministry
Tri-Area Ministry Food Pantry is considered an essential business and is distributing food to those in need. They have adopted measures to preserve social distancing. For clients, they are operating as a drive through.
If you'd like to help Tri-Area Ministry feed our neighbors in need, please visit their website
at
https://triareaministry.com/ to find out how you can help.
|
Send a Note of Encouragement to our Deployed Family!
It's a hard time to be away from family, and our deployed WFPC family members would love to get a card of encouragement from children and adults alike!
Dustin Wilmoth
Staff Sergeant E6
B CO, 230 BSB, 30 ABCT
APO-AE-09330
PFC Jordan Schuh
B CO 236 BEB, 30 ABCT
APO-AE-09366
|
|
Mission and Outreach
Mission and Outreach supporters
: While many gatherings associated with our WFPC mission and outreach are suspended due to impacts of the coronavirus, we are surrounded by endless opportunities to give in our Wake Forest Community and beyond. Thank you for your generous spirits and being diligent to find ways to serve others during these unusual times.
Special story of giving during Covid-19
With church facilities being closed, there are items sitting on the shelf "collecting dust" at church that would've normally gone toward our regular ministry activities. Dana Wills, Director of Food Ministries, shared at staff yesterday that we have freezers full of meat and frozen vegetables that were ordered before the pandemic (when Wednesday night meals were still happening!). Rather than letting it sit, she suggested we donate it to Tri -Area Ministry and efforts to do so are underway.
Likewise, Dana also shared that we have the ability to make sanitizer from dilution chemicals that would've gone toward cleaning efforts around Wednesday nights. Rather than let that sit on the shelf, efforts will be made to make sanitizer from these stocks, and it will be delivered to Durham Rescue Mission where it is sorely needed: 450 men, women, and children are living in close quarters and if an outbreak occurs, they have nowhere else to go.
Even though we're in a "pause-moment" as a church, we are still able to help the vulnerable in our community!
Familly Promise
Family Promise
is the only homeless-centered nonprofit within Wake County to offer a full continuum of services and partnerships to move families all the way from temporary shelter to transitional housing and, ultimately, to permanent housing. Due to the pandemic, they have had to suspend the church rotation model and are housing residents in a temporary complex. Family Promise has reached out to partner churches to ask for monetary donations in this time to help with emergency relief.
https://www.fpgives.org/organizations/family-promise-of-wake-county
Thusanang
Thusanang
is a mission partner in Winterveldt, South Africa, whom the church has been supporting for 17 great years. The church began sending quarterly financial donations in 2003, and went on a mission trip in 2008. Gifts have totalled over $150,000 throughout this time. In discernment and study, Mission and Outreach would like to update the church that we are bringing our official partnership with Thusanang to a gracious completion. The Winterveldt community won't be abandoned -- they receive help from the Sisters of Mercy, an international Catholic organization with good structures and funding in place. Our final gift to Thusanang will be this September. Please continue to financially support this mission in these coming months as we celebrate a long and successful partnership!
|
|
Prayer List
Please keep the following members of our church family in your prayers:
Jody Alston
Jennie Banco
Dianne Brown
The Christos and Wilmoth families
Cynthia Hardy
Cindy & Jake Jacobsmeyer
Kirby Kline
Ruth Patterson
Don McCorkle
David Michaels
Kevin Murphy
Linda Roberson
Roy Wilson
Polly York
Liliana
Roy and Arlene
And those who are currently deployed:
Jordan Schuh
Dustin Wilmoth
If you have a prayer request, you may let us know
online here.
|
Children's Ministries News
FAMILY DEVOTION TIME WITH KATHERINE!
Each Wednesday at 6 pm, you can join Katherine on the Wake Forest Presbyterian Facebook page for a short video devotion time for kids and families! Not a good time for you? NO WORRIES! Videos will also be available on the church's Youtube channel as well! Make sure you tune in...Katherine just might have some interesting "looks" during devotion in coming weeks...
Need help accessing these online tools? Check out
THIS LINK
that will walk you through!
HANG OUT TIME
We'll be using Zoom to be together, share a story, and check in with one another on Thursdays at 5:30. If you'd like to join in, email Katherine (see below) for an invite or more information!
WFPC CARD CARE MINISTRY
Families!!! Our WFPC Care Card Ministry is up and running!! We are hoping to fill the mail with cards to folks who cannot have visitors, reminding all that NO ONE HAS TO BE ALONE IN THIS!! Stop by the church front door (please don't try to enter the building), grab a bag and snap a pic of instructions, and help love our vulnerable neighbors well!!!
~Katherine Peiper, Director of Children, Family & Youth Ministries | katherinepeiper@wakeforestpres.org
|
|
|
Youth Group
Zoom youth group continues to be a success! If you missed it last week, join us this Sunday! Middle school at 4:30, high school at 6:00, and the college youth devotion at 7:30. Links and instructions to join will be in emails from Janet. See you soon!
Senior Bible Study
It is not too late to join in on the Senior Bible Study, Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. If you have not been able to join us yet, come on!! Look for the link to the invitation in an email from Janet. If you do not get the emails and would like to receive them, let Janet know at
youth@wakeforestpres.org
.
Ways to Stay Connected
It is so important to stay connected to one another during this time. Keep up with the weekly emails and all of our opportunities to be together through Zoom! Our church Facebook page has our weekly worship service, morning chats with Pastor Rebekah, music videos from Pastor John and other church members, and so much more! On our church website, there is a drop down for "WFPC on the Web." Click on that, and you will see links to other ways our church is staying connected...our new YouTube page, the church Facebook page, a link to our new youth blog, and more!
|
| Sympathy
It is will deep sadness that we share with you news of the passing of Tom Christos, beloved member of Wake Forest Presbyterian Church. Tom died at home on Wednesday, surrounded by his loving family. We join our hearts with Sandy, Allie and Dustin (Wilmoth), Steffen, and Tom's grandchildren, Naomi and Lillian. There is no service planned at this time.
Also, join us in offering love and sympathy to David Michaels on the passing of his father and Dianne Brown on the passing of her mother.
|
| April 5, 2020 Web Worship with Communion
This week Pastor Rebekah will share with us selected verses from John 11 and 12.
We will go live at 10 AM on our Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/wfpres/
It's Communion Sunday!
Take some time this weekend as a family to decide something special to use for family communion during worship on Sunday! It does not need to be bread and juice unless your family decides that what is shall be...make is special, perhaps bake something together just for communion. We will gather in a new way, and share communion together in a new and different way, but our special, holy ritual of serving one another will continue to connect us!
You can download and print
lyrics to our songs here if you'd like to sing along at home.
|
| 2020 Annual Budget |
$929,200.00 |
| 2020 Year-to-Date Actual |
$237,443.50 |
|
|
| Year to Date Budget (February) |
$174,200.00
|
|
Year to Date Actual (February)
|
$159,522.00
|
March Budget
|
$73,600.00 |
| March Tithes and Offerings (thru 3/29/20) |
$81,818.50 |
| March 29, 2020 |
|
| Tithes and Offerings (Mail/Online) |
$18,620.00 |
| Designated Gifts |
$564.00 |
| Debt Elimination Gifts |
$0.00
|
| Web Worship Attendance (Facebook Views) |
1,100+ |
Debt Elimination Monthly Budget
|
$5,000.00
|
| Debt Elimination Received (thru 3/29/20) |
$5,128.00
|
...all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.
Deuteronomy 16:17
|
|
WFPC Calendar Highlights
Things are changing quickly, so please use these links for current information:
|
|
|
Wake Forest Presbyterian Church
12605 Capital Blvd
Wake Forest, NC 27587
919-556-7777
|
|
|
|
|
|
